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diff --git a/old/2759.txt b/old/2759.txt deleted file mode 100644 index beb58f2..0000000 --- a/old/2759.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,22648 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas, Pere - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Man in the Iron Mask - -Author: Alexandre Dumas, Pere - -Posting Date: August 12, 2008 [EBook #2759] -Release Date: August, 2001 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK *** - - - - -Produced by John Bursey - - - - - -THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK - -by Alexandre Dumas - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -As you may be aware, Project Gutenberg has been involved with the -writings of both the Alexandre Dumases for some time now, and since we -get a few questions about the order in which the books should be read, -and in which they were published, these following comments should -hopefully help most of our readers. - -*** - -The Vicomte de Bragelonne is the final volume of D'Artagnan Romances: -it is usually split into three or four parts, and the final portion -is entitled The Man in the Iron Mask. The Man in the Iron Mask we're -familiar with today is the last volume of the four-volume edition. -[Not all the editions split them in the same manner, hence some of the -confusion...but wait...there's yet more reason for confusion.] - -We intend to do ALL of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, split into four -etexts entitled The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise de la -Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. - -One thing that may be causing confusion is that the etext we have now, -entitled Ten Years Later, says it's the sequel to The Three Musketeers. -While this is technically true, there's another book, Twenty Years -After, that comes between. The confusion is generated by the two facts -that we published Ten Years Later BEFORE we published Twenty Years -After, and that many people see those titles as meaning Ten and Twenty -Years "After" the original story...however, this is why the different -words "After" and "Later"...the Ten Years "After" is ten years after -the Twenty Years later...as per history. Also, the third book of the -D'Artagnan Romances, while entitled The Vicomte de Bragelonne, has the -subtitle Ten Years Later. These two titles are also given to different -volumes: The Vicomte de Bragelonne can refer to the whole book, or the -first volume of the three or four-volume editions. Ten Years Later -can, similarly, refer to the whole book, or the second volume of the -four-volume edition. To add to the confusion, in the case of our etexts, -it refers to the first 104 chapters of the whole book, covering material -in the first and second etexts in the new series. Here is a guide to the -series which may prove helpful: - -The Three Musketeers: Etext 1257--First book of the D'Artagnan Romances. -Covers the years 1625-1628. - -Twenty Years After: Etext 1259--Second book of the D'Artagnan Romances. -Covers the years 1648-1649. [Third in the order that we published, but -second in time sequence!!!] - -Ten Years Later: Etext 1258--First 104 chapters of the third book of the -D'Artagnan Romances. Covers the years 1660-1661. - -The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Etext 2609 (first in the new series)--First -75 chapters of the third book of the D'Artagnan Romances. Covers the -year 1660. - -Ten Years Later: Etext 2681 (second in the new series)--Chapters -76-140 of that third book of the D'Artagnan Romances. Covers the years -1660-1661. [In this particular editing of it] - -Louise de la Valliere: Etext 2710 (third in the new series)--Chapters -141-208 of the third book of the D'Artagnan Romances. Covers the year -1661. - -The Man in the Iron Mask: Etext 2759 (our next text)--Chapters -209-269 of the third book of the D'Artagnan Romances. Covers the years -1661-1673. - -Here is a list of the other Dumas Etexts we have published so far: - -Sep 1999 La Tulipe Noire, by Alexandre -Dumas[Pere#6/French][tlpnrxxx.xxx]1910 This is an abridged edition in -French, also see our full length English Etext Jul 1997 The Black Tulip, -by Alexandre Dumas[Pere][Dumas#1][tbtlpxxx.xxx] 965 Jan 1998 The Count -of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas[Pere][crstoxxx.xxx]1184 - - -Many thanks to Dr. David Coward, whose editions of the D'Artagnan -Romances have proved an invaluable source of information. - - -Introduction: - -In the months of March-July in 1844, in the magazine Le Siecle, the -first portion of a story appeared, penned by the celebrated playwright -Alexandre Dumas. It was based, he claimed, on some manuscripts he had -found a year earlier in the Bibliotheque Nationale while researching a -history he planned to write on Louis XIV. They chronicled the adventures -of a young man named D'Artagnan who, upon entering Paris, became almost -immediately embroiled in court intrigues, international politics, and -ill-fated affairs between royal lovers. Over the next six years, readers -would enjoy the adventures of this youth and his three famous friends, -Porthos, Athos, and Aramis, as their exploits unraveled behind the -scenes of some of the most momentous events in French and even English -history. - -Eventually these serialized adventures were published in novel form, -and became the three D'Artagnan Romances known today. Here is a brief -summary of the first two novels: - -The Three Musketeers (serialized March--July, 1844): The year is 1625. -The young D'Artagnan arrives in Paris at the tender age of 18, and -almost immediately offends three musketeers, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. -Instead of dueling, the four are attacked by five of the Cardinal's -guards, and the courage of the youth is made apparent during the battle. -The four become fast friends, and, when asked by D'Artagnan's landlord -to find his missing wife, embark upon an adventure that takes them -across both France and England in order to thwart the plans of the -Cardinal Richelieu. Along the way, they encounter a beautiful young spy, -named simply Milady, who will stop at nothing to disgrace Queen Anne of -Austria before her husband, Louis XIII, and take her revenge upon the -four friends. - -Twenty Years After (serialized January--August, 1845): The year is now -1648, twenty years since the close of the last story. Louis XIII has -died, as has Cardinal Richelieu, and while the crown of France may sit -upon the head of Anne of Austria as Regent for the young Louis XIV, -the real power resides with the Cardinal Mazarin, her secret husband. -D'Artagnan is now a lieutenant of musketeers, and his three friends have -retired to private life. Athos turned out to be a nobleman, the Comte de -la Fere, and has retired to his home with his son, Raoul de Bragelonne. -Aramis, whose real name is D'Herblay, has followed his intention of -shedding the musketeer's cassock for the priest's robes, and Porthos has -married a wealthy woman, who left him her fortune upon her death. But -trouble is stirring in both France and England. Cromwell menaces the -institution of royalty itself while marching against Charles I, and at -home the Fronde is threatening to tear France apart. D'Artagnan brings -his friends out of retirement to save the threatened English monarch, -but Mordaunt, the son of Milady, who seeks to avenge his mother's death -at the musketeers' hands, thwarts their valiant efforts. Undaunted, our -heroes return to France just in time to help save the young Louis XIV, -quiet the Fronde, and tweak the nose of Cardinal Mazarin. - -The third novel, The Vicomte de Bragelonne (serialized October, -1847--January, 1850), has enjoyed a strange history in its English -translation. It has been split into three, four, or five volumes at -various points in its history. The five-volume edition generally does -not give titles to the smaller portions, but the others do. In the -three-volume edition, the novels are entitled The Vicomte de Bragelonne, -Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. For the purposes of -this etext, I have chosen to split the novel as the four-volume edition -does, with these titles: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, -Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. In the first three -etexts: - -The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Etext 2609): It is the year 1660, and -D'Artagnan, after thirty-five years of loyal service, has become -disgusted with serving King Louis XIV while the real power resides with -the Cardinal Mazarin, and has tendered his resignation. He embarks on -his own project, that of restoring Charles II to the throne of England, -and, with the help of Athos, succeeds, earning himself quite a fortune -in the process. D'Artagnan returns to Paris to live the life of a rich -citizen, and Athos, after negotiating the marriage of Philip, the king's -brother, to Princess Henrietta of England, likewise retires to his own -estate, La Fere. Meanwhile, Mazarin has finally died, and left Louis to -assume the reigns of power, with the assistance of M. Colbert, formerly -Mazarin's trusted clerk. Colbert has an intense hatred for M. Fouquet, -the king's superintendent of finances, and has resolved to use any -means necessary to bring about his fall. With the new rank of intendant -bestowed on him by Louis, Colbert succeeds in having two of Fouquet's -loyal friends tried and executed. He then brings to the king's attention -that Fouquet is fortifying the island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer, and could -possibly be planning to use it as a base for some military operation -against the king. Louis calls D'Artagnan out of retirement and sends -him to investigate the island, promising him a tremendous salary and his -long-promised promotion to captain of the musketeers upon his return. At -Belle-Isle, D'Artagnan discovers that the engineer of the fortifications -is, in fact, Porthos, now the Baron du Vallon, and that's not all. -The blueprints for the island, although in Porthos's handwriting, -show evidence of another script that has been erased, that of Aramis. -D'Artagnan later discovers that Aramis has become the bishop of Vannes, -which is, coincidentally, a parish belonging to M. Fouquet. Suspecting -that D'Artagnan has arrived on the king's behalf to investigate, Aramis -tricks D'Artagnan into wandering around Vannes in search of Porthos, -and sends Porthos on an heroic ride back to Paris to warn Fouquet of -the danger. Fouquet rushes to the king, and gives him Belle-Isle as a -present, thus allaying any suspicion, and at the same time humiliating -Colbert, just minutes before the usher announces someone else seeking an -audience with the king. - -Ten Years Later (Etext 2681): As 1661 approaches, Princess Henrietta of -England arrives for her marriage, and throws the court of France into -complete disorder. The jealousy of the Duke of Buckingham, who is -in love with her, nearly occasions a war on the streets of Le Havre, -thankfully prevented by Raoul's timely and tactful intervention. After -the marriage, though, Monsieur Philip becomes horribly jealous of -Buckingham, and has him exiled. Before leaving, however, the duke -fights a duel with M. de Wardes at Calais. De Wardes is a malicious and -spiteful man, the sworn enemy of D'Artagnan, and, by the same token, -that of Athos, Aramis, Porthos, and Raoul as well. Both men are -seriously wounded, and the duke is taken back to England to recover. -Raoul's friend, the Comte de Guiche, is the next to succumb to -Henrietta's charms, and Monsieur obtains his exile as well, though De -Guiche soon effects a reconciliation. But then the king's eye falls on -Madame Henrietta during the comte's absence, and this time Monsieur's -jealousy has no recourse. Anne of Austria intervenes, and the king and -his sister-in-law decide to pick a young lady with whom the king -can pretend to be in love, the better to mask their own affair. They -unfortunately select Louise de la Valliere, Raoul's fiancee. While the -court is in residence at Fontainebleau, the king unwitting overhears -Louise confessing her love for him while chatting with her friends -beneath the royal oak, and the king promptly forgets his affection for -Madame. That same night, Henrietta overhears, at the same oak, De -Guiche confessing his love for her to Raoul. The two embark on their -own affair. A few days later, during a rainstorm, Louis and Louise -are trapped alone together, and the whole court begins to talk of the -scandal while their love affair blossoms. Aware of Louise's attachment, -the king arranges for Raoul to be sent to England for an indefinite -period. - -Meanwhile, the struggle for power continues between Fouquet and Colbert. -Although the Belle-Isle plot backfired, Colbert prompts the king to ask -Fouquet for more and more money, and without his two friends to raise it -for him, Fouquet is sorely pressed. The situation gets so bad that his -new mistress, Madame de Belliere, must resort to selling all her jewels -and her gold and silver plate. Aramis, while this is going on, has grown -friendly with the governor of the Bastile, M. de Baisemeaux, a fact that -Baisemeaux unwittingly reveals to D'Artagnan while inquiring of him -as to Aramis's whereabouts. This further arouses the suspicions of the -musketeer, who was made to look ridiculous by Aramis. He had ridden -overnight at an insane pace, but arrived a few minutes after Fouquet -had already presented Belle-Isle to the king. Aramis learns from the -governor the location of a mysterious prisoner, who bears a remarkable -resemblance to Louis XIV--in fact, the two are identical. He uses -the existence of this secret to persuade a dying Franciscan monk, the -general of the society of the Jesuits, to name him, Aramis, the new -general of the order. On Aramis's advice, hoping to use Louise's -influence with the king to counteract Colbert's influence, Fouquet also -writes a love letter to La Valliere, unfortunately undated. It never -reaches its destination, however, as the servant ordered to deliver it -turns out to be an agent of Colbert's. - -Louise de la Valliere (Etext 2710): Believing D'Artagnan occupied at -Fontainebleau and Porthos safely tucked away at Paris, Aramis holds a -funeral for the dead Franciscan--but in fact, Aramis is wrong in both -suppositions. D'Artagnan has left Fontainebleau, bored to tears by -the _fetes_, retrieved Porthos, and is visiting the country-house of -Planchet, his old lackey. This house happens to be right next door -to the graveyard, and upon observing Aramis at this funeral, and his -subsequent meeting with a mysterious hooded lady, D'Artagnan, suspicions -aroused, resolves to make a little trouble for the bishop. He presents -Porthos to the king at the same time as Fouquet presents Aramis, thereby -surprising the wily prelate. Aramis's professions of affection and -innocence do only a little to allay D'Artagnan's concerns, and he -continues to regard Aramis's actions with a curious and wary eye. -Meanwhile, much to his delight, Porthos is invited to dine with the king -as a result of his presentation, and with D'Artagnan's guidance, manages -to behave in such a manner as to procure the king's marked favor. - -The mysterious woman turns out to be the Duchesse de Chevreuse, a -notorious schemer and former friend of Anne of Austria. She comes -bearing more bad news for Fouquet, who is already in trouble, as the -king has invited himself to a _fete_ at Vaux, Fouquet's magnificent -mansion, that will surely bankrupt the poor superintendent. The Duchesse -has letters from Mazarin that prove that Fouquet has received thirteen -million francs from the royal coffers, and she wishes to sell these -letters to Aramis. Aramis refuses, and the letters are instead sold to -Colbert. Fouquet, meanwhile, discovers that the receipt that proves his -innocence in the affair has been stolen from him. Even worse, Fouquet, -desperate for money, is forced to sell the parliamentary position that -renders him untouchable by any court proceedings. As part of her deal -with Colbert, though, Chevreuse also obtains a secret audience with the -queen-mother, where the two discuss a shocking secret--Louis XIV has a -twin brother, long believed, however, to be dead. - -Meanwhile, in other quarters, De Wardes, Raoul's inveterate enemy, has -returned from Calais, barely recovered from his wounds, and no sooner -does he return than he begins again to insult people, particularly La -Valliere, and this time the comte de Guiche is the one to challenge him. -The duel leaves De Guiche horribly wounded, but enables Madame to use -her influence to destroy De Wardes's standing at court. The _fetes_, -however, come to an end, and the court returns to Paris. The king has -been more than obvious about his affections for Louise, and Madame, -the queen-mother, and the queen join forces to destroy her. She is -dishonorably discharged from court, and in despair, she flees to the -convent at Chaillot. Along the way, though, she runs into D'Artagnan, -who manages to get word back to the king of what has taken place. By -literally begging Madame in tears, Louis manages to secure Louise's -return to court--but Madame still places every obstacle possible before -the lovers. They have to resort to building a secret staircase and -meeting in the apartments of M. de Saint-Aignan, where Louis has a -painter create a portrait of Louise. But Madame recalls Raoul from -London and shows him these proofs of Louise's infidelity. Raoul, -crushed, challenges Saint-Aignan to a duel, which the king prevents, -and Athos, furious, breaks his sword before the king. The king has -D'Artagnan arrest Athos, and at the Bastile they encounter Aramis, who -is paying Baisemeaux another visit. Raoul learns of Athos's arrest, -and with Porthos in tow, they effect a daring rescue, surprising the -carriage containing D'Artagnan and Athos as they leave the Bastile. -Although quite impressive, the intrepid raid is in vain, as D'Artagnan -has already secured Athos's pardon from the king. Instead, everybody -switches modes of transport; D'Artagnan and Porthos take the horses back -to Paris, and Athos and Raoul take the carriage back to La Fere, where -they intend to reside permanently, as the king is now their sworn enemy, -Raoul cannot bear to see Louise, and they have no more dealings in -Paris. - -Aramis, left alone with Baisemeaux, inquires the governor of the prison -about his loyalties, in particular to the Jesuits. The bishop reveals -that he is a confessor of the society, and invokes their regulations -in order to obtain access to this mysterious prisoner who bears such a -striking resemblance to Louis XIV... - -And so Baisemeaux is conducting Aramis to the prisoner as the final -section of The Vicomte de Bragelonne and this final story of the -D'Artagnan Romances opens. I have written a "Cast of Historical -Characters," Etext 2760, that will enable curious readers to compare -personages in the novel with their historical counterparts. Also of -interest may be an essay Dumas wrote on the possible identity of the -real Man in the Iron Mask, which is Etext 2751. Enjoy! - -John Bursey Mordaunt@aol.com August, 2000 - -***** - - - - -Chapter I. The Prisoner. - -Since Aramis's singular transformation into a confessor of the order, -Baisemeaux was no longer the same man. Up to that period, the place -which Aramis had held in the worthy governor's estimation was that of -a prelate whom he respected and a friend to whom he owed a debt of -gratitude; but now he felt himself an inferior, and that Aramis was -his master. He himself lighted a lantern, summoned a turnkey, and said, -returning to Aramis, "I am at your orders, monseigneur." Aramis merely -nodded his head, as much as to say, "Very good"; and signed to him with -his hand to lead the way. Baisemeaux advanced, and Aramis followed him. -It was a calm and lovely starlit night; the steps of three men resounded -on the flags of the terraces, and the clinking of the keys hanging from -the jailer's girdle made itself heard up to the stories of the towers, -as if to remind the prisoners that the liberty of earth was a luxury -beyond their reach. It might have been said that the alteration effected -in Baisemeaux extended even to the prisoners. The turnkey, the same who, -on Aramis's first arrival had shown himself so inquisitive and curious, -was now not only silent, but impassible. He held his head down, and -seemed afraid to keep his ears open. In this wise they reached the -basement of the Bertaudiere, the two first stories of which were -mounted silently and somewhat slowly; for Baisemeaux, though far from -disobeying, was far from exhibiting any eagerness to obey. On arriving -at the door, Baisemeaux showed a disposition to enter the prisoner's -chamber; but Aramis, stopping him on the threshold, said, "The rules do -not allow the governor to hear the prisoner's confession." - -Baisemeaux bowed, and made way for Aramis, who took the lantern and -entered; and then signed to them to close the door behind him. For -an instant he remained standing, listening whether Baisemeaux and the -turnkey had retired; but as soon as he was assured by the sound of their -descending footsteps that they had left the tower, he put the lantern -on the table and gazed around. On a bed of green serge, similar in all -respect to the other beds in the Bastile, save that it was newer, and -under curtains half-drawn, reposed a young man, to whom we have already -once before introduced Aramis. According to custom, the prisoner was -without a light. At the hour of curfew, he was bound to extinguish his -lamp, and we perceive how much he was favored, in being allowed to keep -it burning even till then. Near the bed a large leathern armchair, -with twisted legs, sustained his clothes. A little table--without pens, -books, paper, or ink--stood neglected in sadness near the window; while -several plates, still unemptied, showed that the prisoner had scarcely -touched his evening meal. Aramis saw that the young man was stretched -upon his bed, his face half concealed by his arms. The arrival of a -visitor did not caused any change of position; either he was waiting in -expectation, or was asleep. Aramis lighted the candle from the lantern, -pushed back the armchair, and approached the bed with an evident mixture -of interest and respect. The young man raised his head. "What is it?" -said he. - -"You desired a confessor?" replied Aramis. - -"Yes." - -"Because you were ill?" - -"Yes." - -"Very ill?" - -The young man gave Aramis a piercing glance, and answered, "I thank -you." After a moment's silence, "I have seen you before," he continued. -Aramis bowed. - -Doubtless the scrutiny the prisoner had just made of the cold, crafty, -and imperious character stamped upon the features of the bishop of -Vannes was little reassuring to one in his situation, for he added, "I -am better." - -"And so?" said Aramis. - -"Why, then--being better, I have no longer the same need of a confessor, -I think." - -"Not even of the hair-cloth, which the note you found in your bread -informed you of?" - -The young man started; but before he had either assented or denied, -Aramis continued, "Not even of the ecclesiastic from whom you were to -hear an important revelation?" - -"If it be so," said the young man, sinking again on his pillow, "it is -different; I am listening." - -Aramis then looked at him more closely, and was struck with the easy -majesty of his mien, one which can never be acquired unless Heaven -has implanted it in the blood or heart. "Sit down, monsieur," said the -prisoner. - -Aramis bowed and obeyed. "How does the Bastile agree with you?" asked -the bishop. - -"Very well." - -"You do not suffer?" - -"No." - -"You have nothing to regret?" - -"Nothing." - -"Not even your liberty?" - -"What do you call liberty, monsieur?" asked the prisoner, with the tone -of a man who is preparing for a struggle. - -"I call liberty, the flowers, the air, light, the stars, the happiness -of going whithersoever the sinewy limbs of one-and-twenty chance to wish -to carry you." - -The young man smiled, whether in resignation or contempt, it was -difficult to tell. "Look," said he, "I have in that Japanese vase two -roses gathered yesterday evening in the bud from the governor's garden; -this morning they have blown and spread their vermilion chalice beneath -my gaze; with every opening petal they unfold the treasures of their -perfumes, filling my chamber with a fragrance that embalms it. Look now -on these two roses; even among roses these are beautiful, and the rose -is the most beautiful of flowers. Why, then, do you bid me desire other -flowers when I possess the loveliest of all?" - -Aramis gazed at the young man in surprise. - -"If _flowers_ constitute liberty," sadly resumed the captive, "I am -free, for I possess them." - -"But the air!" cried Aramis; "air is so necessary to life!" - -"Well, monsieur," returned the prisoner; "draw near to the window; it is -open. Between high heaven and earth the wind whirls on its waftages -of hail and lightning, exhales its torrid mist or breathes in gentle -breezes. It caresses my face. When mounted on the back of this armchair, -with my arm around the bars of the window to sustain myself, I fancy -I am swimming the wide expanse before me." The countenance of Aramis -darkened as the young man continued: "Light I have! what is better than -light? I have the sun, a friend who comes to visit me every day without -the permission of the governor or the jailer's company. He comes in -at the window, and traces in my room a square the shape of the window, -which lights up the hangings of my bed and floods the very floor. This -luminous square increases from ten o'clock till midday, and decreases -from one till three slowly, as if, having hastened to my presence, it -sorrowed at bidding me farewell. When its last ray disappears I have -enjoyed its presence for five hours. Is not that sufficient? I have been -told that there are unhappy beings who dig in quarries, and laborers who -toil in mines, who never behold it at all." Aramis wiped the drops from -his brow. "As to the stars which are so delightful to view," continued -the young man, "they all resemble each other save in size and -brilliancy. I am a favored mortal, for if you had not lighted that -candle you would have been able to see the beautiful stars which I was -gazing at from my couch before your arrival, whose silvery rays were -stealing through my brain." - -Aramis lowered his head; he felt himself overwhelmed with the bitter -flow of that sinister philosophy which is the religion of the captive. - -"So much, then, for the flowers, the air, the daylight, and the stars," -tranquilly continued the young man; "there remains but exercise. Do -I not walk all day in the governor's garden if it is fine--here if it -rains? in the fresh air if it is warm; in perfect warmth, thanks to my -winter stove, if it be cold? Ah! monsieur, do you fancy," continued the -prisoner, not without bitterness, "that men have not done everything for -me that a man can hope for or desire?" - -"Men!" said Aramis; "be it so; but it seems to me you are forgetting -Heaven." - -"Indeed I have forgotten Heaven," murmured the prisoner, with emotion; -"but why do you mention it? Of what use is it to talk to a prisoner of -Heaven?" - -Aramis looked steadily at this singular youth, who possessed the -resignation of a martyr with the smile of an atheist. "Is not Heaven in -everything?" he murmured in a reproachful tone. - -"Say rather, at the end of everything," answered the prisoner, firmly. - -"Be it so," said Aramis; "but let us return to our starting-point." - -"I ask nothing better," returned the young man. - -"I am your confessor." - -"Yes." - -"Well, then, you ought, as a penitent, to tell me the truth." - -"My whole desire is to tell it you." - -"Every prisoner has committed some crime for which he has been -imprisoned. What crime, then, have you committed?" - -"You asked me the same question the first time you saw me," returned the -prisoner. - -"And then, as now you evaded giving me an answer." - -"And what reason have you for thinking that I shall now reply to you?" - -"Because this time I am your confessor." - -"Then if you wish me to tell what crime I have committed, explain to -me in what a crime consists. For as my conscience does not accuse me, I -aver that I am not a criminal." - -"We are often criminals in the sight of the great of the earth, not -alone for having ourselves committed crimes, but because we know that -crimes have been committed." - -The prisoner manifested the deepest attention. - -"Yes, I understand you," he said, after a pause; "yes, you are right, -monsieur; it is very possible that, in such a light, I am a criminal in -the eyes of the great of the earth." - -"Ah! then you know something," said Aramis, who thought he had pierced -not merely through a defect in the harness, but through the joints of -it. - -"No, I am not aware of anything," replied the young man; "but sometimes -I think--and I say to myself--" - -"What do you say to yourself?" - -"That if I were to think but a little more deeply I should either go mad -or I should divine a great deal." - -"And then--and then?" said Aramis, impatiently. - -"Then I leave off." - -"You leave off?" - -"Yes; my head becomes confused and my ideas melancholy; I feel _ennui_ -overtaking me; I wish--" - -"What?" - -"I don't know; but I do not like to give myself up to longing for things -which I do not possess, when I am so happy with what I have." - -"You are afraid of death?" said Aramis, with a slight uneasiness. - -"Yes," said the young man, smiling. - -Aramis felt the chill of that smile, and shuddered. "Oh, as you fear -death, you know more about matters than you say," he cried. - -"And you," returned the prisoner, "who bade me to ask to see you; -you, who, when I did ask to see you, came here promising a world of -confidence; how is it that, nevertheless, it is you who are silent, -leaving it for me to speak? Since, then, we both wear masks, either let -us both retain them or put them aside together." - -Aramis felt the force and justice of the remark, saying to himself, -"This is no ordinary man; I must be cautious.--Are you ambitious?" -said he suddenly to the prisoner, aloud, without preparing him for the -alteration. - -"What do you mean by ambitious?" replied the youth. - -"Ambition," replied Aramis, "is the feeling which prompts a man to -desire more--much more--than he possesses." - -"I said that I was contented, monsieur; but, perhaps, I deceive myself. -I am ignorant of the nature of ambition; but it is not impossible I may -have some. Tell me your mind; that is all I ask." - -"An ambitious man," said Aramis, "is one who covets that which is beyond -his station." - -"I covet nothing beyond my station," said the young man, with an -assurance of manner which for the second time made the bishop of Vannes -tremble. - -He was silent. But to look at the kindling eye, the knitted brow, and -the reflective attitude of the captive, it was evident that he expected -something more than silence,--a silence which Aramis now broke. "You -lied the first time I saw you," said he. - -"Lied!" cried the young man, starting up on his couch, with such a tone -in his voice, and such a lightning in his eyes, that Aramis recoiled, in -spite of himself. - -"I _should_ say," returned Aramis, bowing, "you concealed from me what -you knew of your infancy." - -"A man's secrets are his own, monsieur," retorted the prisoner, "and not -at the mercy of the first chance-comer." - -"True," said Aramis, bowing still lower than before, "'tis true; pardon -me, but to-day do I still occupy the place of a chance-comer? I beseech -you to reply, monseigneur." - -This title slightly disturbed the prisoner; but nevertheless he did not -appear astonished that it was given him. "I do not know you, monsieur," -said he. - -"Oh, but if I dared, I would take your hand and kiss it!" - -The young man seemed as if he were going to give Aramis his hand; -but the light which beamed in his eyes faded away, and he coldly and -distrustfully withdrew his hand again. "Kiss the hand of a prisoner," he -said, shaking his head, "to what purpose?" - -"Why did you tell me," said Aramis, "that you were happy here? Why, that -you aspired to nothing? Why, in a word, by thus speaking, do you prevent -me from being frank in my turn?" - -The same light shone a third time in the young man's eyes, but died -ineffectually away as before. - -"You distrust me," said Aramis. - -"And why say you so, monsieur?" - -"Oh, for a very simple reason; if you know what you ought to know, you -ought to mistrust everybody." - -"Then do not be astonished that I am mistrustful, since you suspect me -of knowing what I do not know." - -Aramis was struck with admiration at this energetic resistance. "Oh, -monseigneur! you drive me to despair," said he, striking the armchair -with his fist. - -"And, on my part, I do not comprehend you, monsieur." - -"Well, then, try to understand me." The prisoner looked fixedly at -Aramis. - -"Sometimes it seems to me," said the latter, "that I have before me the -man whom I seek, and then--" - -"And then your man disappears,--is it not so?" said the prisoner, -smiling. "So much the better." - -Aramis rose. "Certainly," said he; "I have nothing further to say to a -man who mistrusts me as you do." - -"And I, monsieur," said the prisoner, in the same tone, "have nothing -to say to a man who will not understand that a prisoner ought to be -mistrustful of everybody." - -"Even of his old friends," said Aramis. "Oh, monseigneur, you are _too_ -prudent!" - -"Of my old friends?--you one of my old friends,--you?" - -"Do you no longer remember," said Aramis, "that you once saw, in the -village where your early years were spent--" - -"Do you know the name of the village?" asked the prisoner. - -"Noisy-le-Sec, monseigneur," answered Aramis, firmly. - -"Go on," said the young man, with an immovable aspect. - -"Stay, monseigneur," said Aramis; "if you are positively resolved to -carry on this game, let us break off. I am here to tell you many things, -'tis true; but you must allow me to see that, on your side, you have -a desire to know them. Before revealing the important matters I still -withhold, be assured I am in need of some encouragement, if not candor; -a little sympathy, if not confidence. But you keep yourself intrenched -in a pretended which paralyzes me. Oh, not for the reason you think; -for, ignorant as you may be, or indifferent as you feign to be, you are -none the less what you are, monseigneur, and there is nothing--nothing, -mark me! which can cause you not to be so." - -"I promise you," replied the prisoner, "to hear you without impatience. -Only it appears to me that I have a right to repeat the question I have -already asked, 'Who _are_ you?'" - -"Do you remember, fifteen or eighteen years ago, seeing at Noisy-le-Sec -a cavalier, accompanied by a lady in black silk, with flame-colored -ribbons in her hair?" - -"Yes," said the young man; "I once asked the name of this cavalier, and -they told me that he called himself the Abbe d'Herblay. I was astonished -that the abbe had so warlike an air, and they replied that there was -nothing singular in that, seeing that he was one of Louis XIII.'s -musketeers." - -"Well," said Aramis, "that musketeer and abbe, afterwards bishop of -Vannes, is your confessor now." - -"I know it; I recognized you." - -"Then, monseigneur, if you know that, I must further add a fact of which -you are ignorant--that if the king were to know this evening of the -presence of this musketeer, this abbe, this bishop, this confessor, -_here_--he, who has risked everything to visit you, to-morrow would -behold the steely glitter of the executioner's axe in a dungeon more -gloomy, more obscure than yours." - -While listening to these words, delivered with emphasis, the young -man had raised himself on his couch, and was now gazing more and more -eagerly at Aramis. - -The result of his scrutiny was that he appeared to derive some -confidence from it. "Yes," he murmured, "I remember perfectly. The -woman of whom you speak came once with you, and twice afterwards with -another." He hesitated. - -"With another, who came to see you every month--is it not so, -monseigneur?" - -"Yes." - -"Do you know who this lady was?" - -The light seemed ready to flash from the prisoner's eyes. "I am aware -that she was one of the ladies of the court," he said. - -"You remember that lady well, do you not?" - -"Oh, my recollection can hardly be very confused on this head," said the -young prisoner. "I saw that lady once with a gentleman about forty-five -years old. I saw her once with you, and with the lady dressed in black. -I have seen her twice since then with the same person. These four -people, with my master, and old Perronnette, my jailer, and the governor -of the prison, are the only persons with whom I have ever spoken, and, -indeed, almost the only persons I have ever seen." - -"Then you were in prison?" - -"If I am a prisoner here, then I was comparatively free, although in -a very narrow sense--a house I never quitted, a garden surrounded with -walls I could not climb, these constituted my residence, but you know -it, as you have been there. In a word, being accustomed to live within -these bounds, I never cared to leave them. And so you will understand, -monsieur, that having never seen anything of the world, I have nothing -left to care for; and therefore, if you relate anything, you will be -obliged to explain each item to me as you go along." - -"And I will do so," said Aramis, bowing; "for it is my duty, -monseigneur." - -"Well, then, begin by telling me who was my tutor." - -"A worthy and, above all, an honorable gentleman, monseigneur; fit guide -for both body and soul. Had you ever any reason to complain of him?" - -"Oh, no; quite the contrary. But this gentleman of yours often used to -tell me that my father and mother were dead. Did he deceive me, or did -he speak the truth?" - -"He was compelled to comply with the orders given him." - -"Then he lied?" - -"In one respect. Your father is dead." - -"And my mother?" - -"She is dead _for you_." - -"But then she lives for others, does she not?" - -"Yes." - -"And I--and I, then" (the young man looked sharply at Aramis) "am -compelled to live in the obscurity of a prison?" - -"Alas! I fear so." - -"And that because my presence in the world would lead to the revelation -of a great secret?" - -"Certainly, a very great secret." - -"My enemy must indeed be powerful, to be able to shut up in the Bastile -a child such as I then was." - -"He is." - -"More powerful than my mother, then?" - -"And why do you ask that?" - -"Because my mother would have taken my part." - -Aramis hesitated. "Yes, monseigneur; more powerful than your mother." - -"Seeing, then, that my nurse and preceptor were carried off, and that I, -also, was separated from them--either they were, or I am, very dangerous -to my enemy?" - -"Yes; but you are alluding to a peril from which he freed himself, by -causing the nurse and preceptor to disappear," answered Aramis, quietly. - -"Disappear!" cried the prisoner, "how did they disappear?" - -"In a very sure way," answered Aramis--"they are dead." - -The young man turned pale, and passed his hand tremblingly over his -face. "Poison?" he asked. - -"Poison." - -The prisoner reflected a moment. "My enemy must indeed have been very -cruel, or hard beset by necessity, to assassinate those two innocent -people, my sole support; for the worthy gentleman and the poor nurse had -never harmed a living being." - -"In your family, monseigneur, necessity is stern. And so it is necessity -which compels me, to my great regret, to tell you that this gentleman -and the unhappy lady have been assassinated." - -"Oh, you tell me nothing I am not aware of," said the prisoner, knitting -his brows. - -"How?" - -"I suspected it." - -"Why?" - -"I will tell you." - -At this moment the young man, supporting himself on his two elbows, -drew close to Aramis's face, with such an expression of dignity, of -self-command and of defiance even, that the bishop felt the electricity -of enthusiasm strike in devouring flashes from that great heart of his, -into his brain of adamant. - -"Speak, monseigneur. I have already told you that by conversing with you -I endanger my life. Little value as it has, I implore you to accept it -as the ransom of your own." - -"Well," resumed the young man, "this is why I suspected they had killed -my nurse and my preceptor--" - -"Whom you used to call your father?" - -"Yes; whom I called my father, but whose son I well knew I was not." - -"Who caused you to suppose so?" - -"Just as you, monsieur, are too respectful for a friend, he was also too -respectful for a father." - -"I, however," said Aramis, "have no intention to disguise myself." - -The young man nodded assent and continued: "Undoubtedly, I was not -destined to perpetual seclusion," said the prisoner; "and that which -makes me believe so, above all, now, is the care that was taken to -render me as accomplished a cavalier as possible. The gentleman attached -to my person taught me everything he knew himself--mathematics, a little -geometry, astronomy, fencing and riding. Every morning I went through -military exercises, and practiced on horseback. Well, one morning during -the summer, it being very hot, I went to sleep in the hall. Nothing, up -to that period, except the respect paid me, had enlightened me, or even -roused my suspicions. I lived as children, as birds, as plants, as the -air and the sun do. I had just turned my fifteenth year--" - -"This, then, is eight years ago?" - -"Yes, nearly; but I have ceased to reckon time." - -"Excuse me; but what did your tutor tell you, to encourage you to work?" - -"He used to say that a man was bound to make for himself, in the world, -that fortune which Heaven had refused him at his birth. He added that, -being a poor, obscure orphan, I had no one but myself to look to; and -that nobody either did, or ever would, take any interest in me. I -was, then, in the hall I have spoken of, asleep from fatigue with long -fencing. My preceptor was in his room on the first floor, just over -me. Suddenly I heard him exclaim, and then he called: 'Perronnette! -Perronnette!' It was my nurse whom he called." - -"Yes, I know it," said Aramis. "Continue, monseigneur." - -"Very likely she was in the garden; for my preceptor came hastily -downstairs. I rose, anxious at seeing him anxious. He opened the -garden-door, still crying out, 'Perronnette! Perronnette!' The windows -of the hall looked into the court; the shutters were closed; but through -a chink in them I saw my tutor draw near a large well, which was almost -directly under the windows of his study. He stooped over the brim, -looked into the well, and again cried out, and made wild and affrighted -gestures. Where I was, I could not only see, but hear--and see and hear -I did." - -"Go on, I pray you," said Aramis. - -"Dame Perronnette came running up, hearing the governor's cries. He went -to meet her, took her by the arm, and drew her quickly towards the edge; -after which, as they both bent over it together, 'Look, look,' cried he, -'what a misfortune!' - -"'Calm yourself, calm yourself,' said Perronnette; 'what is the matter?' - -"'The letter!' he exclaimed; 'do you see that letter?' pointing to the -bottom of the well. - -"'What letter?' she cried. - -"'The letter you see down there; the last letter from the queen.' - -"At this word I trembled. My tutor--he who passed for my father, he who -was continually recommending me modesty and humility--in correspondence -with the queen! - -"'The queen's last letter!' cried Perronnette, without showing more -astonishment than at seeing this letter at the bottom of the well; 'but -how came it there?' - -"'A chance, Dame Perronnette--a singular chance. I was entering my room, -and on opening the door, the window, too, being open, a puff of air came -suddenly and carried off this paper--this letter of her majesty's; I -darted after it, and gained the window just in time to see it flutter a -moment in the breeze and disappear down the well.' - -"'Well,' said Dame Perronnette; 'and if the letter has fallen into the -well, 'tis all the same as if it was burnt; and as the queen burns all -her letters every time she comes--' - -"And so you see this lady who came every month was the queen," said the -prisoner. - -"'Doubtless, doubtless,' continued the old gentleman; 'but this letter -contained instructions--how can I follow them?' - -"'Write immediately to her; give her a plain account of the accident, -and the queen will no doubt write you another letter in place of this.' - -"'Oh! the queen would never believe the story,' said the good gentleman, -shaking his head; 'she will imagine that I want to keep this letter -instead of giving it up like the rest, so as to have a hold over her. -She is so distrustful, and M. de Mazarin so--Yon devil of an Italian is -capable of having us poisoned at the first breath of suspicion.'" - -Aramis almost imperceptibly smiled. - -"'You know, Dame Perronnette, they are both so suspicious in all that -concerns Philippe.' - -"Philippe was the name they gave me," said the prisoner. - -"'Well, 'tis no use hesitating,' said Dame Perronnette, 'somebody must -go down the well.' - -"'Of course; so that the person who goes down may read the paper as he -is coming up.' - -"'But let us choose some villager who cannot read, and then you will be -at ease.' - -"'Granted; but will not any one who descends guess that a paper must be -important for which we risk a man's life? However, you have given me -an idea, Dame Perronnette; somebody shall go down the well, but that -somebody shall be myself.' - -"But at this notion Dame Perronnette lamented and cried in such a -manner, and so implored the old nobleman, with tears in her eyes, that -he promised her to obtain a ladder long enough to reach down, while she -went in search of some stout-hearted youth, whom she was to persuade -that a jewel had fallen into the well, and that this jewel was wrapped -in a paper. 