Page:The Man in the Iron Mask.djvu/62

48 "You will have your dress after to-morrow, Monsienr le Baron," answered Molière.

And he left with Aramis.

Then D'Artagnan, taking Porthos' arm:

"What has this tailor done for you, my dear Porthos," he asked, "that you are so pleased with him?"

"What has he done for me, my friend—done for me?" cried Porthos enthusiastically.

"Yes, I ask you, what has he done for you?"

"My friend, he has done that which no tailor ever yet accomplished; he has taken my measure without touching me."

"Ah, bah! tell me how he did it."

"First, then, they went, I don't know where, for a number of lay figures, of all heights and sizes, hoping there would be one to suit mine, but the largest—that of the drum-major of the Swiss Guard—was two inches too short, and half a foot too slender."

"Indeed!"

"It is exactly as I tell you, D'Artagnan; but he is a great man, or, at the very least, a great tailor, is this Monsieur Molière. He was not at all put at fault by the circumstance."

"What did he do, then?"

"Oh! it is a very simple matter. I' faith, 'tis an unheard of thing that people should have been so stupid as not to have discovered this method from the first. What annoyance and humiliation they would have spared me!"

"Not to speak of the dresses, my dear Porthos."

"Yes, thirty dresses."

"Well, my dear Porthos, come, tell me Monsieur Melière's plan."

"Molière? You call him so, do you? I shall make a point of recollecting his name."

"Yes; or Poquelin, if you prefer that."

"No; I like Molière best. When I wish to recollect his name I shall think of Volière (an aviary); and as I have one at Pierrefonds"

"Capital!" returned D*Artagnan. "And Monsieur Molière's plan?"

"'Tis this: Instead of pulling me to pieces, as all these rascals do—of making me bend in my back, and double my joints—all of them low and dishonorable practices"

D'Artagnan made a sign of approbation with his head.

"'Monsieur,' he said to me," continued Porthos, "'a