“Oh, you love her still,” said Kitty, who had not for an instant taken her eyes off the young man’s face.

“No, Kitty, you are mistaken; I do not love her, but I wish to revenge myself for her contempt of me.”

“Oh yes, I knew your vengeance! You told me!”

“What difference does it make to you, Kitty? You know I love only you.”

“How can I be sure of that?”

“By the contempt I will cast on her.”

D’Artagnan took a pen and wrote,

“Madame,—Until the present moment I could not believe that you two first letters were addressed to me, so unworthy did I feel myself of such an honour; besides, I was so seriously indisposed that I should, in any case, have hesitated to reply to them.

“But now I must believe in the excess of your kindness, since not only your letter but your servant assures me that I have the good fortune to be loved by you.

“She has no occasion to teach me the way in which a gentleman may obtain his pardon. I will come and ask mine at eleven o’clock this evening.

“To delay it a single day would be, in my eyes, now to commit a fresh offence.

“He whom you have rendered the happiest of men,

“Comte de Wardes.

”D’Artagnan’s plan was very simple. By Kitty’s chamber he could gain her mistress’s. He would take advantage of the first moment of surprise, shame, and terror to triumph over her.

The campaign was to open in a week, and he would be compelled to leave Paris. D’Artagnan had no time for a prolonged love-making.

“There!” said the young man, handing Kitty the letter sealed and addressed; “give this note to milady. It is the Comte de Wardes’s reply.”

Poor Kitty turned deathly pale: she suspected what the letter contained.

“But what does your note say?”

“Milady will tell you.”

“Ah, you do not love me,” cried Kitty, “and I am very wretched.”

To such a reproach there is one answer that always deceives women. D’Artagnan replied in a way that left Kitty entirely convinced. Yet she wept a great deal before she could make up her mind to give the letter to milady. But at last she decided to do so, and that was all that D’Artagnan wanted.

Besides, he promised her that he would leave her mistress early that evening, and on coming out of the parlour would go up to Kitty’s room. This promise completely consoled poor Kitty.