'And as paper,' remarked my preceptor, 'naturally unfolds -in water, the young man would not be surprised at finding nothing, after -all, but the letter wide open.' - -"'But perhaps the writing will be already effaced by that time,' said -Dame Perronnette. - -"'No consequence, provided we secure the letter. On returning it to -the queen, she will see at once that we have not betrayed her; and -consequently, as we shall not rouse the distrust of Mazarin, we shall -have nothing to fear from him.' - -"Having come to this resolution, they parted. I pushed back the shutter, -and, seeing that my tutor was about to re-enter, I threw myself on -my couch, in a confusion of brain caused by all I had just heard. My -governor opened the door a few moments after, and thinking I was asleep -gently closed it again. As soon as ever it was shut, I rose, and, -listening, heard the sound of retiring footsteps. Then I returned to the -shutters, and saw my tutor and Dame Perronnette go out together. I was -alone in the house. They had hardly closed the gate before I sprang from -the window and ran to the well. Then, just as my governor had leaned -over, so leaned I. Something white and luminous glistened in the green -and quivering silence of the water. The brilliant disk fascinated and -allured me; my eyes became fixed, and I could hardly breathe. The well -seemed to draw me downwards with its slimy mouth and icy breath; and I -thought I read, at the bottom of the water, characters of fire traced -upon the letter the queen had touched. Then, scarcely knowing what I was -about, and urged on by one of those instinctive impulses which drive -men to destruction, I lowered the cord from the windlass of the well to -within about three feet of the water, leaving the bucket dangling, at -the same time taking infinite pains not to disturb that coveted -letter, which was beginning to change its white tint for the hue of -chrysoprase,--proof enough that it was sinking,--and then, with the -rope weltering in my hands, slid down into the abyss. When I saw myself -hanging over the dark pool, when I saw the sky lessening above my head, -a cold shudder came over me, a chill fear got the better of me, I was -seized with giddiness, and the hair rose on my head; but my strong will -still reigned supreme over all the terror and disquietude. I gained -the water, and at once plunged into it, holding on by one hand, while I -immersed the other and seized the dear letter, which, alas! came in two -in my grasp. I concealed the two fragments in my body-coat, and, helping -myself with my feet against the sides of the pit, and clinging on with -my hands, agile and vigorous as I was, and, above all, pressed for time, -I regained the brink, drenching it as I touched it with the water that -streamed off me. I was no sooner out of the well with my prize, than I -rushed into the sunlight, and took refuge in a kind of shrubbery at -the bottom of the garden. As I entered my hiding-place, the bell which -resounded when the great gate was opened, rang. It was my preceptor come -back again. I had but just time. I calculated that it would take ten -minutes before he would gain my place of concealment, even if, guessing -where I was, he came straight to it; and twenty if he were obliged to -look for me. But this was time enough to allow me to read the cherished -letter, whose fragments I hastened to unite again. The writing was -already fading, but I managed to decipher it all. - -"And will you tell me what you read therein, monseigneur?" asked Aramis, -deeply interested. - -"Quite enough, monsieur, to see that my tutor was a man of noble rank, -and that Perronnette, without being a lady of quality, was far better -than a servant; and also to perceived that I must myself be high-born, -since the queen, Anne of Austria, and Mazarin, the prime minister, -commended me so earnestly to their care." Here the young man paused, -quite overcome. - -"And what happened?" asked Aramis. - -"It happened, monsieur," answered he, "that the workmen they had -summoned found nothing in the well, after the closest search; that my -governor perceived that the brink was all watery; that I was not so -dried by the sun as to prevent Dame Perronnette spying that my garments -were moist; and, lastly, that I was seized with a violent fever, owing -to the chill and the excitement of my discovery, an attack of delirium -supervening, during which I related the whole adventure; so that, guided -by my avowal, my governor found the pieces of the queen's letter inside -the bolster where I had concealed them." - -"Ah!" said Aramis, "now I understand." - -"Beyond this, all is conjecture. Doubtless the unfortunate lady and -gentleman, not daring to keep the occurrence secret, wrote of all this -to the queen and sent back the torn letter." - -"After which," said Aramis, "you were arrested and removed to the -Bastile." - -"As you see." - -"Your two attendants disappeared?" - -"Alas!" - -"Let us not take up our time with the dead, but see what can be done -with the living. You told me you were resigned." - -"I repeat it." - -"Without any desire for freedom?" - -"As I told you." - -"Without ambition, sorrow, or thought?" - -The young man made no answer. - -"Well," asked Aramis, "why are you silent?" - -"I think I have spoken enough," answered the prisoner, "and that now it -is your turn. I am weary." - -Aramis gathered himself up, and a shade of deep solemnity spread itself -over his countenance. It was evident that he had reached the crisis in -the part he had come to the prison to play. "One question," said Aramis. - -"What is it? speak." - -"In the house you inhabited there were neither looking-glasses nor -mirrors?" - -"What are those two words, and what is their meaning?" asked the young -man; "I have no sort of knowledge of them." - -"They designate two pieces of furniture which reflect objects; so that, -for instance, you may see in them your own lineaments, as you see mine -now, with the naked eye." - -"No; there was neither a glass nor a mirror in the house," answered the -young man. - -Aramis looked round him. "Nor is there anything of the kind here, -either," he said; "they have again taken the same precaution." - -"To what end?" - -"You will know directly. Now, you have told me that you were instructed -in mathematics, astronomy, fencing, and riding; but you have not said a -word about history." - -"My tutor sometimes related to me the principal deeds of the king, St. -Louis, King Francis I., and King Henry IV." - -"Is that all?" - -"Very nearly." - -"This also was done by design, then; just as they deprived you of -mirrors, which reflect the present, so they left you in ignorance of -history, which reflects the past. Since your imprisonment, books have -been forbidden you; so that you are unacquainted with a number of facts, -by means of which you would be able to reconstruct the shattered mansion -of your recollections and your hopes." - -"It is true," said the young man. - -"Listen, then; I will in a few words tell you what has passed in France -during the last twenty-three or twenty-four years; that is, from the -probable date of your birth; in a word, from the time that interests -you." - -"Say on." And the young man resumed his serious and attentive attitude. - -"Do you know who was the son of Henry IV.?" - -"At least I know who his successor was." - -"How?" - -"By means of a coin dated 1610, which bears the effigy of Henry IV.; and -another of 1612, bearing that of Louis XIII. So I presumed that, -there being only two years between the two dates, Louis was Henry's -successor." - -"Then," said Aramis, "you know that the last reigning monarch was Louis -XIII.?" - -"I do," answered the youth, slightly reddening. - -"Well, he was a prince full of noble ideas and great projects, always, -alas! deferred by the trouble of the times and the dread struggle that -his minister Richelieu had to maintain against the great nobles of -France. The king himself was of a feeble character, and died young and -unhappy." - -"I know it." - -"He had been long anxious about having a heir; a care which weighs -heavily on princes, who desire to leave behind them more than one pledge -that their best thoughts and works will be continued." - -"Did the king, then, die childless?" asked the prisoner, smiling. - -"No, but he was long without one, and for a long while thought he should -be the last of his race. This idea had reduced him to the depths of -despair, when suddenly, his wife, Anne of Austria--" - -The prisoner trembled. - -"Did you know," said Aramis, "that Louis XIII.'s wife was called Anne of -Austria?" - -"Continue," said the young man, without replying to the question. - -"When suddenly," resumed Aramis, "the queen announced an interesting -event. There was great joy at the intelligence, and all prayed for her -happy delivery. On the 5th of September, 1638, she gave birth to a son." - -Here Aramis looked at his companion, and thought he observed him turning -pale. "You are about to hear," said Aramis, "an account which few indeed -could now avouch; for it refers to a secret which they imagined buried -with the dead, entombed in the abyss of the confessional." - -"And you will tell me this secret?" broke in the youth. - -"Oh!" said Aramis, with unmistakable emphasis, "I do not know that I -ought to risk this secret by intrusting it to one who has no desire to -quit the Bastile." - -"I hear you, monsieur." - -"The queen, then, gave birth to a son. But while the court was rejoicing -over the event, when the king had shown the new-born child to the -nobility and people, and was sitting gayly down to table, to celebrate -the event, the queen, who was alone in her room, was again taken ill and -gave birth to a second son." - -"Oh!" said the prisoner, betraying a better acquaintance with affairs -than he had owned to, "I thought that Monsieur was only born in--" - -Aramis raised his finger; "Permit me to continue," he said. - -The prisoner sighed impatiently, and paused. - -"Yes," said Aramis, "the queen had a second son, whom Dame Perronnette, -the midwife, received in her arms." - -"Dame Perronnette!" murmured the young man. - -"They ran at once to the banqueting-room, and whispered to the king what -had happened; he rose and quitted the table. But this time it was no -longer happiness that his face expressed, but something akin to terror. -The birth of twins changed into bitterness the joy to which that of an -only son had given rise, seeing that in France (a fact you are assuredly -ignorant of) it is the oldest of the king's sons who succeeds his -father." - -"I know it." - -"And that the doctors and jurists assert that there is ground for -doubting whether the son that first makes his appearance is the elder by -the law of heaven and of nature." - -The prisoner uttered a smothered cry, and became whiter than the -coverlet under which he hid himself. - -"Now you understand," pursued Aramis, "that the king, who with so much -pleasure saw himself repeated in one, was in despair about two; fearing -that the second might dispute the first's claim to seniority, which had -been recognized only two hours before; and so this second son, relying -on party interests and caprices, might one day sow discord and engender -civil war throughout the kingdom; by these means destroying the very -dynasty he should have strengthened." - -"Oh, I understand!--I understand!" murmured the young man. - -"Well," continued Aramis; "this is what they relate, what they declare; -this is why one of the queen's two sons, shamefully parted from his -brother, shamefully sequestered, is buried in profound obscurity; this -is why that second son has disappeared, and so completely, that not a -soul in France, save his mother, is aware of his existence." - -"Yes! his mother, who has cast him off," cried the prisoner in a tone of -despair. - -"Except, also," Aramis went on, "the lady in the black dress; and, -finally, excepting--" - -"Excepting yourself--is it not? You who come and relate all this; you, -who rouse in my soul curiosity, hatred, ambition, and, perhaps, even the -thirst of vengeance; except you, monsieur, who, if you are the man to -whom I expect, whom the note I have received applies to, whom, in short, -Heaven ought to send me, must possess about you--" - -"What?" asked Aramis. - -"A portrait of the king, Louis XIV., who at this moment reigns upon the -throne of France." - -"Here is the portrait," replied the bishop, handing the prisoner a -miniature in enamel, on which Louis was depicted life-like, with a -handsome, lofty mien. The prisoner eagerly seized the portrait, and -gazed at it with devouring eyes. - -"And now, monseigneur," said Aramis, "here is a mirror." Aramis left the -prisoner time to recover his ideas. - -"So high!--so high!" murmured the young man, eagerly comparing the -likeness of Louis with his own countenance reflected in the glass. - -"What do you think of it?" at length said Aramis. - -"I think that I am lost," replied the captive; "the king will never set -me free." - -"And I--I demand to know," added the bishop, fixing his piercing eyes -significantly upon the prisoner, "I demand to know which of these two is -king; the one this miniature portrays, or whom the glass reflects?" - -"The king, monsieur," sadly replied the young man, "is he who is on -the throne, who is not in prison; and who, on the other hand, can cause -others to be entombed there. Royalty means power; and you behold how -powerless I am." - -"Monseigneur," answered Aramis, with a respect he had not yet -manifested, "the king, mark me, will, if you desire it, be the one that, -quitting his dungeon, shall maintain himself upon the throne, on which -his friends will place him." - -"Tempt me not, monsieur," broke in the prisoner bitterly. - -"Be not weak, monseigneur," persisted Aramis; "I have brought you all -the proofs of your birth; consult them; satisfy yourself that you are a -king's son; it is for _us_ to act." - -"No, no; it is impossible." - -"Unless, indeed," resumed the bishop ironically, "it be the destiny of -your race, that the brothers excluded from the throne should be always -princes void of courage and honesty, as was your uncle, M. Gaston -d'Orleans, who ten times conspired against his brother Louis XIII." - -"What!" cried the prince, astonished; "my uncle Gaston 'conspired -against his brother'; conspired to dethrone him?" - -"Exactly, monseigneur; for no other reason. I tell you the truth." - -"And he had friends--devoted friends?" - -"As much so as I am to you." - -"And, after all, what did he do?--Failed!" - -"He failed, I admit; but always through his own fault; and, for the -sake of purchasing--not his life--for the life of the king's brother is -sacred and inviolable--but his liberty, he sacrificed the lives of all -his friends, one after another. And so, at this day, he is a very -blot on history, the detestation of a hundred noble families in this -kingdom." - -"I understand, monsieur; either by weakness or treachery, my uncle slew -his friends." - -"By weakness; which, in princes, is always treachery." - -"And cannot a man fail, then, from incapacity and ignorance? Do you -really believe it possible that a poor captive such as I, brought up, -not only at a distance from the court, but even from the world--do you -believe it possible that such a one could assist those of his friends -who should attempt to serve him?" And as Aramis was about to reply, the -young man suddenly cried out, with a violence which betrayed the temper -of his blood, "We are speaking of friends; but how can _I_ have any -friends--I, whom no one knows; and have neither liberty, money, nor -influence, to gain any?" - -"I fancy I had the honor to offer myself to your royal highness." - -"Oh, do not style me so, monsieur; 'tis either treachery or cruelty. Bid -me not think of aught beyond these prison-walls, which so grimly -confine me; let me again love, or, at least, submit to my slavery and my -obscurity." - -"Monseigneur, monseigneur; if you again utter these desperate words--if, -after having received proof of your high birth, you still remain -poor-spirited in body and soul, I will comply with your desire, I will -depart, and renounce forever the service of a master, to whom so eagerly -I came to devote my assistance and my life!" - -"Monsieur," cried the prince, "would it not have been better for you to -have reflected, before telling me all that you have done, that you have -broken my heart forever?" - -"And so I desire to do, monseigneur." - -"To talk to me about power, grandeur, eye, and to prate of thrones! Is -a prison the fit place? You wish to make me believe in splendor, and we -are lying lost in night; you boast of glory, and we are smothering our -words in the curtains of this miserable bed; you give me glimpses of -power absolute whilst I hear the footsteps of the every-watchful jailer -in the corridor--that step which, after all, makes you tremble more than -it does me. To render me somewhat less incredulous, free me from the -Bastile; let me breathe the fresh air; give me my spurs and trusty -sword, then we shall begin to understand each other." - -"It is precisely my intention to give you all this, monseigneur, and -more; only, do you desire it?" - -"A word more," said the prince. "I know there are guards in every -gallery, bolts to every door, cannon and soldiery at every barrier. -How will you overcome the sentries--spike the guns? How will you break -through the bolts and bars?" - -"Monseigneur,--how did you get the note which announced my arrival to -you?" - -"You can bribe a jailer for such a thing as a note." - -"If we can corrupt one turnkey, we can corrupt ten." - -"Well; I admit that it may be possible to release a poor captive from -the Bastile; possible so to conceal him that the king's people shall -not again ensnare him; possible, in some unknown retreat, to sustain the -unhappy wretch in some suitable manner." - -"Monseigneur!" said Aramis, smiling. - -"I admit that, whoever would do this much for me, would seem more than -mortal in my eyes; but as you tell me I am a prince, brother of the -king, how can you restore me the rank and power which my mother and my -brother have deprived me of? And as, to effect this, I must pass a -life of war and hatred, how can you cause me to prevail in those -combats--render me invulnerable by my enemies? Ah! monsieur, reflect on -all this; place me, to-morrow, in some dark cavern at a mountain's base; -yield me the delight of hearing in freedom sounds of the river, plain -and valley, of beholding in freedom the sun of the blue heavens, or the -stormy sky, and it is enough. Promise me no more than this, for, indeed, -more you cannot give, and it would be a crime to deceive me, since you -call yourself my friend." - -Aramis waited in silence. "Monseigneur," he resumed, after a moment's -reflection, "I admire the firm, sound sense which dictates your words; I -am happy to have discovered my monarch's mind." - -"Again, again! oh, God! for mercy's sake," cried the prince, pressing -his icy hands upon his clammy brow, "do not play with me! I have no need -to be a king to be the happiest of men." - -"But I, monseigneur, wish you to be a king for the good of humanity." - -"Ah!" said the prince, with fresh distrust inspired by the word; "ah! -with what, then, has humanity to reproach my brother?" - -"I forgot to say, monseigneur, that if you would allow me to guide you, -and if you consent to become the most powerful monarch in Christendom, -you will have promoted the interests of all the friends whom I devote to -the success of your cause, and these friends are numerous." - -"Numerous?" - -"Less numerous than powerful, monseigneur." - -"Explain yourself." - -"It is impossible; I will explain, I swear before Heaven, on that day -that I see you sitting on the throne of France." - -"But my brother?" - -"You shall decree his fate. Do you pity him?" - -"Him, who leaves me to perish in a dungeon? No, no. For him I have no -pity!" - -"So much the better." - -"He might have himself come to this prison, have taken me by the hand, -and have said, 'My brother, Heaven created us to love, not to contend -with one another. I come to you. A barbarous prejudice has condemned you -to pass your days in obscurity, far from mankind, deprived of every joy. -I will make you sit down beside me; I will buckle round your waist our -father's sword. Will you take advantage of this reconciliation to put -down or restrain me? Will you employ that sword to spill my blood?' 'Oh! -never,' I would have replied to him, 'I look on you as my preserver, -I will respect you as my master. You give me far more than Heaven -bestowed; for through you I possess liberty and the privilege of loving -and being loved in this world.'" - -"And you would have kept your word, monseigneur?" - -"On my life! While now--now that I have guilty ones to punish--" - -"In what manner, monseigneur?" - -"What do you say as to the resemblance that Heaven has given me to my -brother?" - -"I say that there was in that likeness a providential instruction which -the king ought to have heeded; I say that your mother committed a -crime in rendering those different in happiness and fortune whom nature -created so startlingly alike, of her own flesh, and I conclude that the -object of punishment should be only to restore the equilibrium." - -"By which you mean--" - -"That if I restore you to your place on your brother's throne, he shall -take yours in prison." - -"Alas! there's such infinity of suffering in prison, especially it would -be so for one who has drunk so deeply of the cup of enjoyment." - -"Your royal highness will always be free to act as you may desire; and -if it seems good to you, after punishment, you will have it in your -power to pardon." - -"Good. And now, are you aware of one thing, monsieur?" - -"Tell me, my prince." - -"It is that I will hear nothing further from you till I am clear of the -Bastile." - -"I was going to say to your highness that I should only have the -pleasure of seeing you once again." - -"And when?" - -"The day when my prince leaves these gloomy walls." - -"Heavens! how will you give me notice of it?" - -"By myself coming to fetch you." - -"Yourself?" - -"My prince, do not leave this chamber save with me, or if in my absence -you are compelled to do so, remember that I am not concerned in it." - -"And so I am not to speak a word of this to any one whatever, save to -you?" - -"Save only to me." Aramis bowed very low. The prince offered his hand. - -"Monsieur," he said, in a tone that issued from his heart, "one word -more, my last. If you have sought me for my destruction; if you are only -a tool in the hands of my enemies; if from our conference, in which -you have sounded the depths of my mind, anything worse than captivity -result, that is to say, if death befall me, still receive my blessing, -for you will have ended my troubles and given me repose from the -tormenting fever that has preyed on me for eight long, weary years." - -"Monseigneur, wait the results ere you judge me," said Aramis. - -"I say that, in such a case, I bless and forgive you. If, on the other -hand, you are come to restore me to that position in the sunshine of -fortune and glory to which I was destined by Heaven; if by your means I -am enabled to live in the memory of man, and confer luster on my race by -deeds of valor, or by solid benefits bestowed upon my people; if, from -my present depths of sorrow, aided by your generous hand, I raise myself -to the very height of honor, then to you, whom I thank with blessings, -to you will I offer half my power and my glory: though you would still -be but partly recompensed, and your share must always remain incomplete, -since I could not divide with you the happiness received at your hands." - -"Monseigneur," replied Aramis, moved by the pallor and excitement of -the young man, "the nobleness of your heart fills me with joy and -admiration. It is not you who will have to thank me, but rather the -nation whom you will render happy, the posterity whose name you will -make glorious. Yes; I shall indeed have bestowed upon you more than -life, I shall have given you immortality." - -The prince offered his hand to Aramis, who sank upon his knee and kissed -it. - -"It is the first act of homage paid to our future king," said he. "When -I see you again, I shall say, 'Good day, sire.'" - -"Till then," said the young man, pressing his wan and wasted fingers -over his heart,--"till then, no more dreams, no more strain on my -life--my heart would break! Oh, monsieur, how small is my prison--how -low the window--how narrow are the doors! To think that so much pride, -splendor, and happiness, should be able to enter in and to remain here!" - -"Your royal highness makes me proud," said Aramis, "since you infer it -is I who brought all this." And he rapped immediately on the door. -The jailer came to open it with Baisemeaux, who, devoured by fear and -uneasiness, was beginning, in spite of himself, to listen at the door. -Happily, neither of the speakers had forgotten to smother his voice, -even in the most passionate outbreaks. - -"What a confessor!" said the governor, forcing a laugh; "who would -believe that a compulsory recluse, a man as though in the very jaws of -death, could have committed crimes so numerous, and so long to tell of?" - -Aramis made no reply. He was eager to leave the Bastile, where the -secret which overwhelmed him seemed to double the weight of the walls. -As soon as they reached Baisemeaux's quarters, "Let us proceed to -business, my dear governor," said Aramis. - -"Alas!" replied Baisemeaux. - -"You have to ask me for my receipt for one hundred and fifty thousand -livres," said the bishop. - -"And to pay over the first third of the sum," added the poor governor, -with a sigh, taking three steps towards his iron strong-box. - -"Here is the receipt," said Aramis. - -"And here is the money," returned Baisemeaux, with a threefold sigh. - -"The order instructed me only to give a receipt; it said nothing about -receiving the money," rejoined Aramis. "Adieu, monsieur le governeur!" - -And he departed, leaving Baisemeaux almost more than stifled with -joy and surprise at this regal present so liberally bestowed by the -confessor extraordinary to the Bastile. - - - -Chapter II. How Mouston Had Become Fatter without Giving Porthos Notice -Thereof, and of the Troubles Which Consequently Befell that Worthy -Gentleman. - -Since the departure of Athos for Blois, Porthos and D'Artagnan were -seldom together. One was occupied with harassing duties for the king, -the other had been making many purchases of furniture which he intended -to forward to his estate, and by aid of which he hoped to establish in -his various residences something of the courtly luxury he had witnessed -in all its dazzling brightness in his majesty's society. D'Artagnan, -ever faithful, one morning during an interval of service thought about -Porthos, and being uneasy at not having heard anything of him for a -fortnight, directed his steps towards his hotel, and pounced upon him -just as he was getting up. The worthy baron had a pensive--nay, -more than pensive--melancholy air. He was sitting on his bed, only -half-dressed, and with legs dangling over the edge, contemplating a host -of garments, which with their fringes, lace, embroidery, and slashes -of ill-assorted hues, were strewed all over the floor. Porthos, sad and -reflective as La Fontaine's hare, did not observe D'Artagnan's entrance, -which was, moreover, screened at this moment by M. Mouston, whose -personal corpulency, quite enough at any time to hide one man from -another, was effectually doubled by a scarlet coat which the intendant -was holding up for his master's inspection, by the sleeves, that he -might the better see it all over. D'Artagnan stopped at the threshold -and looked in at the pensive Porthos and then, as the sight of the -innumerable garments strewing the floor caused mighty sighs to heave the -bosom of that excellent gentleman, D'Artagnan thought it time to put -an end to these dismal reflections, and coughed by way of announcing -himself. - -"Ah!" exclaimed Porthos, whose countenance brightened with joy; "ah! ah! -Here is D'Artagnan. I shall then get hold of an idea!" - -At these words Mouston, doubting what was going on behind him, got out -of the way, smiling kindly at the friend of his master, who thus -found himself freed from the material obstacle which had prevented -his reaching D'Artagnan. Porthos made his sturdy knees crack again in -rising, and crossing the room in two strides, found himself face to face -with his friend, whom he folded to his breast with a force of affection -that seemed to increase with every day. "Ah!" he repeated, "you are -always welcome, dear friend; but just now you are more welcome than -ever." - -"But you seem to have the megrims here!" exclaimed D'Artagnan. - -Porthos replied by a look expressive of dejection. "Well, then, tell me -all about it, Porthos, my friend, unless it is a secret." - -"In the first place," returned Porthos, "you know I have no secrets from -you. This, then, is what saddens me." - -"Wait a minute, Porthos; let me first get rid of all this litter of -satin and velvet!" - -"Oh, never mind," said Porthos, contemptuously; "it is all trash." - -"Trash, Porthos! Cloth at twenty-five livres an ell! gorgeous satin! -regal velvet!" - -"Then you think these clothes are--" - -"Splendid, Porthos, splendid! I'll wager that you alone in France have -so many; and suppose you never had any more made, and were to live to -be a hundred years of age, which wouldn't astonish me in the very least, -you could still wear a new dress the day of your death, without being -obliged to see the nose of a single tailor from now till then." - -Porthos shook his head. - -"Come, my friend," said D'Artagnan, "this unnatural melancholy in you -frightens me. My dear Porthos, pray get it out, then. And the sooner the -better." - -"Yes, my friend, so I will: if, indeed, it is possible." - -"Perhaps you have received bad news from Bracieux?" - -"No: they have felled the wood, and it has yielded a third more than the -estimate." - -"Then there has been a falling-off in the pools of Pierrefonds?" - -"No, my friend: they have been fished, and there is enough left to stock -all the pools in the neighborhood." - -"Perhaps your estate at Vallon has been destroyed by an earthquake?" - -"No, my friend; on the contrary, the ground was struck with lightning -a hundred paces from the chateau, and a fountain sprung up in a place -entirely destitute of water." - -"What in the world _is_ the matter, then?" - -"The fact is, I have received an invitation for the _fete_ at Vaux," -said Porthos, with a lugubrious expression. - -"Well! do you complain of that? The king has caused a hundred mortal -heart-burnings among the courtiers by refusing invitations. And so, my -dear friend, you are really going to Vaux?" - -"Indeed I am!" - -"You will see a magnificent sight." - -"Alas! I doubt it, though." - -"Everything that is grand in France will be brought together there!" - -"Ah!" cried Porthos, tearing out a lock of hair in his despair. - -"Eh! good heavens, are you ill?" cried D'Artagnan. - -"I am as firm as the Pont-Neuf! It isn't that." - -"But what is it, then?" - -"'Tis that I have no clothes!" - -D'Artagnan stood petrified. "No clothes! Porthos, no clothes!" he cried, -"when I see at least fifty suits on the floor." - -"Fifty, truly; but not one which fits me!" - -"What? not one that fits you? But are you not measured, then, when you -give an order?" - -"To be sure he is," answered Mouston; "but unfortunately _I_ have gotten -stouter!" - -"What! _you_ stouter!" - -"So much so that I am now bigger than the baron. Would you believe it, -monsieur?" - -"_Parbleu!_ it seems to me that is quite evident." - -"Do you see, stupid?" said Porthos, "that is quite evident!" - -"Be still, my dear Porthos," resumed D'Artagnan, becoming slightly -impatient, "I don't understand why your clothes should not fit you, -because Mouston has grown stouter." - -"I am going to explain it," said Porthos. "You remember having related -to me the story of the Roman general Antony, who had always seven wild -boars kept roasting, each cooked up to a different point; so that he -might be able to have his dinner at any time of the day he chose to ask -for it. Well, then, I resolved, as at any time I might be invited to -court to spend a week, I resolved to have always seven suits ready for -the occasion." - -"Capitally reasoned, Porthos--only a man must have a fortune like yours -to gratify such whims. Without counting the time lost in being measured, -the fashions are always changing." - -"That is exactly the point," said Porthos, "in regard to which I -flattered myself I had hit on a very ingenious device." - -"Tell me what it is; for I don't doubt your genius." - -"You remember what Mouston once was, then?" - -"Yes; when he used to call himself Mousqueton." - -"And you remember, too, the period when he began to grow fatter?" - -"No, not exactly. I beg your pardon, my good Mouston." - -"Oh! you are not in fault, monsieur," said Mouston, graciously. "You -were in Paris, and as for us, we were at Pierrefonds." - -"Well, well, my dear Porthos; there was a time when Mouston began to -grow fat. Is that what you wished to say?" - -"Yes, my friend; and I greatly rejoice over the period." - -"Indeed, I believe you do," exclaimed D'Artagnan. - -"You understand," continued Porthos, "what a world of trouble it spared -for me." - -"No, I don't--by any means." - -"Look here, my friend. In the first place, as you have said, to be -measured is a loss of time, even though it occur only once a fortnight. -And then, one may be travelling; and then you wish to have seven suits -always with you. In short, I have a horror of letting any one take my -measure. Confound it! either one is a nobleman or not. To be scrutinized -and scanned by a fellow who completely analyzes you, by inch and -line--'tis degrading! Here, they find you too hollow; there, too -prominent. They recognize your strong and weak points. See, now, when we -leave the measurer's hands, we are like those strongholds whose angles -and different thicknesses have been ascertained by a spy." - -"In truth, my dear Porthos, you possess ideas entirely original." - -"Ah! you see when a man is an engineer--" - -"And has fortified Belle-Isle--'tis natural, my friend." - -"Well, I had an idea, which would doubtless have proved a good one, but -for Mouston's carelessness." - -D'Artagnan glanced at Mouston, who replied by a slight movement of his -body, as if to say, "You will see whether I am at all to blame in all -this." - -"I congratulated myself, then," resumed Porthos, "at seeing Mouston get -fat; and I did all I could, by means of substantial feeding, to make him -stout--always in the hope that he would come to equal myself in girth, -and could then be measured in my stead." - -"Ah!" cried D'Artagnan. "I see--that spared you both time and -humiliation." - -"Consider my joy when, after a year and a half's judicious feeding--for -I used to feed him up myself--the fellow--" - -"Oh! I lent a good hand myself, monsieur," said Mouston, humbly. - -"That's true. Consider my joy when, one morning, I perceived Mouston was -obliged to squeeze in, as I once did myself, to get through the little -secret door that those fools of architects had made in the chamber of -the late Madame du Vallon, in the chateau of Pierrefonds. And, by the -way, about that door, my friend, I should like to ask you, who know -everything, why these wretches of architects, who ought to have the -compasses run into them, just to remind them, came to make doorways -through which nobody but thin people can pass?" - -"Oh, those doors," answered D'Artagnan, "were meant for gallants, and -they have generally slight and slender figures." - -"Madame du Vallon had no gallant!" answered Porthos, majestically. - -"Perfectly true, my friend," resumed D'Artagnan; "but the architects -were probably making their calculations on a basis of the probability of -your marrying again." - -"Ah! that is possible," said Porthos. "And now I have received an -explanation of how it is that doorways are made too narrow, let us -return to the subject of Mouston's fatness. But see how the two things -apply to each other. I have always noticed that people's ideas run -parallel. And so, observe this phenomenon, D'Artagnan. I was talking to -you of Mouston, who is fat, and it led us on to Madame du Vallon--" - -"Who was thin?" - -"Hum! Is it not marvelous?" - -"My dear friend, a _savant_ of my acquaintance, M. Costar, has made the -same observation as you have, and he calls the process by some Greek -name which I forget." - -"What! my remark is not then original?" cried Porthos, astounded. "I -thought I was the discoverer." - -"My friend, the fact was known before Aristotle's days--that is to say, -nearly two thousand years ago." - -"Well, well, 'tis no less true," said Porthos, delighted at the idea of -having jumped to a conclusion so closely in agreement with the greatest -sages of antiquity. - -"Wonderfully--but suppose we return to Mouston. It seems to me, we have -left him fattening under our very eyes." - -"Yes, monsieur," said Mouston. - -"Well," said Porthos, "Mouston fattened so well, that he gratified all -my hopes, by reaching my standard; a fact of which I was well able to -convince myself, by seeing the rascal, one day, in a waistcoat of mine, -which he had turned into a coat--a waistcoat, the mere embroidery of -which was worth a hundred pistoles." - -"'Twas only to try it on, monsieur," said Mouston. - -"From that moment I determined to put Mouston in communication with my -tailors, and to have him measured instead of myself." - -"A capital idea, Porthos; but Mouston is a foot and a half shorter than -you." - -"Exactly! They measured him down to the ground, and the end of the skirt -came just below my knee." - -"What a marvelous man you are, Porthos! Such a thing could happen only -to you." - -"Ah! yes; pay your compliments; you have ample grounds to go upon. It -was exactly at that time--that is to say, nearly two years and a half -ago--that I set out for Belle-Isle, instructing Mouston (so as always -to have, in every event, a pattern of every fashion) to have a coat made -for himself every month." - -"And did Mouston neglect complying with your instructions? Ah! that was -anything but right, Mouston." - -"No, monsieur, quite the contrary; quite the contrary!" - -"No, he never forgot to have his coats made; but he forgot to inform me -that he had got stouter!" - -"But it was not my fault, monsieur! your tailor never told me." - -"And this to such an extent, monsieur," continued Porthos, "that the -fellow in two years has gained eighteen inches in girth, and so my last -dozen coats are all too large, from a foot to a foot and a half." - -"But the rest; those which were made when you were of the same size?" - -"They are no longer the fashion, my dear friend. Were I to put them on, -I should look like a fresh arrival from Siam; and as though I had been -two years away from court." - -"I understand your difficulty. You have how many new suits? -nine? thirty-six? and yet not one to wear. Well, you must have a -thirty-seventh made, and give the thirty-six to Mouston." - -"Ah! monsieur!" said Mouston, with a gratified air. "The truth is, that -monsieur has always been very generous to me." - -"Do you mean to insinuate that I hadn't that idea, or that I was -deterred by the expense? But it wants only two days to the _fete_; I -received the invitation yesterday; made Mouston post hither with my -wardrobe, and only this morning discovered my misfortune; and from now -till the day after to-morrow, there isn't a single fashionable tailor -who will undertake to make me a suit." - -"That is to say, one covered all over with gold, isn't it?" - -"I wish it so! undoubtedly, all over." - -"Oh, we shall manage it. You won't leave for three days. The invitations -are for Wednesday, and this is only Sunday morning." - -"'Tis true; but Aramis has strongly advised me to be at Vaux twenty-four -hours beforehand." - -"How, Aramis?" - -"Yes, it was Aramis who brought me the invitation." - -"Ah! to be sure, I see. You are invited on the part of M. Fouquet?" - -"By no means! by the king, dear friend. The letter bears the following -as large as life: 'M. le Baron du Vallon is informed that the king has -condescended to place him on the invitation list--'" - -"Very good; but you leave with M. Fouquet?" - -"And when I think," cried Porthos, stamping on the floor, "when I think -I shall have no clothes, I am ready to burst with rage! I should like to -strangle somebody or smash something!" - -"Neither strangle anybody nor smash anything, Porthos; I will manage it -all; put on one of your thirty-six suits, and come with me to a tailor." - -"Pooh! my agent has seen them all this morning." - -"Even M. Percerin?" - -"Who is M. Percerin?" - -"Oh! only the king's tailor!" - -"Oh, ah, yes," said Porthos, who wished to appear to know the king's -tailor, but now heard his name mentioned for the first time; "to M. -Percerin's, by Jove! I was afraid he would be too busy." - -"Doubtless he will be; but be at ease, Porthos; he will do for me -what he wouldn't do for another. Only you must allow yourself to be -measured!" - -"Ah!" said Porthos, with a sigh, "'tis vexatious, but what would you -have me do?" - -"Do? As others do; as the king does." - -"What! do they measure the king, too? does he put up with it?" - -"The king is a beau, my good friend, and so are you, too, whatever you -may say about it." - -Porthos smiled triumphantly. "Let us go to the king's tailor," he said; -"and since he measures the king, I think, by my faith, I may do worse -than allow him to measure _me!_" - - - -Chapter III. Who Messire Jean Percerin Was. - -The king's tailor, Messire Jean Percerin, occupied a rather large house -in the Rue St. Honore, near the Rue de l'Arbre Sec. He was a man -of great taste in elegant stuffs, embroideries, and velvets, being -hereditary tailor to the king. The preferment of his house reached as -far back as the time of Charles IX.; from whose reign dated, as we know, -fancy in _bravery_ difficult enough to gratify. The Percerin of that -period was a Huguenot, like Ambrose Pare, and had been spared by the -Queen of Navarre, the beautiful Margot, as they used to write and say, -too, in those days; because, in sooth, he was the only one who could -make for her those wonderful riding-habits which she so loved to wear, -seeing that they were marvelously well suited to hide certain anatomical -defects, which the Queen of Navarre used very studiously to conceal. -Percerin being saved, made, out of gratitude, some beautiful black -bodices, very inexpensively indeed, for Queen Catherine, who ended by -being pleased at the preservation of a Huguenot people, on whom she had -long looked with detestation. But Percerin was a very prudent man; -and having heard it said that there was no more dangerous sign for a -Protestant than to be smiled up on by Catherine, and having observed -that her smiles were more frequent than usual, he speedily turned -Catholic with all his family; and having thus become irreproachable, -attained the lofty position of master tailor to the Crown of France. -Under Henry III., gay king as he was, this position was as grand as the -height of one of the loftiest peaks of the Cordilleras. Now Percerin had -been a clever man all his life, and by way of keeping up his reputation -beyond the grave, took very good care not to make a bad death of it, and -so contrived to die very skillfully; and that at the very moment he felt -his powers of invention declining. He left a son and a daughter, both -worthy of the name they were called upon to bear; the son, a cutter as -unerring and exact as the square rule; the daughter, apt at embroidery, -and at designing ornaments. The marriage of Henry IV. and Marie de -Medici, and the exquisite court-mourning for the afore-mentioned queen, -together with a few words let fall by M. de Bassompiere, king of the -_beaux_ of the period, made the fortune of the second generation of -Percerins. M. Concino Concini, and his wife Galligai, who subsequently -shone at the French court, sought to Italianize the fashion, and -introduced some Florentine tailors; but Percerin, touched to the -quick in his patriotism and his self-esteem, entirely defeated these -foreigners, and that so well that Concino was the first to give up his -compatriots, and held the French tailor in such esteem that he would -never employ any other, and thus wore a doublet of his on the very day -that Vitry blew out his brains with a pistol at the Pont du Louvre. - -And so it was a doublet issuing from M. Percerin's workshop, which the -Parisians rejoiced in hacking into so many pieces with the living human -body it contained. Notwithstanding the favor Concino Concini had shown -Percerin, the king, Louis XIII., had the generosity to bear no malice to -his tailor, and to retain him in his service. At the time that Louis the -Just afforded this great example of equity, Percerin had brought up two -sons, one of whom made his _debut_ at the marriage of Anne of Austria, -invented that admirable Spanish costume, in which Richelieu danced a -saraband, made the costumes for the tragedy of "Mirame," and stitched -on to Buckingham's mantle those famous pearls which were destined to -be scattered about the pavements of the Louvre. A man becomes easily -notable who has made the dresses of a Duke of Buckingham, a M. de -Cinq-Mars, a Mademoiselle Ninon, a M. de Beaufort, and a Marion de -Lorme. And thus Percerin the third had attained the summit of his glory -when his father died. This same Percerin III., old, famous and wealthy, -yet further dressed Louis XIV.; and having no son, which was a great -cause of sorrow to him, seeing that with himself his dynasty would end, -he had brought up several hopeful pupils. He possessed a carriage, -a country house, men-servants the tallest in Paris; and by special -authority from Louis XIV., a pack of hounds. He worked for MM. de Lyonne -and Letellier, under a sort of patronage; but politic man as he was, and -versed in state secrets, he never succeeded in fitting M. Colbert. This -is beyond explanation; it is a matter for guessing or for intuition. -Great geniuses of every kind live on unseen, intangible ideas; they act -without themselves knowing why. The great Percerin (for, contrary to -the rule of dynasties, it was, above all, the last of the Percerins who -deserved the name of Great), the great Percerin was inspired when he cut -a robe for the queen, or a coat for the king; he could mount a mantle -for Monsieur, the clock of a stocking for Madame; but, in spite of his -supreme talent, he could never hit off anything approaching a creditable -fit for M. Colbert. "That man," he used often to say, "is beyond my art; -my needle can never dot him down." We need scarcely say that Percerin -was M. Fouquet's tailor, and that the superintendent highly esteemed -him. M. Percerin was nearly eighty years old, nevertheless still fresh, -and at the same time so dry, the courtiers used to say, that he was -positively brittle. His renown and his fortune were great enough for -M. le Prince, that king of fops, to take his arm when talking over the -fashions; and for those least eager to pay never to dare to leave their -accounts in arrear with him; for Master Percerin would for the first -time make clothes upon credit, but the second never, unless paid for the -former order. - -It is easy to see at once that a tailor of such renown, instead of -running after customers, made difficulties about obliging any fresh -ones. And so Percerin declined to fit _bourgeois_, or those who had but -recently obtained patents of nobility. A story used to circulate that -even M. de Mazarin, in exchange for Percerin supplying him with a full -suit of ceremonial vestments as cardinal, one fine day slipped letters -of nobility into his pocket. - -It was to the house of this grand llama of tailors that D'Artagnan -took the despairing Porthos; who, as they were going along, said to his -friend, "Take care, my good D'Artagnan, not to compromise the dignity -of a man such as I am with the arrogance of this Percerin, who will, I -expect, be very impertinent; for I give you notice, my friend, that if -he is wanting in respect I will infallibly chastise him." - -"Presented by me," replied D'Artagnan, "you have nothing to fear, even -though you were what you are not." - -"Ah! 'tis because--" - -"What? Have you anything against Percerin, Porthos?" - -"I think that I once sent Mouston to a fellow of that name." - -"And then?" - -"The fellow refused to supply me." - -"Oh, a misunderstanding, no doubt, which it will be now exceedingly easy -to set right. Mouston must have made a mistake." - -"Perhaps." - -"He has confused the names." - -"Possibly. That rascal Mouston never can remember names." - -"I will take it all upon myself." - -"Very good." - -"Stop the carriage, Porthos; here we are." - -"Here! how here? We are at the Halles; and you told me the house was at -the corner of the Rue de l'Arbre Sec." - -"'Tis true, but look." - -"Well, I do look, and I see--" - -"What?" - -"_Pardieu!