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Rh 36 LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE. the horses' nostrils, and they snorted and pranced about delightedl3^ Porthos and Planchet began to talk about hay crops. Planchet admitted to Porthos that in the more ad- vanced years of his life he had certainly neglected agricul- tural pursuits for commerce, but that his childhood had been passed in Picardy in the beautiful meadows where the grass grew as high as the knees, and where he had played under the green apple-trees covered with red-cheeked fruit; he went on to say that he had solemnly promised himself that as soon as he should have made his fortune he would return to nature, and end his days, as he had begun them, as near as he possibly could to the earth itself, where all men must go at last. "Eh, eh!" said Porthos, "in that case, my dear Monsieur Planchet, your retreat is not far distant." "How so?" "Why, you seem to be in the way of making your fortune very soon." "Well, we are getting on pretty well, I must admit." "Come, tell me what is the extent of your ambition, and what is the amount you intend to retire upon?" "There is one circumstance, monsieur," said Planchet without answering the question, "which occasions me a good deal of anxiety." "What is it?" inquired Porthos, looking all round him as if in search of the circumstance that annoyed Planchet, and desirous of freeing him from it. "Why, formerly," said the grocer, "you used to call me Planchet quite short, and you would have spoken to me then in a much more familiar manner than you do now." "Certainly, certainly, I should have said so formerly," re- plied the good-natured Porthos, with an embarrassment full of delicacy, '^Dut formerl}^ " "Formerly I was Monsieur d'Artagnan's lackey; is not that what you mean?" "Yes." "Well, if I am not quite his lackey, I am as much as ever I was his devoted servant; and more than that, since that time " "Well, Planchet?" "Since that time, I have had the honor of being in part- nership with him." "Oh! oh!" said Porthos. "What, has D'Artagnan gone into the grocery business?"