As they returned toward the castle, D’Artagnan thought of the of poor human nature, always dissatisfied with what it has, ever desirous of what it has not.  
In the position of Porthos, D’Artagnan would have been happy; and to make Porthos there was wanting--what? five letters to put before his three names, a tiny coronet to paint upon the panels of his carriage!
 
“I shall pass all my life,” thought D’Artagnan, “in seeking for a man who is really contented with his lot.”
 
Whilst making this reflection, chance seemed, as it were, to give him the lie direct. When Porthos had left him to give some orders he saw Mousqueton approaching. The face of the , despite one slight shade of care, light as a summer cloud, seemed a physiognomy of absolute felicity.
 
“Here is what I am looking for,” thought D’Artagnan; “but ! the poor fellow does not know the purpose for which I am here.”
 
He then made a sign for Mousqueton to come to him.
 
“Sir,” said the servant, “I have a favour to ask you.”
 
“Speak out, my friend.”
 
“I am afraid to do so. Perhaps you will think, sir, that prosperity has spoiled me?”
 
“Art thou happy, friend?” asked D’Artagnan.
 
“As happy as possible; and yet, sir, you may make me even happier than I am.”
 
“Well, speak, if it depends on me.”
 
“Oh, sir! it depends on you only.”
 
“I listen--I am waiting to hear.”
 
“Sir, the favor I have to ask of you is, not to call me ‘Mousqueton’ but ‘Mouston.’ Since I have had the honor of being my lord’s steward I have taken the last name as more and calculated to make my inferiors respect me. You, sir, know how necessary subordination is in any large establishment of servants.”
 
D’Artagnan smiled; Porthos wanted to out his names, Mousqueton to cut his short.
 
“Well, my dear Mouston,” he said, “rest satisfied. I will call thee Mouston; and if it makes thee happy I will not ‘tutoyer’ you any longer.”
 
“Oh!” cried Mousqueton, reddening with joy; “if you do me, sir, such honor, I shall be grateful all my life; it is too much to ask.”
 
“Alas!” thought D’Artagnan, “it is very little to the unexpected I am bringing to this poor devil who has so warmly welcomed me.”
 
“Will monsieur remain long with us?” asked Mousqueton, with a and glowing .
 
“I go to-morrow, my friend,” replied D’Artagnan.
 
“Ah, monsieur,” said Mousqueton, “then you have come here only to our regrets.”
 
“I fear that is true,” said D’Artagnan, in a low tone.
 
D’Artagnan was secretly touched with , not at inducing Porthos to enter into schemes in which his life and fortune would be in , for Porthos, in the title of , had his object and reward; but poor Mousqueton, whose only wish was to be called Mouston--was it not cruel to snatch him from the state of peace and plenty in which he was?
 
He was thinking of these matters when Porthos summoned him to dinner.
 
“What! to dinner?” said D’Artagnan. “What time is it, then?”
 
“Eh! why, it is after one o’clock.”
 
“Your home is a paradise, Porthos; one takes no note of time. I follow you, though I am not hungry.”
 
“Come, if one can’t always eat, one can always drink--a of poor Athos, the truth of which I have discovered since I began to be lonely.”
 
D’Artagnan, who as a Gascon, was inclined to sobriety, seemed not so sure as his friend of the truth of Athos’s maxim, but he did his best to keep up with his host. Meanwhile his in regard to Mousqueton to his mind and with greater force because Mousqueton, though he did not himself wait on the table, which would have been beneath him in his new position, appeared at the door from time to time and evinced his to D’Artagnan by the quality of the wine he directed to be served. Therefore, when, at dessert, upon a sign from D’Artagnan, Porthos had sent away his servants and the two friends were alone:
 
“Porthos,” said D’Artagnan, “who will attend you in your campaigns?”
 
“Why,” replied Porthos, “Mouston, of course.”
 
This was a blow to D’Artagnan. He could already see the intendant’s beaming smile change to a of grief. “But,” he said, “Mouston is not so young as he was, my dear fellow; besides, he has grown fat and perhaps has lost his fitness for active service.”
 
“That may be true,” replied Porthos; “but I am used to him, and besides, he wouldn’t be willing to let me go without him, he loves me so much.”
 
“Oh, blind self-love!” thought D’Artagnan.
 
“And you,” asked Porthos, “haven’t you still in your service your old , that good, that brave, that intelligent---what, then, is his name?”
 
“Planchet--yes, I have found him again, but he is lackey no longer.”
 
“What is he, then?”
 
“With his sixteen hundred francs--you remember, the sixteen hundred francs he earned at the siege of La Rochelle by carrying a letter to L............