_ that we are at the Halles!" - -"You do not, I suppose, want our horses to clamber up on the roof of the -carriage in front of us?" - -"No." - -"Nor the carriage in front of us to mount on top of the one in front of -it. Nor that the second should be driven over the roofs of the thirty or -forty others which have arrived before us." - -"No, you are right, indeed. What a number of people! And what are they -all about?" - -"'Tis very simple. They are waiting their turn." - -"Bah! Have the comedians of the Hotel de Bourgogne shifted their -quarters?" - -"No; their turn to obtain an entrance to M. Percerin's house." - -"And we are going to wait too?" - -"Oh, we shall show ourselves prompter and not so proud." - -"What are we to do, then?" - -"Get down, pass through the footmen and lackeys, and enter the tailor's -house, which I will answer for our doing, if you go first." - -"Come along, then," said Porthos. - -They accordingly alighted and made their way on foot towards the -establishment. The cause of the confusion was that M. Percerin's doors -were closed, while a servant, standing before them, was explaining to -the illustrious customers of the illustrious tailor that just then M. -Percerin could not receive anybody. It was bruited about outside still, -on the authority of what the great lackey had told some great noble whom -he favored, in confidence, that M. Percerin was engaged on five costumes -for the king, and that, owing to the urgency of the case, he was -meditating in his office on the ornaments, colors, and cut of these five -suits. Some, contented with this reason, went away again, contented -to repeat the tale to others, but others, more tenacious, insisted -on having the doors opened, and among these last three Blue Ribbons, -intended to take parts in a ballet, which would inevitably fail unless -the said three had their costumes shaped by the very hand of the great -Percerin himself. D'Artagnan, pushing on Porthos, who scattered the -groups of people right and left, succeeded in gaining the counter, -behind which the journeyman tailors were doing their best to answer -queries. (We forgot to mention that at the door they wanted to put -off Porthos like the rest, but D'Artagnan, showing himself, pronounced -merely these words, "The king's order," and was let in with his friend.) -The poor fellows had enough to do, and did their best, to reply to the -demands of the customers in the absence of their master, leaving -off drawing a stitch to knit a sentence; and when wounded pride, or -disappointed expectation, brought down upon them too cutting a rebuke, -he who was attacked made a dive and disappeared under the counter. -The line of discontented lords formed a truly remarkable picture. Our -captain of musketeers, a man of sure and rapid observation, took it all -in at a glance; and having run over the groups, his eye rested on a man -in front of him. This man, seated upon a stool, scarcely showed his head -above the counter that sheltered him. He was about forty years of age, -with a melancholy aspect, pale face, and soft luminous eyes. He was -looking at D'Artagnan and the rest, with his chin resting upon his hand, -like a calm and inquiring amateur. Only on perceiving, and doubtless -recognizing, our captain, he pulled his hat down over his eyes. It was -this action, perhaps, that attracted D'Artagnan's attention. If so, -the gentleman who had pulled down his hat produced an effect entirely -different from what he had desired. In other respects his costume was -plain, and his hair evenly cut enough for customers, who were not close -observers, to take him for a mere tailor's apprentice, perched behind -the board, and carefully stitching cloth or velvet. Nevertheless, this -man held up his head too often to be very productively employed with his -fingers. D'Artagnan was not deceived,--not he; and he saw at once that -if this man was working at anything, it certainly was not at velvet. - -"Eh!" said he, addressing this man, "and so you have become a tailor's -boy, Monsieur Moliere!" - -"Hush, M. d'Artagnan!" replied the man, softly, "you will make them -recognize me." - -"Well, and what harm?" - -"The fact is, there is no harm, but--" - -"You were going to say there is no good in doing it either, is it not -so?" - -"Alas! no; for I was occupied in examining some excellent figures." - -"Go on--go on, Monsieur Moliere. I quite understand the interest you -take in the plates--I will not disturb your studies." - -"Thank you." - -"But on one condition; that you tell me where M. Percerin really is." - -"Oh! willingly; in his own room. Only--" - -"Only that one can't enter it?" - -"Unapproachable." - -"For everybody?" - -"Everybody. He brought me here so that I might be at my ease to make my -observations, and then he went away." - -"Well, my dear Monsieur Moliere, but you will go and tell him I am -here." - -"I!" exclaimed Moliere, in the tone of a courageous dog, from which -you snatch the bone it has legitimately gained; "I disturb myself! Ah! -Monsieur d'Artagnan, how hard you are upon me!" - -"If you don't go directly and tell M. Percerin that I am here, my dear -Moliere," said D'Artagnan, in a low tone, "I warn you of one thing: that -I won't exhibit to you the friend I have brought with me." - -Moliere indicated Porthos by an imperceptible gesture, "This gentleman, -is it not?" - -"Yes." - -Moliere fixed upon Porthos one of those looks which penetrate the minds -and hearts of men. The subject doubtless appeared a very promising one, -for he immediately rose and led the way into the adjoining chamber. - - - -Chapter IV. The Patterns. - -During all this time the noble mob was slowly heaving away, leaving at -every angle of the counter either a murmur or a menace, as the waves -leave foam or scattered seaweed on the sands, when they retire with the -ebbing tide. In about ten minutes Moliere reappeared, making another -sign to D'Artagnan from under the hangings. The latter hurried after -him, with Porthos in the rear, and after threading a labyrinth of -corridors, introduced him to M. Percerin's room. The old man, with his -sleeves turned up, was gathering up in folds a piece of gold-flowered -brocade, so as the better to exhibit its luster. Perceiving D'Artagnan, -he put the silk aside, and came to meet him, by no means radiant with -joy, and by no means courteous, but, take it altogether, in a tolerably -civil manner. - -"The captain of the king's musketeers will excuse me, I am sure, for I -am engaged." - -"Eh! yes, on the king's costumes; I know that, my dear Monsieur -Percerin. You are making three, they tell me." - -"Five, my dear sir, five." - -"Three or five, 'tis all the same to me, my dear monsieur; and I know -that you will make them most exquisitely." - -"Yes, I know. Once made they will be the most beautiful in the world, -I do not deny it; but that they may be the most beautiful in the word, -they must first be made; and to do this, captain, I am pressed for -time." - -"Oh, bah! there are two days yet; 'tis much more than you require, -Monsieur Percerin," said D'Artagnan, in the coolest possible manner. - -Percerin raised his head with the air of a man little accustomed to be -contradicted, even in his whims; but D'Artagnan did not pay the least -attention to the airs which the illustrious tailor began to assume. - -"My dear M. Percerin," he continued, "I bring you a customer." - -"Ah! ah!" exclaimed Percerin, crossly. - -"M. le Baron du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds," continued -D'Artagnan. Percerin attempted a bow, which found no favor in the eyes -of the terrible Porthos, who, from his first entry into the room, had -been regarding the tailor askance. - -"A very good friend of mine," concluded D'Artagnan. - -"I will attend to monsieur," said Percerin, "but later." - -"Later? but when?" - -"When I have time." - -"You have already told my valet as much," broke in Porthos, -discontentedly. - -"Very likely," said Percerin; "I am nearly always pushed for time." - -"My friend," returned Porthos, sententiously, "there is always time to -be found when one chooses to seek it." - -Percerin turned crimson; an ominous sign indeed in old men blanched by -age. - -"Monsieur is quite at liberty to confer his custom elsewhere." - -"Come, come, Percerin," interposed D'Artagnan, "you are not in a good -temper to-day. Well, I will say one more word to you, which will bring -you on your knees; monsieur is not only a friend of mine, but more, a -friend of M. Fouquet's." - -"Ah! ah!" exclaimed the tailor, "that is another thing." Then turning -to Porthos, "Monsieur le baron is attached to the superintendent?" he -inquired. - -"I am attached to myself," shouted Porthos, at the very moment that the -tapestry was raised to introduce a new speaker in the dialogue. Moliere -was all observation, D'Artagnan laughed, Porthos swore. - -"My dear Percerin," said D'Artagnan, "you will make a dress for the -baron. 'Tis I who ask you." - -"To you I will not say nay, captain." - -"But that is not all; you will make it for him at once." - -"'Tis impossible within eight days." - -"That, then, is as much as to refuse, because the dress is wanted for -the _fete_ at Vaux." - -"I repeat that it is impossible," returned the obstinate old man. - -"By no means, dear Monsieur Percerin, above all if _I_ ask you," said a -mild voice at the door, a silvery voice which made D'Artagnan prick up -his ears. It was the voice of Aramis. - -"Monsieur d'Herblay!" cried the tailor. - -"Aramis," murmured D'Artagnan. - -"Ah! our bishop!" said Porthos. - -"Good morning, D'Artagnan; good morning, Porthos; good-morning, my dear -friends," said Aramis. "Come, come, M. Percerin, make the baron's -dress; and I will answer for it you will gratify M. Fouquet." And he -accompanied the words with a sign, which seemed to say, "Agree, and -dismiss them." - -It appeared that Aramis had over Master Percerin an influence superior -even to D'Artagnan's, for the tailor bowed in assent, and turning round -upon Porthos, said, "Go and get measured on the other side." - -Porthos colored in a formidable manner. D'Artagnan saw the storm coming, -and addressing Moliere, said to him, in an undertone, "You see before -you, my dear monsieur, a man who considers himself disgraced, if you -measure the flesh and bones that Heaven has given him; study this type -for me, Master Aristophanes, and profit by it." - -Moliere had no need of encouragement, and his gaze dwelt long and keenly -on the Baron Porthos. "Monsieur," he said, "if you will come with me, I -will make them take your measure without touching you." - -"Oh!" said Porthos, "how do you make that out, my friend?" - -"I say that they shall apply neither line nor rule to the seams of -your dress. It is a new method we have invented for measuring people of -quality, who are too sensitive to allow low-born fellows to touch -them. We know some susceptible persons who will not put up with being -measured, a process which, as I think, wounds the natural dignity of a -man; and if perchance monsieur should be one of these--" - -"_Corboeuf!_ I believe I am too!" - -"Well, that is a capital and most consolatory coincidence, and you shall -have the benefit of our invention." - -"But how in the world can it be done?" asked Porthos, delighted. - -"Monsieur," said Moliere, bowing, "if you will deign to follow me, you -will see." - -Aramis observed this scene with all his eyes. Perhaps he fancied from -D'Artagnan's liveliness that he would leave with Porthos, so as not to -lose the conclusion of a scene well begun. But, clear-sighted as he was, -Aramis deceived himself. Porthos and Moliere left together: D'Artagnan -remained with Percerin. Why? From curiosity, doubtless; probably to -enjoy a little longer the society of his good friend Aramis. As Moliere -and Porthos disappeared, D'Artagnan drew near the bishop of Vannes, a -proceeding which appeared particularly to disconcert him. - -"A dress for you, also, is it not, my friend?" - -Aramis smiled. "No," said he. - -"You will go to Vaux, however?" - -"I shall go, but without a new dress. You forget, dear D'Artagnan, that -a poor bishop of Vannes is not rich enough to have new dresses for every -_fete_." - -"Bah!" said the musketeer, laughing, "and do we write no more poems now, -either?" - -"Oh! D'Artagnan," exclaimed Aramis, "I have long ago given up all such -tomfoolery." - -"True," repeated D'Artagnan, only half convinced. As for Percerin, he -was once more absorbed in contemplation of the brocades. - -"Don't you perceive," said Aramis, smiling, "that we are greatly boring -this good gentleman, my dear D'Artagnan?" - -"Ah! ah!" murmured the musketeer, aside; "that is, I am boring you, -my friend." Then aloud, "Well, then, let us leave; I have no further -business here, and if you are as disengaged as I, Aramis--" - -"No, not I--I wished--" - -"Ah! you had something particular to say to M. Percerin? Why did you not -tell me so at once?" - -"Something particular, certainly," repeated Aramis, "but not for you, -D'Artagnan. But, at the same time, I hope you will believe that I can -never have anything so particular to say that a friend like you may not -hear it." - -"Oh, no, no! I am going," said D'Artagnan, imparting to his voice an -evident tone of curiosity; for Aramis's annoyance, well dissembled as it -was, had not a whit escaped him; and he knew that, in that impenetrable -mind, every thing, even the most apparently trivial, was designed to -some end; an unknown one, but an end that, from the knowledge he had of -his friend's character, the musketeer felt must be important. - -On his part, Aramis saw that D'Artagnan was not without suspicion, and -pressed him. "Stay, by all means," he said, "this is what it is." Then -turning towards the tailor, "My dear Percerin," said he,--"I am even -very happy that you are here, D'Artagnan." - -"Oh, indeed," exclaimed the Gascon, for the third time, even less -deceived this time than before. - -Percerin never moved. Aramis roused him violently, by snatching from his -hands the stuff upon which he was engaged. "My dear Percerin," said he, -"I have, near hand, M. Lebrun, one of M. Fouquet's painters." - -"Ah, very good," thought D'Artagnan; "but why Lebrun?" - -Aramis looked at D'Artagnan, who seemed to be occupied with an engraving -of Mark Antony. "And you wish that I should make him a dress, similar to -those of the Epicureans?" answered Percerin. And while saying this, in -an absent manner, the worthy tailor endeavored to recapture his piece of -brocade. - -"An Epicurean's dress?" asked D'Artagnan, in a tone of inquiry. - -"I see," said Aramis, with a most engaging smile, "it is written that -our dear D'Artagnan shall know all our secrets this evening. Yes, -friend, you have surely heard speak of M. Fouquet's Epicureans, have you -not?" - -"Undoubtedly. Is it not a kind of poetical society, of which La -Fontaine, Loret, Pelisson, and Moliere are members, and which holds its -sittings at Saint-Mande?" - -"Exactly so. Well, we are going to put our poets in uniform, and enroll -them in a regiment for the king." - -"Oh, very well, I understand; a surprise M. Fouquet is getting up for -the king. Be at ease; if that is the secret about M. Lebrun, I will not -mention it." - -"Always agreeable, my friend. No, Monsieur Lebrun has nothing to do with -this part of it; the secret which concerns him is far more important -than the other." - -"Then, if it is so important as all that, I prefer not to know it," said -D'Artagnan, making a show of departure. - -"Come in, M. Lebrun, come in," said Aramis, opening a side-door with his -right hand, and holding back D'Artagnan with his left. - -"I'faith, I too, am quite in the dark," quoth Percerin. - -Aramis took an "opportunity," as is said in theatrical matters. - -"My dear M. de Percerin," Aramis continued, "you are making five dresses -for the king, are you not? One in brocade; one in hunting-cloth; one in -velvet; one in satin; and one in Florentine stuffs." - -"Yes; but how--do you know all that, monseigneur?" said Percerin, -astounded. - -"It is all very simple, my dear monsieur; there will be a hunt, a -banquet, concert, promenade and reception; these five kinds of dress are -required by etiquette." - -"You know everything, monseigneur!" - -"And a thing or two in addition," muttered D'Artagnan. - -"But," cried the tailor, in triumph, "what you do not know, -monseigneur--prince of the church though you are--what nobody will -know--what only the king, Mademoiselle de la Valliere, and myself do -know, is the color of the materials and nature of the ornaments, and the -cut, the _ensemble_, the finish of it all!" - -"Well," said Aramis, "that is precisely what I have come to ask you, -dear Percerin." - -"Ah, bah!" exclaimed the tailor, terrified, though Aramis had pronounced -these words in his softest and most honeyed tones. The request appeared, -on reflection, so exaggerated, so ridiculous, so monstrous to M. -Percerin that first he laughed to himself, then aloud, and finished -with a shout. D'Artagnan followed his example, not because he found the -matter so "very funny," but in order not to allow Aramis to cool. - -"At the outset, I appear to be hazarding an absurd question, do I not?" -said Aramis. "But D'Artagnan, who is incarnate wisdom itself, will tell -you that I could not do otherwise than ask you this." - -"Let us see," said the attentive musketeer; perceiving with his -wonderful instinct that they had only been skirmishing till now, and -that the hour of battle was approaching. - -"Let us see," said Percerin, incredulously. - -"Why, now," continued Aramis, "does M. Fouquet give the king a -_fete?_--Is it not to please him?" - -"Assuredly," said Percerin. D'Artagnan nodded assent. - -"By delicate attentions? by some happy device? by a succession of -surprises, like that of which we were talking?--the enrolment of our -Epicureans." - -"Admirable." - -"Well, then; this is the surprise we intend. M. Lebrun here is a man who -draws most excellently." - -"Yes," said Percerin; "I have seen his pictures, and observed that his -dresses were highly elaborated. That is why I at once agreed to make him -a costume--whether to agree with those of the Epicureans, or an original -one." - -"My dear monsieur, we accept your offer, and shall presently avail -ourselves of it; but just now, M. Lebrun is not in want of the dresses -you will make for himself, but of those you are making for the king." - -Percerin made a bound backwards, which D'Artagnan--calmest and most -appreciative of men, did not consider overdone, so many strange and -startling aspects wore the proposal which Aramis had just hazarded. "The -king's dresses! Give the king's dresses to any mortal whatever! Oh! -for once, monseigneur, your grace is mad!" cried the poor tailor in -extremity. - -"Help me now, D'Artagnan," said Aramis, more and more calm and smiling. -"Help me now to persuade monsieur, for _you_ understand; do you not?" - -"Eh! eh!--not exactly, I declare." - -"What! you do not understand that M. Fouquet wishes to afford the king -the surprise of finding his portrait on his arrival at Vaux; and that -the portrait, which be a striking resemblance, ought to be dressed -exactly as the king will be on the day it is shown?" - -"Oh! yes, yes," said the musketeer, nearly convinced, so plausible was -this reasoning. "Yes, my dear Aramis, you are right; it is a happy idea. -I will wager it is one of your own, Aramis." - -"Well, I don't know," replied the bishop; "either mine or M. Fouquet's." -Then scanning Percerin, after noticing D'Artagnan's hesitation, "Well, -Monsieur Percerin," he asked, "what do you say to this?" - -"I say, that--" - -"That you are, doubtless, free to refuse. I know well--and I by no means -count upon compelling you, my dear monsieur. I will say more, I even -understand all the delicacy you feel in taking up with M. Fouquet's -idea; you dread appearing to flatter the king. A noble spirit, M. -Percerin, a noble spirit!" The tailor stammered. "It would, indeed, be a -very pretty compliment to pay the young prince," continued Aramis; "but -as the surintendant told me, 'if Percerin refuse, tell him that it -will not at all lower him in my opinion, and I shall always esteem him, -only--'" - -"'Only?'" repeated Percerin, rather troubled. - -"'Only,'" continued Aramis, "'I shall be compelled to say to the -king,'--you understand, my dear Monsieur Percerin, that these are M. -Fouquet's words,--'I shall be constrained to say to the king, "Sire, I -had intended to present your majesty with your portrait, but owing to a -feeling of delicacy, slightly exaggerated perhaps, although creditable, -M. Percerin opposed the project."'" - -"Opposed!" cried the tailor, terrified at the responsibility which would -weigh upon him; "I to oppose the desire, the will of M. Fouquet when he -is seeking to please the king! Oh, what a hateful word you have uttered, -monseigneur. Oppose! Oh, 'tis not I who said it, Heaven have mercy on -me. I call the captain of the musketeers to witness it! Is it not true, -Monsieur d'Artagnan, that I have opposed nothing?" - -D'Artagnan made a sign indicating that he wished to remain neutral. He -felt that there was an intrigue at the bottom of it, whether comedy or -tragedy; he was at his wit's end at not being able to fathom it, but in -the meanwhile wished to keep clear. - -But already Percerin, goaded by the idea that the king was to be told he -stood in the way of a pleasant surprise, had offered Lebrun a chair, and -proceeded to bring from a wardrobe four magnificent dresses, the -fifth being still in the workmen's hands; and these masterpieces he -successively fitted upon four lay figures, which, imported into France -in the time of Concini, had been given to Percerin II. by Marshal -d'Onore, after the discomfiture of the Italian tailors ruined in their -competition. The painter set to work to draw and then to paint the -dresses. But Aramis, who was closely watching all the phases of his -toil, suddenly stopped him. - -"I think you have not quite got it, my dear Lebrun," he said; "your -colors will deceive you, and on canvas we shall lack that exact -resemblance which is absolutely requisite. Time is necessary for -attentively observing the finer shades." - -"Quite true," said Percerin, "but time is wanting, and on that head, you -will agree with me, monseigneur, I can do nothing." - -"Then the affair will fail," said Aramis, quietly, "and that because of -a want of precision in the colors." - -Nevertheless Lebrun went on copying the materials and ornaments with -the closest fidelity--a process which Aramis watched with ill-concealed -impatience. - -"What in the world, now, is the meaning of this imbroglio?" the -musketeer kept saying to himself. - -"That will never do," said Aramis: "M. Lebrun, close your box, and roll -up your canvas." - -"But, monsieur," cried the vexed painter, "the light is abominable -here." - -"An idea, M. Lebrun, an idea! If we had a pattern of the materials, for -example, and with time, and a better light--" - -"Oh, then," cried Lebrun, "I would answer for the effect." - -"Good!" said D'Artagnan, "this ought to be the knotty point of the whole -thing; they want a pattern of each of the materials. _Mordioux!_ Will -this Percerin give in now?" - -Percerin, beaten from his last retreat, and duped, moreover, by the -feigned good-nature of Aramis, cut out five patterns and handed them to -the bishop of Vannes. - -"I like this better. That is your opinion, is it not?" said Aramis to -D'Artagnan. - -"My dear Aramis," said D'Artagnan, "my opinion is that you are always -the same." - -"And, consequently, always your friend," said the bishop in a charming -tone. - -"Yes, yes," said D'Artagnan, aloud; then, in a low voice, "If I am your -dupe, double Jesuit that you are, I will not be your accomplice; and -to prevent it, 'tis time I left this place.--Adieu, Aramis," he added -aloud, "adieu; I am going to rejoin Porthos." - -"Then wait for me," said Aramis, pocketing the patterns, "for I have -done, and shall be glad to say a parting word to our dear old friend." - -Lebrun packed up his paints and brushes, Percerin put back the dresses -into the closet, Aramis put his hand on his pocket to assure himself the -patterns were secure,--and they all left the study. - - - -Chapter V. Where, Probably, Moliere Obtained His First Idea of the -Bourgeois Gentilhomme. - -D'Artagnan found Porthos in the adjoining chamber; but no longer an -irritated Porthos, or a disappointed Porthos, but Porthos radiant, -blooming, fascinating, and chattering with Moliere, who was looking -upon him with a species of idolatry, and as a man would who had not only -never seen anything greater, but not even ever anything so great. Aramis -went straight up to Porthos and offered him his white hand, which lost -itself in the gigantic clasp of his old friend,--an operation which -Aramis never hazarded without a certain uneasiness. But the friendly -pressure having been performed not too painfully for him, the bishop of -Vannes passed over to Moliere. - -"Well, monsieur," said he, "will you come with me to Saint-Mande?" - -"I will go anywhere you like, monseigneur," answered Moliere. - -"To Saint-Mande!" cried Porthos, surprised at seeing the proud bishop -of Vannes fraternizing with a journeyman tailor. "What, Aramis, are you -going to take this gentleman to Saint-Mande?" - -"Yes," said Aramis, smiling, "our work is pressing." - -"And besides, my dear Porthos," continued D'Artagnan, "M. Moliere is not -altogether what he seems." - -"In what way?" asked Porthos. - -"Why, this gentleman is one of M. Percerin's chief clerks, and is -expected at Saint-Mande to try on the dresses which M. Fouquet has -ordered for the Epicureans." - -"'Tis precisely so," said Moliere. - -"Yes, monsieur." - -"Come, then, my dear M. Moliere," said Aramis, "that is, if you have -done with M. du Vallon." - -"We have finished," replied Porthos. - -"And you are satisfied?" asked D'Artagnan. - -"Completely so," replied Porthos. - -Moliere took his leave of Porthos with much ceremony, and grasped the -hand which the captain of the musketeers furtively offered him. - -"Pray, monsieur," concluded Porthos, mincingly, "above all, be exact." - -"You will have your dress the day after to-morrow, monsieur le baron," -answered Moliere. And he left with Aramis. - -Then D'Artagnan, taking Porthos's 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 a half foot too narrow in the chest." - -"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 M. Moliere. 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 mention of the costumes, my dear Porthos." - -"Yes, thirty dresses." - -"Well, my dear Porthos, come, tell me M. Moliere's plan." - -"Moliere? 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 Moliere best. When I wish to recollect his name, I shall -think of _voliere_ [an aviary]; and as I have one at Pierrefonds--" - -"Capital!" returned D'Artagnan. "And M. Moliere's plan?" - -"'Tis this: instead of pulling me to pieces, as all these rascals -do--of making me bend 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 gentleman -ought to measure himself. Do me the pleasure to draw near this glass;' -and I drew near the glass. I must own I did not exactly understand what -this good M. Voliere wanted with me." - -"Moliere!" - -"Ah! yes, Moliere--Moliere. And as the fear of being measured still -possessed me, 'Take care,' said I to him, 'what you are going to do with -me; I am very ticklish, I warn you.' But he, with his soft voice (for -he is a courteous fellow, we must admit, my friend), he with his soft -voice, 'Monsieur,' said he, 'that your dress may fit you well, it must -be made according to your figure. Your figure is exactly reflected in -this mirror. We shall take the measure of this reflection.'" - -"In fact," said D'Artagnan, "you saw yourself in the glass; but where -did they find one in which you could see your whole figure?" - -"My good friend, it is the very glass in which the king is used to look -to see himself." - -"Yes; but the king is a foot and a half shorter than you are." - -"Ah! well, I know not how that may be; it is, no doubt, a cunning way -of flattering the king; but the looking-glass was too large for me. -'Tis true that its height was made up of three Venetian plates of -glass, placed one above another, and its breadth of three similar -parallelograms in juxtaposition." - -"Oh, Porthos! what excellent words you have command of. Where in the -word did you acquire such a voluminous vocabulary?" - -"At Belle-Isle. Aramis and I had to use such words in our strategic -studies and castramentative experiments." - -D'Artagnan recoiled, as though the sesquipedalian syllables had knocked -the breath out of his body. - -"Ah! very good. Let us return to the looking-glass, my friend." - -"Then, this good M. Voliere--" - -"Moliere." - -"Yes--Moliere--you are right. You will see now, my dear friend, that I -shall recollect his name quite well. This excellent M. Moliere set to -work tracing out lines on the mirror, with a piece of Spanish chalk, -following in all the make of my arms and my shoulders, all the while -expounding this maxim, which I thought admirable: 'It is advisable that -a dress should not incommode its wearer.'" - -"In reality," said D'Artagnan, "that is an excellent maxim, which is, -unfortunately, seldom carried out in practice." - -"That is why I found it all the more astonishing, when he expatiated -upon it." - -"Ah! he expatiated?" - -"_Parbleu!_" - -"Let me hear his theory." - -"'Seeing that,' he continued, 'one may, in awkward circumstances, or in -a troublesome position, have one's doublet on one's shoulder, and not -desire to take one's doublet off--'" - -"True," said D'Artagnan. - -"'And so,' continued M. Voliere--" - -"Moliere." - -"Moliere, yes. 'And so,' went on M. Moliere, 'you want to draw your -sword, monsieur, and you have your doublet on your back. What do you -do?' - -"'I take it off,' I answered. - -"'Well, no,' he replied. - -"'How no?' - -"'I say that the dress should be so well made, that it will in no way -encumber you, even in drawing your sword.' - -"'Ah, ah!' - -"'Throw yourself on guard,' pursued he. - -"I did it with such wondrous firmness, that two panes of glass burst out -of the window. - -"''Tis nothing, nothing,' said he. 'Keep your position.' - -"I raised my left arm in the air, the forearm gracefully bent, the -ruffle drooping, and my wrist curved, while my right arm, half extended, -securely covered my wrist with the elbow, and my breast with the wrist." - -"Yes," said D'Artagnan, "'tis the true guard--the academic guard." - -"You have said the very word, dear friend. In the meanwhile, Voliere--" - -"Moliere." - -"Hold! I should certainly, after all, prefer to call him--what did you -say his other name was?" - -"Poquelin." - -"I prefer to call him Poquelin." - -"And how will you remember this name better than the other?" - -"You understand, he calls himself Poquelin, does he not?" - -"Yes." - -"If I were to call to mind Madame Coquenard." - -"Good." - -"And change _Coc_ into _Poc_, _nard_ into _lin_; and instead of -Coquenard I shall have Poquelin." - -"'Tis wonderful," cried D'Artagnan, astounded. "Go on, my friend, I am -listening to you with admiration." - -"This Coquelin sketched my arm on the glass." - -"I beg your pardon--Poquelin." - -"What did I say, then?" - -"You said Coquelin." - -"Ah! true. This Poquelin, then, sketched my arm on the glass; but he -took his time over it; he kept looking at me a good deal. The fact is, -that I must have been looking particularly handsome." - -"'Does it weary you?' he asked. - -"'A little,' I replied, bending a little in my hands, 'but I could hold -out for an hour or so longer.' - -"'No, no, I will not allow it; the willing fellows will make it a duty -to support your arms, as of old, men supported those of the prophet.' - -"'Very good,' I answered. - -"'That will not be humiliating to you?' - -"'My friend,' said I, 'there is, I think, a great difference between -being supported and being measured.'" - -"The distinction is full of the soundest sense," interrupted D'Artagnan. - -"Then," continued Porthos, "he made a sign: two lads approached; one -supported my left arm, while the other, with infinite address, supported -my right." - -"'Another, my man,' cried he. A third approached. 'Support monsieur by -the waist,' said he. The _garcon_ complied." - -"So that you were at rest?" asked D'Artagnan. - -"Perfectly; and Pocquenard drew me on the glass." - -"Poquelin, my friend." - -"Poquelin--you are right. Stay, decidedly I prefer calling him Voliere." - -"Yes; and then it was over, wasn't it?" - -"During that time Voliere drew me as I appeared in the mirror." - -"'Twas delicate in him." - -"I much like the plan; it is respectful, and keeps every one in his -place." - -"And there it ended?" - -"Without a soul having touched me, my friend." - -"Except the three _garcons_ who supported you." - -"Doubtless; but I have, I think, already explained to you the difference -there is between supporting and measuring." - -"'Tis true," answered D'Artagnan; who said afterwards to himself, -"I'faith, I greatly deceive myself, or I have been the means of a good -windfall to that rascal Moliere, and we shall assuredly see the scene -hit off to the life in some comedy or other." Porthos smiled. - -"What are you laughing at?" asked D'Artagnan. - -"Must I confess? Well, I was laughing over my good fortune." - -"Oh, that is true; I don't know a happier man than you. But what is this -last piece of luck that has befallen you?' - -"Well, my dear fellow, congratulate me." - -"I desire nothing better." - -"It seems that I am the first who has had his measure taken in that -manner." - -"Are you so sure of it?' - -"Nearly so. Certain signs of intelligence which passed between Voliere -and the other _garcons_ showed me the fact." - -"Well, my friend, that does not surprise me from Moliere," said -D'Artagnan. - -"Voliere, my friend." - -"Oh, no, no, indeed! I am very willing to leave you to go on saying -Voliere; but, as for me, I shall continued to say Moliere. Well, this, -I was saying, does not surprise me, coming from Moliere, who is a very -ingenious fellow, and inspired you with this grand idea." - -"It will be of great use to him by and by, I am sure." - -"Won't it be of use to him, indeed? I believe you, it will, and that -in the highest degree;--for you see my friend Moliere is of all -known tailors the man who best clothes our barons, comtes, and -marquises--according to their measure." - -On this observation, neither the application nor depth of which we -shall discuss, D'Artagnan and Porthos quitted M. de Percerin's house and -rejoined their carriages, wherein we will leave them, in order to look -after Moliere and Aramis at Saint-Mande. - - - -Chapter VI. The Bee-Hive, the Bees, and the Honey. - -The bishop of Vannes, much annoyed at having met D'Artagnan at M. -Percerin's, returned to Saint-Mande in no very good humor. Moliere, -on the other hand, quite delighted at having made such a capital rough -sketch, and at knowing where to find his original again, whenever he -should desire to convert his sketch into a picture, Moliere arrived in -the merriest of moods. All the first story of the left wing was occupied -by the most celebrated Epicureans in Paris, and those on the freest -footing in the house--every one in his compartment, like the bees in -their cells, employed in producing the honey intended for that royal -cake which M. Fouquet proposed to offer his majesty Louis XIV. during -the _fete_ at Vaux. Pelisson, his head leaning on his hand, was engaged -in drawing out the plan of the prologue to the "Facheux," a comedy in -three acts, which was to be put on the stage by Poquelin de Moliere, as -D'Artagnan called him, or Coquelin de Voliere, as Porthos styled him. -Loret, with all the charming innocence of a gazetteer,--the gazetteers -of all ages have always been so artless!--Loret was composing an -account of the _fetes_ at Vaux, before those _fetes_ had taken place. -La Fontaine sauntered about from one to the other, a peripatetic, -absent-minded, boring, unbearable dreamer, who kept buzzing and humming -at everybody's elbow a thousand poetic abstractions. He so often -disturbed Pelisson, that the latter, raising his head, crossly said, "At -least, La Fontaine, supply me with a rhyme, since you have the run of -the gardens at Parnassus." - -"What rhyme do you want?" asked the _Fabler_ as Madame de Sevigne used -to call him. - -"I want a rhyme to _lumiere_." - -"_Orniere_," answered La Fontaine. - -"Ah, but, my good friend, one cannot talk of _wheel-ruts_ when -celebrating the delights of Vaux," said Loret. - -"Besides, it doesn't rhyme," answered Pelisson. - -"What! doesn't rhyme!" cried La Fontaine, in surprise. - -"Yes; you have an abominable habit, my friend,--a habit which will ever -prevent your becoming a poet of the first order. You rhyme in a slovenly -manner." - -"Oh, oh, you think so, do you, Pelisson?" - -"Yes, I do, indeed. Remember that a rhyme is never good so long as one -can find a better." - -"Then I will never write anything again save in prose," said La -Fontaine, who had taken up Pelisson's reproach in earnest. "Ah! I often -suspected I was nothing but a rascally poet! Yes, 'tis the very truth." - -"Do not say so; your remark is too sweeping, and there is much that is -good in your 'Fables.'" - -"And to begin," continued La Fontaine, following up his idea, "I will go -and burn a hundred verses I have just made." - -"Where are your verses?" - -"In my head." - -"Well, if they are in your head you cannot burn them." - -"True," said La Fontaine; "but if I do not burn them--" - -"Well, what will happen if you do not burn them?" - -"They will remain in my mind, and I shall never forget them!" - -"The deuce!" cried Loret; "what a dangerous thing! One would go mad with -it!" - -"The deuce! the deuce!" repeated La Fontaine; "what can I do?" - -"I have discovered the way," said Moliere, who had entered just at this -point of the conversation. - -"What way?" - -"Write them first and burn them afterwards." - -"How simple! Well, I should never have discovered that. What a mind that -devil of a Moliere has!" said La Fontaine. Then, striking his forehead, -"Oh, thou wilt never be aught but an ass, Jean La Fontaine!" he added. - -"_What_ are you saying there, my friend?" broke in Moliere, approaching -the poet, whose aside he had heard. - -"I say I shall never be aught but an ass," answered La Fontaine, with -a heavy sigh and swimming eyes. "Yes, my friend," he added, with -increasing grief, "it seems that I rhyme in a slovenly manner." - -"Oh, 'tis wrong to say so." - -"Nay, I am a poor creature!" - -"Who said so?" - -"_Parbleu!_ 'twas Pelisson; did you not, Pelisson?" - -Pelisson, again absorbed in his work, took good care not to answer. - -"But if Pelisson said you were so," cried Moliere, "Pelisson has -seriously offended you." - -"Do you think so?" - -"Ah! I advise you, as you are a gentleman, not to leave an insult like -that unpunished." - -"_What!_" exclaimed La Fontaine. - -"Did you ever fight?" - -"Once only, with a lieutenant in the light horse." - -"What wrong had he done you?" - -"It seems he ran away with my wife." - -"Ah, ah!" said Moliere, becoming slightly pale; but as, at La Fontaine's -declaration, the others had turned round, Moliere kept upon his lips the -rallying smile which had so nearly died away, and continuing to make La -Fontaine speak-- - -"And what was the result of the duel?" - -"The result was, that on the ground my opponent disarmed me, and then -made an apology, promising never again to set foot in my house." - -"And you considered yourself satisfied?" said Moliere. - -"Not at all! on the contrary, I picked up my sword. 'I beg your pardon, -monsieur,' I said, 'I have not fought you because you were my wife's -friend, but because I was told I ought to fight. So, as I have never -known any peace save since you made her acquaintance, do me the pleasure -to continue your visits as heretofore, or _morbleu!_ let us set to -again.' And so," continued La Fontaine, "he was compelled to resume his -friendship with madame, and I continue to be the happiest of husbands." - -All burst out laughing. Moliere alone passed his hand across his eyes. -Why? Perhaps to wipe away a tear, perhaps to smother a sigh. Alas! we -know that Moliere was a moralist, but he was not a philosopher. "'Tis -all one," he said, returning to the topic of the conversation, "Pelisson -has insulted you." - -"Ah, truly! I had already forgotten it." - -"And I am going to challenge him on your behalf." - -"Well, you can do so, if you think it indispensable." - -"I do think it indispensable, and I am going to--" - -"Stay," exclaimed La Fontaine, "I want your advice." - -"Upon what? this insult?" - -"No; tell me really now whether _lumiere_ does not rhyme with -_orniere_." - -"I should make them rhyme." - -"Ah! I knew you would." - -"And I have made a hundred thousand such rhymes in my time." - -"A hundred thousand!" cried La Fontaine. "Four times as many as 'La -Pucelle,' which M. Chaplain is meditating. Is it also on this subject, -too, that you have composed a hundred thousand verses?" - -"Listen to me, you eternally absent-minded creature," said Moliere. - -"It is certain," continued La Fontaine, "that _legume_, for instance, -rhymes with _posthume_." - -"In the plural, above all." - -"Yes, above all in the plural, seeing that then it rhymes not with three -letters, but with four; as _orniere_ does with _lumiere_." - -"But give me _ornieres_ and _lumieres_ in the plural, my dear Pelisson," -said La Fontaine, clapping his hand on the shoulder of his friend, whose -insult he had quite forgotten, "and they will rhyme." - -"Hem!" coughed Pelisson. - -"Moliere says so, and Moliere is a judge of such things; he declares he -has himself made a hundred thousand verses." - -"Come," said Moliere, laughing, "he is off now." - -"It is like _rivage_, which rhymes admirably with _herbage_. I would -take my oath of it." - -"But--" said Moliere. - -"I tell you all this," continued La Fontaine, "because you are preparing -a _divertissement_ for Vaux, are you not?" - -"Yes, the 'Facheux.'" - -"Ah, yes, the 'Facheux;' yes, I recollect. Well, I was thinking a -prologue would admirably suit your _divertissement_." - -"Doubtless it would suit capitally." - -"Ah! you are of my opinion?" - -"So much so, that I have asked you to write this very prologue." - -"You asked _me_ to write it?" - -"Yes, you, and on your refusal begged you to ask Pelisson, who is -engaged upon it at this moment." - -"Ah! that is what Pelisson is doing, then? I'faith, my dear Moliere, you -are indeed often right." - -"When?" - -"When you call me absent-minded. It is a monstrous defect; I will cure -myself of it, and do your prologue for you." - -"But inasmuch as Pelisson is about it!--" - -"Ah, true, miserable rascal that I am! Loret was indeed right in saying -I was a poor creature." - -"It was not Loret who said so, my friend." - -"Well, then, whoever said so, 'tis the same to me! And so your -_divertissement_ is called the 'Facheux?' Well, can you make _heureux_ -rhyme with _facheux?_" - -"If obliged, yes." - -"And even with _capriceux_." - -"Oh, no, no." - -"It would be hazardous, and yet why so?" - -"There is too great a difference in the cadences." - -"I was fancying," said La Fontaine, leaving Moliere for Loret--"I was -fancying--" - -"What were you fancying?" said Loret, in the middle of a sentence. "Make -haste." - -"You are writing the prologue to the 'Facheux,' are you not?" - -"No! _mordieu!_ it is Pelisson." - -"Ah, Pelisson," cried La Fontaine, going over to him, "I was fancying," -he continued, "that the nymph of Vaux--" - -"Ah, beautiful!" cried Loret. "The nymph of Vaux! thank you, La -Fontaine; you have just given me the two concluding verses of my paper." - -"Well, if you can rhyme so well, La Fontaine," said Pelisson, "tell me -now in what way you would begin my prologue?" - -"I should say, for instance, 'Oh! nymph, who--' After 'who' I should -place a verb in the second person singular of the present indicative; -and should go on thus: 'this grot profound.'" - -"But the verb, the verb?" asked Pelisson. - -"To admire the greatest king of all kings round," continued La Fontaine. - -"But the verb, the verb," obstinately insisted Pelisson. "This second -person singular of the present indicative?" - -"Well, then; quittest: - -"Oh, nymph, who quittest now this grot profound, To admire the greatest -king of all kings round." - -"You would not put 'who quittest,' would you?" - -"Why not?" - -"'Quittest,' after 'you who'?" - -"Ah! my dear fellow," exclaimed La Fontaine, "you are a shocking -pedant!" - -"Without counting," said Moliere, "that the second verse, 'king of all -kings round,' is very weak, my dear La Fontaine." - -"Then you see clearly I am nothing but a poor creature,--a shuffler, as -you said." - -"I never said so." - -"Then, as Loret said." - -"And it was not Loret either; it was Pelisson." - -"Well, Pelisson was right a hundred times over. But what annoys me more -than anything, my dear Moliere, is, that I fear we shall not have our -Epicurean dresses." - -"You expected yours, then, for the _fete?_" - -"Yes, for the _fete_, and then for after the _fete_. My housekeeper told -me that my own is rather faded." - -"_Diable!_ your housekeeper is right; rather more than faded." - -"Ah, you see," resumed La Fontaine, "the fact is, I left it on the floor -in my room, and my cat--" - -"Well, your cat--" - -"She made her nest upon it, which has rather changed its color." - -Moliere burst out laughing; Pelisson and Loret followed his example. At -this juncture, the bishop of Vannes appeared, with a roll of plans and -parchments under his arm. As if the angel of death had chilled all gay -and sprightly fancies--as if that wan form had scared away the Graces -to whom Xenocrates sacrificed--silence immediately reigned through the -study, and every one resumed his self-possession and his pen. Aramis -distributed the notes of invitation, and thanked them in the name of -M. Fouquet. "The superintendent," he said, "being kept to his room by -business, could not come and see them, but begged them to send him some -of the fruits of their day's work, to enable him to forget the fatigue -of his labor in the night." - -At these words, all settled down to work. La Fontaine placed himself at -a table, and set his rapid pen an endless dance across the smooth white -vellum; Pelisson made a fair copy of his prologue; Moliere contributed -fifty fresh verses, with which his visit to Percerin had inspired him; -Loret, an article on the marvelous _fetes_ he predicted; and Aramis, -laden with his booty like the king of the bees, that great black drone, -decked with purple and gold, re-entered his apartment, silent and -busy. But before departing, "Remember, gentlemen," said he, "we leave -to-morrow evening." - -"In that case, I must give notice at home," said Moliere. - -"Yes; poor Moliere!" said Loret, smiling; "he loves his home." - -"'_He_ loves,' yes," replied Moliere, with his sad, sweet smile. "'He -loves,' that does not mean, they love _him_." - -"As for me," said La Fontaine, "they love me at Chateau Thierry, I am -very sure." - -Aramis here re-entered after a brief disappearance. - -"Will any one go with me?" he asked. "I am going by Paris, after having -passed a quarter of an hour with M. Fouquet. I offer my carriage." - -"Good," said Moliere, "I accept it. I am in a hurry." - -"I shall dine here," said Loret. "M. de Gourville has promised me some -craw-fish." - -"He has promised me some whitings. Find a rhyme for that, La Fontaine." - -Aramis went out laughing, as only he could laugh, and Moliere followed -him. They were at the bottom of the stairs, when La Fontaine opened the -door, and shouted out: - - -"He has promised us some whitings, In return for these our writings." - -The shouts of laughter reached the ears of Fouquet at the moment Aramis -opened the door of the study. As to Moliere, he had undertaken to -order the horses, while Aramis went to exchange a parting word with the -superintendent. "Oh, how they are laughing there!" said Fouquet, with a -sigh. - -"Do you not laugh, monseigneur?" - -"I laugh no longer now, M. d'Herblay. The _fete_ is approaching; money -is departing." - -"Have I not told you that was my business?" - -"Yes, you promised me millions." - -"You shall have them the day after the king's _entree_ into Vaux." - -Fouquet looked closely at Aramis, and passed the back of his icy hand -across his moistened brow. Aramis perceived that the superintendent -either doubted him, or felt he was powerless to obtain the money. How -could Fouquet suppose that a poor bishop, ex-abbe, ex-musketeer, could -find any? - -"Why doubt me?" said Aramis. Fouquet smiled and shook his head. - -"Man of little faith!" added the bishop. - -"My dear M. d'Herblay," answered Fouquet, "if I fall--" - -"Well; if you 'fall'?" - -"I shall, at least, fall from such a height, that I shall shatter myself -in falling." Then giving himself a shake, as though to escape from -himself, "Whence came you," said he, "my friend?" - -"From Paris--from Percerin." - -"And what have you been doing at Percerin's, for I suppose you attach no -great importance to our poets' dresses?" - -"No; I went to prepare a surprise." - -"Surprise?" - -"Yes; which you are going to give to the king." - -"And will it cost much?" - -"Oh! a hundred pistoles you will give Lebrun." - -"A painting?