seven o’clock in
the evening
Aramis thought that there might be no imprudence in taking a little rest , but that to continue would make the matter more certain . Twenty leagues more , performed with the same rapidity , twenty more leagues devoured , and no one , not even D'Artagnan , could overtake the enemies of the king . Aramis felt obliged , therefore , to inflict upon Porthos the pain of mounting on horseback again . They rode on till seven o'clock in the evening , and had only one post more between them and Blois . But here a diabolical accident alarmed Aramis greatly . There were no horses at the post . The prelate asked himself by what infernal machination his enemies had succeeded in depriving him of the means of going further , -- he who never recognized chance as a deity , who found a cause for every accident , preferred believing that the refusal of the postmaster , at such an hour , in such a country , was the consequence of an order emanating from above : an order given with a view of stopping short the king-maker in the midst of his flight .