D'Artagnan, the King Maker — page 44: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Power of a Quill. 35 Chevalier Louis d’Artagnan, the flying squadron of my Brothers of the Coast!” Whereupon, the 'Chevalier d’Artagnan, alias the Cabal- lero de Gannarta, its anagram, finished deliberately a cup of wine which he mulled at the dying fire and spiced to his taste, and without wanting any usher, climbed up the steps Pedro had mounted. pans found himself in the loft, with its canvas flooring, alone. Without probing with his sword the suspicious bales and bags about the room, he kicked several into a layer, reclined and stretched himself until a snug depression was scientifically formed, and was soon as fast asleep as his horse, in another niche in the cliff. As for the negress, she completed her skein conscien- tiously, as a diurnal task, raked the coals into a heap un- der the backlog, drew back the dried rushes so that they could not catch fire, and into another heap. In this she laid herself, with her huge feet to the ashes. Then, tak- ing out of her neck scarf the gold piece where she had rolled it up, she twirled it about between her fat fingers as a child would play with a doll, and went off to sleep, humming to this unwonted windfall. Verily, the wind had been tempered to the Black Petrel! it had a golden lining to its nest! CORNICE OOOKS (C(O)