--Ah! all the better! And what is this painting to -represent?" - -"I will tell you; then at the same time, whatever you may say or think -of it, I went to see the dresses for our poets." - -"Bah! and they will be rich and elegant?" - -"Splendid! There will be few great monseigneurs with so good. People -will see the difference there is between the courtiers of wealth and -those of friendship." - -"Ever generous and grateful, dear prelate." - -"In your school." - -Fouquet grasped his hand. "And where are you going?" he said. - -"I am off to Paris, when you shall have given a certain letter." - -"For whom?" - -"M. de Lyonne." - -"And what do you want with Lyonne?" - -"I wish to make him sign a _lettre de cachet_." - -"'_Lettre de cachet!_' Do you desire to put somebody in the Bastile?" - -"On the contrary--to let somebody out." - -"And who?" - -"A poor devil--a youth, a lad who has been Bastiled these ten years, for -two Latin verses he made against the Jesuits." - -"'Two Latin verses!' and, for 'two Latin verses,' the miserable being -has been in prison for ten years!" - -"Yes!" - -"And has committed no other crime?" - -"Beyond this, he is as innocent as you or I." - -"On your word?" - -"On my honor!" - -"And his name is--" - -"Seldon." - -"Yes.--But it is too bad. You knew this, and you never told me!" - -"'Twas only yesterday his mother applied to me, monseigneur." - -"And the woman is poor!" - -"In the deepest misery." - -"Heaven," said Fouquet, "sometimes bears with such injustice on earth, -that I hardly wonder there are wretches who doubt of its existence. -Stay, M. d'Herblay." And Fouquet, taking a pen, wrote a few rapid lines -to his colleague Lyonne. Aramis took the letter and made ready to go. - -"Wait," said Fouquet. He opened his drawer, and took out ten government -notes which were there, each for a thousand francs. "Stay," he said; -"set the son at liberty, and give this to the mother; but, above all, do -not tell her--" - -"What, monseigneur?" - -"That she is ten thousand livres richer than I. She would say I am but -a poor superintendent! Go! and I pray that God will bless those who are -mindful of his poor!" - -"So also do I pray," replied Aramis, kissing Fouquet's hand. - -And he went out quickly, carrying off the letter for Lyonne and the -notes for Seldon's mother, and taking up Moliere, who was beginning to -lose patience. - -Chapter VII. Another Supper at the Bastile. - -Seven o'clock sounded from the great clock of the Bastile, that famous -clock, which, like all the accessories of the state prison, the very use -of which is a torture, recalled to the prisoners' minds the destination -of every hour of their punishment. The time-piece of the Bastile, -adorned with figures, like most of the clocks of the period, represented -St. Peter in bonds. It was the supper hour of the unfortunate captives. -The doors, grating on their enormous hinges, opened for the passage of -the baskets and trays of provisions, the abundance and the delicacy of -which, as M. de Baisemeaux has himself taught us, was regulated by -the condition in life of the prisoner. We understand on this head -the theories of M. de Baisemeaux, sovereign dispenser of gastronomic -delicacies, head cook of the royal fortress, whose trays, full-laden, -were ascending the steep staircases, carrying some consolation to the -prisoners in the shape of honestly filled bottles of good vintages. This -same hour was that of M. le gouverneur's supper also. He had a guest -to-day, and the spit turned more heavily than usual. Roast partridges, -flanked with quails and flanking a larded leveret; boiled fowls; hams, -fried and sprinkled with white wine, _cardons_ of Guipuzcoa and _la -bisque ecrevisses_: these, together with soups and _hors d'oeuvres_, -constituted the governor's bill of fare. Baisemeaux, seated at table, -was rubbing his hands and looking at the bishop of Vannes, who, booted -like a cavalier, dressed in gray and sword at side, kept talking of -his hunger and testifying the liveliest impatience. M. de Baisemeaux de -Montlezun was not accustomed to the unbending movements of his greatness -my lord of Vannes, and this evening Aramis, becoming sprightly, -volunteered confidence on confidence. The prelate had again a little -touch of the musketeer about him. The bishop just trenched on the -borders only of license in his style of conversation. As for M. de -Baisemeaux, with the facility of vulgar people, he gave himself up -entirely upon this point of his guest's freedom. "Monsieur," said he, -"for indeed to-night I dare not call you monseigneur." - -"By no means," said Aramis; "call me monsieur; I am booted." - -"Do you know, monsieur, of whom you remind me this evening?" - -"No! faith," said Aramis, taking up his glass; "but I hope I remind you -of a capital guest." - -"You remind me of two, monsieur. Francois, shut the window; the wind may -annoy his greatness." - -"And let him go," added Aramis. "The supper is completely served, and -we shall eat it very well without waiters. I like exceedingly to be -_tete-a-tete_ when I am with a friend." Baisemeaux bowed respectfully. - -"I like exceedingly," continued Aramis, "to help myself." - -"Retire, Francois," cried Baisemeaux. "I was saying that your greatness -puts me in mind of two persons; one very illustrious, the late cardinal, -the great Cardinal de la Rochelle, who wore boots like you." - -"Indeed," said Aramis; "and the other?" - -"The other was a certain musketeer, very handsome, very brave, very -adventurous, very fortunate, who, from being abbe, turned musketeer, and -from musketeer turned abbe." Aramis condescended to smile. "From -abbe," continued Baisemeaux, encouraged by Aramis's smile--"from abbe, -bishop--and from bishop--" - -"Ah! stay there, I beg," exclaimed Aramis. - -"I have just said, monsieur, that you gave me the idea of a cardinal." - -"Enough, dear M. Baisemeaux. As you said, I have on the boots of a -cavalier, but I do not intend, for all that, to embroil myself with the -church this evening." - -"But you have wicked intentions, nevertheless, monseigneur." - -"Oh, yes, wicked, I own, as everything mundane is." - -"You traverse the town and the streets in disguise?" - -"In disguise, as you say." - -"And you still make use of your sword?" - -"Yes, I should think so; but only when I am compelled. Do me the -pleasure to summon Francois." - -"Have you no wine there?" - -"'Tis not for wine, but because it is hot here, and the window is shut." - -"I shut the windows at supper-time so as not to hear the sounds or the -arrival of couriers." - -"Ah, yes. You hear them when the window is open?" - -"But too well, and that disturbs me. You understand?" - -"Nevertheless I am suffocated. Francois." Francois entered. "Open the -windows, I pray you, Master Francois," said Aramis. "You will allow him, -dear M. Baisemeaux?" - -"You are at home here," answered the governor. The window was opened. -"Do you not think," said M. de Baisemeaux, "that you will find yourself -very lonely, now M. de la Fere has returned to his household gods at -Blois? He is a very old friend, is he not?" - -"You know it as I do, Baisemeaux, seeing that you were in the musketeers -with us." - -"Bah! with my friends I reckon neither bottles of wine nor years." - -"And you are right. But I do more than love M. de la Fere, dear -Baisemeaux; I venerate him." - -"Well, for my part, though 'tis singular," said the governor, "I prefer -M. d'Artagnan to him. There is a man for you, who drinks long and well! -That kind of people allow you at least to penetrate their thoughts." - -"Baisemeaux, make me tipsy to-night; let us have a merry time of it as -of old, and if I have a trouble at the bottom of my heart, I promise -you, you shall see it as you would a diamond at the bottom of your -glass." - -"Bravo!" said Baisemeaux, and he poured out a great glass of wine and -drank it off at a draught, trembling with joy at the idea of being, by -hook or by crook, in the secret of some high archiepiscopal misdemeanor. -While he was drinking he did not see with what attention Aramis was -noting the sounds in the great court. A courier came in about eight -o'clock as Francois brought in the fifth bottle, and, although the -courier made a great noise, Baisemeaux heard nothing. - -"The devil take him," said Aramis. - -"What! who?" asked Baisemeaux. "I hope 'tis neither the wine you drank -nor he who is the cause of your drinking it." - -"No; it is a horse, who is making noise enough in the court for a whole -squadron." - -"Pooh! some courier or other," replied the governor, redoubling his -attention to the passing bottle. "Yes; and may the devil take him, and -so quickly that we shall never hear him speak more. Hurrah! hurrah!" - -"You forget me, Baisemeaux! my glass is empty," said Aramis, lifting his -dazzling Venetian goblet. - -"Upon my honor, you delight me. Francois, wine!" Francois entered. -"Wine, fellow! and better." - -"Yes, monsieur, yes; but a courier has just arrived." - -"Let him go to the devil, I say." - -"Yes, monsieur, but--" - -"Let him leave his news at the office; we will see to it to-morrow. -To-morrow, there will be time to-morrow; there will be daylight," said -Baisemeaux, chanting the words. - -"Ah, monsieur," grumbled the soldier Francois, in spite of himself, -"monsieur." - -"Take care," said Aramis, "take care!" - -"Of what? dear M. d'Herblay," said Baisemeaux, half intoxicated. - -"The letter which the courier brings to the governor of a fortress is -sometimes an order." - -"Nearly always." - -"Do not orders issue from the ministers?" - -"Yes, undoubtedly; but--" - -"And what to these ministers do but countersign the signature of the -king?" - -"Perhaps you are right. Nevertheless, 'tis very tiresome when you are -sitting before a good table, _tete-a-tete_ with a friend--Ah! I beg your -pardon, monsieur; I forgot it is I who engage you at supper, and that I -speak to a future cardinal." - -"Let us pass over that, dear Baisemeaux, and return to our soldier, to -Francois." - -"Well, and what has Francois done?" - -"He has demurred!" - -"He was wrong, then?" - -"However, he _has_ demurred, you see; 'tis because there is something -extraordinary in this matter. It is very possible that it was not -Francois who was wrong in demurring, but you, who are in the wrong in -not listening to him." - -"Wrong? I to be wrong before Francois? that seems rather hard." - -"Pardon me, merely an irregularity. But I thought it my duty to make an -observation which I deem important." - -"Oh! perhaps you are right," stammered Baisemeaux. "The king's order -is sacred; but as to orders that arrive when one is at supper, I repeat -that the devil--" - -"If you had said as much to the great cardinal--hem! my dear Baisemeaux, -and if his order had any importance." - -"I do it that I may not disturb a bishop. _Mordioux!_ am I not, then, -excusable?" - -"Do not forget, Baisemeaux, that I have worn the soldier's coat, and I -am accustomed to obedience everywhere." - -"You wish, then--" - -"I wish that you would do your duty, my friend; yes, at least before -this soldier." - -"'Tis mathematically true," exclaimed Baisemeaux. Francois still -waited: "Let them send this order of the king's up to me," he repeated, -recovering himself. And he added in a low tone, "Do you know what it is? -I will tell you something about as interesting as this. 'Beware of fire -near the powder magazine;' or, 'Look close after such and such a one, -who is clever at escaping,' Ah! if you only knew, monseigneur, how many -times I have been suddenly awakened from the very sweetest, deepest -slumber, by messengers arriving at full gallop to tell me, or -rather, bring me a slip of paper containing these words: 'Monsieur de -Baisemeaux, what news?' 'Tis clear enough that those who waste their -time writing such orders have never slept in the Bastile. They would -know better; they have never considered the thickness of my walls, the -vigilance of my officers, the number of rounds we go. But, indeed, what -can you expect, monseigneur? It is their business to write and torment -me when I am at rest, and to trouble me when I am happy," added -Baisemeaux, bowing to Aramis. "Then let them do their business." - -"And do you do yours," added the bishop, smiling. - -Francois re-entered; Baisemeaux took from his hands the minister's -order. He slowly undid it, and as slowly read it. Aramis pretended to -be drinking, so as to be able to watch his host through the glass. Then, -Baisemeaux, having read it: "What was I just saying?" he exclaimed. - -"What is it?" asked the bishop. - -"An order of release! There, now; excellent news indeed to disturb us!" - -"Excellent news for him whom it concerns, you will at least agree, my -dear governor!" - -"And at eight o'clock in the evening!" - -"It is charitable!" - -"Oh! charity is all very well, but it is for that fellow who says he -is so weary and tired, but not for me who am amusing myself," said -Baisemeaux, exasperated. - -"Will you lose by him, then? And is the prisoner who is to be set at -liberty a good payer?" - -"Oh, yes, indeed! a miserable, five-franc rat!" - -"Let me see it," asked M. d'Herblay. "It is no indiscretion?" - -"By no means; read it." - -"There is 'Urgent,' on the paper; you have seen that, I suppose?" - -"Oh, admirable! 'Urgent!'--a man who has been there ten years! It -is _urgent_ to set him free to-day, this very evening, at eight -o'clock!--_urgent!_" And Baisemeaux, shrugging his shoulders with an air -of supreme disdain, flung the order on the table and began eating again. - -"They are fond of these tricks!" he said, with his mouth full; "they -seize a man, some fine day, keep him under lock and key for ten years, -and write to you, 'Watch this fellow well,' or 'Keep him very strictly.' -And then, as soon as you are accustomed to look upon the prisoner as a -dangerous man, all of a sudden, without rhyme or reason they write--'Set -him at liberty,' and actually add to their missive--'urgent.' You will -own, my lord, 'tis enough to make a man at dinner shrug his shoulders!" - -"What do you expect? It is for them to write," said Aramis, "for you to -execute the order." - -"Good! good! execute it! Oh, patience! You must not imagine that I am a -slave." - -"Gracious Heaven! my very good M. Baisemeaux, who ever said so? Your -independence is well known." - -"Thank Heaven!" - -"But your goodness of heart is also known." - -"Ah! don't speak of it!" - -"And your obedience to your superiors. Once a soldier, you see, -Baisemeaux, always a soldier." - -"And I shall directly obey; and to-morrow morning, at daybreak, the -prisoner referred to shall be set free." - -"To-morrow?" - -"At dawn." - -"Why not this evening, seeing that the _lettre de cachet_ bears, both on -the direction and inside, '_urgent_'?" - -"Because this evening we are at supper, and our affairs are urgent, -too!" - -"Dear Baisemeaux, booted though I be, I feel myself a priest, and -charity has higher claims upon me than hunger and thirst. This -unfortunate man has suffered long enough, since you have just told me -that he has been your prisoner these ten years. Abridge his suffering. -His good time has come; give him the benefit quickly. God will repay you -in Paradise with years of felicity." - -"You wish it?" - -"I entreat you." - -"What! in the very middle of our repast?" - -"I implore you; such an action is worth ten Benedicites." - -"It shall be as you desire, only our supper will get cold." - -"Oh! never heed that." - -Baisemeaux leaned back to ring for Francois, and by a very natural -motion turned round towards the door. The order had remained on the -table; Aramis seized the opportunity when Baisemeaux was not looking to -change the paper for another, folded in the same manner, which he drew -swiftly from his pocket. "Francois," said the governor, "let the major -come up here with the turnkeys of the Bertaudiere." Francois bowed and -quitted the room, leaving the two companions alone. - - - -Chapter VIII. The General of the Order. - -There was now a brief silence, during which Aramis never removed his -eyes from Baisemeaux for a moment. The latter seemed only half decided -to disturb himself thus in the middle of supper, and it was clear he was -trying to invent some pretext, whether good or bad, for delay, at any -rate till after dessert. And it appeared also that he had hit upon an -excuse at last. - -"Eh! but it is impossible!" he cried. - -"How impossible?" said Aramis. "Give me a glimpse of this -impossibility." - -"'Tis impossible to set a prisoner at liberty at such an hour. Where can -he go to, a man so unacquainted with Paris?" - -"He will find a place wherever he can." - -"You see, now, one might as well set a blind man free!" - -"I have a carriage, and will take him wherever he wishes." - -"You have an answer for everything. Francois, tell monsieur le major to -go and open the cell of M. Seldon, No. 3, Bertaudiere." - -"Seldon!" exclaimed Aramis, very naturally. "You said Seldon, I think?" - -"I said Seldon, of course. 'Tis the name of the man they set free." - -"Oh! you mean to say Marchiali?" said Aramis. - -"Marchiali? oh! yes, indeed. No, no, Seldon." - -"I think you are making a mistake, Monsieur Baisemeaux." - -"I have read the order." - -"And I also." - -"And I saw 'Seldon' in letters as large as that," and Baisemeaux held up -his finger. - -"And I read 'Marchiali' in characters as large as this," said Aramis, -also holding up two fingers. - -"To the proof; let us throw a light on the matter," said Baisemeaux, -confident he was right. "There is the paper, you have only to read it." - -"I read 'Marchiali,'" returned Aramis, spreading out the paper. "Look." - -Baisemeaux looked, and his arms dropped suddenly. "Yes, yes," he said, -quite overwhelmed; "yes, Marchiali. 'Tis plainly written Marchiali! -Quite true!" - -"Ah!--" - -"How? the man of whom we have talked so much? The man whom they are -every day telling me to take such care of?" - -"There is 'Marchiali,'" repeated the inflexible Aramis. - -"I must own it, monseigneur. But I understand nothing about it." - -"You believe your eyes, at any rate." - -"To tell me very plainly there is 'Marchiali.'" - -"And in a good handwriting, too." - -"'Tis a wonder! I still see this order and the name of Seldon, Irishman. -I see it. Ah! I even recollect that under this name there was a blot of -ink." - -"No, there is no ink; no, there is no blot." - -"Oh! but there was, though; I know it, because I rubbed my finger--this -very one--in the powder that was over the blot." - -"In a word, be it how it may, dear M. Baisemeaux," said Aramis, "and -whatever you may have seen, the order is signed to release Marchiali, -blot or no blot." - -"The order is signed to release Marchiali," replied Baisemeaux, -mechanically, endeavoring to regain his courage. - -"And you are going to release this prisoner. If your heart dictates you -to deliver Seldon also, I declare to you I will not oppose it the least -in the world." Aramis accompanied this remark with a smile, the irony of -which effectually dispelled Baisemeaux's confusion of mind, and restored -his courage. - -"Monseigneur," he said, "this Marchiali is the very same prisoner whom -the other day a priest confessor of _our order_ came to visit in so -imperious and so secret a manner." - -"I don't know that, monsieur," replied the bishop. - -"'Tis no such long time ago, dear Monsieur d'Herblay." - -"It is true. But _with us_, monsieur, it is good that the man of to-day -should no longer know what the man of yesterday did." - -"In any case," said Baisemeaux, "the visit of the Jesuit confessor must -have given happiness to this man." - -Aramis made no reply, but recommenced eating and drinking. As for -Baisemeaux, no longer touching anything that was on the table, he again -took up the order and examined it every way. This investigation, under -ordinary circumstances, would have made the ears of the impatient Aramis -burn with anger; but the bishop of Vannes did not become incensed for -so little, above all, when he had murmured to himself that to do so was -dangerous. "Are you going to release Marchiali?" he said. "What mellow, -fragrant and delicious sherry this is, my dear governor." - -"Monseigneur," replied Baisemeaux, "I shall release the prisoner -Marchiali when I have summoned the courier who brought the order, and -above all, when, by interrogating him, I have satisfied myself." - -"The order is sealed, and the courier is ignorant of the contents. What -do you want to satisfy yourself about?" - -"Be it so, monseigneur; but I shall send to the ministry, and M. de -Lyonne will either confirm or withdraw the order." - -"What is the good of all that?" asked Aramis, coldly. - -"What good?" - -"Yes; what is your object, I ask?" - -"The object of never deceiving oneself, monseigneur; nor being wanting -in the respect which a subaltern owes to his superior officers, nor -infringing the duties of a service one has accepted of one's own free -will." - -"Very good; you have just spoken so eloquently, that I cannot but admire -you. It is true that a subaltern owes respect to his superiors; he -is guilty when he deceives himself, and he should be punished if he -infringed either the duties or laws of his office." - -Baisemeaux looked at the bishop with astonishment. - -"It follows," pursued Aramis, "that you are going to ask advice, to put -your conscience at ease in the matter?" - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"And if a superior officer gives you orders, you will obey?" - -"Never doubt it, monseigneur." - -"You know the king's signature well, M. de Baisemeaux?" - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"Is it not on this order of release?" - -"It is true, but it may--" - -"Be forged, you mean?" - -"That is evident, monseigneur." - -"You are right. And that of M. de Lyonne?" - -"I see it plain enough on the order; but for the same reason that the -king's signature may have been forged, so also, and with even greater -probability, may M. de Lyonne's." - -"Your logic has the stride of a giant, M. de Baisemeaux," said Aramis; -"and your reasoning is irresistible. But on what special grounds do you -base your idea that these signatures are false?" - -"On this: the absence of counter-signatures. Nothing checks his -majesty's signature; and M. de Lyonne is not there to tell me he has -signed." - -"Well, Monsieur de Baisemeaux," said Aramis, bending an eagle glance on -the governor, "I adopt so frankly your doubts, and your mode of clearing -them up, that I will take a pen, if you will give me one." - -Baisemeaux gave him a pen. - -"And a sheet of white paper," added Aramis. - -Baisemeaux handed him some paper. - -"Now, I--I, also--I, here present--incontestably, I--am going to write -an order to which I am certain you will give credence, incredulous as -you are!" - -Baisemeaux turned pale at this icy assurance of manner. It seemed to -him that the voice of the bishop's, but just now so playful and gay, had -become funereal and sad; that the wax lights changed into the tapers of -a mortuary chapel, the very glasses of wine into chalices of blood. - -Aramis took a pen and wrote. Baisemeaux, in terror, read over his -shoulder. - -"A. M. D. G.," wrote the bishop; and he drew a cross under these four -letters, which signify _ad majorem Dei gloriam_, "to the greater glory -of God;" and thus he continued: "It is our pleasure that the order -brought to M. de Baisemeaux de Montlezun, governor, for the king, of -the castle of the Bastile, be held by him good and effectual, and be -immediately carried into operation." - -(Signed) D'HERBLAY - -"General of the Order, by the grace of God." - -Baisemeaux was so profoundly astonished, that his features remained -contracted, his lips parted, and his eyes fixed. He did not move an -inch, nor articulate a sound. Nothing could be heard in that large -chamber but the wing-whisper of a little moth, which was fluttering to -its death about the candles. Aramis, without even deigning to look at -the man whom he had reduced to so miserable a condition, drew from his -pocket a small case of black wax; he sealed the letter, and stamped it -with a seal suspended at his breast, beneath his doublet, and when the -operation was concluded, presented--still in silence--the missive to M. -de Baisemeaux. The latter, whose hands trembled in a manner to excite -pity, turned a dull and meaningless gaze upon the letter. A last gleam -of feeling played over his features, and he fell, as if thunder-struck, -on a chair. - -"Come, come," said Aramis, after a long silence, during which the -governor of the Bastile had slowly recovered his senses, "do not lead -me to believe, dear Baisemeaux, that the presence of the general of the -order is as terrible as His, and that men die merely from having seen -Him. Take courage, rouse yourself; give me your hand--obey." - -Baisemeaux, reassured, if not satisfied, obeyed, kissed Aramis's hand, -and rose. "Immediately?" he murmured. - -"Oh, there is no pressing haste, my host; take your place again, and do -the honors over this beautiful dessert." - -"Monseigneur, I shall never recover such a shock as this; I who have -laughed, who have jested with you! I who have dared to treat you on a -footing of equality!" - -"Say nothing about it, old comrade," replied the bishop, who perceived -how strained the cord was and how dangerous it would have been to break -it; "say nothing about it. Let us each live in our own way; to you, -my protection and my friendship; to me, your obedience. Having exactly -fulfilled these two requirements, let us live happily." - -Baisemeaux reflected; he perceived, at a glance, the consequence of this -withdrawal of a prisoner by means of a forged order; and, putting in the -scale the guarantee offered him by the official order of the general, -did not consider it of any value. - -Aramis divined this. "My dear Baisemeaux," said he, "you are a -simpleton. Lose this habit of reflection when I give myself the trouble -to think for you." - -And at another gesture he made, Baisemeaux bowed again. "How shall I set -about it?" he said. - -"What is the process for releasing a prisoner?" - -"I have the regulations." - -"Well, then, follow the regulations, my friend." - -"I go with my major to the prisoner's room, and conduct him, if he is a -personage of importance." - -"But this Marchiali is not an important personage," said Aramis -carelessly. - -"I don't know," answered the governor, as if he would have said, "It is -for you to instruct me." - -"Then if you don't know it, I am right; so act towards Marchiali as you -act towards one of obscure station." - -"Good; the regulations so provide. They are to the effect that the -turnkey, or one of the lower officials, shall bring the prisoner before -the governor, in the office." - -"Well, 'tis very wise, that; and then?" - -"Then we return to the prisoner the valuables he wore at the time of his -imprisonment, his clothes and papers, if the minister's orders have not -otherwise dictated." - -"What was the minister's order as to this Marchiali?" - -"Nothing; for the unhappy man arrived here without jewels, without -papers, and almost without clothes." - -"See how simple, then, all is. Indeed, Baisemeaux, you make a mountain -of everything. Remain here, and make them bring the prisoner to the -governor's house." - -Baisemeaux obeyed. He summoned his lieutenant, and gave him an order, -which the latter passed on, without disturbing himself about it, to the -next whom it concerned. - -Half an hour afterwards they heard a gate shut in the court; it was the -door to the dungeon, which had just rendered up its prey to the free -air. Aramis blew out all the candles which lighted the room but one, -which he left burning behind the door. This flickering glare prevented -the sight from resting steadily on any object. It multiplied tenfold the -changing forms and shadows of the place, by its wavering uncertainty. -Steps drew near. - -"Go and meet your men," said Aramis to Baisemeaux. - -The governor obeyed. The sergeant and turnkeys disappeared. Baisemeaux -re-entered, followed by a prisoner. Aramis had placed himself in the -shade; he saw without being seen. Baisemeaux, in an agitated tone of -voice, made the young man acquainted with the order which set him at -liberty. The prisoner listened, without making a single gesture or -saying a word. - -"You will swear ('tis the regulation that requires it)," added the -governor, "never to reveal anything that you have seen or heard in the -Bastile." - -The prisoner perceived a crucifix; he stretched out his hands and swore -with his lips. "And now, monsieur, you are free. Whither do you intend -going?" - -The prisoner turned his head, as if looking behind him for some -protection, on which he ought to rely. Then was it that Aramis came out -of the shade: "I am here," he said, "to render the gentleman whatever -service he may please to ask." - -The prisoner slightly reddened, and, without hesitation, passed his arm -through that of Aramis. "God have you in his holy keeping," he said, in -a voice the firmness of which made the governor tremble as much as the -form of the blessing astonished him. - -Aramis, on shaking hands with Baisemeaux, said to him; "Does my order -trouble you? Do you fear their finding it here, should they come to -search?" - -"I desire to keep it, monseigneur," said Baisemeaux. "If they found it -here, it would be a certain indication I should be lost, and in that -case you would be a powerful and a last auxiliary for me." - -"Being your accomplice, you mean?" answered Aramis, shrugging his -shoulders. "Adieu, Baisemeaux," said he. - -The horses were in waiting, making each rusty spring reverberate the -carriage again with their impatience. Baisemeaux accompanied the bishop -to the bottom of the steps. Aramis caused his companion to mount before -him, then followed, and without giving the driver any further order, "Go -on," said he. The carriage rattled over the pavement of the courtyard. -An officer with a torch went before the horses, and gave orders at -every post to let them pass. During the time taken in opening all the -barriers, Aramis barely breathed, and you might have heard his "sealed -heart knock against his ribs." The prisoner, buried in a corner of the -carriage, made no more sign of life than his companion. At length, a -jolt more sever than the others announced to them that they had cleared -the last watercourse. Behind the carriage closed the last gate, that -in the Rue St. Antoine. No more walls either on the right or the left; -heaven everywhere, liberty everywhere, and life everywhere. The horses, -kept in check by a vigorous hand, went quietly as far as the middle of -the faubourg. There they began to trot. Little by little, whether they -were warming to their work, or whether they were urged, they gained in -swiftness, and once past Bercy, the carriage seemed to fly, so great was -the ardor of the coursers. The horses galloped thus as far as Villeneuve -St. George's, where relays were waiting. Then four instead of two -whirled the carriage away in the direction of Melun, and pulled up for -a moment in the middle of the forest of Senart. No doubt the order had -been given the postilion beforehand, for Aramis had no occasion even to -make a sign. - -"What is the matter?" asked the prisoner, as if waking from a long -dream. - -"The matter is, monseigneur," said Aramis, "that before going further, -it is necessary your royal highness and I should converse." - -"I will await an opportunity, monsieur," answered the young prince. - -"We could not have a better, monseigneur. We are in the middle of a -forest, and no one can hear us." - -"The postilion?" - -"The postilion of this relay is deaf and dumb, monseigneur." - -"I am at your service, M. d'Herblay." - -"Is it your pleasure to remain in the carriage?" - -"Yes; we are comfortably seated, and I like this carriage, for it has -restored me to liberty." - -"Wait, monseigneur; there is yet a precaution to be taken." - -"What?" - -"We are here on the highway; cavaliers or carriages traveling -like ourselves might pass, and seeing us stopping, deem us in some -difficulty. Let us avoid offers of assistance, which would embarrass -us." - -"Give the postilion orders to conceal the carriage in one of the side -avenues." - -"'Tis exactly what I wished to do, monseigneur." - -Aramis made a sign to the deaf and dumb driver of the carriage, whom -he touched on the arm. The latter dismounted, took the leaders by the -bridle, and led them over the velvet sward and the mossy grass of a -winding alley, at the bottom of which, on this moonless night, the deep -shades formed a curtain blacker than ink. This done, the man lay down -on a slope near his horses, who, on either side, kept nibbling the young -oak shoots. - -"I am listening," said the young prince to Aramis; "but what are you -doing there?" - -"I am disarming myself of my pistols, of which we have no further need, -monseigneur." - - - -Chapter IX. The Tempter. - -"My prince," said Aramis, turning in the carriage towards his companion, -"weak creature as I am, so unpretending in genius, so low in the scale -of intelligent beings, it has never yet happened to me to converse with -a man without penetrating his thoughts through that living mask which -has been thrown over our mind, in order to retain its expression. But -to-night, in this darkness, in the reserve which you maintain, I can -read nothing on your features, and something tells me that I shall have -great difficulty in wresting from you a sincere declaration. I beseech -you, then, not for love of me, for subjects should never weigh as -anything in the balance which princes hold, but for love of yourself, -to retain every syllable, every inflexion which, under the present most -grave circumstances, will all have a sense and value as important as any -every uttered in the world." - -"I listen," replied the young prince, "decidedly, without either eagerly -seeking or fearing anything you are about to say to me." And he buried -himself still deeper in the thick cushions of the carriage, trying to -deprive his companion not only of the sight of him, but even of the very -idea of his presence. - -Black was the darkness which fell wide and dense from the summits of the -intertwining trees. The carriage, covered in by this prodigious roof, -would not have received a particle of light, not even if a ray could -have struggled through the wreaths of mist that were already rising in -the avenue. - -"Monseigneur," resumed Aramis, "you know the history of the government -which to-day controls France. The king issued from an infancy imprisoned -like yours, obscure as yours, and confined as yours; only, instead -of ending, like yourself, this slavery in a prison, this obscurity in -solitude, these straightened circumstances in concealment, he was -fain to bear all these miseries, humiliations, and distresses, in full -daylight, under the pitiless sun of royalty; on an elevation flooded -with light, where every stain appears a blemish, every glory a stain. -The king has suffered; it rankles in his mind; and he will avenge -himself. He will be a bad king. I say not that he will pour out his -people's blood, like Louis XI., or Charles IX.; for he has no mortal -injuries to avenge; but he will devour the means and substance of his -people; for he has himself undergone wrongs in his own interest and -money. In the first place, then, I acquit my conscience, when I consider -openly the merits and the faults of this great prince; and if I condemn -him, my conscience absolves me." - -Aramis paused. It was not to listen if the silence of the forest -remained undisturbed, but it was to gather up his thoughts from the very -bottom of his soul--to leave the thoughts he had uttered sufficient time -to eat deeply into the mind of his companion. - -"All that Heaven does, Heaven does well," continued the bishop of -Vannes; "and I am so persuaded of it that I have long been thankful -to have been chosen depositary of the secret which I have aided you -to discover. To a just Providence was necessary an instrument, at once -penetrating, persevering, and convinced, to accomplish a great work. I -am this instrument. I possess penetration, perseverance, conviction; I -govern a mysterious people, who has taken for its motto, the motto -of God, '_Patiens quia oeternus_.'" The prince moved. "I divine, -monseigneur, why you are raising your head, and are surprised at the -people I have under my command. You did not know you were dealing with a -king--oh! monseigneur, king of a people very humble, much disinherited; -humble because they have no force save when creeping; disinherited, -because never, almost never in this world, do my people reap the harvest -they sow, nor eat the fruit they cultivate. They labor for an abstract -idea; they heap together all the atoms of their power, so from a single -man; and round this man, with the sweat of their labor, they create a -misty halo, which his genius shall, in turn, render a glory gilded with -the rays of all the crowns in Christendom. Such is the man you have -beside you, monseigneur. It is to tell you that he has drawn you from -the abyss for a great purpose, to raise you above the powers of the -earth--above himself." [1] - -The prince lightly touched Aramis's arm. "You speak to me," he said, -"of that religious order whose chief you are. For me, the result of your -words is, that the day you desire to hurl down the man you shall have -raised, the event will be accomplished; and that you will keep under -your hand your creation of yesterday." - -"Undeceive yourself, monseigneur," replied the bishop. "I should not -take the trouble to play this terrible game with your royal highness, if -I had not a double interest in gaining it. The day you are elevated, you -are elevated forever; you will overturn the footstool, as you rise, and -will send it rolling so far, that not even the sight of it will ever -again recall to you its right to simple gratitude." - -"Oh, monsieur!" - -"Your movement, monseigneur, arises from an excellent disposition. -I thank you. Be well assured, I aspire to more than gratitude! I am -convinced that, when arrived at the summit, you will judge me still more -worthy to be your friend; and then, monseigneur, we two will do such -great deeds, that ages hereafter shall long speak of them." - -"Tell me plainly, monsieur--tell me without disguise--what I am to-day, -and what you aim at my being to-morrow." - -"You are the son of King Louis XIII., brother of Louis XIV., natural -and legitimate heir to the throne of France. In keeping you near him, -as Monsieur has been kept--Monsieur, your younger brother--the king -reserved to himself the right of being legitimate sovereign. The doctors -only could dispute his legitimacy. But the doctors always prefer the -king who is to the king who is not. Providence has willed that you -should be persecuted; this persecution to-day consecrates you king of -France. You had, then, a right to reign, seeing that it is disputed; you -had a right to be proclaimed seeing that you have been concealed; and -you possess royal blood, since no one has dared to shed yours, as that -of your servants has been shed. Now see, then, what this Providence, -which you have so often accused of having in every way thwarted you, has -done for you. It has given you the features, figure, age, and voice -of your brother; and the very causes of your persecution are about -to become those of your triumphant restoration. To-morrow, after -to-morrow--from the very first, regal phantom, living shade of Louis -XIV., you will sit upon his throne, whence the will of Heaven, confided -in execution to the arm of man, will have hurled him, without hope of -return." - -"I understand," said the prince, "my brother's blood will not be shed, -then." - -"You will be sole arbiter of his fate." - -"The secret of which they made an evil use against me?" - -"You will employ it against him. What did he do to conceal it? He -concealed you. Living image of himself, you will defeat the conspiracy -of Mazarin and Anne of Austria. You, my prince, will have the same -interest in concealing him, who will, as a prisoner, resemble you, as -you will resemble him as a king." - -"I fall back on what I was saying to you. Who will guard him?" - -"Who guarded _you?_" - -"You know this secret--you have made use of it with regard to myself. -Who else knows it?" - -"The queen-mother and Madame de Chevreuse." - -"What will they do?" - -"Nothing, if you choose." - -"How is that?" - -"How can they recognize you, if you act in such a manner that no one can -recognize you?" - -"'Tis true; but there are grave difficulties." - -"State them, prince." - -"My brother is married; I cannot take my brother's wife." - -"I will cause Spain to consent to a divorce; it is in the interest of -your new policy; it is human morality. All that is really noble and -really useful in this world will find its account therein." - -"The imprisoned king will speak." - -"To whom do you think he will speak--to the walls?" - -"You mean, by walls, the men in whom you put confidence." - -"If need be, yes. And besides, your royal highness--" - -"Besides?" - -"I was going to say, that the designs of Providence do not stop on such -a fair road. Every scheme of this caliber is completed by its results, -like a geometrical calculation. The king, in prison, will not be for you -the cause of embarrassment that you have been for the king enthroned. -His soul is naturally proud and impatient; it is, moreover, disarmed and -enfeebled, by being accustomed to honors, and by the license of supreme -power. The same Providence which has willed that the concluding step in -the geometrical calculation I have had the honor of describing to -your royal highness should be your ascension to the throne, and the -destruction of him who is hurtful to you, has also determined that -the conquered one shall soon end both his own and your sufferings. -Therefore, his soul and body have been adapted for but a brief agony. -Put into prison as a private individual, left alone with your doubts, -deprived of everything, you have exhibited the most sublime, enduring -principle of life in withstanding all this. But your brother, a captive, -forgotten, and in bonds, will not long endure the calamity; and Heaven -will resume his soul at the appointed time--that is to say, soon." - -At this point in Aramis's gloomy analysis, a bird of night uttered from -the depths of the forest that prolonged and plaintive cry which makes -every creature tremble. - -"I will exile the deposed king," said Philippe, shuddering; "'twill be -more human." - -"The king's good pleasure will decide the point," said Aramis. "But has -the problem been well put? Have I brought out of the solution according -to the wishes or the foresight of your royal highness?" - -"Yes, monsieur, yes; you have forgotten nothing--except, indeed, two -things." - -"The first?" - -"Let us speak of it at once, with the same frankness we have already -conversed in. Let us speak of the causes which may bring about the ruin -of all the hopes we have conceived. Let us speak of the risks we are -running." - -"They would be immense, infinite, terrific, insurmountable, if, as I -have said, all things did not concur to render them of absolutely no -account. There is no danger either for you or for me, if the constancy -and intrepidity of your royal highness are equal to that perfection of -resemblance to your brother which nature has bestowed upon you. I repeat -it, there are no dangers, only obstacles; a word, indeed, which I find -in all languages, but have always ill-understood, and, were I king, -would have obliterated as useless and absurd." - -"Yes, indeed, monsieur; there is a very serious obstacle, an -insurmountable danger, which you are forgetting." - -"Ah!" said Aramis. - -"There is conscience, which cries aloud; remorse, that never dies." - -"True, true," said the bishop; "there is a weakness of heart of which -you remind me. You are right, too, for that, indeed, is an immense -obstacle. The horse afraid of the ditch, leaps into the middle of it, -and is killed! The man who trembling crosses his sword with that of -another leaves loopholes whereby his enemy has him in his power." - -"Have you a brother?" said the young man to Aramis. - -"I am alone in the world," said the latter, with a hard, dry voice. - -"But, surely, there is some one in the world whom you love?" added -Philippe. - -"No one!