Porthos tips his head to one side to give Aramis a look that says he knows better than to assume Porthos has nothing to say about his virtues. "Your generosity of spirit," he says, firmly. "You've always got a spot in your heart for those that others might have abandoned. And you care with all your heart, offering actions or kind words or all your soul."

"It's what you did with me, isn't it? And others," he says, thinking of Agnes and of all the people over the years that Aramis had taken under his wing.