--Yes, I love you." - -The young man sank into so profound a silence, that the mere sound of -his respiration seemed like a roaring tumult for Aramis. "Monseigneur," -he resumed, "I have not said all I had to say to your royal highness; -I have not offered you all the salutary counsels and useful resources -which I have at my disposal. It is useless to flash bright visions -before the eyes of one who seeks and loves darkness: useless, too, is -it to let the magnificence of the cannon's roar make itself heard in the -ears of one who loves repose and the quiet of the country. Monseigneur, -I have your happiness spread out before me in my thoughts; listen to my -words; precious they indeed are, in their import and their sense, -for you who look with such tender regard upon the bright heavens, the -verdant meadows, the pure air. I know a country instinct with -delights of every kind, an unknown paradise, a secluded corner of the -world--where alone, unfettered and unknown, in the thick covert of the -woods, amidst flowers, and streams of rippling water, you will forget -all the misery that human folly has so recently allotted you. Oh! listen -to me, my prince. I do not jest. I have a heart, and mind, and soul, and -can read your own,--aye, even to its depths. I will not take you unready -for your task, in order to cast you into the crucible of my own desires, -of my caprice, or my ambition. Let it be all or nothing. You are chilled -and galled, sick at heart, overcome by excess of the emotions which but -one hour's liberty has produced in you. For me, that is a certain and -unmistakable sign that you do not wish to continue at liberty. Would you -prefer a more humble life, a life more suited to your strength? Heaven -is my witness, that I wish your happiness to be the result of the trial -to which I have exposed you." - -"Speak, speak," said the prince, with a vivacity which did not escape -Aramis. - -"I know," resumed the prelate, "in the Bas-Poitou, a canton, of which -no one in France suspects the existence. Twenty leagues of country is -immense, is it not? Twenty leagues, monseigneur, all covered with water -and herbage, and reeds of the most luxuriant nature; the whole studded -with islands covered with woods of the densest foliage. These large -marshes, covered with reeds as with a thick mantle, sleep silently and -calmly beneath the sun's soft and genial rays. A few fishermen with -their families indolently pass their lives away there, with their great -living-rafts of poplar and alder, the flooring formed of reeds, and the -roof woven out of thick rushes. These barks, these floating-houses, are -wafted to and fro by the changing winds. Whenever they touch a bank, it -is but by chance; and so gently, too, that the sleeping fisherman is not -awakened by the shock. Should he wish to land, it is merely because he -has seen a large flight of landrails or plovers, of wild ducks, teal, -widgeon, or woodchucks, which fall an easy pray to net or gun. Silver -shad, eels, greedy pike, red and gray mullet, swim in shoals into his -nets; he has but to choose the finest and largest, and return the others -to the waters. Never yet has the food of the stranger, be he soldier -or simple citizen, never has any one, indeed, penetrated into that -district. The sun's rays there are soft and tempered: in plots of solid -earth, whose soil is swart and fertile, grows the vine, nourishing with -generous juice its purple, white, and golden grapes. Once a week, a boat -is sent to deliver the bread which has been baked at an oven--the common -property of all. There--like the seigneurs of early days--powerful in -virtue of your dogs, your fishing-lines, your guns, and your beautiful -reed-built house, would you live, rich in the produce of the chase, -in plentitude of absolute secrecy. There would years of your life roll -away, at the end of which, no longer recognizable, for you would have -been perfectly transformed, you would have succeeded in acquiring a -destiny accorded to you by Heaven. There are a thousand pistoles in this -bag, monseigneur--more, far more, than sufficient to purchase the whole -marsh of which I have spoken; more than enough to live there as many -years as you have days to live; more than enough to constitute you the -richest, the freest, and the happiest man in the country. Accept it, -as I offer it you--sincerely, cheerfully. Forthwith, without a moment's -pause, I will unharness two of my horses, which are attached to the -carriage yonder, and they, accompanied by my servant--my deaf and dumb -attendant--shall conduct you--traveling throughout the night, sleeping -during the day--to the locality I have described; and I shall, at least, -have the satisfaction of knowing that I have rendered to my prince the -major service he himself preferred. I shall have made one human being -happy; and Heaven for that will hold me in better account than if I had -made one man powerful; the former task is far more difficult. And now, -monseigneur, your answer to this proposition? Here is the money. Nay, -do not hesitate. At Poitou, you can risk nothing, except the chance of -catching the fevers prevalent there; and even of them, the so-called -wizards of the country will cure you, for the sake of your pistoles. If -you play the other game, you run the chance of being assassinated on a -throne, strangled in a prison-cell. Upon my soul, I assure you, now I -begin to compare them together, I myself should hesitate which lot I -should accept." - -"Monsieur," replied the young prince, "before I determine, let me alight -from this carriage, walk on the ground, and consult that still voice -within me, which Heaven bids us all to hearken to. Ten minutes is all I -ask, and then you shall have your answer." - -"As you please, monseigneur," said Aramis, bending before him with -respect, so solemn and august in tone and address had sounded these -strange words. - - - -Chapter X. Crown and Tiara. - -Aramis was the first to descend from the carriage; he held the door open -for the young man. He saw him place his foot on the mossy ground with -a trembling of the whole body, and walk round the carriage with an -unsteady and almost tottering step. It seemed as if the poor prisoner -was unaccustomed to walk on God's earth. It was the 15th of August, -about eleven o'clock at night; thick clouds, portending a tempest, -overspread the heavens, and shrouded every light and prospect underneath -their heavy folds. The extremities of the avenues were imperceptibly -detached from the copse, by a lighter shadow of opaque gray, which, upon -closer examination, became visible in the midst of the obscurity. -But the fragrance which ascended from the grass, fresher and more -penetrating than that which exhaled from the trees around him; the warm -and balmy air which enveloped him for the first time for many years -past; the ineffable enjoyment of liberty in an open country, spoke -to the prince in so seductive a language, that notwithstanding the -preternatural caution, we would almost say dissimulation of his -character, of which we have tried to give an idea, he could not restrain -his emotion, and breathed a sigh of ecstasy. Then, by degrees, he raised -his aching head and inhaled the softly scented air, as it was wafted in -gentle gusts to his uplifted face. Crossing his arms on his chest, as if -to control this new sensation of delight, he drank in delicious draughts -of that mysterious air which interpenetrates at night the loftiest -forests. The sky he was contemplating, the murmuring waters, the -universal freshness--was not all this reality? Was not Aramis a madman -to suppose that he had aught else to dream of in this world? Those -exciting pictures of country life, so free from fears and troubles, -the ocean of happy days that glitters incessantly before all young -imaginations, are real allurements wherewith to fascinate a poor, -unhappy prisoner, worn out by prison cares, emaciated by the stifling -air of the Bastile. It was the picture, it will be remembered, drawn -by Aramis, when he offered the thousand pistoles he had with him in -the carriage to the prince, and the enchanted Eden which the deserts of -Bas-Poitou hid from the eyes of the world. Such were the reflections of -Aramis as he watched, with an anxiety impossible to describe, the -silent progress of the emotions of Philippe, whom he perceived gradually -becoming more and more absorbed in his meditations. The young prince was -offering up an inward prayer to Heaven, to be divinely guided in this -trying moment, upon which his life or death depended. It was an anxious -time for the bishop of Vannes, who had never before been so perplexed. -His iron will, accustomed to overcome all obstacles, never finding -itself inferior or vanquished on any occasion, to be foiled in so vast a -project from not having foreseen the influence which a view of nature in -all its luxuriance would have on the human mind! Aramis, overwhelmed by -anxiety, contemplated with emotion the painful struggle that was taking -place in Philippe's mind. This suspense lasted the whole ten minutes -which the young man had requested. During this space of time, which -appeared an eternity, Philippe continued gazing with an imploring and -sorrowful look towards the heavens; Aramis did not remove the piercing -glance he had fixed on Philippe. Suddenly the young man bowed his head. -His thought returned to the earth, his looks perceptibly hardened, his -brow contracted, his mouth assuming an expression of undaunted courage; -again his looks became fixed, but this time they wore a worldly -expression, hardened by covetousness, pride, and strong desire. Aramis's -look immediately became as soft as it had before been gloomy. Philippe, -seizing his hand in a quick, agitated manner, exclaimed: - -"Lead me to where the crown of France is to be found." - -"Is this your decision, monseigneur?" asked Aramis. - -"It is." - -"Irrevocably so?" - -Philippe did not even deign to reply. He gazed earnestly at the bishop, -as if to ask him if it were possible for a man to waver after having -once made up his mind. - -"Such looks are flashes of the hidden fire that betrays men's -character," said Aramis, bowing over Philippe's hand; "you will be -great, monseigneur, I will answer for that." - -"Let us resume our conversation. I wished to discuss two points with -you; in the first place the dangers, or the obstacles we may meet with. -That point is decided. The other is the conditions you intend imposing -on me. It is your turn to speak, M. d'Herblay." - -"The conditions, monseigneur?" - -"Doubtless. You will not allow so mere a trifle to stop me, and you will -not do me the injustice to suppose that I think you have no interest in -this affair. Therefore, without subterfuge or hesitation, tell me the -truth--" - -"I will do so, monseigneur. Once a king--" - -"When will that be?" - -"To-morrow evening--I mean in the night." - -"Explain yourself." - -"When I shall have asked your highness a question." - -"Do so." - -"I sent to your highness a man in my confidence with instructions to -deliver some closely written notes, carefully drawn up, which will -thoroughly acquaint your highness with the different persons who compose -and will compose your court." - -"I perused those notes." - -"Attentively?" - -"I know them by heart." - -"And understand them? Pardon me, but I may venture to ask that question -of a poor, abandoned captive of the Bastile? In a week's time it will -not be requisite to further question a mind like yours. You will then be -in full possession of liberty and power." - -"Interrogate me, then, and I will be a scholar representing his lesson -to his master." - -"We will begin with your family, monseigneur." - -"My mother, Anne of Austria! all her sorrows, her painful malady. Oh! I -know her--I know her." - -"Your second brother?" asked Aramis, bowing. - -"To these notes," replied the prince, "you have added portraits so -faithfully painted, that I am able to recognize the persons whose -characters, manners, and history you have so carefully portrayed. -Monsieur, my brother, is a fine, dark young man, with a pale face; he -does not love his wife, Henrietta, whom I, Louis XIV., loved a little, -and still flirt with, even although she made me weep on the day she -wished to dismiss Mademoiselle de la Valliere from her service in -disgrace." - -"You will have to be careful with regard to the watchfulness of the -latter," said Aramis; "she is sincerely attached to the actual king. The -eyes of a woman who loves are not easily deceived." - -"She is fair, has blue eyes, whose affectionate gaze reveals her -identity. She halts slightly in her gait; she writes a letter every day, -to which I have to send an answer by M. de Saint-Aignan." - -"Do you know the latter?" - -"As if I saw him, and I know the last verses he composed for me, as well -as those I composed in answer to his." - -"Very good. Do you know your ministers?" - -"Colbert, an ugly, dark-browed man, but intelligent enough, his hair -covering his forehead, a large, heavy, full head; the mortal enemy of M. -Fouquet." - -"As for the latter, we need not disturb ourselves about him." - -"No; because necessarily you will not require me to exile him, I -suppose?" - -Aramis, struck with admiration at the remark, said, "You will become -very great, monseigneur." - -"You see," added the prince, "that I know my lesson by heart, and with -Heaven's assistance, and yours afterwards, I shall seldom go wrong." - -"You have still an awkward pair of eyes to deal with, monseigneur." - -"Yes, the captain of the musketeers, M. d'Artagnan, your friend." - -"Yes; I can well say 'my friend.'" - -"He who escorted La Valliere to Le Chaillot; he who delivered up Monk, -cooped in an iron box, to Charles II.; he who so faithfully served -my mother; he to whom the crown of France owes so much that it owes -everything. Do you intend to ask me to exile him also?" - -"Never, sire. D'Artagnan is a man to whom, at a certain given time, I -will undertake to reveal everything; but be on your guard with him, for -if he discovers our plot before it is revealed to him, you or I will -certainly be killed or taken. He is a bold and enterprising man." - -"I will think it over. Now tell me about M. Fouquet; what do you wish to -be done with regard to him?" - -"One moment more, I entreat you, monseigneur; and forgive me, if I seem -to fail in respect to questioning you further." - -"It is your duty to do so, nay, more than that, your right." - -"Before we pass to M. Fouquet, I should very much regret forgetting -another friend of mine." - -"M. du Vallon, the Hercules of France, you mean; oh! as far as he is -concerned, his interests are more than safe." - -"No; it is not he whom I intended to refer to." - -"The Comte de la Fere, then?" - -"And his son, the son of all four of us." - -"That poor boy who is dying of love for La Valliere, whom my brother -so disloyally bereft him of? Be easy on that score. I shall know how to -rehabilitate his happiness. Tell me only one thing, Monsieur d'Herblay; -do men, when they love, forget the treachery that has been shown them? -Can a man ever forgive the woman who has betrayed him? Is that a French -custom, or is it one of the laws of the human heart?" - -"A man who loves deeply, as deeply as Raoul loves Mademoiselle de la -Valliere, finishes by forgetting the fault or crime of the woman he -loves; but I do not yet know whether Raoul will be able to forget." - -"I will see after that. Have you anything further to say about your -friend?" - -"No; that is all." - -"Well, then, now for M. Fouquet. What do you wish me to do for him?" - -"To keep him on as surintendant, in the capacity in which he has -hitherto acted, I entreat you." - -"Be it so; but he is the first minister at present." - -"Not quite so." - -"A king, ignorant and embarrassed as I shall be, will, as a matter of -course, require a first minister of state." - -"Your majesty will require a friend." - -"I have only one, and that is yourself." - -"You will have many others by and by, but none so devoted, none so -zealous for your glory." - -"You shall be my first minister of state." - -"Not immediately, monseigneur, for that would give rise to too much -suspicion and astonishment." - -"M. de Richelieu, the first minister of my grandmother, Marie de Medici, -was simply bishop of Lucon, as you are bishop of Vannes." - -"I perceive that your royal highness has studied my notes to great -advantage; your amazing perspicacity overpowers me with delight." - -"I am perfectly aware that M. de Richelieu, by means of the queen's -protection, soon became cardinal." - -"It would be better," said Aramis, bowing, "that I should not be -appointed first minister until your royal highness has procured my -nomination as cardinal." - -"You shall be nominated before two months are past, Monsieur d'Herblay. -But that is a matter of very trifling moment; you would not offend me if -you were to ask more than that, and you would cause me serious regret if -you were to limit yourself to that." - -"In that case, I have something still further to hope for, monseigneur." - -"Speak! speak!" - -"M. Fouquet will not keep long at the head of affairs, he will soon get -old. He is fond of pleasure, consistently, I mean, with all his labors, -thanks to the youthfulness he still retains; but this protracted youth -will disappear at the approach of the first serious annoyance, or at -the first illness he may experience. We will spare him the annoyance, -because he is an agreeable and noble-hearted man; but we cannot save him -from ill-health. So it is determined. When you shall have paid all M. -Fouquet's debts, and restored the finances to a sound condition, M. -Fouquet will be able to remain the sovereign ruler in his little court -of poets and painters,--we shall have made him rich. When that has been -done, and I have become your royal highness's prime minister, I shall be -able to think of my own interests and yours." - -The young man looked at his interrogator. - -"M. de Richelieu, of whom we were speaking just now, was very much to -blame in the fixed idea he had of governing France alone, unaided. He -allowed two kings, King Louis XIII. and himself, to be seated on the -self-same throne, whilst he might have installed them more conveniently -upon two separate and distinct thrones." - -"Upon two thrones?" said the young man, thoughtfully. - -"In fact," pursued Aramis, quietly, "a cardinal, prime minister of -France, assisted by the favor and by the countenance of his Most -Christian Majesty the King of France, a cardinal to whom the king his -master lends the treasures of the state, his army, his counsel, such -a man would be acting with twofold injustice in applying these mighty -resources to France alone. Besides," added Aramis, "you will not be a -king such as your father was, delicate in health, slow in judgment, whom -all things wearied; you will be a king governing by your brain and by -your sword; you will have in the government of the state no more than -you will be able to manage unaided; I should only interfere with you. -Besides, our friendship ought never to be, I do not say impaired, but -in any degree affected, by a secret thought. I shall have given you -the throne of France, you will confer on me the throne of St. Peter. -Whenever your loyal, firm, and mailed hand should joined in ties of -intimate association the hand of a pope such as I shall be, neither -Charles V., who owned two-thirds of the habitable globe, nor -Charlemagne, who possessed it entirely, will be able to reach to half -your stature. I have no alliances, I have no predilections; I will not -throw you into persecutions of heretics, nor will I cast you into the -troubled waters of family dissension; I will simply say to you: The -whole universe is our own; for me the minds of men, for you their -bodies. And as I shall be the first to die, you will have my -inheritance. What do you say of my plan, monseigneur?" - -"I say that you render me happy and proud, for no other reason than that -of having comprehended you thoroughly. Monsieur d'Herblay, you shall be -cardinal, and when cardinal, my prime minister; and then you will point -out to me the necessary steps to be taken to secure your election as -pope, and I will take them. You can ask what guarantees from me you -please." - -"It is useless. Never shall I act except in such a manner that you will -be the gainer; I shall never ascend the ladder of fortune, fame, or -position, until I have first seen you placed upon the round of the -ladder immediately above me; I shall always hold myself sufficiently -aloof from you to escape incurring your jealousy, sufficiently near to -sustain your personal advantage and to watch over your friendship. All -the contracts in the world are easily violated because the interests -included in them incline more to one side than to another. With us, -however, this will never be the case; I have no need of any guarantees." - -"And so--my dear brother--will disappear?" - -"Simply. We will remove him from his bed by means of a plank which -yields to the pressure of the finger. Having retired to rest a crowned -sovereign, he will awake a captive. Alone you will rule from that -moment, and you will have no interest dearer and better than that of -keeping me near you." - -"I believe it. There is my hand on it, Monsieur d'Herblay." - -"Allow me to kneel before you, sire, most respectfully. We will embrace -each other on the day we shall have upon our temples, you the crown, I -the tiara." - -"Still embrace me this very day also, and be, for and towards me, more -than great, more than skillful, more than sublime in genius; be kind and -indulgent--be my father!" - -Aramis was almost overcome as he listened to his voice; he fancied -he detected in his own heart an emotion hitherto unknown; but this -impression was speedily removed. "His father!" he thought; "yes, his -Holy Father." - -And they resumed their places in the carriage, which sped rapidly along -the road leading to Vaux-le-Vicomte. - - - -Chapter XI. The Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte. - -The chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, situated about a league from Melun, had -been built by Fouquet in 1655, at a time when there was a scarcity -of money in France; Mazarin had taken all that there was, and Fouquet -expended the remainder. However, as certain men have fertile, false, and -useful vices, Fouquet, in scattering broadcast millions of money in -the construction of this palace, had found a means of gathering, as the -result of his generous profusion, three illustrious men together: Levau, -the architect of the building; Lenotre, the designer of the gardens; -and Lebrun, the decorator of the apartments. If the Chateau de Vaux -possessed a single fault with which it could be reproached, it was its -grand, pretentious character. It is even at the present day proverbial -to calculate the number of acres of roofing, the restoration of which -would, in our age, be the ruin of fortunes cramped and narrowed as the -epoch itself. Vaux-le-Vicomte, when its magnificent gates, supported -by caryatides, have been passed through, has the principal front of the -main building opening upon a vast, so-called, court of honor, inclosed -by deep ditches, bordered by a magnificent stone balustrade. Nothing -could be more noble in appearance than the central forecourt raised upon -the flight of steps, like a king upon his throne, having around it -four pavilions at the angles, the immense Ionic columns of which rose -majestically to the whole height of the building. The friezes ornamented -with arabesques, and the pediments which crowned the pilasters, -conferred richness and grace on every part of the building, while the -domes which surmounted the whole added proportion and majesty. This -mansion, built by a subject, bore a far greater resemblance to those -royal residences which Wolsey fancied he was called upon to construct, -in order to present them to his master from the fear of rendering him -jealous. But if magnificence and splendor were displayed in any one -particular part of this palace more than another,--if anything could -be preferred to the wonderful arrangement of the interior, to the -sumptuousness of the gilding, and to the profusion of the paintings and -statues, it would be the park and gardens of Vaux. The _jets d'eau_, -which were regarded as wonderful in 1653, are still so, even at the -present time; the cascades awakened the admiration of kings and princes; -and as for the famous grotto, the theme of so many poetical effusions, -the residence of that illustrious nymph of Vaux, whom Pelisson made -converse with La Fontaine, we must be spared the description of all -its beauties. We will do as Despreaux did,--we will enter the park, the -trees of which are of eight years' growth only--that is to say, in their -present position--and whose summits even yet, as they proudly tower -aloft, blushingly unfold their leaves to the earliest rays of the rising -sun. Lenotre had hastened the pleasure of the Maecenas of his period; -all the nursery-grounds had furnished trees whose growth had been -accelerated by careful culture and the richest plant-food. Every tree in -the neighborhood which presented a fair appearance of beauty or stature -had been taken up by its roots and transplanted to the park. Fouquet -could well afford to purchase trees to ornament his park, since he had -bought up three villages and their appurtenances (to use a legal word) -to increase its extent. M. de Scudery said of this palace, that, for the -purpose of keeping the grounds and gardens well watered, M. Fouquet had -divided a river into a thousand fountains, and gathered the waters of a -thousand fountains into torrents. This same Monsieur de Scudery said a -great many other things in his "Clelie," about this palace of Valterre, -the charms of which he describes most minutely. We should be far wiser -to send our curious readers to Vaux to judge for themselves, than to -refer them to "Clelie;" and yet there are as many leagues from Paris to -Vaux, as there are volumes of the "Clelie." - -This magnificent palace had been got ready for the reception of the -greatest reigning sovereign of the time. M. Fouquet's friends had -transported thither, some their actors and their dresses, others their -troops of sculptors and artists; not forgetting others with their -ready-mended pens,--floods of impromptus were contemplated. The -cascades, somewhat rebellious nymphs though they were, poured forth -their waters brighter and clearer than crystal: they scattered over the -bronze triton and nereids their waves of foam, which glistened like fire -in the rays of the sun. An army of servants were hurrying to and fro in -squadrons in the courtyard and corridors; while Fouquet, who had -only that morning arrived, walked all through the palace with a calm, -observant glance, in order to give his last orders, after his intendants -had inspected everything. - -It was, as we have said, the 15th of August. The sun poured down its -burning rays upon the heathen deities of marble and bronze: it raised -the temperature of the water in the conch shells, and ripened, on the -walls, those magnificent peaches, of which the king, fifty years later, -spoke so regretfully, when, at Marly, on an occasion of a scarcity of -the finer sorts of peaches being complained of, in the beautiful gardens -there--gardens which had cost France double the amount that had been -expended on Vaux--the _great king_ observed to some one: "You are far -too young to have eaten any of M. Fouquet's peaches." - -Oh, fame! Oh, blazon of renown! Oh, glory of this earth! That very man -whose judgment was so sound and accurate where merit was concerned--he -who had swept into his coffers the inheritance of Nicholas Fouquet, who -had robbed him of Lenotre and Lebrun, and had sent him to rot for the -remainder of his life in one of the state prisons--merely remembered the -peaches of that vanquished, crushed, forgotten enemy! It was to little -purpose that Fouquet had squandered thirty millions of francs in the -fountains of his gardens, in the crucibles of his sculptors, in -the writing-desks of his literary friends, in the portfolios of his -painters; vainly had he fancied that thereby he might be remembered. A -peach--a blushing, rich-flavored fruit, nestling in the trellis work -on the garden-wall, hidden beneath its long, green leaves,--this little -vegetable production, that a dormouse would nibble up without a thought, -was sufficient to recall to the memory of this great monarch the -mournful shade of the last surintendant of France. - -With a perfect reliance that Aramis had made arrangements fairly to -distribute the vast number of guests throughout the palace, and that he -had not omitted to attend to any of the internal regulations for their -comfort, Fouquet devoted his entire attention to the _ensemble_ alone. -In one direction Gourville showed him the preparations which had been -made for the fireworks; in another, Moliere led him over the theater; at -last, after he had visited the chapel, the _salons_, and the galleries, -and was again going downstairs, exhausted with fatigue, Fouquet saw -Aramis on the staircase. The prelate beckoned to him. The surintendant -joined his friend, and, with him, paused before a large picture scarcely -finished. Applying himself, heart and soul, to his work, the painter -Lebrun, covered with perspiration, stained with paint, pale from fatigue -and the inspiration of genius, was putting the last finishing touches -with his rapid brush. It was the portrait of the king, whom they were -expecting, dressed in the court suit which Percerin had condescended to -show beforehand to the bishop of Vannes. Fouquet placed himself before -this portrait, which seemed to live, as one might say, in the cool -freshness of its flesh, and in its warmth of color. He gazed upon it -long and fixedly, estimated the prodigious labor that had been bestowed -upon it, and, not being able to find any recompense sufficiently great -for this Herculean effort, he passed his arm round the painter's neck -and embraced him. The surintendant, by this action, had utterly ruined -a suit of clothes worth a thousand pistoles, but he had satisfied, more -than satisfied, Lebrun. It was a happy moment for the artist; it was an -unhappy moment for M. Percerin, who was walking behind Fouquet, and was -engaged in admiring, in Lebrun's painting, the suit that he had made for -his majesty, a perfect _objet d'art_, as he called it, which was not to -be matched except in the wardrobe of the surintendant. His distress and -his exclamations were interrupted by a signal which had been given -from the summit of the mansion. In the direction of Melun, in the -still empty, open plain, the sentinels of Vaux had just perceived -the advancing procession of the king and the queens. His majesty was -entering Melun with his long train of carriages and cavaliers. - -"In an hour--" said Aramis to Fouquet. - -"In an hour!" replied the latter, sighing. - -"And the people who ask one another what is the good of these royal -_fetes!_" continued the bishop of Vannes, laughing, with his false -smile. - -"Alas! I, too, who am not the people, ask myself the same thing." - -"I will answer you in four and twenty hours, monseigneur. Assume a -cheerful countenance, for it should be a day of true rejoicing." - -"Well, believe me or not, as you like, D'Herblay," said the -surintendant, with a swelling heart, pointing at the _cortege_ of Louis, -visible in the horizon, "he certainly loves me but very little, and I do -not care much more for him; but I cannot tell you how it is, that since -he is approaching my house--" - -"Well, what?" - -"Well, since I know he is on his way here, as my guest, he is more -sacred than ever for me; he is my acknowledged sovereign, and as such is -very dear to me." - -"Dear? yes," said Aramis, playing upon the word, as the Abbe Terray did, -at a later period, with Louis XV. - -"Do not laugh, D'Herblay; I feel that, if he really seemed to wish it, I -could love that young man." - -"You should not say that to me," returned Aramis, "but rather to M. -Colbert." - -"To M. Colbert!" exclaimed Fouquet. "Why so?" - -"Because he would allow you a pension out of the king's privy purse, -as soon as he becomes surintendant," said Aramis, preparing to leave as -soon as he had dealt this last blow. - -"Where are you going?" returned Fouquet, with a gloomy look. - -"To my own apartment, in order to change my costume, monseigneur." - -"Whereabouts are you lodging, D'Herblay?" - -"In the blue room on the second story." - -"The room immediately over the king's room?" - -"Precisely." - -"You will be subject to very great restraint there. What an idea to -condemn yourself to a room where you cannot stir or move about!" - -"During the night, monseigneur, I sleep or read in my bed." - -"And your servants?" - -"I have but one attendant with me. I find my reader quite sufficient. -Adieu, monseigneur; do not overfatigue yourself; keep yourself fresh for -the arrival of the king." - -"We shall see you by and by, I suppose, and shall see your friend Du -Vallon also?" - -"He is lodging next to me, and is at this moment dressing." - -And Fouquet, bowing, with a smile, passed on like a commander-in-chief -who pays the different outposts a visit after the enemy has been -signaled in sight. [2] - - - -Chapter XII. The Wine of Melun. - -The king had, in point of fact, entered Melun with the intention of -merely passing through the city. The youthful monarch was most eagerly -anxious for amusements; only twice during the journey had he been -able to catch a glimpse of La Valliere, and, suspecting that his only -opportunity of speaking to her would be after nightfall, in the gardens, -and after the ceremonial of reception had been gone through, he had been -very desirous to arrive at Vaux as early as possible. But he reckoned -without his captain of the musketeers, and without M. Colbert. Like -Calypso, who could not be consoled at the departure of Ulysses, our -Gascon could not console himself for not having guessed why Aramis had -asked Percerin to show him the king's new costumes. "There is not a -doubt," he said to himself, "that my friend the bishop of Vannes -had some motive in that;" and then he began to rack his brains most -uselessly. D'Artagnan, so intimately acquainted with all the court -intrigues, who knew the position of Fouquet better than even Fouquet -himself did, had conceived the strangest fancies and suspicions at the -announcement of the _fete_, which would have ruined a wealthy man, and -which became impossible, utter madness even, for a man so poor as he -was. And then, the presence of Aramis, who had returned from Belle-Isle, -and been nominated by Monsieur Fouquet inspector-general of all the -arrangements; his perseverance in mixing himself up with all the -surintendant's affairs; his visits to Baisemeaux; all this suspicious -singularity of conduct had excessively troubled and tormented D'Artagnan -during the last two weeks. - -"With men of Aramis's stamp," he said, "one is never the stronger except -sword in hand. So long as Aramis continued a soldier, there was hope of -getting the better of him; but since he has covered his cuirass with -a stole, we are lost. But what can Aramis's object possibly be?" And -D'Artagnan plunged again into deep thought. "What does it matter to -me, after all," he continued, "if his only object is to overthrow M. -Colbert? And what else can he be after?" And D'Artagnan rubbed his -forehead--that fertile land, whence the plowshare of his nails had -turned up so many and such admirable ideas in his time. He, at first, -thought of talking the matter over with Colbert, but his friendship for -Aramis, the oath of earlier days, bound him too strictly. He revolted at -the bare idea of such a thing, and, besides, he hated the financier too -cordially. Then, again, he wished to unburden his mind to the king; but -yet the king would not be able to understand the suspicions which had -not even a shadow of reality at their base. He resolved to address -himself to Aramis, direct, the first time he met him. "I will get him," -said the musketeer, "between a couple of candles, suddenly, and when he -least expects it, I will place my hand upon his heart, and he will -tell me--What will he tell me? Yes, he will tell me something, for -_mordioux!_ there is something in it, I know." - -Somewhat calmer, D'Artagnan made every preparation for the journey, and -took the greatest care that the military household of the king, as -yet very inconsiderable in numbers, should be well officered and well -disciplined in its meager and limited proportions. The result was that, -through the captain's arrangements, the king, on arriving at Melun, saw -himself at the head of both the musketeers and Swiss guards, as well as -a picket of the French guards. It might almost have been called a small -army. M. Colbert looked at the troops with great delight: he even wished -they had been a third more in number. - -"But why?" said the king. - -"In order to show greater honor to M. Fouquet," replied Colbert. - -"In order to ruin him the sooner," thought D'Artagnan. - -When this little army appeared before Melun, the chief magistrates came -out to meet the king, and to present him with the keys of the city, and -invited him to enter the Hotel de Ville, in order to partake of the wine -of honor. The king, who expected to pass through the city and to proceed -to Vaux without delay, became quite red in the face from vexation. - -"Who was fool enough to occasion this delay?" muttered the king, between -his teeth, as the chief magistrate was in the middle of a long address. - -"Not I, certainly," replied D'Artagnan, "but I believe it was M. -Colbert." - -Colbert, having heard his name pronounced, said, "What was M. d'Artagnan -good enough to say?" - -"I was good enough to remark that it was you who stopped the king's -progress, so that he might taste the _vin de Brie_. Was I right?" - -"Quite so, monsieur." - -"In that case, then, it was you whom the king called some name or -other." - -"What name?" - -"I hardly know; but wait a moment--idiot, I think it was--no, no, it was -fool or dolt. Yes; his majesty said that the man who had thought of the -_vin de Melun_ was something of the sort." - -D'Artagnan, after this broadside, quietly caressed his mustache; M. -Colbert's large head seemed to become larger and larger than ever. -D'Artagnan, seeing how ugly anger made him, did not stop half-way. The -orator still went on with his speech, while the king's color was visibly -increasing. - -"_Mordioux!_" said the musketeer, coolly, "the king is going to have an -attack of determination of blood to the head. Where the deuce did you -get hold of that idea, Monsieur Colbert? You have no luck." - -"Monsieur," said the financier, drawing himself up, "my zeal for the -king's service inspired me with the idea." - -"Bah!" - -"Monsieur, Melun is a city, an excellent city, which pays well, and -which it would be imprudent to displease." - -"There, now! I, who do not pretend to be a financier, saw only one idea -in your idea." - -"What was that, monsieur?" - -"That of causing a little annoyance to M. Fouquet, who is making himself -quite giddy on his donjons yonder, in waiting for us." - -This was a home-stroke, hard enough in all conscience. Colbert was -completely thrown out of the saddle by it, and retired, thoroughly -discomfited. Fortunately, the speech was now at an end; the king drank -the wine which was presented to him, and then every one resumed the -progress through the city. The king bit his lips in anger, for the -evening was closing in, and all hope of a walk with La Valliere was at -an end. In order that the whole of the king's household should enter -Vaux, four hours at least were necessary, owing to the different -arrangements. The king, therefore, who was boiling with impatience, -hurried forward as much as possible, in order to reach it before -nightfall. But, at the moment he was setting off again, other and fresh -difficulties arose. - -"Is not the king going to sleep at Melun?" said Colbert, in a low tone -of voice, to D'Artagnan. - -M. Colbert must have been badly inspired that day, to address himself in -that manner to the chief of the musketeers; for the latter guessed that -the king's intention was very far from that of remaining where he was. -D'Artagnan would not allow him to enter Vaux except he were well and -strongly accompanied; and desired that his majesty would not enter -except with all the escort. On the other hand, he felt that these delays -would irritate that impatient monarch beyond measure. In what way could -he possibly reconcile these difficulties? D'Artagnan took up Colbert's -remark, and determined to repeated it to the king. - -"Sire," he said, "M. Colbert has been asking me if your majesty does not -intend to sleep at Melun." - -"Sleep at Melun! What for?" exclaimed Louis XIV. "Sleep at Melun! Who, -in Heaven's name, can have thought of such a thing, when M. Fouquet is -expecting us this evening?" - -"It was simply," replied Colbert, quickly, "the fear of causing your -majesty the least delay; for, according to established etiquette, you -cannot enter any place, with the exception of your own royal residences, -until the soldiers' quarters have been marked out by the quartermaster, -and the garrison properly distributed." - -D'Artagnan listened with the greatest attention, biting his mustache to -conceal his vexation; and the queens were not less interested. They were -fatigued, and would have preferred to go to rest without proceeding any -farther; more especially, in order to prevent the king walking about in -the evening with M. de Saint-Aignan and the ladies of the court, for, if -etiquette required the princesses to remain within their own rooms, the -ladies of honor, as soon as they had performed the services required of -them, had no restrictions placed upon them, but were at liberty to walk -about as they pleased. It will easily be conjectured that all these -rival interests, gathering together in vapors, necessarily produced -clouds, and that the clouds were likely to be followed by a tempest. The -king had no mustache to gnaw, and therefore kept biting the handle of -his whip instead, with ill-concealed impatience. How could he get out of -it? D'Artagnan looked as agreeable as possible, and Colbert as sulky as -he could. Who was there he could get in a passion with? - -"We will consult the queen," said Louis XIV., bowing to the royal -ladies. And this kindness of consideration softened Maria Theresa's -heart, who, being of a kind and generous disposition, when left to her -own free-will, replied: - -"I shall be delighted to do whatever your majesty wishes." - -"How long will it take us to get to Vaux?" inquired Anne of Austria, in -slow and measured accents, placing her hand upon her bosom, where the -seat of her pain lay. - -"An hour for your majesty's carriages," said D'Artagnan; "the roads are -tolerably good." - -The king looked at him. "And a quarter of an hour for the king," he -hastened to add. - -"We should arrive by daylight?" said Louis XIV. - -"But the billeting of the king's military escort," objected Colbert, -softly, "will make his majesty lose all the advantage of his speed, -however quick he may be." - -"Double ass that you are!" thought D'Artagnan; "if I had any interest -or motive in demolishing your credit with the king, I could do it in ten -minutes. If I were in the king's place," he added aloud, "I should, in -going to M. Fouquet, leave my escort behind me; I should go to him as a -friend; I should enter accompanied only by my captain of the guards; -I should consider that I was acting more nobly, and should be invested -with a still more sacred character by doing so." - -Delight sparkled in the king's eyes. "That is indeed a very sensible -suggestion. We will go to see a friend as friends; the gentlemen who are -with the carriages can go slowly: but we who are mounted will ride on." -And he rode off, accompanied by all those who were mounted. Colbert hid -his ugly head behind his horse's neck. - -"I shall be quits," said D'Artagnan, as he galloped along, "by getting -a little talk with Aramis this evening. And then, M. Fouquet is a man of -honor. _Mordioux!_ I have said so, and it must be so." - -And this was the way how, towards seven o'clock in the evening, without -announcing his arrival by the din of trumpets, and without even his -advanced guard, without out-riders or musketeers, the king presented -himself before the gate of Vaux, where Fouquet, who had been informed -of his royal guest's approach, had been waiting for the last half-hour, -with his head uncovered, surrounded by his household and his friends. - - - -Chapter XIII. Nectar and Ambrosia. - -M. Fouquet held the stirrup of the king, who, having dismounted, bowed -most graciously, and more graciously still held out his hand to him, -which Fouquet, in spite of a slight resistance on the king's part, -carried respectfully to his lips. The king wished to wait in the first -courtyard for the arrival of the carriages, nor had he long to wait, for -the roads had been put into excellent order by the superintendent, and -a stone would hardly have been found of the size of an egg the whole way -from Melun to Vaux; so that the carriages, rolling along as though on a -carpet, brought the ladies to Vaux, without jolting or fatigue, by eight -o'clock. They were received by Madame Fouquet, and at the moment they -made their appearance, a light as bright as day burst forth from every -quarter, trees, vases, and marble statues. This species of enchantment -lasted until their majesties had retired into the palace. All these -wonders and magical effects which the chronicler has heaped up, or -rather embalmed, in his recital, at the risk of rivaling the brain-born -scenes of romancers; these splendors whereby night seemed vanquished and -nature corrected, together with every delight and luxury combined for -the satisfaction of all the senses, as well as the imagination, Fouquet -did in real truth offer to his sovereign in that enchanting retreat of -which no monarch could at that time boast of possessing an equal. We do -not intend to describe the grand banquet, at which the royal guests -were present, nor the concerts, nor the fairy-like and more than magic -transformations and metamorphoses; it will be enough for our purpose -to depict the countenance the king assumed, which, from being gay, soon -wore a very gloomy, constrained, and irritated expression. He remembered -his own residence, royal though it was, and the mean and indifferent -style of luxury that prevailed there, which comprised but little more -than what was merely useful for the royal wants, without being his own -personal property. The large vases of the Louvre, the older furniture -and plate of Henry II., of Francis I., and of Louis XI., were but -historic monuments of earlier days; nothing but specimens of art, the -relics of his predecessors; while with Fouquet, the value of the article -was as much in the workmanship as in the article itself. Fouquet ate -from a gold service, which artists in his own employ had modeled and -cast for him alone. Fouquet drank wines of which the king of France did -not even know the name, and drank them out of goblets each more valuable -than the entire royal cellar. - -What, too, was to be said of the apartments, the hangings, the pictures, -the servants and officers, of every description, of his household? What -of the mode of service in which etiquette was replaced by order; -stiff formality by personal, unrestrained comfort; the happiness and -contentment of the guest became the supreme law of all who obeyed -the host? The perfect swarm of busily engaged persons moving about -noiselessly; the multitude of guests,--who were, however, even -less numerous than the servants who waited on them,--the myriad of -exquisitely prepared dishes, of gold and silver vases; the floods of -dazzling light, the masses of unknown flowers of which the hot-houses -had been despoiled, redundant with luxuriance of unequaled scent and -beauty; the perfect harmony of the surroundings, which, indeed, was -no more than the prelude of the promised _fete_, charmed all who were -there; and they testified their admiration over and over again, not -by voice or gesture, but by deep silence and rapt attention, those -two languages of the courtier which acknowledge the hand of no master -powerful enough to restrain them. - -As for the king, his eyes filled with tears; he dared not look at the -queen. Anne of Austria, whose pride was superior to that of any creature -breathing, overwhelmed her host by the contempt with which she treated -everything handed to her. The young queen, kind-hearted by nature and -curious by disposition, praised Fouquet, ate with an exceedingly good -appetite, and asked the names of the strange fruits as they were placed -upon the table. Fouquet replied that he was not aware of their names. -The fruits came from his own stores; he had often cultivated them -himself, having an intimate acquaintance with the cultivation of exotic -fruits and plants. The king felt and appreciated the delicacy of the -replies, but was only the more humiliated; he thought the queen a little -too familiar in her manners, and that Anne of Austria resembled Juno -a little too much, in being too proud and haughty; his chief anxiety, -however, was himself, that he might remain cold and distant in his -behavior, bordering lightly the limits of supreme disdain or simple -admiration. - -But Fouquet had foreseen all this; he was, in fact, one of those men who -foresee everything. The king had expressly declared that, so long as he -remained under Fouquet's roof, he did not wish his own different repasts -to be served in accordance with the usual etiquette, and that he would, -consequently, dine with the rest of society; but by the thoughtful -attention of the surintendant, the king's dinner was served up -separately, if one may so express it, in the middle of the general -table; the dinner, wonderful in every respect, from the dishes of -which was composed, comprised everything the king liked and generally -preferred to anything else. Louis had no excuse--he, indeed, who had the -keenest appetite in his kingdom--for saying that he was not hungry. -Nay, M. Fouquet did even better still; he certainly, in obedience to the -king's expressed desire, seated himself at the table, but as soon as -the soups were served, he arose and personally waited on the king, while -Madame Fouquet stood behind the queen-mother's armchair. The disdain -of Juno and the sulky fits of temper of Jupiter could not resist this -excess of kindly feeling and polite attention. The queen ate a biscuit -dipped in a glass of San-Lucar wine; and the king ate of everything, -saying to M. Fouquet: "It is impossible, monsieur le surintendant, to -dine better anywhere." Whereupon the whole court began, on all sides, to -devour the dishes spread before them with such enthusiasm that it looked -as though a cloud of Egyptian locusts was settling down on green and -growing crops. - -As soon, however, as his hunger was appeased, the king became morose -and overgloomed again; the more so in proportion to the satisfaction he -fancied he had previously manifested, and particularly on account of -the deferential manner which his courtiers had shown towards Fouquet. -D'Artagnan, who ate a good deal and drank but little, without allowing -it to be noticed, did not lose a single opportunity, but made a great -number of observations which he turned to good profit. - -When the supper was finished, the king expressed a wish not to lose the -promenade. The park was illuminated; the moon, too, as if she had placed -herself at the orders of the lord of Vaux, silvered the trees and -lake with her own bright and quasi-phosphorescent light. The air was -strangely soft and balmy; the daintily shell-gravelled walks through -the thickly set avenues yielded luxuriously to the feet. The _fete_ was -complete in every respect, for the king, having met La Valliere in one -of the winding paths of the wood, was able to press her hand and say, -"I love you," without any one overhearing him except M. d'Artagnan, who -followed, and M. Fouquet, who preceded him. - -The dreamy night of magical enchantments stole smoothly on. The king -having requested to be shown to his room, there was immediately a -movement in every direction. The queens passed to their own apartments, -accompanied by them music of theorbos and lutes; the king found his -musketeers awaiting him on the grand flight of steps, for M. Fouquet had -brought them on from Melun and had invited them to supper. D'Artagnan's -suspicions at once disappeared. He was weary, he had supped well, and -wished, for once in his life, thoroughly to enjoy a _fete_ given by a -man who was in every sense of the word a king. "M. Fouquet," he said, -"is the man for me." - -The king was conducted with the greatest ceremony to the chamber of -Morpheus, of which we owe some cursory description to our readers. It -was the handsomest and largest in the palace. Lebrun had painted on the -vaulted ceiling the happy as well as the unhappy dreams which Morpheus -inflicts on kings as well as on other men. Everything that sleep gives -birth to that is lovely, its fairy scenes, its flowers and nectar, the -wild voluptuousness or profound repose of the senses, had the painter -elaborated on his frescoes. It was a composition as soft and pleasing -in one part as dark and gloomy and terrible in another. The poisoned -chalice, the glittering dagger suspended over the head of the sleeper; -wizards and phantoms with terrific masks, those half-dim shadows more -alarming than the approach of fire or the somber face of midnight, -these, and such as these, he had made the companions of his more -pleasing pictures. No sooner had the king entered his room than a cold -shiver seemed to pass through him, and on Fouquet asking him the cause -of it, the king replied, as pale as death: - -"I am sleepy, that is all." - -"Does your majesty wish for your attendants at once?" - -"No; I have to talk with a few persons first," said the king. "Will you -have the goodness to tell M. Colbert I wish to see him." - -Fouquet bowed and left the room. - - - -Chapter XIV. A Gascon, and a Gascon and a Half. - -D'Artagnan had determined to lose no time, and in fact he never was in -the habit of doing so. After having inquired for Aramis, he had looked -for him in every direction until he had succeeded in finding him. -Besides, no sooner had the king entered Vaux, than Aramis had retired to -his own room, meditating, doubtless, some new piece of gallant attention -for his majesty's amusement. D'Artagnan desired the servants to announce -him, and found on the second story (in a beautiful room called the Blue -Chamber, on account of the color of its hangings) the bishop of Vannes -in company with Porthos and several of the modern Epicureans. Aramis -came forward to embrace his friend, and offered him the best seat. As -it was after awhile generally remarked among those present that the -musketeer was reserved, and wished for an opportunity for conversing -secretly with Aramis, the Epicureans took their leave. Porthos, however, -did not stir; for true it is that, having dined exceedingly well, he was -fast asleep in his armchair; and the freedom of conversation therefore -was not interrupted by a third person. Porthos had a deep, harmonious -snore, and people might talk in the midst of its loud bass without fear -of disturbing him. D'Artagnan felt that he was called upon to open the -conversation. - -"Well, and so we have come to Vaux," he said. - -"Why, yes, D'Artagnan. And how do you like the place?" - -"Very much, and I like M. Fouquet, also." - -"Is he not a charming host?" - -"No one could be more so." - -"I am told that the king began by showing great distance of manner -towards M. Fouquet, but that his majesty grew much more cordial -afterwards." - -"You did not notice it, then, since you say you have been told so?" - -"No; I was engaged with the gentlemen who have just left the room about -the theatrical performances and the tournaments which are to take place -to-morrow." - -"Ah, indeed! you are the comptroller-general of the _fetes_ here, then?" - -"You know I am a friend of all kinds of amusement where the exercise of -the imagination is called into activity; I have always been a poet in -one way or another." - -"Yes, I remember the verses you used to write, they were charming." - -"I have forgotten them, but I am delighted to read the verses of others, -when those others are known by the names of Moliere, Pelisson, La -Fontaine, etc." - -"Do you know what idea occurred to me this evening, Aramis?" - -"No; tell me what it was, for I should never be able to guess it, you -have so many." - -"Well, the idea occurred to me, that the true king of France is not -Louis XIV." - -"_What!_" said Aramis, involuntarily, looking the musketeer full in the -eyes. - -"No, it is Monsieur Fouquet." - -Aramis breathed again, and smiled. "Ah! you are like all the rest, -jealous," he said. "I would wager that it was M. Colbert who turned -that pretty phrase." D'Artagnan, in order to throw Aramis off his guard, -related Colbert's misadventures with regard to the _vin de Melun_. - -"He comes of a mean race, does Colbert," said Aramis. - -"Quite true." - -"When I think, too," added the bishop, "that that fellow will be your -minister within four months, and that you will serve him as blindly as -you did Richelieu or Mazarin--" - -"And as you serve M. Fouquet," said D'Artagnan. - -"With this difference, though, that M. Fouquet is not M. Colbert." - -"True, true," said D'Artagnan, as he pretended to become sad and full of -reflection; and then, a moment after, he added, "Why do you tell me that -M. Colbert will be minister in four months?" - -"Because M. Fouquet will have ceased to be so," replied Aramis. - -"He will be ruined, you mean?" said D'Artagnan. - -"Completely so." - -"Why does he give these _fetes_, then?" said the musketeer, in a tone so -full of thoughtful consideration, and so well assumed, that the bishop -was for the moment deceived by it. "Why did you not dissuade him from -it?" - -The latter part of the phrase was just a little too much, and Aramis's -former suspicions were again aroused. "It is done with the object of -humoring the king." - -"By ruining himself?" - -"Yes, by ruining himself for the king." - -"A most eccentric, one might say, sinister calculation, that." - -"Necessity, necessity, my friend." - -"I don't see that, dear Aramis." - -"Do you not? Have you not remarked M. Colbert's daily increasing -antagonism, and that he is doing his utmost to drive the king to get rid -of the superintendent?" - -"One must be blind not to see it." - -"And that a cabal is already armed against M. Fouquet?" - -"That is well known." - -"What likelihood is there that the king would join a party formed -against a man who will have spent everything he had to please him?" - -"True, true," said D'Artagnan, slowly, hardly convinced, yet curious -to broach another phase of the conversation. "There are follies, and -follies," he resumed, "and I do not like those you are committing." - -"What do you allude to?" - -"As for the banquet, the ball, the concert, the theatricals, the -tournaments, the cascades, the fireworks, the illuminations, and the -presents--these are well and good, I grant; but why were not these -expenses sufficient? Why was it necessary to have new liveries and -costumes for your whole household?" - -"You are quite right. I told M. Fouquet that myself; he replied, that -if he were rich enough he would offer the king a newly erected chateau, -from the vanes at the houses to the very sub-cellars; completely new -inside and out; and that, as soon as the king had left, he would burn -the whole building and its contents, in order that it might not be made -use of by any one else." - -"How completely Spanish!" - -"I told him so, and he then added this: 'Whoever advises me to spare -expense, I shall look upon as my enemy.'" - -"It is positive madness; and that portrait, too!" - -"What portrait?" said Aramis. - -"That of the king, and the surprise as well." - -"What surprise?" - -"The surprise you seem to have in view, and on account of which you took -some specimens away, when I met you at Percerin's." D'Artagnan paused. -The shaft was discharged, and all he had to do was to wait and watch its -effect. - -"That is merely an act of graceful attention," replied Aramis. - -D'Artagnan went up to his friend, took hold of both his hands, and -looking him full in the eyes, said, "Aramis, do you still care for me a -very little?" - -"What a question to ask!" - -"Very good. One favor, then. Why did you take some patterns of the -king's costumes at Percerin's?" - -"Come with me and ask poor Lebrun, who has been working upon them for -the last two days and nights." - -"Aramis, that may be truth for everybody else, but for me--" - -"Upon my word, D'Artagnan, you astonish me." - -"Be a little considerate. Tell me the exact truth; you would not like -anything disagreeable to happen to me, would you?" - -"My dear friend, you are becoming quite incomprehensible. What suspicion -can you have possibly got hold of?" - -"Do you believe in my instinctive feelings? Formerly you used to have -faith in them. Well, then, an instinct tells me that you have some -concealed project on foot." - -"I--a project?" - -"I am convinced of it." - -"What nonsense!" - -"I am not only sure of it, but I would even swear it." - -"Indeed, D'Artagnan, you cause me the greatest pain. Is it likely, if I -have any project in hand that I ought to keep secret from you, I should -tell you about it? If I had one that I could and ought to have revealed, -should I not have long ago divulged it?" - -"No, Aramis, no. There are certain projects which are never revealed -until the favorable opportunity arrives." - -"In that case, my dear fellow," returned the bishop, laughing, "the only -thing now is, that the 'opportunity' has not yet arrived." - -D'Artagnan shook his head with a sorrowful expression. "Oh, friendship, -friendship!" he said, "what an idle word you are! Here is a man who, if -I were but to ask it, would suffer himself to be cut in pieces for my -sake." - -"You are right," said Aramis, nobly. - -"And this man, who would shed every drop of blood in his veins for me, -will not open up before me the least corner in his heart. Friendship, I -repeat, is nothing but an unsubstantial shadow--a lure, like everything -else in this bright, dazzling world." - -"It is not thus you should speak of _our_ friendship," replied the -bishop, in a firm, assured voice; "for ours is not of the same nature as -those of which you have been speaking." - -"Look at us, Aramis; three out of the old 'four.' You are deceiving me; -I suspect you; and Porthos is fast asleep. An admirable trio of friends, -don't you think so? What an affecting relic of the former dear old -times!" - -"I can only tell you one thing, D'Artagnan, and I swear it on the Bible: -I love you just as I used to do. If I ever suspect you, it is on account -of others, and not on account of either of us. In everything I may do, -and should happen to succeed in, you will find your fourth. Will you -promise me the same favor?" - -"If I am not mistaken, Aramis, your words--at the moment you pronounce -them--are full of generous feeling." - -"Such a thing is very possible." - -"You are conspiring against M. Colbert. If that be all, _mordioux_, tell -me so at once. I have the instrument in my own hand, and will pull out -the tooth easily enough." - -Aramis could not conceal a smile of disdain that flitted over his -haughty features. "And supposing that I were conspiring against Colbert, -what harm would there be in _that?_" - -"No, no; that would be too trifling a matter for you to take in hand, -and it was not on that account you asked Percerin for those patterns of -the king's costumes. Oh! Aramis, we are not enemies, remember--we are -brothers. Tell me what you wish to undertake, and, upon the word of a -D'Artagnan, if I cannot help you, I will swear to remain neuter." - -"I am undertaking nothing," said Aramis. - -"Aramis, a voice within me speaks and seems to trickle forth a rill of -light within my darkness: it is a voice that has never yet deceived me. -It is the king you are conspiring against." - -"The king?" exclaimed the bishop, pretending to be annoyed. - -"Your face will not convince me; the king, I repeat." - -"Will you help me?" said Aramis, smiling ironically. - -"Aramis, I will do more than help you--I will do more than remain -neuter--I will save you." - -"You are mad, D'Artagnan." - -"I am the wiser of the two, in this matter." - -"You to suspect me of wishing to assassinate the king!" - -"Who spoke of such a thing?" smiled the musketeer. - -"Well, let us understand one another. I do not see what any one can -do to a legitimate king as ours is, if he does not assassinate him." -D'Artagnan did not say a word. "Besides, you have your guards and your -musketeers here," said the bishop. - -"True." - -"You are not in M. Fouquet's house, but in your own." - -"True; but in spite of that, Aramis, grant me, for pity's sake, one -single word of a true friend." - -"A true friend's word is ever truth itself. If I think of touching, even -with my finger, the son of Anne of Austria, the true king of this realm -of France--if I have not the firm intention of prostrating myself before -his throne--if in every idea I may entertain to-morrow, here at Vaux, -will not be the most glorious day my king ever enjoyed--may Heaven's -lightning blast me where I stand!" Aramis had pronounced these words -with his face turned towards the alcove of his own bedroom, where -D'Artagnan, seated with his back towards the alcove, could not suspect -that any one was lying concealed. The earnestness of his words, the -studied slowness with which he pronounced them, the solemnity of his -oath, gave the musketeer the most complete satisfaction. He took hold -of both Aramis's hands, and shook them cordially. Aramis had endured -reproaches without turning pale, and had blushed as he listened to words -of praise. D'Artagnan, deceived, did him honor; but D'Artagnan, trustful -and reliant, made him feel ashamed. "Are you going away?" he said, as he -embraced him, in order to conceal the flush on his face. - -"Yes. Duty summons me. I have to get the watch-word. It seems I am to be -lodged in the king's ante-room. Where does Porthos sleep?" - -"Take him away with you, if you like, for he rumbles through his sleepy -nose like a park of artillery." - -"Ah! he does not stay with you, then?" said D'Artagnan. - -"Not the least in the world. He has a chamber to himself, but I don't -know where." - -"Very good!" said the musketeer; from whom this separation of the two -associates removed his last suspicion, and he touched Porthos lightly -on the shoulder; the latter replied by a loud yawn. "Come," said -D'Artagnan. - -"What, D'Artagnan, my dear fellow, is that you? What a lucky chance! Oh, -yes--true; I have forgotten; I am at the _fete_ at Vaux." - -"Yes; and your beautiful dress, too." - -"Yes, it was very attentive on the part of Monsieur Coquelin de Voliere, -was it not?" - -"Hush!" said Aramis. "You are walking so heavily you will make the -flooring give way." - -"True," said the musketeer; "this room is above the dome, I think." - -"And I did not choose it for a fencing-room, I assure you," added the -bishop. "The ceiling of the king's room has all the lightness and calm -of wholesome sleep. Do not forget, therefore, that my flooring is merely -the covering of his ceiling. Good night, my friends, and in ten minutes -I shall be asleep myself." And Aramis accompanied them to the door, -laughing quietly all the while. As soon as they were outside, he bolted -the door, hurriedly; closed up the chinks of the windows, and then -called out, "Monseigneur!--monseigneur!" Philippe made his appearance -from the alcove, as he pushed aside a sliding panel placed behind the -bed. - -"M. d'Artagnan entertains a great many suspicions, it seems," he said. - -"Ah!--you recognized M. d'Artagnan, then?" - -"Before you called him by his name, even." - -"He is your captain of musketeers." - -"He is very devoted to _me_," replied Philippe, laying a stress upon the -personal pronoun. - -"As faithful as a dog; but he bites sometimes. If D'Artagnan does not -recognize you before _the other_ has disappeared, rely upon D'Artagnan -to the end of the world; for in that case, if he has seen nothing, he -will keep his fidelity. If he sees, when it is too late, he is a Gascon, -and will never admit that he has been deceived." - -"I thought so. What are we to do, now?" - -"Sit in this folding-chair. I am going to push aside a portion of the -flooring; you will look through the opening, which answers to one of the -false windows made in the dome of the king's apartment. Can you see?" - -"Yes," said Philippe, starting as at the sight of an enemy; "I see the -king!" - -"What is he doing?" - -"He seems to wish some man to sit down close to him." - -"M. Fouquet?" - -"No, no; wait a moment--" - -"Look at the notes and the portraits, my prince." - -"The man whom the king wishes to sit down in his presence is M. -Colbert." - -"Colbert sit down in the king's presence!" exclaimed Aramis. "It is -impossible." - -"Look." - -Aramis looked through the opening in the flooring. "Yes," he said. -"Colbert himself. Oh, monseigneur! what can we be going to hear--and -what can result from this intimacy?" - -"Nothing good for M. Fouquet, at all events." - -The prince did not deceive himself. - -We have seen that Louis XIV. had sent for Colbert, and Colbert had -arrived. The conversation began between them by the king according to -him one of the highest favors that he had ever done; it was true the -king was alone with his subject. "Colbert," said he, "sit down." - -The intendant, overcome with delight, for he feared he was about to be -dismissed, refused this unprecedented honor. - -"Does he accept?" said Aramis. - -"No, he remains standing." - -"Let us listen, then." And the future king and the future pope listened -eagerly to the simple mortals they held under their feet, ready to crush -them when they liked. - -"Colbert," said the king, "you have annoyed me exceedingly to-day." - -"I know it, sire." - -"Very good; I like that answer. Yes, you knew it, and there was courage -in the doing of it." - -"I ran the risk of displeasing your majesty, but I risked, also, the -concealment of your best interests." - -"What! you were afraid of something on _my_ account?" - -"I was, sire, even if it were nothing more than an indigestion," said -Colbert; "for people do not give their sovereigns such banquets as the -one of to-day, unless it be to stifle them beneath the burden of good -living." Colbert awaited the effect this coarse jest would produce upon -the king; and Louis XIV., who was the vainest and the most fastidiously -delicate man in his kingdom, forgave Colbert the joke. - -"The truth is," he said, "that M. Fouquet has given me too good a meal. -Tell me, Colbert, where does he get all the money required for this -enormous expenditure,--can you tell?" - -"Yes, I do know, sire." - -"Will you be able to prove it with tolerable certainty?" - -"Easily; and to the utmost farthing." - -"I know you are very exact." - -"Exactitude is the principal qualification required in an intendant of -finances." - -"But all are not so." - -"I thank you majesty for so flattering a compliment from your own lips." - -"M. Fouquet, therefore, is rich--very rich, and I suppose every man -knows he is so." - -"Every one, sire; the living as well as the dead." - -"What does that mean, Monsieur Colbert?" - -"The living are witnesses of M. Fouquet's wealth,--they admire and -applaud the result produced; but the dead, wiser and better informed -than we are, know how that wealth was obtained--and they rise up in -accusation." - -"So that M. Fouquet owes his wealth to some cause or other." - -"The occupation of an intendant very often favors those who practice -it." - -"You have something to say to me more confidentially, I perceive; do not -be afraid, we are quite alone." - -"I am never afraid of anything under the shelter of my own conscience, -and under the protection of your majesty," said Colbert, bowing. - -"If the dead, therefore, were to speak--" - -"They do speak sometimes, sire,--read." - -"Ah!" murmured Aramis, in the prince's ear, who, close beside him, -listened without losing a syllable, "since you are placed here, -monseigneur, in order to learn your vocation of a king, listen to a -piece of infamy--of a nature truly royal. You are about to be a -witness of one of those scenes which the foul fiend alone conceives and -executes. Listen attentively,--you will find your advantage in it." - -The prince redoubled his attention, and saw Louis XIV. take from -Colbert's hands a letter the latter held out to him. - -"The late cardinal's handwriting," said the king. - -"Your majesty has an excellent memory," replied Colbert, bowing; "it -is an immense advantage for a king who is destined for hard work to -recognize handwritings at the first glance." - -The king read Mazarin's letter, and, as its contents are already known -to the reader, in consequence of the misunderstanding between Madame de -Chevreuse and Aramis, nothing further would be learned if we stated them -here again. - -"I do not quite understand," said the king, greatly interested. - -"Your majesty has not acquired the utilitarian habit of checking the -public accounts." - -"I see that it refers to money that had been given to M. Fouquet." - -"Thirteen millions. A tolerably good sum." - -"Yes. Well, these thirteen millions are wanting to balance the total of -the account. That is what I do not very well understand. How was this -deficit possible?" - -"Possible I do not say; but there is no doubt about fact that it is -really so." - -"You say that these thirteen millions are found to be wanting in the -accounts?" - -"I do not say so, but the registry does." - -"And this letter of M. Mazarin indicates the employment of that sum and -the name of the person with whom it was deposited?" - -"As your majesty can judge for yourself." - -"Yes; and the result is, then, that M. Fouquet has not yet restored the -thirteen millions." - -"That results from the accounts, certainly, sire." - -"Well, and, consequently--" - -"Well, sire, in that case, inasmuch as M. Fouquet has not yet given -back the thirteen millions, he must have appropriated them to his own -purpose; and with those thirteen millions one could incur four times and -a little more as much expense, and make four times as great a display, -as your majesty was able to do at Fontainebleau, where we only spent -three millions altogether, if you remember." - -For a blunderer, the _souvenir_ he had evoked was a rather skillfully -contrived piece of baseness; for by the remembrance of his own _fete_ -he, for the first time, perceived its inferiority compared with that of -Fouquet. Colbert received back again at Vaux what Fouquet had given him -at Fontainebleau, and, as a good financier, returned it with the best -possible interest. Having once disposed the king's mind in this artful -way, Colbert had nothing of much importance to detain him. He felt that -such was the case, for the king, too, had again sunk into a dull and -gloomy state. Colbert awaited the first words from the king's lips -with as much impatience as Philippe and Aramis did from their place of -observation. - -"Are you aware what is the usual and natural consequence of all this, -Monsieur Colbert?" said the king, after a few moments' reflection. - -"No, sire, I do not know." - -"Well, then, the fact of the appropriation of the thirteen millions, if -it can be proved--" - -"But it is so already." - -"I mean if it were to be declared and certified, M. Colbert." - -"I think it will be to-morrow, if your majesty--" - -"Were we not under M. Fouquet's roof, you were going to say, perhaps," -replied the king, with something of nobility in his demeanor. - -"The king is in his own palace wherever he may be--especially in houses -which the royal money has constructed." - -"I think," said Philippe in a low tone to Aramis, "that the architect -who planned this dome ought, anticipating the use it could be put to at -a future opportunity, so to have contrived that it might be made to fall -upon the heads of scoundrels such as M. Colbert." - -"I think so too," replied Aramis; "but M. Colbert is so very _near the -king_ at this moment." - -"That is true, and that would open the succession." - -"Of which your younger brother would reap all the advantage, -monseigneur. But stay, let us keep quiet, and go on listening." - -"We shall not have long to listen," said the young prince. - -"Why not, monseigneur?" - -"Because, if I were king, I should make no further reply." - -"And what would you do?" - -"I should wait until to-morrow morning to give myself time for -reflection." - -Louis XIV. at last raised his eyes, and finding Colbert attentively -waiting for his next remarks, said, hastily, changing the conversation, -"M. Colbert, I perceive it is getting very late, and I shall now retire -to bed. By to-morrow morning I shall have made up my mind." - -"Very good, sire," returned Colbert, greatly incensed, although he -restrained himself in the presence of the king. - -The king made a gesture of adieu, and Colbert withdrew with a respectful -bow. "My attendants!" cried the king; and, as they entered the -apartment, Philippe was about to quit his post of observation. - -"A moment longer," said Aramis to him, with his accustomed gentleness of -manner; "what has just now taken place is only a detail, and to-morrow -we shall have no occasion to think anything more about it; but the -ceremony of the king's retiring to rest, the etiquette observed in -addressing the king, that indeed is of the greatest importance. Learn, -sire, and study well how you ought to go to bed of a night. Look! look!" - - - -Chapter XV. Colbert. - -History will tell us, or rather history has told us, of the various -events of the following day, of the splendid _fetes_ given by the -surintendant to his sovereign. Nothing but amusement and delight was -allowed to prevail throughout the whole of the following day; there -was a promenade, a banquet, a comedy to be acted, and a comedy, too, -in which, to his great amazement, Porthos recognized "M. Coquelin de -Voliere" as one of the actors, in the piece called "Les Facheux." Full -of preoccupation, however, from the scene of the previous evening, and -hardly recovered from the effects of the poison which Colbert had then -administered to him, the king, during the whole of the day, so brilliant -in its effects, so full of unexpected and startling novelties, in which -all the wonders of the "Arabian Night's Entertainments" seemed to be -reproduced for his especial amusement--the king, we say, showed himself -cold, reserved, and taciturn. Nothing could smooth the frowns upon -his face; every one who observed him noticed that a deep feeling of -resentment, of remote origin, increased by slow degrees, as the source -becomes a river, thanks to the thousand threads of water that increase -its body, was keenly alive in the depths of the king's heart. Towards -the middle of the day only did he begin to resume a little serenity of -manner, and by that time he had, in all probability, made up his mind. -Aramis, who followed him step by step in his thoughts, as in his walk, -concluded that the event he was expecting would not be long before it -was announced. This time Colbert seemed to walk in concert with the -bishop of Vannes, and had he received for every annoyance which he -inflicted on the king a word of direction from Aramis, he could not -have done better. During the whole of the day the king, who, in all -probability, wished to free himself from some of the thoughts which -disturbed his mind, seemed to seek La Valliere's society as actively as -he seemed to show his anxiety to flee that of M. Colbert or M. Fouquet. -The evening came. The king had expressed a wish not to walk in the park -until after cards in the evening. In the interval between supper and -the promenade, cards and dice were introduced. The king won a thousand -pistoles, and, having won them, put them in his pocket, and then rose, -saying, "And now, gentlemen, to the park." He found the ladies of the -court were already there. The king, we have before observed, had won a -thousand pistoles, and had put them in his pocket; but M. Fouquet had -somehow contrived to lose ten thousand, so that among the courtiers -there was still left a hundred and ninety thousand francs' profit to -divide, a circumstance which made the countenances of the courtiers and -the officers of the king's household the most joyous countenances in -the world. It was not the same, however, with the king's face; for, -notwithstanding his success at play, to which he was by no means -insensible, there still remained a slight shade of dissatisfaction. -Colbert was waiting for or upon him at the corner of one of the avenues; -he was most probably waiting there in consequence of a rendezvous which -had been given him by the king, as Louis XIV., who had avoided him, or -who had seemed to avoid him, suddenly made him a sign, and they then -struck into the depths of the park together. But La Valliere, too, had -observed the king's gloomy aspect and kindling glances; she had remarked -this--and as nothing which lay hidden or smoldering in his heart -was hidden from the gaze of her affection, she understood that this -repressed wrath menaced some one; she prepared to withstand the current -of his vengeance, and intercede like an angel of mercy. Overcome by -sadness, nervously agitated, deeply distressed at having been so long -separated from her lover, disturbed at the sight of the emotion she -had divined, she accordingly presented herself to the king with an -embarrassed aspect, which in his then disposition of mind the king -interpreted unfavorably. Then, as they were alone--nearly alone, -inasmuch as Colbert, as soon as he perceived the young girl approaching, -had stopped and drawn back a dozen paces--the king advanced towards -La Valliere and took her by the hand. "Mademoiselle," he said to her, -"should I be guilty of an indiscretion if I were to inquire if you were -indisposed? for you seem to breathe as if you were oppressed by some -secret cause of uneasiness, and your eyes are filled with tears." - -"Oh! sire, if I be indeed so, and if my eyes are indeed full of tears, I -am sorrowful only at the sadness which seems to oppress your majesty." - -"My sadness? You are mistaken, mademoiselle; no, it is not sadness I -experience." - -"What is it, then, sire?" - -"Humiliation." - -"Humiliation? oh! sire, what a word for you to use!" - -"I mean, mademoiselle, that wherever I may happen to be, no one else -ought to be the master. Well, then, look round you on every side, and -judge whether I am not eclipsed--I, the king of France--before the -monarch of these wide domains. Oh!" he continued, clenching his hands -and teeth, "when I think that this king--" - -"Well, sire?" said Louise, terrified. - -"--That this king is a faithless, unworthy servant, who grows proud and -self-sufficient upon the strength of property that belongs to me, and -which he has stolen. And therefore I am about to change this impudent -minister's _fete_ into sorrow and mourning, of which the nymph of Vaux, -as the poets say, shall not soon lose the remembrance." - -"Oh! your majesty--" - -"Well, mademoiselle, are you about to take M. Fouquet's part?" said -Louis, impatiently. - -"No, sire; I will only ask whether you are well informed. Your majesty -has more than once learned the value of accusations made at court." - -Louis XIV. made a sign for Colbert to approach. "Speak, Monsieur -Colbert," said the young prince, "for I almost believe that Mademoiselle -de la Valliere has need of your assistance before she can put any faith -in the king's word. Tell mademoiselle what M. Fouquet has done; and you, -mademoiselle, will perhaps have the kindness to listen. It will not be -long." - -Why did Louis XIV. insist upon it in such a manner? A very simple -reason--his heart was not at rest, his mind was not thoroughly -convinced; he imagined there lay some dark, hidden, tortuous intrigue -behind these thirteen millions of francs; and he wished that the -pure heart of La Valliere, which had revolted at the idea of theft -or robbery, should approve--even were it only by a single word--the -resolution he had taken, and which, nevertheless, he hesitated before -carrying into execution. - -"Speak, monsieur," said La Valliere to Colbert, who had advanced; -"speak, since the king wishes me to listen to you. Tell me, what is the -crime with which M. Fouquet is charged?" - -"Oh! not very heinous, mademoiselle," he returned, "a mere abuse of -confidence." - -"Speak, speak, Colbert; and when you have related it, leave us, and go -and inform M. d'Artagnan that I have certain orders to give him." - -"M. d'Artagnan, sire!" exclaimed La Valliere; "but why send for M. -d'Artagnan? I entreat you to tell me." - -"_Pardieu!_ in order to arrest this haughty, arrogant Titan who, true to -his menace, threatens to scale my heaven." - -"Arrest M. Fouquet, do you say?" - -"Ah! does that surprise you?" - -"In his own house!" - -"Why not? If he be guilty, he is as guilty in his own house as anywhere -else." - -"M. Fouquet, who at this moment is ruining himself for his sovereign." - -"In plain truth, mademoiselle, it seems as if you were defending this -traitor." - -Colbert began to chuckle silently. The king turned round at the sound of -this suppressed mirth. - -"Sire," said La Valliere, "it is not M. Fouquet I am defending; it is -yourself." - -"Me! you are defending me?" - -"Sire, you would dishonor yourself if you were to give such an order." - -"Dishonor myself!" murmured the king, turning pale with anger. "In plain -truth, mademoiselle, you show a strange persistence in what you say." - -"If I do, sire, my only motive is that of serving your majesty," replied -the noble-hearted girl: "for that I would risk, I would sacrifice my -very life, without the least reserve." - -Colbert seemed inclined to grumble and complain. La Valliere, that -timid, gentle lamb, turned round upon him, and with a glance like -lightning imposed silence upon him. "Monsieur," she said, "when the -king acts well, whether, in doing so, he does either myself or those -who belong to me an injury, I have nothing to say; but were the king to -confer a benefit either upon me or mine, and if he acted badly, I should -tell him so." - -"But it appears to me, mademoiselle," Colbert ventured to say, "that I -too love the king." - -"Yes, monseigneur, we both love him, but each in a different manner," -replied La Valliere, with such an accent that the heart of the young -king was powerfully affected by it. "I love him so deeply, that the -whole world is aware of it; so purely, that the king himself does not -doubt my affection. He is my king and my master; I am the least of all -his servants. But whoso touches his honor assails my life. Therefore, I -repeat, that they dishonor the king who advise him to arrest M. Fouquet -under his own roof." - -Colbert hung down his head, for he felt that the king had abandoned him. -However, as he bent his head, he murmured, "Mademoiselle, I have only -one word to say." - -"Do not say it, then, monsieur; for I would not listen to it. Besides, -what could you have to tell me? That M. Fouquet has been guilty of -certain crimes? I believe he has, because the king has said so; and, -from the moment the king said, 'I think so,' I have no occasion for -other lips to say, 'I affirm it.' But, were M. Fouquet the vilest of -men, I should say aloud, 'M. Fouquet's person is sacred to the king -because he is the guest of M. Fouquet. Were his house a den of thieves, -were Vaux a cave of coiners or robbers, his home is sacred, his palace -is inviolable, since his wife is living in it; and that is an asylum -which even executioners would not dare to violate.'" - -La Valliere paused, and was silent. In spite of himself the king could -not but admire her; he was overpowered by the passionate energy of her -voice; by the nobleness of the cause she advocated. Colbert yielded, -overcome by the inequality of the struggle. At last the king breathed -again more freely, shook his head, and held out his hand to La Valliere. -"Mademoiselle," he said, gently, "why do you decide against me? Do you -know what this wretched fellow will do, if I give him time to breathe -again?" - -"Is he not a prey which will always be within your grasp?" - -"Should he escape, and take to flight?" exclaimed Colbert. - -"Well, monsieur, it will always remain on record, to the king's eternal -honor, that he allowed M. Fouquet to flee; and the more guilty he may -have been, the greater will the king's honor and glory appear, compared -with such unnecessary misery and shame." - -Louis kissed La Valliere's hand, as he knelt before her. - -"I am lost," thought Colbert; then suddenly his face brightened up -again. "Oh! no, no, aha, old fox!--not yet," he said to himself. - -And while the king, protected from observation by the thick covert of an -enormous lime, pressed La Valliere to his breast, with all the ardor of -ineffable affection, Colbert tranquilly fumbled among the papers in his -pocket-book and drew out of it a paper folded in the form of a letter, -somewhat yellow, perhaps, but one that must have been most precious, -since the intendant smiled as he looked at it; he then bent a look, full -of hatred, upon the charming group which the young girl and the king -formed together--a group revealed but for a moment, as the light of the -approaching torches shone upon it. Louis noticed the light reflected -upon La Valliere's white dress. "Leave me, Louise," he said, "for some -one is coming." - -"Mademoiselle, mademoiselle, some one is coming," cried Colbert, to -expedite the young girl's departure. - -Louise disappeared rapidly among the trees; and then, as the king, who -had been on his knees before the young girl, was rising from his humble -posture, Colbert exclaimed, "Ah! Mademoiselle de la Valliere has let -something fall." - -"What is it?" inquired the king. - -"A paper--a letter--something white; look there, sire." - -The king stooped down immediately and picked up the letter, crumpling it -in his hand, as he did so; and at the same moment the torches arrived, -inundating the blackness of the scene with a flood of light as bight as -day. - - - -Chapter XVI. Jealousy. - -The torches we have just referred to, the eager attention every one -displayed, and the new ovation paid to the king by Fouquet, arrived in -time to suspend the effect of a resolution which La Valliere had already -considerably shaken in Louis XIV.'s heart. He looked at Fouquet with a -feeling almost of gratitude for having given La Valliere an opportunity -of showing herself so generously disposed, so powerful in the influence -she exercised over his heart. The moment of the last and greatest -display had arrived. Hardly had Fouquet conducted the king towards -the chateau, when a mass of fire burst from the dome of Vaux, with a -prodigious uproar, pouring a flood of dazzling cataracts of rays on -every side, and illumining the remotest corners of the gardens. The -fireworks began. Colbert, at twenty paces from the king, who was -surrounded and _feted_ by the owner of Vaux, seemed, by the obstinate -persistence of his gloomy thoughts, to do his utmost to recall Louis's -attention, which the magnificence of the spectacle was already, in his -opinion, too easily diverting. Suddenly, just as Louis was on the point -of holding it out to Fouquet, he perceived in his hand the paper which, -as he believed, La Valliere had dropped at his feet as she hurried away. -The still stronger magnet of love drew the young prince's attention -towards the _souvenir_ of his idol; and, by the brilliant light, which -increased momentarily in beauty, and drew from the neighboring villages -loud cheers of admiration, the king read the letter, which he supposed -was a loving and tender epistle La Valliere had destined for him. But as -he read it, a death-like pallor stole over his face, and an expression -of deep-seated wrath, illumined by the many-colored fire which gleamed -so brightly, soaringly around the scene, produced a terrible spectacle, -which every one would have shuddered at, could they only have read into -his heart, now torn by the most stormy and most bitter passions. There -was no truce for him now, influenced as he was by jealousy and mad -passion. From the very moment when the dark truth was revealed to -him, every gentler feeling seemed to disappear; pity, kindness of -consideration, the religion of hospitality, all were forgotten. In -the bitter pang which wrung his heart, he, still too weak to hide his -sufferings, was almost on the point of uttering a cry of alarm, and -calling his guards to gather round him. This letter which Colbert had -thrown down at the king's feet, the reader has doubtlessly guessed, was -the same that had disappeared with the porter Toby at Fontainebleau, -after the attempt which Fouquet had made upon La Valliere's heart. -Fouquet saw the king's pallor, and was far from guessing the evil; -Colbert saw the king's anger, and rejoiced inwardly at the approach -of the storm. Fouquet's voice drew the young prince from his wrathful -reverie. - -"What is the matter, sire?" inquired the superintendent, with an -expression of graceful interest. - -Louis made a violent effort over himself, as he replied, "Nothing." - -"I am afraid your majesty is suffering?" - -"I am suffering, and have already told you so, monsieur; but it is -nothing." - -And the king, without waiting for the termination of the fireworks, -turned towards the chateau. Fouquet accompanied him, and the whole court -followed, leaving the remains of the fireworks consuming for their own -amusement. The superintendent endeavored again to question Louis XIV., -but did not succeed in obtaining a reply. He imagined there had been -some misunderstanding between Louis and La Valliere in the park, -which had resulted in a slight quarrel; and that the king, who was not -ordinarily sulky by disposition, but completely absorbed by his passion -for La Valliere, had taken a dislike to every one because his mistress -had shown herself offended with him. This idea was sufficient to console -him; he had even a friendly and kindly smile for the young king, when -the latter wished him good night. This, however, was not all the king -had to submit to; he was obliged to undergo the usual ceremony, which on -that evening was marked by close adherence to the strictest etiquette. -The next day was the one fixed for the departure; it was but proper that -the guests should thank their host, and show him a little attention -in return for the expenditure of his twelve millions. The only remark, -approaching to amiability, which the king could find to say to M. -Fouquet, as he took leave of him, were in these words, "M. Fouquet, -you shall hear from me. Be good enough to desire M. d'Artagnan to come -here." - -But the blood of Louis XIV., who had so profoundly dissimulated his -feelings, boiled in his veins; and he was perfectly willing to order -M. Fouquet to be put an end to with the same readiness, indeed, as his -predecessor had caused the assassination of le Marechal d'Ancre; and so -he disguised the terrible resolution he had formed beneath one of those -royal smiles which, like lightning-flashes, indicated _coups d'etat_. -Fouquet took the king's hand and kissed it; Louis shuddered throughout -his whole frame, but allowed M. Fouquet to touch his hand with his lips. -Five minutes afterwards, D'Artagnan, to whom the royal order had been -communicated, entered Louis XIV.'s apartment. Aramis and Philippe were -in theirs, still eagerly attentive, and still listening with all their -ears. The king did not even give the captain of the musketeers time -to approach his armchair, but ran forward to meet him. "Take care," he -exclaimed, "that no one enters here." - -"Very good, sire," replied the captain, whose glance had for a long time -past analyzed the stormy indications on the royal countenance. He gave -the necessary order at the door; but, returning to the king, he said, -"Is there something fresh the matter, your majesty?" - -"How many men have you here?" inquired the king, without making any -other reply to the question addressed to him. - -"What for, sire?" - -"How many men have you, I say?" repeated the king, stamping upon the -ground with his foot. - -"I have the musketeers." - -"Well; and what others?" - -"Twenty guards and thirteen Swiss." - -"How many men will be required to--" - -"To do what, sire?" replied the musketeer, opening his large, calm eyes. - -"To arrest M. Fouquet." - -D'Artagnan fell back a step. - -"To arrest M. Fouquet!" he burst forth. - -"Are you going to tell me that it is impossible?" exclaimed the king, in -tones of cold, vindictive passion. - -"I never say that anything is impossible," replied D'Artagnan, wounded -to the quick. - -"Very well; do it, then." - -D'Artagnan turned on his heel, and made his way towards the door; it was -but a short distance, and he cleared it in half a dozen paces; when he -reached it he suddenly paused, and said, "Your majesty will forgive me, -but, in order to effect this arrest, I should like written directions." - -"For what purpose--and since when has the king's word been insufficient -for you?" - -"Because the word of a king, when it springs from a feeling of anger, -may possibly change when the feeling changes." - -"A truce to set phrases, monsieur; you have another thought besides -that?" - -"Oh, I, at least, have certain thoughts and ideas, which, unfortunately, -others have not," D'Artagnan replied, impertinently. - -The king, in the tempest of his wrath, hesitated, and drew back in the -face of D'Artagnan's frank courage, just as a horse crouches on his -haunches under the strong hand of a bold and experienced rider. "What is -your thought?" he exclaimed. - -"This, sire," replied D'Artagnan: "you cause a man to be arrested when -you are still under his roof; and passion is alone the cause of that. -When your anger shall have passed, you will regret what you have done; -and then I wish to be in a position to show you your signature. If that, -however, should fail to be a reparation, it will at least show us that -the king was wrong to lose his temper." - -"Wrong to lose his temper!" cried the king, in a loud, passionate voice. -"Did not my father, my grandfathers, too, before me, lose their temper -at times, in Heaven's name?" - -"The king your father and the king your grandfather never lost their -temper except when under the protection of their own palace." - -"The king is master wherever he may be." - -"That is a flattering, complimentary phrase which cannot proceed from -any one but M. Colbert; but it happens not to be the truth. The king is -at home in every man's house when he has driven its owner out of it." - -The king bit his lips, but said nothing. - -"Can it be possible?" said D'Artagnan; "here is a man who is positively -ruining himself in order to please you, and you wish to have him -arrested! _Mordioux!_ Sire, if my name was Fouquet, and people treated -me in that manner, I would swallow at a single gulp all sorts of -fireworks and other things, and I would set fire to them, and send -myself and everybody else in blown-up atoms to the sky. But it is all -the same; it is your wish, and it shall be done." - -"Go," said the king; "but have you men enough?" - -"Do you suppose I am going to take a whole host to help me? Arrest M. -Fouquet! why, that is so easy that a very child might do it! It is like -drinking a glass of wormwood; one makes an ugly face, and that is all." - -"If he defends himself?" - -"He! it is not at all likely. Defend himself when such extreme harshness -as you are going to practice makes the man a very martyr! Nay, I am sure -that if he has a million of francs left, which I very much doubt, he -would be willing enough to give it in order to have such a termination -as this. But what does that matter? it shall be done at once." - -"Stay," said the king; "do not make his arrest a public affair." - -"That will be more difficult." - -"Why so?" - -"Because nothing is easier than to go up to M. Fouquet in the midst of -a thousand enthusiastic guests who surround him, and say, 'In the king's -name, I arrest you.' But to go up to him, to turn him first one way -and then another, to drive him up into one of the corners of the -chess-board, in such a way that he cannot escape; to take him away from -his guests, and keep him a prisoner for you, without one of them, alas! -having heard anything about it; that, indeed, is a genuine difficulty, -the greatest of all, in truth; and I hardly see how it is to be done." - -"You had better say it is impossible, and you will have finished much -sooner. Heaven help me, but I seem to be surrounded by people who -prevent me doing what I wish." - -"I do not prevent your doing anything. Have you indeed decided?" - -"Take care of M. Fouquet, until I shall have made up my mind by -to-morrow morning." - -"That shall be done, sire." - -"And return, when I rise in the morning, for further orders; and now -leave me to myself." - -"You do not even want M. Colbert, then?" said the musketeer, firing his -last shot as he was leaving the room. The king started. With his whole -mind fixed on the thought of revenge, he had forgotten the cause and -substance of the offense. - -"No, no one," he said; "no one here! Leave me." - -D'Artagnan quitted the room. The king closed the door with his own -hands, and began to walk up and down his apartment at a furious pace, -like a wounded bull in an arena, trailing from his horn the colored -streamers and the iron darts. At last he began to take comfort in the -expression of his violent feelings. - -"Miserable wretch that he is! not only does he squander my finances, but -with his ill-gotten plunder he corrupts secretaries, friends, generals, -artists, and all, and tries to rob me of the one to whom I am most -attached. This is the reason that perfidious girl so boldly took -his part! Gratitude! and who can tell whether it was not a stronger -feeling--love itself?" He gave himself up for a moment to the bitterest -reflections. "A satyr!" he thought, with that abhorrent hate with which -young men regard those more advanced in life, who still think of love. -"A man who has never found opposition or resistance in any one, who -lavishes his gold and jewels in every direction, and who retains his -staff of painters in order to take the portraits of his mistresses -in the costume of goddesses." The king trembled with passion as he -continued, "He pollutes and profanes everything that belongs to me! He -destroys everything that is mine. He will be my death at last, I -know. That man is too much for me; he is my mortal enemy, but he -shall forthwith fall! I hate him--I hate him--I hate him!" and as he -pronounced these words, he struck the arm of the chair in which he was -sitting violently, over and over again, and then rose like one in an -epileptic fit. "To-morrow! to-morrow! oh, happy day!" he murmured, "when -the sun rises, no other rival shall that brilliant king of space possess -but me. That man shall fall so low that when people look at the abject -ruin my anger shall have wrought, they will be forced to confess at -last and at least that I am indeed greater than he." The king, who was -incapable of mastering his emotions any longer, knocked over with a blow -of his fist a small table placed close to his bedside, and in the very -bitterness of anger, almost weeping, and half-suffocated, he threw -himself on his bed, dressed as he was, and bit the sheets in his -extremity of passion, trying to find repose of body at least there. The -bed creaked beneath his weight, and with the exception of a few broken -sounds, emerging, or, one might say, exploding, from his overburdened -chest, absolute silence soon reigned in the chamber of Morpheus. - - - -Chapter XVII. High Treason. - -The ungovernable fury which took possession of the king at the sight and -at the perusal of Fouquet's letter to La Valliere by degrees subsided -into a feeling of pain and extreme weariness. Youth, invigorated by -health and lightness of spirits, requiring soon that what it loses -should be immediately restored--youth knows not those endless, sleepless -nights which enable us to realize the fable of the vulture unceasingly -feeding on Prometheus. In cases where the man of middle life, in his -acquired strength of will and purpose, and the old, in their state of -natural exhaustion, find incessant augmentation of their bitter sorrow, -a young man, surprised by the sudden appearance of misfortune, weakens -himself in sighs, and groans, and tears, directly struggling with his -grief, and is thereby far sooner overthrown by the inflexible enemy with -whom he is engaged. Once overthrown, his struggles cease. Louis could -not hold out more than a few minutes, at the end of which he had ceased -to clench his hands, and scorch in fancy with his looks the invisible -objects of his hatred; he soon ceased to attack with his violent -imprecations not M. Fouquet alone, but even La Valliere herself; from -fury he subsided into despair, and from despair to prostration. After he -had thrown himself for a few minutes to and fro convulsively on his -bed, his nerveless arms fell quietly down; his head lay languidly on -his pillow; his limbs, exhausted with excessive emotion, still trembled -occasionally, agitated by muscular contractions; while from his breast -faint and infrequent sighs still issued. Morpheus, the tutelary deity of -the apartment, towards whom Louis raised his eyes, wearied by his anger -and reconciled by his tears, showered down upon him the sleep-inducing -poppies with which his hands are ever filled; so presently the monarch -closed his eyes and fell asleep. Then it seemed to him, as it often -happens in that first sleep, so light and gentle, which raises the body -above the couch, and the soul above the earth--it seemed to him, we say, -as if the god Morpheus, painted on the ceiling, looked at him with eyes -resembling human eyes; that something shone brightly, and moved to and -fro in the dome above the sleeper; that the crowd of terrible dreams -which thronged together in his brain, and which were interrupted for -a moment, half revealed a human face, with a hand resting against the -mouth, and in an attitude of deep and absorbed meditation. And strange -enough, too, this man bore so wonderful a resemblance to the king -himself, that Louis fancied he was looking at his own face reflected in -a mirror; with the exception, however, that the face was saddened by a -feeling of the profoundest pity. Then it seemed to him as if the dome -gradually retired, escaping from his gaze, and that the figures and -attributes painted by Lebrun became darker and darker as the distance -became more and more remote. A gentle, easy movement, as regular as -that by which a vessel plunges beneath the waves, had succeeded to the -immovableness of the bed. Doubtless the king was dreaming, and in this -dream the crown of gold, which fastened the curtains together, seemed -to recede from his vision, just as the dome, to which it remained -suspended, had done, so that the winged genius which, with both its -hand, supported the crown, seemed, though vainly so, to call upon the -king, who was fast disappearing from it. The bed still sunk. Louis, -with his eyes open, could not resist the deception of this cruel -hallucination. At last, as the light of the royal chamber faded away -into darkness and gloom, something cold, gloomy, and inexplicable in -its nature seemed to infect the air. No paintings, nor gold, nor velvet -hangings, were visible any longer, nothing but walls of a dull gray -color, which the increasing gloom made darker every moment. And yet the -bed still continued to descend, and after a minute, which seemed in its -duration almost an age to the king, it reached a stratum of air, black -and chill as death, and then it stopped. The king could no longer see -the light in his room, except as from the bottom of a well we can see -the light of day. "I am under the influence of some atrocious dream," he -thought. "It is time to awaken from it. Come! let me wake." - -Every one has experienced the sensation the above remark conveys; there -is hardly a person who, in the midst of a nightmare whose influence is -suffocating, has not said to himself, by the help of that light which -still burns in the brain when every human light is extinguished, "It is -nothing but a dream, after all." This was precisely what Louis XIV. said -to himself; but when he said, "Come, come! wake up," he perceived that -not only was he already awake, but still more, that he had his eyes open -also. And then he looked all round him. On his right hand and on his -left two armed men stood in stolid silence, each wrapped in a huge -cloak, and the face covered with a mask; one of them held a small lamp -in his hand, whose glimmering light revealed the saddest picture a king -could look upon. Louis could not help saying to himself that his dream -still lasted, and that all he had to do to cause it to disappear was -to move his arms or to say something aloud; he darted from his bed, and -found himself upon the damp, moist ground. Then, addressing himself to -the man who held the lamp in his hand, he said: - -"What is this, monsieur, and what is the meaning of this jest?" - -"It is no jest," replied in a deep voice the masked figure that held the -lantern. - -"Do you belong to M. Fouquet?" inquired the king, greatly astonished at -his situation. - -"It matters very little to whom we belong," said the phantom; "we are -your masters now, that is sufficient." - -The king, more impatient than intimidated, turned to the other masked -figure. "If this is a comedy," he said, "you will tell M. Fouquet that I -find it unseemly and improper, and that I command it should cease." - -The second masked person to whom the king had addressed himself was a -man of huge stature and vast circumference. He held himself erect and -motionless as any block of marble. "Well!" added the king, stamping his -foot, "you do not answer!" - -"We do not answer you, my good monsieur," said the giant, in a -stentorian voice, "because there is nothing to say." - -"At least, tell me what you want," exclaimed Louis, folding his arms -with a passionate gesture. - -"You will know by and by," replied the man who held the lamp. - -"In the meantime tell me where I am." - -"Look." - -Louis looked all round him; but by the light of the lamp which the -masked figure raised for the purpose, he could perceive nothing but the -damp walls which glistened here and there with the slimy traces of the -snail. "Oh--oh!--a dungeon," cried the king. - -"No, a subterranean passage." - -"Which leads--?" - -"Will you be good enough to follow us?" - -"I shall not stir from hence!" cried the king. - -"If you are obstinate, my dear young friend," replied the taller of the -two, "I will lift you up in my arms, and roll you up in your own cloak, -and if you should happen to be stifled, why--so much the worse for you." - -As he said this, he disengaged from beneath his cloak a hand of which -Milo of Crotona would have envied him the possession, on the day when -he had that unhappy idea of rending his last oak. The king dreaded -violence, for he could well believe that the two men into whose power he -had fallen had not gone so far with any idea of drawing back, and -that they would consequently be ready to proceed to extremities, if -necessary. He shook his head and said: "It seems I have fallen into the -hands of a couple of assassins. Move on, then." - -Neither of the men answered a word to this remark. The one who carried -the lantern walked first, the king followed him, while the second masked -figure closed the procession. In this manner they passed along a winding -gallery of some length, with as many staircases leading out of it as -are to be found in the mysterious and gloomy palaces of Ann Radcliffe's -creation. All these windings and turnings, during which the king heard -the sound of running water _over his head_, ended at last in a long -corridor closed by an iron door. The figure with the lamp opened the -door with one of the keys he wore suspended at his girdle, where, during -the whole of the brief journey, the king had heard them rattle. As soon -as the door was opened and admitted the air, Louis recognized the balmy -odors that trees exhale in hot summer nights. He paused, hesitatingly, -for a moment or two; but the huge sentinel who followed him thrust him -out of the subterranean passage. - -"Another blow," said the king, turning towards the one who had just had -the audacity to touch his sovereign; "what do you intend to do with the -king of France?" - -"Try to forget that word," replied the man with the lamp, in a tone -which as little admitted of a reply as one of the famous decrees of -Minos. - -"You deserve to be broken on the wheel for the words that you have just -made use of," said the giant, as he extinguished the lamp his companion -handed to him; "but the king is too kind-hearted." - -Louis, at that threat, made so sudden a movement that it seemed as if -he meditated flight; but the giant's hand was in a moment placed on -his shoulder, and fixed him motionless where he stood. "But tell me, at -least, where we are going," said the king. - -"Come," replied the former of the two men, with a kind of respect in his -manner, and leading his prisoner towards a carriage which seemed to be -in waiting. - -The carriage was completely concealed amid the trees. Two horses, with -their feet fettered, were fastened by a halter to the lower branches of -a large oak. - -"Get in," said the same man, opening the carriage-door and letting down -the step. The king obeyed, seated himself at the back of the carriage, -the padded door of which was shut and locked immediately upon him and -his guide. As for the giant, he cut the fastenings by which the horses -were bound, harnessed them himself, and mounted on the box of the -carriage, which was unoccupied. The carriage set off immediately at a -quick trot, turned into the road to Paris, and in the forest of Senart -found a relay of horses fastened to the trees in the same manner the -first horses had been, and without a postilion. The man on the box -changed the horses, and continued to follow the road towards Paris with -the same rapidity, so that they entered the city about three o'clock in -the morning. They carriage proceeded along the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, -and, after having called out to the sentinel, "By the king's order," the -driver conducted the horses into the circular inclosure of the Bastile, -looking out upon the courtyard, called La Cour du Gouvernement. There -the horses drew up, reeking with sweat, at the flight of steps, and a -sergeant of the guard ran forward. "Go and wake the governor," said the -coachman in a voice of thunder. - -With the exception of this voice, which might have been heard at the -entrance of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, everything remained as calm in -the carriage as in the prison. Ten minutes afterwards, M. de Baisemeaux -appeared in his dressing-gown on the threshold of the door. "What is the -matter now?" he asked; "and whom have you brought me there?" - -The man with the lantern opened the carriage-door, and said two or three -words to the one who acted as driver, who immediately got down from his -seat, took up a short musket which he kept under his feet, and placed -its muzzle on his prisoner's chest. - -"And fire at once if he speaks!" added aloud the man who alighted from -the carriage. - -"Very good," replied his companion, without another remark. - -With this recommendation, the person who had accompanied the king in the -carriage ascended the flight of steps, at the top of which the governor -was awaiting him. "Monsieur d'Herblay!" said the latter. - -"Hush!" said Aramis. "Let us go into your room." - -"Good heavens! what brings you here at this hour?" - -"A mistake, my dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux," Aramis replied, quietly. -"It appears that you were quite right the other day." - -"What about?" inquired the governor. - -"About the order of release, my dear friend." - -"Tell me what you mean, monsieur--no, monseigneur," said the governor, -almost suffocated by surprise and terror. - -"It is a very simple affair: you remember, dear M. de Baisemeaux, that -an order of release was sent to you." - -"Yes, for Marchiali." - -"Very good! we both thought that it was for Marchiali?" - -"Certainly; you will recollect, however, that I would not credit it, but -that you compelled me to believe it." - -"Oh! Baisemeaux, my good fellow, what a word to make use of!--strongly -recommended, that was all." - -"Strongly recommended, yes; strongly recommended to give him up to you; -and that you carried him off with you in your carriage." - -"Well, my dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux, it was a mistake; it was -discovered at the ministry, so that I now bring you an order from the -king to set at liberty Seldon,--that poor Seldon fellow, you know." - -"Seldon! are you sure this time?" - -"Well, read it yourself," added Aramis, handing him the order. - -"Why," said Baisemeaux, "this order is the very same that has already -passed through my hands." - -"Indeed?" - -"It is the very one I assured you I saw the other evening. _Parbleu!_ I -recognize it by the blot of ink." - -"I do not know whether it is that; but all I know is, that I bring it -for you." - -"But then, what about the other?" - -"What other?" - -"Marchiali." - -"I have got him here with me." - -"But that is not enough for me. I require a new order to take him back -again." - -"Don't talk such nonsense, my dear Baisemeaux; you talk like a child! -Where is the order you received respecting Marchiali?" - -Baisemeaux ran to his iron chest and took it out. Aramis seized hold -of it, coolly tore it in four pieces, held them to the lamp, and burnt -them. "Good heavens! what are you doing?" exclaimed Baisemeaux, in an -extremity of terror. - -"Look at your position quietly, my good governor," said Aramis, with -imperturbable self-possession, "and you will see how very simple the -whole affair is. You no longer possess any order justifying Marchiali's -release." - -"I am a lost man!" - -"Far from it, my good fellow, since I have brought Marchiali back to -you, and all accordingly is just the same as if he had never left." - -"Ah!" said the governor, completely overcome by terror. - -"Plain enough, you see; and you will go and shut him up immediately." - -"I should think so, indeed." - -"And you will hand over this Seldon to me, whose liberation is -authorized by this order. Do you understand?" - -"I--I--" - -"You do understand, I see," said Aramis. "Very good." Baisemeaux clapped -his hands together. - -"But why, at all events, after having taken Marchiali away from me, do -you bring him back again?" cried the unhappy governor, in a paroxysm of -terror, and completely dumbfounded. - -"For a friend such as you are," said Aramis--"for so devoted a servant, -I have no secrets;" and he put his mouth close to Baisemeaux's ear, as -he said, in a low tone of voice, "you know the resemblance between that -unfortunate fellow, and--" - -"And the king?--yes!" - -"Very good; the first use that Marchiali made of his liberty was to -persist--Can you guess what?" - -"How is it likely I should guess?" - -"To persist in saying that he was king of France; to dress himself up in -clothes like those of the king; and then pretend to assume that he was -the king himself." - -"Gracious heavens!" - -"That is the reason why I have brought him back again, my dear friend. -He is mad and lets every one see how mad he is." - -"What is to be done, then?" - -"That is very simple; let no one hold any communication with him. You -understand that when his peculiar style of madness came to the king's -ears, the king, who had pitied his terrible affliction, and saw that -all his kindness had been repaid by black ingratitude, became perfectly -furious; so that, now--and remember this very distinctly, dear Monsieur -de Baisemeaux, for it concerns you most closely--so that there is now, I -repeat, sentence of death pronounced against all those who may allow -him to communicate with any one else but me or the king himself. You -understand, Baisemeaux, sentence of death!" - -"You need not ask me whether I understand." - -"And now, let us go down, and conduct this poor devil back to his -dungeon again, unless you prefer he should come up here." - -"What would be the good of that?" - -"It would be better, perhaps, to enter his name in the prison-book at -once!" - -"Of course, certainly; not a doubt of it." - -"In that case, have him up." - -Baisemeaux ordered the drums to be beaten and the bell to be rung, as -a warning to every one to retire, in order to avoid meeting a prisoner, -about whom it was desired to observe a certain mystery. Then, when the -passages were free, he went to take the prisoner from the carriage, at -whose breast Porthos, faithful to the directions which had been given -him, still kept his musket leveled. "Ah! is that you, miserable wretch?" -cried the governor, as soon as he perceived the king. "Very good, very -good." And immediately, making the king get out of the carriage, he led -him, still accompanied by Porthos, who had not taken off his mask, and -Aramis, who again resumed his, up the stairs, to the second Bertaudiere, -and opened the door of the room in which Philippe for six long years had -bemoaned his existence. The king entered the cell without pronouncing a -single word: he faltered in as limp and haggard as a rain-struck lily. -Baisemeaux shut the door upon him, turned the key twice in the lock, -and then returned to Aramis. "It is quite true," he said, in a low tone, -"that he bears a striking resemblance to the king; but less so than you -said." - -"So that," said Aramis, "you would not have been deceived by the -substitution of the one for the other?" - -"What a question!" - -"You are a most valuable fellow, Baisemeaux," said Aramis; "and now, set -Seldon free." - -"Oh, yes. I was going to forget that. I will go and give orders at -once." - -"Bah! to-morrow will be time enough." - -"To-morrow!--oh, no. This very minute." - -"Well; go off to your affairs, I will go away to mine. But it is quite -understood, is it not?" - -"What 'is quite understood'?" - -"That no one is to enter the prisoner's cell, expect with an order from -the king; an order which I will myself bring." - -"Quite so. Adieu, monseigneur." - -Aramis returned to his companion. "Now, Porthos, my good fellow, back -again to Vaux, and as fast as possible." - -"A man is light and easy enough, when he has faithfully served his king; -and, in serving him, saved his country," said Porthos. "The horses will -be as light as if our tissues were constructed of the wind of heaven. -So let us be off." And the carriage, lightened of a prisoner, who might -well be--as he in fact was--very heavy in the sight of Aramis, passed -across the drawbridge of the Bastile, which was raised again immediately -behind it. - - - -Chapter XVIII. A Night at the Bastile. - -Pain, anguish, and suffering in human life are always in proportion to -the strength with which a man is endowed. We will not pretend to say -that Heaven always apportions to a man's capability of endurance the -anguish with which he afflicts him; for that, indeed, would not be true, -since Heaven permits the existence of death, which is, sometimes, the -only refuge open to those who are too closely pressed--too bitterly -afflicted, as far as the body is concerned. Suffering is in proportion -to the strength which has been accorded; in other words, the weak suffer -more, where the trial is the same, than the strong. And what are the -elementary principles, we may ask, that compose human strength? Is it -not--more than anything else--exercise, habit, experience? We shall not -even take the trouble to demonstrate this, for it is an axiom in morals, -as in physics. When the young king, stupefied and crushed in every sense -and feeling, found himself led to a cell in the Bastile, he fancied -death itself is but a sleep; that it, too, has its dreams as well; that -the bed had broken through the flooring of his room at Vaux; that death -had resulted from the occurrence; and that, still carrying out his -dream, the king, Louis XIV., now no longer living, was dreaming one -of those horrors, impossible to realize in life, which is termed -dethronement, imprisonment, and insult towards a sovereign who formerly -wielded unlimited power. To be present at--an actual witness, too--of -this bitterness of death; to float, indecisively, in an incomprehensible -mystery, between resemblance and reality; to hear everything, to -see everything, without interfering in a single detail of agonizing -suffering, was--so the king thought within himself--a torture far -more terrible, since it might last forever. "Is this what is termed -eternity--hell?" he murmured, at the moment the door was closed upon -him, which we remember Baisemeaux had shut with his own hands. He did -not even look round him; and in the room, leaning with his back -against the wall, he allowed himself to be carried away by the terrible -supposition that he was already dead, as he closed his eyes, in order to -avoid looking upon something even worse still. "How can I have died?" he -said to himself, sick with terror. "The bed might have been let down by -some artificial means? But no! I do not remember to have felt a bruise, -nor any shock either. Would they not rather have poisoned me at my -meals, or with the fumes of wax, as they did my ancestress, Jeanne -d'Albret?" Suddenly, the chill of the dungeons seemed to fall like a wet -cloak upon Louis's shoulders. "I have seen," he said, "my father lying -dead upon his funeral couch, in his regal robes. That pale face, so calm -and worn; those hands, once so skillful, lying nerveless by his side; -those limbs stiffened by the icy grasp of death; nothing there betokened -a sleep that was disturbed by dreams. And yet, how numerous were the -dreams which Heaven might have sent that royal corpse--him whom so many -others had preceded, hurried away by him into eternal death! No, that -king was still the king: he was enthroned still upon that funeral -couch, as upon a velvet armchair; he had not abdicated one title of his -majesty. God, who had not punished him, cannot, will not punish me, who -have done nothing." A strange sound attracted the young man's attention. -He looked round him, and saw on the mantel-shelf, just below an enormous -crucifix, coarsely painted in fresco on the wall, a rat of enormous size -engaged in nibbling a piece of dry bread, but fixing all the time, an -intelligent and inquiring look upon the new occupant of the cell. The -king could not resist a sudden impulse of fear and disgust: he moved -back towards the door, uttering a loud cry; and as if he but needed this -cry, which escaped from his breast almost unconsciously, to recognize -himself, Louis knew that he was alive and in full possession of his -natural senses. "A prisoner!" he cried. "I--I, a prisoner!" He looked -round him for a bell to summon some one to him. "There are no bells in -the Bastile," he said, "and it is in the Bastile I am imprisoned. In -what way can I have been made a prisoner? It must have been owing to a -conspiracy of M. Fouquet. I have been drawn to Vaux, as to a snare. M. -Fouquet cannot be acting alone in this affair. His agent--That voice -that I but just now heard was M. d'Herblay's; I recognized it. Colbert -was right, then. But what is Fouquet's object? To reign in my place and -stead?--Impossible. Yet who knows!" thought the king, relapsing into -gloom again. "Perhaps my brother, the Duc d'Orleans, is doing that which -my uncle wished to do during the whole of his life against my father. -But the queen?--My mother, too? And La Valliere? Oh! La Valliere, she -will have been abandoned to Madame. Dear, dear girl! Yes, it is--it must -be so. They have shut her up as they have me. We are separated forever!" -And at this idea of separation the poor lover burst into a flood of -tears and sobs and groans. - -"There is a governor in this place," the king continued, in a fury of -passion; "I will speak to him, I will summon him to me." - -He called--no voice replied to his. He seized hold of his chair, and -hurled it against the massive oaken door. The wood resounded against the -door, and awakened many a mournful echo in the profound depths of the -staircase; but from a human creature, none. - -This was a fresh proof for the king of the slight regard in which he was -held at the Bastile. Therefore, when his first fit of anger had passed -away, having remarked a barred window through which there passed a -stream of light, lozenge-shaped, which must be, he knew, the bright orb -of approaching day, Louis began to call out, at first gently enough, -then louder and louder still; but no one replied. Twenty other attempts -which he made, one after another, obtained no other or better success. -His blood began to boil within him, and mount to his head. His nature -was such, that, accustomed to command, he trembled at the idea of -disobedience. The prisoner broke the chair, which was too heavy for him -to lift, and made use of it as a battering ram to strike against the -door. He struck so loudly, and so repeatedly, that the perspiration soon -began to pour down his face. The sound became tremendous and continuous; -certain stifled, smothered cries replied in different directions. This -sound produced a strange effect upon the king. He paused to listen; -it was the voice of the prisoners, formerly his victims, now his -companions. The voices ascended like vapors through the thick ceilings -and the massive walls, and rose in accusations against the author of -this noise, as doubtless their sighs and tears accused, in whispered -tones, the author of their captivity. After having deprived so many -people of their liberty, the king came among them to rob them of their -rest. This idea almost drove him mad; it redoubled his strength, or -rather his will, bent upon obtaining some information, or a conclusion -to the affair. With a portion of the broken chair he recommenced the -noise. At the end of an hour, Louis heard something in the corridor, -behind the door of his cell, and a violent blow, which was returned upon -the door itself, made him cease his own. - -"Are you mad?" said a rude, brutal voice. "What is the matter with you -this morning?" - -"This morning!" thought the king; but he said aloud, politely, -"Monsieur, are you the governor of the Bastile?" - -"My good fellow, your head is out of sorts," replied the voice; "but -that is no reason why you should make such a terrible disturbance. Be -quiet; _mordioux!_" - -"Are you the governor?" the king inquired again. - -He heard a door on the corridor close; the jailer had just left, not -condescending to reply a single word. When the king had assured himself -of his departure, his fury knew no longer any bounds. As agile as a -tiger, he leaped from the table to the window, and struck the iron bars -with all his might. He broke a pane of glass, the pieces of which -fell clanking into the courtyard below. He shouted with increasing -hoarseness, "The governor, the governor!" This excess lasted fully an -hour, during which time he was in a burning fever. With his hair in -disorder and matted on his forehead, his dress torn and covered with -dust and plaster, his linen in shreds, the king never rested until -his strength was utterly exhausted, and it was not until then that he -clearly understood the pitiless thickness of the walls, the impenetrable -nature of the cement, invincible to every influence but that of time, -and that he possessed no other weapon but despair. He leaned his -forehead against the door, and let the feverish throbbings of his heart -calm by degrees; it had seemed as if one single additional pulsation -would have made it burst. - -"A moment will come when the food which is given to the prisoners will -be brought to me. I shall then see some one, I shall speak to him, and -get an answer." - -And the king tried to remember at what hour the first repast of the -prisoners was served at the Bastile; he was ignorant even of this -detail. The feeling of remorse at this remembrance smote him like the -thrust of a dagger, that he should have lived for five and twenty years -a king, and in the enjoyment of every happiness, without having bestowed -a moment's thought on the misery of those who had been unjustly deprived -of their liberty. The king blushed for very shame. He felt that Heaven, -in permitting this fearful humiliation, did no more than render to the -man the same torture as had been inflicted by that man upon so many -others. Nothing could be more efficacious for reawakening his mind to -religious influences than the prostration of his heart and mind and soul -beneath the feeling of such acute wretchedness. But Louis dared not even -kneel in prayer to God to entreat him to terminate his bitter trial. - -"Heaven is right," he said; "Heaven acts wisely. It would be cowardly -to pray to Heaven for that which I have so often refused my own -fellow-creatures." - -He had reached this stage of his reflections, that is, of his agony of -mind, when a similar noise was again heard behind his door, followed -this time by the sound of the key in the lock, and of the bolts being -withdrawn from their staples. The king bounded forward to be nearer to -the person who was about to enter, but, suddenly reflecting that it was -a movement unworthy of a sovereign, he paused, assumed a noble and calm -expression, which for him was easy enough, and waited with his back -turned towards the window, in order, to some extent, to conceal his -agitation from the eyes of the person who was about to enter. It was -only a jailer with a basket of provisions. The king looked at the man -with restless anxiety, and waited until he spoke. - -"Ah!" said the latter, "you have broken your chair. I said you had done -so! Why, you have gone quite mad." - -"Monsieur," said the king, "be careful what you say; it will be a very -serious affair for you." - -The jailer placed the basket on the table, and looked at his prisoner -steadily. "What do you say?" he said. - -"Desire the governor to come to me," added the king, in accents full of -calm and dignity. - -"Come, my boy," said the turnkey, "you have always been very quiet and -reasonable, but you are getting vicious, it seems, and I wish you -to know it in time. You have broken your chair, and made a great -disturbance; that is an offense punishable by imprisonment in one of the -lower dungeons. Promise me not to begin over again, and I will not say a -word about it to the governor." - -"I wish to see the governor," replied the king, still governing his -passions. - -"He will send you off to one of the dungeons, I tell you; so take care." - -"I insist upon it, do you hear?" - -"Ah! ah! your eyes are becoming wild again. Very good! I shall take away -your knife." - -And the jailer did what he said, quitted the prisoner, and closed the -door, leaving the king more astounded, more wretched, more isolated than -ever. It was useless, though he tried it, to make the same noise again -on his door, and equally useless that he threw the plates and dishes out -of the window; not a single sound was heard in recognition. Two hours -afterwards he could not be recognized as a king, a gentleman, a man, a -human being; he might rather be called a madman, tearing the door with -his nails, trying to tear up the flooring of his cell, and uttering such -wild and fearful cries that the old Bastile seemed to tremble to its -very foundations for having revolted against its master. As for the -governor, the jailer did not even think of disturbing him; the turnkeys -and the sentinels had reported the occurrence to him, but what was the -good of it? Were not these madmen common enough in such a prison? -and were not the walls still stronger? M. de Baisemeaux, thoroughly -impressed with what Aramis had told him, and in perfect conformity with -the king's order, hoped only that one thing might happen; namely, that -the madman Marchiali might be mad enough to hang himself to the canopy -of his bed, or to one of the bars of the window. In fact, the prisoner -was anything but a profitable investment for M. Baisemeaux, and became -more annoying than agreeable to him. These complications of Seldon -and Marchiali--the complications first of setting at liberty and then -imprisoning again, the complications arising from the strong likeness in -question--had at last found a very proper _denouement_. Baisemeaux -even thought he had remarked that D'Herblay himself was not altogether -dissatisfied with the result. - -"And then, really," said Baisemeaux to his next in command, "an ordinary -prisoner is already unhappy enough in being a prisoner; he suffers quite -enough, indeed, to induce one to hope, charitably enough, that his death -may not be far distant. With still greater reason, accordingly, when the -prisoner has gone mad, and might bite and make a terrible disturbance -in the Bastile; why, in such a case, it is not simply an act of mere -charity to wish him dead; it would be almost a good and even commendable -action, quietly to have him put out of his misery." - -And the good-natured governor thereupon sat down to his late breakfast. - - - -Chapter XIX. The Shadow of M. Fouquet. - -D'Artagnan, still confused and oppressed by the conversation he had just -had with the king, could not resist asking himself if he were really in -possession of his senses, if he were really and truly at Vaux; if he, -D'Artagnan, were really the captain of the musketeers, and M. Fouquet -the owner of the chateau in which Louis XIV. was at that moment -partaking of his hospitality. These reflections were not those of a -drunken man, although everything was in prodigal profusion at Vaux, and -the surintendant's wines had met with a distinguished reception at the -_fete_. The Gascon, however, was a man of calm self-possession; and no -sooner did he touch his bright steel blade, than he knew how to adopt -morally the cold, keen weapon as his guide of action. - -"Well," he said, as he quitted the royal apartment, "I seem now to -be mixed up historically with the destinies of the king and of the -minister; it will be written, that M. d'Artagnan, a younger son of a -Gascon family, placed his hand on the shoulder of M. Nicolas Fouquet, -the surintendant of the finances of France. My descendants, if I have -any, will flatter themselves with the distinction which this arrest -will confer, just as the members of the De Luynes family have done with -regard to the estates of the poor Marechal d'Ancre. But the thing is, -how best to execute the king's directions in a proper manner. Any man -would know how to say to M. Fouquet, 'Your sword, monsieur.' But it -is not every one who would be able to take care of M. Fouquet without -others knowing anything about it. How am I to manage, then, so that M. -le surintendant pass from the height of favor to the direst disgrace; -that Vaux be turned into a dungeon for him; that after having been -steeped to his lips, as it were, in all the perfumes and incense of -Ahasuerus, he is transferred to the gallows of Haman; in other words, of -Enguerrand de Marigny?" And at this reflection, D'Artagnan's brow became -clouded with perplexity. The musketeer had certain scruples on the -matter, it must be admitted. To deliver up to death (for not a doubt -existed that Louis hated Fouquet mortally) the man who had just shown -himself so delightful and charming a host in every way, was a real -insult to one's conscience. "It almost seems," said D'Artagnan to -himself, "that if I am not a poor, mean, miserable fellow, I should let -M. Fouquet know the opinion the king has about him. Yet, if I betray -my master's secret, I shall be a false-hearted, treacherous knave, a -traitor, too, a crime provided for and punishable by military laws--so -much so, indeed, that twenty times, in former days when wars were rife, -I have seen many a miserable fellow strung up to a tree for doing, in -but a small degree, what my scruples counsel me to undertake upon a -great scale now. No, I think that a man of true readiness of wit ought -to get out of this difficulty with more skill than that. And now, let -us admit that I do possess a little readiness of invention; it is not at -all certain, though, for, after having for forty years absorbed so -large a quantity, I shall be lucky if there were to be a pistole's-worth -left." D'Artagnan buried his head in his hands, tore at his mustache -in sheer vexation, and added, "What can be the reason of M. Fouquet's -disgrace? There seem to be three good ones: the first, because M. -Colbert doesn't like him; the second, because he wished to fall in love -with Mademoiselle de la Valliere; and lastly, because the king likes M. -Colbert and loves Mademoiselle de la Valliere. Oh! he is lost! But shall -I put my foot on his neck, I, of all men, when he is falling a prey -to the intrigues of a pack of women and clerks? For shame! If he -be dangerous, I will lay him low enough; if, however, he be -only persecuted, I will look on. I have come to such a decisive -determination, that neither king nor living man shall change my mind. -If Athos were here, he would do as I have done. Therefore, instead of -going, in cold blood, up to M. Fouquet, and arresting him off-hand and -shutting him up altogether, I will try and conduct myself like a man who -understands what good manners are. People will talk about it, of course; -but they shall talk well of it, I am determined." And D'Artagnan, -drawing by a gesture peculiar to himself his shoulder-belt over his -shoulder, went straight off to M. Fouquet, who, after he had taken -leave of his guests, was preparing to retire for the night and to sleep -tranquilly after the triumphs of the day. The air was still perfumed, -or infected, whichever way it may be considered, with the odors of -the torches and the fireworks. The wax-lights were dying away in their -sockets, the flowers fell unfastened from the garlands, the groups of -dancers and courtiers were separating in the salons. Surrounded by his -friends, who complimented him and received his flattering remarks in -return, the surintendant half-closed his wearied eyes. He longed for -rest and quiet; he sank upon the bed of laurels which had been heaped -up for him for so many days past; it might almost have been said that he -seemed bowed beneath the weight of the new debts which he had incurred -for the purpose of giving the greatest possible honor to this _fete_. -Fouquet had just retired to his room, still smiling, but more than -half-asleep. He could listen to nothing more, he could hardly keep his -eyes open; his bed seemed to possess a fascinating and irresistible -attraction for him. The god Morpheus, the presiding deity of the dome -painted by Lebrun, had extended his influence over the adjoining rooms, -and showered down his most sleep-inducing poppies upon the master of the -house. Fouquet, almost entirely alone, was being assisted by his _valet -de chambre_ to undress, when M. d'Artagnan appeared at the entrance of -the room. D'Artagnan had never been able to succeed in making himself -common at the court; and notwithstanding he was seen everywhere and -on all occasions, he never failed to produce an effect wherever and -whenever he made his appearance. Such is the happy privilege of certain -natures, which in that respect resemble either thunder or lightning; -every one recognizes them; but their appearance never fails to arouse -surprise and astonishment, and whenever they occur, the impression is -always left that the last was the most conspicuous or most important. - -"What! M. d'Artagnan?" said Fouquet, who had already taken his right arm -out of the sleeve of his doublet. - -"At your service," replied the musketeer. - -"Come in, my dear M. d'Artagnan." - -"Thank you." - -"Have you come to criticise the _fete?_ You are ingenious enough in your -criticisms, I know." - -"By no means." - -"Are not your men looked after properly?" - -"In every way." - -"You are not comfortably lodged, perhaps?" - -"Nothing could be better." - -"In that case, I have to thank you for being so amiably disposed, and I -must not fail to express my obligations to you for all your flattering -kindness." - -These words were as much as to say, "My dear D'Artagnan, pray go to bed, -since you have a bed to lie down on, and let me do the same." - -D'Artagnan did not seem to understand it. - -"Are you going to bed already?" he said to the superintendent. - -"Yes; have you anything to say to me?" - -"Nothing, monsieur, nothing at all. You sleep in this room, then?" - -"Yes; as you see." - -"You have given a most charming _fete_ to the king." - -"Do you think so?" - -"Oh! beautiful!" - -"Is the king pleased?" - -"Enchanted." - -"Did he desire you to say as much to me?" - -"He would not choose so unworthy a messenger, monseigneur." - -"You do not do yourself justice, Monsieur d'Artagnan." - -"Is that your bed, there?" - -"Yes; but why do you ask? Are you not satisfied with your own?" - -"My I speak frankly to you?" - -"Most assuredly." - -"Well, then, I am not." - -Fouquet started; and then replied, "Will you take my room, Monsieur -d'Artagnan?" - -"What! deprive you of it, monseigneur? never!" - -"What am I to do, then?" - -"Allow me to share yours with you." - -Fouquet looked at the musketeer fixedly. "Ah! ah!" he said, "you have -just left the king." - -"I have, monseigneur." - -"And the king wishes you to pass the night in my room?" - -"Monseigneur--" - -"Very well, Monsieur d'Artagnan, very well. You are the master here." - -"I assure you, monseigneur, that I do not wish to abuse--" - -Fouquet turned to his valet, and said, "Leave us." When the man had -left, he said to D'Artagnan, "You have something to say to me?" - -"I?" - -"A man of your superior intelligence cannot have come to talk with a man -like myself, at such an hour as the present, without grave motives." - -"Do not interrogate me." - -"On the contrary. What do you want with me?" - -"Nothing more than the pleasure of your society." - -"Come into the garden, then," said the superintendent suddenly, "or into -the park." - -"No," replied the musketeer, hastily, "no." - -"Why?" - -"The fresh air--" - -"Come, admit at once that you arrest me," said the superintendent to the -captain. - -"Never!" said the latter. - -"You intend to look after me, then?" - -"Yes, monseigneur, I do, upon my honor." - -"Upon your honor--ah! that is quite another thing! So I am to be -arrested in my own house." - -"Do not say such a thing." - -"On the contrary, I will proclaim it aloud." - -"If you do so, I shall be compelled to request you to be silent." - -"Very good! Violence towards me, and in my own house, too." - -"We do not seem to understand one another at all. Stay a moment; there -is a chess-board there; we will have a game, if you have no objections." - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan, I am in disgrace, then?" - -"Not at all; but--" - -"I am prohibited, I suppose, from withdrawing from your sight." - -"I do not understand a word you are saying, monseigneur; and if you wish -me to withdraw, tell me so." - -"My dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, your mode of action is enough to drive -me mad; I was almost sinking for want of sleep, but you have completely -awakened me." - -"I shall never forgive myself, I am sure; and if you wish to reconcile -me with myself, why, go to sleep in your bed in my presence; and I shall -be delighted." - -"I am under surveillance, I see." - -"I will leave the room if you say any such thing." - -"You are beyond my comprehension." - -"Good night, monseigneur," said D'Artagnan, as he pretended to withdraw. - -Fouquet ran after him. "I will not lie down," he said. "Seriously, and -since you refuse to treat me as a man, and since you finesse with me, I -will try and set you at bay, as a hunter does a wild boar." - -"Bah!" cried D'Artagnan, pretending to smile. - -"I shall order my horses, and set off for Paris," said Fouquet, sounding -the captain of the musketeers. - -"If that be the case, monseigneur, it is very difficult." - -"You will arrest me, then?" - -"No, but I shall go along with you." - -"That is quite sufficient, Monsieur d'Artagnan," returned Fouquet, -coldly. "It was not for nothing you acquired your reputation as a man -of intelligence and resource; but with me all this is quite superfluous. -Let us come to the point. Do me a service. Why do you arrest me? What -have I done?" - -"Oh! I know nothing about what you may have done; but I do not arrest -you--this evening, at least!" - -"This evening!" said Fouquet, turning pale, "but to-morrow?" - -"It is not to-morrow just yet, monseigneur. Who can ever answer for the -morrow?" - -"Quick, quick, captain! let me speak to M. d'Herblay." - -"Alas! that is quite impossible, monseigneur. I have strict orders to -see that you hold no communication with any one." - -"With M. d'Herblay, captain--with your friend!" - -"Monseigneur, is M. d'Herblay the only person with whom you ought to be -prevented holding any communication?" - -Fouquet colored, and then assuming an air of resignation, he said: "You -are right, monsieur; you have taught me a lesson I ought not to have -evoked. A fallen man cannot assert his right to anything, even from -those whose fortunes he may have made; for a still stronger reason, -he cannot claim anything from those to whom he may never have had the -happiness of doing a service." - -"Monseigneur!" - -"It is perfectly true, Monsieur d'Artagnan; you have always acted in -the most admirable manner towards me--in such a manner, indeed, as most -becomes the man who is destined to arrest me. You, at least, have never -asked me anything." - -"Monsieur," replied the Gascon, touched by his eloquent and noble tone -of grief, "will you--I ask it as a favor--pledge me your word as a man -of honor that you will not leave this room?" - -"What is the use of it, dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, since you keep watch -and ward over me? Do you suppose I should contend against the most -valiant sword in the kingdom?" - -"It is not that, at all, monseigneur; but that I am going to look for M. -d'Herblay, and, consequently, to leave you alone." - -Fouquet uttered a cry of delight and surprise. - -"To look for M. d'Herblay! to leave me alone!" he exclaimed, clasping -his hands together. - -"Which is M. d'Herblay's room? The blue room is it not?" - -"Yes, my friend, yes." - -"Your friend! thank you for that word, monseigneur; you confer it upon -me to-day, at least, if you have never done so before." - -"Ah! you have saved me." - -"It will take a good ten minutes to go from hence to the blue room, and -to return?" said D'Artagnan. - -"Nearly so." - -"And then to wake Aramis, who sleeps very soundly, when he is asleep, -I put that down at another five minutes; making a total of fifteen -minutes' absence. And now, monseigneur, give me your word that you will -not in any way attempt to make your escape, and that when I return I -shall find you here again." - -"I give it, monsieur," replied Fouquet, with an expression of the -warmest and deepest gratitude. - -D'Artagnan disappeared. Fouquet looked at him as he quitted the room, -waited with a feverish impatience until the door was closed behind him, -and as soon as it was shut, flew to his keys, opened two or three secret -doors concealed in various articles of furniture in the room, looked -vainly for certain papers, which doubtless he had left at Saint-Mande, -and which he seemed to regret not having found in them; then hurriedly -seizing hold of letters, contracts, papers, writings, he heaped them -up into a pile, which he burnt in the extremest haste upon the marble -hearth of the fireplace, not even taking time to draw from the interior -of it the vases and pots of flowers with which it was filled. As soon as -he had finished, like a man who has just escaped an imminent danger, and -whose strength abandons him as soon as the danger is past, he sank down, -completely overcome, on a couch. When D'Artagnan returned, he found -Fouquet in the same position; the worthy musketeer had not the slightest -doubt that Fouquet, having given his word, would not even think of -failing to keep it, but he had thought it most likely that Fouquet would -turn his (D'Artagnan's) absence to the best advantage in getting rid of -all the papers, memorandums, and contracts, which might possibly render -his position, which was even now serious enough, more dangerous than -ever. And so, lifting up his head like a dog who has regained the scent, -he perceived an odor resembling smoke he had relied on finding in the -atmosphere, and having found it, made a movement of his head in token -of satisfaction. As D'Artagnan entered, Fouquet, on his side, raised his -head, and not one of D'Artagnan's movements escaped him. And then the -looks of the two men met, and they both saw that they had understood -each other without exchanging a syllable. - -"Well!" asked Fouquet, the first to speak, "and M. d'Herblay?" - -"Upon my word, monseigneur," replied D'Artagnan, "M. d'Herblay must -be desperately fond of walking out at night, and composing verses -by moonlight in the park of Vaux, with some of your poets, in all -probability, for he is not in his own room." - -"What! not in his own room?" cried Fouquet, whose last hope thus escaped -him; for unless he could ascertain in what way the bishop of Vannes -could assist him, he perfectly well knew that he could expect assistance -from no other quarter. - -"Or, indeed," continued D'Artagnan, "if he is in his own room, he has -very good reasons for not answering." - -"But surely you did not call him in such a manner that he could have -heard you?" - -"You can hardly suppose, monseigneur, that having already exceeded my -orders, which forbade me leaving you a single moment--you can hardly -suppose, I say, that I should have been mad enough to rouse the whole -house and allow myself to be seen in the corridor of the bishop of -Vannes, in order that M. Colbert might state with positive certainty -that I gave you time to burn your papers." - -"My papers?" - -"Of course; at least that is what I should have done in your place. When -any one opens a door for me I always avail myself of it." - -"Yes, yes, and I thank you, for I have availed myself of it." - -"And you have done perfectly right. Every man has his own peculiar -secrets with which others have nothing to do. But let us return to -Aramis, monseigneur." - -"Well, then, I tell you, you could not have called loud enough, or -Aramis would have heard you." - -"However softly any one may call Aramis, monseigneur, Aramis always -hears when he has an interest in hearing. I repeat what I said -before--Aramis was not in his own room, or Aramis had certain reasons -for not recognizing my voice, of which I am ignorant, and of which you -may be even ignorant yourself, notwithstanding your liege-man is His -Greatness the Lord Bishop of Vannes." - -Fouquet drew a deep sigh, rose from his seat, took three or four turns -in his room, and finished by seating himself, with an expression of -extreme dejection, upon his magnificent bed with velvet hangings, -and costliest lace. D'Artagnan looked at Fouquet with feelings of the -deepest and sincerest pity. - -"I have seen a good many men arrested in my life," said the musketeer, -sadly; "I have seen both M. de Cinq-Mars and M. de Chalais arrested, -though I was very young then. I have seen M. de Conde arrested with -the princes; I have seen M. de Retz arrested; I have seen M. Broussel -arrested. Stay a moment, monseigneur, it is disagreeable to have to say, -but the very one of all those whom you most resemble at this moment was -that poor fellow Broussel. You were very near doing as he did, putting -your dinner napkin in your portfolio, and wiping your mouth with your -papers. _Mordioux!_ Monseigneur Fouquet, a man like you ought not to be -dejected in this manner. Suppose your friends saw you?" - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan," returned the surintendant, with a smile full -of gentleness, "you do not understand me; it is precisely because my -friends are not looking on, that I am as you see me now. I do not live, -exist even, isolated from others; I am nothing when left to myself. -Understand that throughout my whole life I have passed every moment of -my time in making friends, whom I hoped to render my stay and support. -In times of prosperity, all these cheerful, happy voices--rendered so -through and by my means--formed in my honor a concert of praise and -kindly actions. In the least disfavor, these humbler voices accompanied -in harmonious accents the murmur of my own heart. Isolation I have never -yet known. Poverty (a phantom I have sometimes beheld, clad in rags, -awaiting me at the end of my journey through life)--poverty has been the -specter with which many of my own friends have trifled for years past, -which they poetize and caress, and which has attracted me towards them. -Poverty! I accept it, acknowledge it, receive it, as a disinherited -sister; for poverty is neither solitude, nor exile, nor imprisonment. -Is it likely I shall ever be poor, with such friends as Pelisson, as -La Fontaine, as Moliere? with such a mistress as--Oh! if you knew how -utterly lonely and desolate I feel at this moment, and how you, who -separate me from all I love, seem to resemble the image of solitude, of -annihilation--death itself." - -"But I have already told you, Monsieur Fouquet," replied D'Artagnan, -moved to the depths of his soul, "that you are woefully exaggerating. -The king likes you." - -"No, no," said Fouquet, shaking his head. - -"M. Colbert hates you." - -"M. Colbert! What does that matter to me?" - -"He will ruin you." - -"Ah! I defy him to do that, for I am ruined already." - -At this singular confession of the superintendent, D'Artagnan cast -his glance all round the room; and although he did not open his lips, -Fouquet understood him so thoroughly, that he added: "What can be done -with such wealth of substance as surrounds us, when a man can no longer -cultivate his taste for the magnificent? Do you know what good the -greater part of the wealth and the possessions which we rich enjoy, -confer upon us? merely to disgust us, by their very splendor even, with -everything which does not equal it! Vaux! you will say, and the wonders -of Vaux! What of it? What boot these wonders? If I am ruined, how shall -I fill with water the urns which my Naiads bear in their arms, or -force the air into the lungs of my Tritons? To be rich enough, Monsieur -d'Artagnan, a man must be too rich." - -D'Artagnan shook his head. - -"Oh! I know very well what you think," replied Fouquet, quickly. "If -Vaux were yours, you would sell it, and would purchase an estate in the -country; an estate which should have woods, orchards, and land attached, -so that the estate should be made to support its master. With forty -millions you might--" - -"Ten millions," interrupted D'Artagnan. - -"Not a million, my dear captain. No one in France is rich enough to give -two millions for Vaux, and to continue to maintain it as I have done; no -one could do it, no one would know how." - -"Well," said D'Artagnan, "in any case, a million is not abject misery." - -"It is not far from it, my dear monsieur. But you do not understand me. -No; I will not sell my residence at Vaux; I will give it to you, if -you like;" and Fouquet accompanied these words with a movement of the -shoulders to which it would be impossible to do justice. - -"Give it to the king; you will make a better bargain." - -"The king does not require me to give it to him," said Fouquet; "he -will take it away from me with the most absolute ease and grace, if it -pleases him to do so; and that is the very reason I should prefer to see -it perish. Do you know, Monsieur d'Artagnan, that if the king did not -happen to be under my roof, I would take this candle, go straight to the -dome, and set fire to a couple of huge chests of fusees and fireworks -which are in reserve there, and would reduce my palace to ashes." - -"Bah!" said the musketeer, negligently. "At all events, you would not be -able to burn the gardens, and that is the finest feature of the place." - -"And yet," resumed Fouquet, thoughtfully, "what was I saying? Great -heavens! burn Vaux! destroy my palace! But Vaux is not mine; these -wonderful creations are, it is true, the property, as far as sense of -enjoyment goes, of the man who has paid for them; but as far as duration -is concerned, they belong to those who created them. Vaux belongs to -Lebrun, to Lenotre, to Pelisson, to Levau, to La Fontaine, to Moliere; -Vaux belongs to posterity, in fact. You see, Monsieur d'Artagnan, that -my very house has ceased to be my own." - -"That is all well and good," said D'Artagnan; "the idea is agreeable -enough, and I recognize M. Fouquet himself in it. That idea, indeed, -makes me forget that poor fellow Broussel altogether; and I now fail to -recognize in you the whining complaints of that old Frondeur. If you are -ruined, monsieur, look at the affair manfully, for you too, _mordioux!_ -belong to posterity, and have no right to lessen yourself in any way. -Stay a moment; look at me, I who seem to exercise in some degree a -kind of superiority over you, because I am arresting you; fate, which -distributes their different parts to the comedians of this world, -accorded me a less agreeable and less advantageous part to fill than -yours has been. I am one of those who think that the parts which kings -and powerful nobles are called upon to act are infinitely of more worth -than the parts of beggars or lackeys. It is far better on the stage--on -the stage, I mean, of another theater than the theater of this world--it -is far better to wear a fine coat and to talk a fine language, than to -walk the boards shod with a pair of old shoes, or to get one's backbone -gently polished by a hearty dressing with a stick. In one word, you have -been a prodigal with money, you have ordered and been obeyed--have been -steeped to the lips in enjoyment; while I have dragged my tether after -me, have been commanded and have obeyed, and have drudged my life -away. Well, although I may seem of such trifling importance beside you, -monseigneur, I do declare to you, that the recollection of what I have -done serves me as a spur, and prevents me from bowing my old head too -soon. I shall remain unto the very end a trooper; and when my turn -comes, I shall fall perfectly straight, all in a heap, still alive, -after having selected my place beforehand. Do as I do, Monsieur Fouquet, -you will not find yourself the worse for it; a fall happens only once -in a lifetime to men like yourself, and the chief thing is, to take -it gracefully when the chance presents itself. There is a Latin -proverb--the words have escaped me, but I remember the sense of it very -well, for I have thought over it more than once--which says, 'The end -crowns the work!'" - -Fouquet rose from his seat, passed his arm round D'Artagnan's neck, and -clasped him in a close embrace, whilst with the other hand he pressed -his hand. "An excellent homily," he said, after a moment's pause. - -"A soldier's, monseigneur." - -"You have a regard for me, in telling me all that." - -"Perhaps." - -Fouquet resumed his pensive attitude once more, and then, a moment -after, he said: "Where can M. d'Herblay be? I dare not ask you to send -for him." - -"You would not ask me, because I would not do it, Monsieur Fouquet. -People would learn it, and Aramis, who is not mixed up with the affair, -might possibly be compromised and included in your disgrace." - -"I will wait here till daylight," said Fouquet. - -"Yes; that is best." - -"What shall we do when daylight comes?" - -"I know nothing at all about it, monseigneur." - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan, will you do me a favor?" - -"Most willingly." - -"You guard me, I remain; you are acting in the full discharge of your -duty, I suppose?" - -"Certainly." - -"Very good, then; remain as close to me as my shadow if you like; and I -infinitely prefer such a shadow to any one else." - -D'Artagnan bowed to the compliment. - -"But, forget that you are Monsieur d'Artagnan, captain of the -musketeers; forget that I am Monsieur Fouquet, surintendant of the -finances; and let us talk about my affairs." - -"That is rather a delicate subject." - -"Indeed?" - -"Yes; but, for your sake, Monsieur Fouquet, I will do what may almost be -regarded as an impossibility." - -"Thank you. What did the king say to you?" - -"Nothing." - -"Ah! is that the way you talk?" - -"The deuce!" - -"What do you think of my situation?" - -"I do not know." - -"However, unless you have some ill feeling against me--" - -"Your position is a difficult one." - -"In what respect?" - -"Because you are under your own roof." - -"However difficult it may be, I understand it very well." - -"Do you suppose that, with any one else but yourself, I should have -shown so much frankness?" - -"What! so much frankness, do you say? you, who refuse to tell me the -slightest thing?" - -"At all events, then, so much ceremony and consideration." - -"Ah! I have nothing to say in that respect." - -"One moment, monseigneur: let me tell you how I should have behaved -towards any one but yourself. It might be that I happened to arrive at -your door just as your guests or your friends had left you--or, if they -had not gone yet, I should wait until they were leaving, and should -then catch them one after the other, like rabbits; I should lock them up -quietly enough, I should steal softly along the carpet of your corridor, -and with one hand upon you, before you suspected the slightest thing -amiss, I should keep you safely until my master's breakfast in the -morning. In this way, I should just the same have avoided all publicity, -all disturbance, all opposition; but there would also have been no -warning for M. Fouquet, no consideration for his feelings, none of those -delicate concessions which are shown by persons who are essentially -courteous in their natures, whenever the decisive moment may arrive. Are -you satisfied with the plan?" - -"It makes me shudder." - -"I thought you would not like it. It would have been very disagreeable -to have made my appearance to-morrow, without any preparation, and to -have asked you to deliver up your sword." - -"Oh! monsieur, I should have died of shame and anger." - -"Your gratitude is too eloquently expressed. I have not done enough to -deserve it, I assure you." - -"Most certainly, monsieur, you will never get me to believe that." - -"Well, then, monseigneur, if you are satisfied with what I have done, -and have somewhat recovered from the shock which I prepared you for as -much as I possibly could, let us allow the few hours that remain to pass -away undisturbed. You are harassed, and should arrange your thoughts; -I beg you, therefore, go to sleep, or pretend to go to sleep, either on -your bed, or in your bed; I will sleep in this armchair; and when I fall -asleep, my rest is so sound that a cannon would not wake me." - -Fouquet smiled. "I expect, however," continued the musketeer, "the case -of a door being opened, whether a secret door, or any other; or the case -of any one going out of, or coming into, the room--for anything like -that my ear is as quick and sensitive as the ear of a mouse. Creaking -noises make me start. It arises, I suppose, from a natural antipathy to -anything of the kind. Move about as much as you like; walk up and down -in any part of the room, write, efface, destroy, burn,--nothing like -that will prevent me from going to sleep or even prevent me from -snoring, but do not touch either the key or the handle of the door, for -I should start up in a moment, and that would shake my nerves and make -me ill." - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan," said Fouquet, "you are certainly the most witty -and the most courteous man I ever met with; and you will leave me only -one regret, that of having made your acquaintance so late." - -D'Artagnan drew a deep sigh, which seemed to say, "Alas! you have -perhaps made it too soon." He then settled himself in his armchair, -while Fouquet, half lying on his bed and leaning on his arm, was -meditating on his misadventures. In this way, both of them, leaving the -candles burning, awaited the first dawn of the day; and when Fouquet -happened to sigh too loudly, D'Artagnan only snored the louder. Not -a single visit, not even from Aramis, disturbed their quietude: not a -sound even was heard throughout the whole vast palace. Outside, however, -the guards of honor on duty, and the patrol of musketeers, paced up and -down; and the sound of their feet could be heard on the gravel walks. -It seemed to act as an additional soporific for the sleepers, while the -murmuring of the wind through the trees, and the unceasing music of -the fountains whose waters tumbled in the basin, still went on -uninterruptedly, without being disturbed at the slight noises and items -of little moment that constitute the life and death of human nature. - - - -Chapter XX. The Morning. - -In vivid contrast to the sad and terrible destiny of the king imprisoned -in the Bastile, and tearing, in sheer despair, the bolts and bars of -his dungeon, the rhetoric of the chroniclers of old would not fail to -present, as a complete antithesis, the picture of Philippe lying asleep -beneath the royal canopy. We do not pretend to say that such rhetoric is -always bad, and always scatters, in places where they have no right to -grow, the flowers with which it embellishes and enlivens history. But we -shall, on the present occasion, carefully avoid polishing the antithesis -in question, but shall proceed to draw another picture as minutely as -possible, to serve as foil and counterfoil to the one in the preceding -chapter. The young prince alighted from Aramis's room, in the same way -the king had descended from the apartment dedicated to Morpheus. -The dome gradually and slowly sank down under Aramis's pressure, and -Philippe stood beside the royal bed, which had ascended again after -having deposited its prisoner in the secret depths of the subterranean -passage. Alone, in the presence of all the luxury which surrounded him; -alone, in the presence of his power; alone, with the part he was about -to be forced to act, Philippe for the first time felt his heart, and -mind, and soul expand beneath the influence of a thousand mutable -emotions, which are the vital throbs of a king's heart. He could not -help changing color when he looked upon the empty bed, still tumbled -by his brother's body. This mute accomplice had returned, after having -completed the work it had been destined to perform; it returned with the -traces of the crime; it spoke to the guilty author of that crime, with -the frank and unreserved language which an accomplice never fears to -use in the company of his companion in guilt; for it spoke the truth. -Philippe bent over the bed, and perceived a pocket-handkerchief lying on -it, which was still damp from the cold sweat which had poured from Louis -XIV.'s face. This sweat-bestained handkerchief terrified Philippe, as -the gore of Abel frightened Cain. - -"I am face to face with my destiny," said Philippe, his eyes on fire, -and his face a livid white. "Is it likely to be more terrifying than my -captivity has been sad and gloomy? Though I am compelled to follow out, -at every moment, the sovereign power and authority I have usurped, shall -I cease to listen to the scruples of my heart? Yes! the king has lain -on this bed; it is indeed his head that has left its impression on this -pillow; his bitter tears that have stained this handkerchief: and yet, -I hesitate to throw myself on the bed, or to press in my hand the -handkerchief which is embroidered with my brother's arms. Away with such -weakness; let me imitate M. d'Herblay, who asserts that a man's action -should be always one degree above his thoughts; let me imitate M. -d'Herblay, whose thoughts are of and for himself alone, who regards -himself as a man of honor, so long as he injures or betrays his enemies -only. I, I alone, should have occupied this bed, if Louis XIV. had not, -owing to my mother's criminal abandonment, stood in my way; and this -handkerchief, embroidered with the arms of France, would in right and -justice belong to me alone, if, as M. d'Herblay observes, I had been -left my royal cradle. Philippe, son of France, take your place on that -bed; Philippe, sole king of France, resume the blazonry that is yours! -Philippe, sole heir presumptive to Louis XIII., your father, show -yourself without pity or mercy for the usurper who, at this moment, has -not even to suffer the agony of the remorse of all that you have had to -submit to." - -With these words, Philippe, notwithstanding an instinctive repugnance of -feeling, and in spite of the shudder of terror which mastered his will, -threw himself on the royal bed, and forced his muscles to press the -still warm place where Louis XIV. had lain, while he buried his burning -face in the handkerchief still moistened by his brother's tears. With -his head thrown back and buried in the soft down of his pillow, Philippe -perceived above him the crown of France, suspended, as we have stated, -by angels with outspread golden wings. - -A man may be ambitious of lying in a lion's den, but can hardly hope to -sleep there quietly. Philippe listened attentively to every sound; his -heart panted and throbbed at the very suspicion of approaching terror -and misfortune; but confident in his own strength, which was confirmed -by the force of an overpoweringly resolute determination, he waited -until some decisive circumstance should permit him to judge for himself. -He hoped that imminent danger might be revealed to him, like those -phosphoric lights of the tempest which show the sailors the altitude of -the waves against which they have to struggle. But nothing approached. -Silence, that mortal enemy of restless hearts, and of ambitious minds, -shrouded in the thickness of its gloom during the remainder of the night -the future king of France, who lay there sheltered beneath his stolen -crown. Towards the morning a shadow, rather than a body, glided into the -royal chamber; Philippe expected his approach and neither expressed nor -exhibited any surprise. - -"Well, M. d'Herblay?" - -"Well, sire, all is accomplished." - -"How?" - -"Exactly as we expected." - -"Did he resist?" - -"Terribly! tears and entreaties." - -"And then?" - -"A perfect stupor." - -"But at last?" - -"Oh! at last, a complete victory, and absolute silence." - -"Did the governor of the Bastile suspect anything?" - -"Nothing." - -"The resemblance, however--" - -"Was the cause of the success." - -"But the prisoner cannot fail to explain himself. Think well of that. I -have myself been able to do as much as that, on former occasion." - -"I have already provided for every chance. In a few days, sooner if -necessary, we will take the captive out of his prison, and will send him -out of the country, to a place of exile so remote--" - -"People can return from their exile, Monsieur d'Herblay." - -"To a place of exile so distant, I was going to say, that human strength -and the duration of human life would not be enough for his return." - -Once more a cold look of intelligence passed between Aramis and the -young king. - -"And M. du Vallon?" asked Philippe in order to change the conversation. - -"He will be presented to you to-day, and confidentially will -congratulate you on the danger which that conspirator has made you run." - -"What is to be done with him?" - -"With M. du Vallon?" - -"Yes; confer a dukedom on him, I suppose." - -"A dukedom," replied Aramis, smiling in a significant manner. - -"Why do you laugh, Monsieur d'Herblay?" - -"I laugh at the extreme caution of your idea." - -"Cautious, why so?" - -"Your majesty is doubtless afraid that poor Porthos may possible become -a troublesome witness, and you wish to get rid of him." - -"What! in making him a duke?" - -"Certainly; you would assuredly kill him, for he would die from joy, and -the secret would die with him." - -"Good heavens!" - -"Yes," said Aramis, phlegmatically; "I should lose a very good friend." - -At this moment, and in the middle of this idle conversation, under the -light tone of which the two conspirators concealed their joy and pride -at their mutual success, Aramis heard something which made him prick up -his ears. - -"What is that?" said Philippe. - -"The dawn, sire." - -"Well?" - -"Well, before you retired to bed last night, you probably decided to do -something this morning at break of day." - -"Yes, I told my captain of the musketeers," replied the young man -hurriedly, "that I should expect him." - -"If you told him that, he will certainly be here, for he is a most -punctual man." - -"I hear a step in the vestibule." - -"It must be he." - -"Come, let us begin the attack," said the young king resolutely. - -"Be cautious for Heaven's sake. To begin the attack, and with -D'Artagnan, would be madness. D'Artagnan knows nothing, he has seen -nothing; he is a hundred miles from suspecting our mystery in the -slightest degree, but if he comes into this room the first this morning, -he will be sure to detect something of what has taken place, and which -he would imagine it his business to occupy himself about. Before we -allow D'Artagnan to penetrate into this room, we must air the room -thoroughly, or introduce so many people into it, that the keenest scent -in the whole kingdom may be deceived by the traces of twenty different -persons." - -"But how can I send him away, since I have given him a rendezvous?" -observed the prince, impatient to measure swords with so redoubtable an -antagonist. - -"I will take care of that," replied the bishop, "and in order to begin, -I am going to strike a blow which will completely stupefy our man." - -"He, too, is striking a blow, for I hear him at the door," added the -prince, hurriedly. - -And, in fact, a knock at the door was heard at that moment. Aramis was -not mistaken; for it was indeed D'Artagnan who adopted that mode of -announcing himself. - -We have seen how he passed the night in philosophizing with M. Fouquet, -but the musketeer was very weary even of feigning to fall asleep, and -as soon as earliest dawn illumined with its gloomy gleams of light the -sumptuous cornices of the superintendent's room, D'Artagnan rose from -his armchair, arranged his sword, brushed his coat and hat with his -sleeve, like a private soldier getting ready for inspection. - -"Are you going out?" said Fouquet. - -"Yes, monseigneur. And you?" - -"I shall remain." - -"You pledge your word?" - -"Certainly." - -"Very good. Besides, my only reason for going out is to try and get that -reply,--you know what I mean?" - -"That sentence, you mean--" - -"Stay, I have something of the old Roman in me. This morning, when I -got up, I remarked that my sword had got caught in one of the -_aiguillettes_, and that my shoulder-belt had slipped quite off. That is -an infallible sign." - -"Of prosperity?" - -"Yes, be sure of it; for every time that that confounded belt of mine -stuck fast to my back, it always signified a punishment from M. de -Treville, or a refusal of money by M. de Mazarin. Every time my sword -hung fast to my shoulder-belt, it always predicted some disagreeable -commission or another for me to execute, and I have had showers of -them all my life through. Every time, too, my sword danced about in its -sheath, a duel, fortunate in its result, was sure to follow: whenever it -dangled about the calves of my legs, it signified a slight wound; every -time it fell completely out of the scabbard, I was booked, and made up -my mind that I should have to remain on the field of battle, with two or -three months under surgical bandages into the bargain." - -"I did not know your sword kept you so well informed," said Fouquet, -with a faint smile, which showed how he was struggling against his -own weakness. "Is your sword bewitched, or under the influence of some -imperial charm?" - -"Why, you must know that my sword may almost be regarded as part of my -own body. I have heard that certain men seem to have warnings given them -by feeling something the matter with their legs, or a throbbing of their -temples. With me, it is my sword that warns me. Well, it told me of -nothing this morning. But, stay a moment--look here, it has just fallen -of its own accord into the last hole of the belt. Do you know what that -is a warning of?" - -"No." - -"Well, that tells me of an arrest that will have to be made this very -day." - -"Well," said the surintendant, more astonished than annoyed by this -frankness, "if there is nothing disagreeable predicted to you by your -sword, I am to conclude that it is not disagreeable for you to arrest -me." - -"You! arrest _you!_" - -"Of course. The warning--" - -"Does not concern you, since you have been arrested ever since -yesterday. It is not you I shall have to arrest, be assured of that. -That is the reason why I am delighted, and also the reason why I said -that my day will be a happy one." - -And with these words, pronounced with the most affectionate graciousness -of manner, the captain took leave of Fouquet in order to wait upon the -king. He was on the point of leaving the room, when Fouquet said to him, -"One last mark of kindness." - -"What is it, monseigneur?" - -"M. d'Herblay; let me see Monsieur d'Herblay." - -"I am going to try and get him to come to you." - -D'Artagnan did not think himself so good a prophet. It was written that -the day would pass away and realize all the predictions that had been -made in the morning. He had accordingly knocked, as we have seen, at the -king's door. The door opened. The captain thought that it was the king -who had just opened it himself; and this supposition was not altogether -inadmissible, considering the state of agitation in which he had left -Louis XIV. the previous evening; but instead of his royal master, whom -he was on the point of saluting with the greatest respect, he perceived -the long, calm features of Aramis. So extreme was his surprise that -he could hardly refrain from uttering a loud exclamation. "Aramis!" he -said. - -"Good morning, dear D'Artagnan," replied the prelate, coldly. - -"You here!" stammered out the musketeer. - -"His majesty desires you to report that he is still sleeping, after -having been greatly fatigued during the whole night." - -"Ah!" said D'Artagnan, who could not understand how the bishop of -Vannes, who had been so indifferent a favorite the previous evening, had -become in half a dozen hours the most magnificent mushroom of fortune -that had ever sprung up in a sovereign's bedroom. In fact, to transmit -the orders of the king even to the mere threshold of that monarch's -room, to serve as an intermediary of Louis XIV. so as to be able to -give a single order in his name at a couple paces from him, he must have -become more than Richelieu had ever been to Louis XIII. D'Artagnan's -expressive eye, half-opened lips, his curling mustache, said as much -indeed in the plainest language to the chief favorite, who remained calm -and perfectly unmoved. - -"Moreover," continued the bishop, "you will be good enough, monsieur le -capitaine des mousquetaires, to allow those only to pass into the king's -room this morning who have special permission. His majesty does not wish -to be disturbed just yet." - -"But," objected D'Artagnan, almost on the point of refusing to obey this -order, and particularly of giving unrestrained passage to the suspicions -which the king's silence had aroused--"but, monsieur l'eveque, his -majesty gave me a rendezvous for this morning." - -"Later, later," said the king's voice, from the bottom of the alcove; a -voice which made a cold shudder pass through the musketeer's veins. He -bowed, amazed, confused, and stupefied by the smile with which Aramis -seemed to overwhelm him, as soon as these words had been pronounced. - -"And then," continued the bishop, "as an answer to what you were coming -to ask the king, my dear D'Artagnan, here is an order of his majesty, -which you will be good enough to attend to forthwith, for it concerns M. -Fouquet." - -D'Artagnan took the order which was held out to him. "To be set at -liberty!" he murmured. "Ah!" and he uttered a second "ah!" still more -full of intelligence than the former; for this order explained Aramis's -presence with the king, and that Aramis, in order to have obtained -Fouquet's pardon, must have made considerable progress in the royal -favor, and that this favor explained, in its tenor, the hardly -conceivable assurance with which M. d'Herblay issued the order in the -king's name. For D'Artagnan it was quite sufficient to have understood -something of the matter in hand to order to understand the rest. He -bowed and withdrew a couple of paces, as though he were about to leave. - -"I am going with you," said the bishop. - -"Where to?" - -"To M. Fouquet; I wish to be a witness of his delight." - -"Ah! Aramis, how you puzzled me just now!" said D'Artagnan again. - -"But you understand _now_, I suppose?" - -"Of course I understand," he said aloud; but added in a low tone to -himself, almost hissing the words between his teeth, "No, no, I do not -understand yet. But it is all the same, for here is the order for it." -And then he added, "I will lead the way, monseigneur," and he conducted -Aramis to Fouquet's apartments. - - - -Chapter XXI. The King's Friend. - -Fouquet was waiting with anxiety; he had already sent away many of his -servants and friends, who, anticipating the usual hour of his ordinary -receptions, had called at his door to inquire after him. Preserving -the utmost silence respecting the danger which hung suspended by a hair -above his head, he only asked them, as he did every one, indeed, who -came to the door, where Aramis was. When he saw D'Artagnan return, -and when he perceived the bishop of Vannes behind him, he could hardly -restrain his delight; it was fully equal to his previous uneasiness. The -mere sight of Aramis was a complete compensation to the surintendant for -the unhappiness he had undergone in his arrest. The prelate was silent -and grave; D'Artagnan completely bewildered by such an accumulation of -events. - -"Well, captain, so you have brought M. d'Herblay to me." - -"And something better still, monseigneur." - -"What is that?" - -"Liberty." - -"I am free!" - -"Yes; by the king's order." - -Fouquet resumed his usual serenity, that he might interrogate Aramis -with a look. - -"Oh! yes, you can thank M. l'eveque de Vannes," pursued D'Artagnan, "for -it is indeed to him that you owe the change that has taken place in the -king." - -"Oh!" said Fouquet, more humiliated at the service than grateful at its -success. - -"But you," continued D'Artagnan, addressing Aramis--"you, who have -become M. Fouquet's protector and patron, can you not do something for -me?" - -"Anything in the wide world you like, my friend," replied the bishop, in -his calmest tones. - -"One thing only, then, and I shall be perfectly satisfied. How on earth -did you manage to become the favorite of the king, you who have never -spoken to him more than twice in your life?" - -"From a friend such as you are," said Aramis, "I cannot conceal -anything." - -"Ah! very good, tell me, then." - -"Very well. You think that I have seen the king only twice, whilst the -fact is I have seen him more than a hundred times; only we have kept it -very secret, that is all." And without trying to remove the color which -at this revelation made D'Artagnan's face flush scarlet, Aramis -turned towards M. Fouquet, who was as much surprised as the musketeer. -"Monseigneur," he resumed, "the king desires me to inform you that he -is more than ever your friend, and that your beautiful _fete_, so -generously offered by you on his behalf, has touched him to the very -heart." - -And thereupon he saluted M. Fouquet with so much reverence of manner, -that the latter, incapable of understanding a man whose diplomacy was -of so prodigious a character, remained incapable of uttering a single -syllable, and equally incapable of thought or movement. D'Artagnan -fancied he perceived that these two men had something to say to -each other, and he was about to yield to that feeling of instinctive -politeness which in such a case hurries a man towards the door, when -he feels his presence is an inconvenience for others; but his eager -curiosity, spurred on by so many mysteries, counseled him to remain. - -Aramis thereupon turned towards him, and said, in a quiet tone, "You -will not forget, my friend, the king's order respecting those whom -he intends to receive this morning on rising." These words were clear -enough, and the musketeer understood them; he therefore bowed to -Fouquet, and then to Aramis,--to the latter with a slight admixture of -ironical respect,--and disappeared. - -No sooner had he left, than Fouquet, whose impatience had hardly been -able to wait for that moment, darted towards the door to close it, and -then returning to the bishop, he said, "My dear D'Herblay, I think it -now high time you should explain all that has passed, for, in plain and -honest truth, I do not understand anything." - -"We will explain all that to you," said Aramis, sitting down, and making -Fouquet sit down also. "Where shall I begin?" - -"With this first of all. Why does the king set me at liberty?" - -"You ought rather to ask me what his reason was for having you -arrested." - -"Since my arrest, I have had time to think over it, and my idea is -that it arises out of some slight feeling of jealousy. My _fete_ put M. -Colbert out of temper, and M. Colbert discovered some cause of complaint -against me; Belle-Isle, for instance." - -"No; there is no question at all just now of Belle-Isle." - -"What is it, then?" - -"Do you remember those receipts for thirteen millions which M. de -Mazarin contrived to steal from you?" - -"Yes, of course!" - -"Well, you are pronounced a public robber." - -"Good heavens!" - -"Oh! that is not all. Do you also remember that letter you wrote to La -Valliere?" - -"Alas! yes." - -"And that proclaims you a traitor and a suborner." - -"Why should he have pardoned me, then?" - -"We have not yet arrived at that part of our argument. I wish you to be -quite convinced of the fact itself. Observe this well: the king knows -you to be guilty of an appropriation of public funds. Oh! of course _I_ -know that you have done nothing of the kind; but, at all events, the -king has seen the receipts, and he can do no other than believe you are -incriminated." - -"I beg your pardon, I do not see--" - -"You will see presently, though. The king, moreover, having read your -love-letter to La Valliere, and the offers you there made her, cannot -retain any doubt of your intentions with regard to that young lady; you -will admit that, I suppose?" - -"Certainly. Pray conclude." - -"In the fewest words. The king, we may henceforth assume, is your -powerful, implacable, and eternal enemy." - -"Agreed. But am I, then, so powerful, that he has not dared to sacrifice -me, notwithstanding his hatred, with all the means which my weakness, or -my misfortunes, may have given him as a hold upon me?" - -"It is clear, beyond all doubt," pursued Aramis, coldly, "that the king -has quarreled with you--irreconcilably." - -"But, since he has absolved me--" - -"Do you believe it likely?" asked the bishop, with a searching look. - -"Without believing in his sincerity, I believe it in the accomplished -fact." - -Aramis slightly shrugged his shoulders. - -"But why, then, should Louis XIV. have commissioned you to tell me what -you have just stated?" - -"The king charged me with no message for you." - -"With nothing!" said the superintendent, stupefied. "But, that order--" - -"Oh! yes. You are quite right. There _is_ an order, certainly;" and -these words were pronounced by Aramis in so strange a tone, that Fouquet -could not resist starting. - -"You are concealing something from me, I see. What is it?" - -Aramis softly rubbed his white fingers over his chin, but said nothing. - -"Does the king exile me?" - -"Do not act as if you were playing at the game children play at when -they have to try and guess where a thing has been hidden, and are -informed, by a bell being rung, when they are approaching near to it, or -going away from it." - -"Speak, then." - -"Guess." - -"You alarm me." - -"Bah! that is because you have not guessed, then." - -"What did the king say to you? In the name of our friendship, do not -deceive me." - -"The king has not said one word to me." - -"You are killing me with impatience, D'Herblay. Am I still -superintendent?" - -"As long as you like." - -"But what extraordinary empire have you so suddenly acquired over his -majesty's mind?" - -"Ah! that's the point." - -"He does your bidding?" - -"I believe so." - -"It is hardly credible." - -"So any one would say." - -"D'Herblay, by our alliance, by our friendship, by everything you hold -dearest in the world, speak openly, I implore you. By what means have -you succeeded in overcoming Louis XIV.'s prejudices, for he did not like -you, I am certain." - -"The king will like me _now_," said Aramis, laying stress upon the last -word. - -"You have something particular, then, between you?" - -"Yes." - -"A secret, perhaps?" - -"A secret." - -"A secret of such a nature as to change his majesty's interests?" - -"You are, indeed, a man of superior intelligence, monseigneur, and -have made a particularly accurate guess. I have, in fact, discovered a -secret, of a nature to change the interests of the king of France." - -"Ah!" said Fouquet, with the reserve of a man who does not wish to ask -any more questions. - -"And you shall judge of it yourself," pursued Aramis; "and you shall -tell me if I am mistaken with regard to the importance of this secret." - -"I am listening, since you are good enough to unbosom yourself to me; -only do not forget that I have asked you about nothing which it may be -indiscreet in you to communicate." - -Aramis seemed, for a moment, as if he were collecting himself. - -"Do not speak!" said Fouquet: "there is still time enough." - -"Do you remember," said the bishop, casting down his eyes, "the birth of -Louis XIV.?" - -"As if it were yesterday." - -"Have you ever heard anything particular respecting his birth?" - -"Nothing; except that the king was not really the son of Louis XIII." - -"That does not matter to us, or the kingdom either; he is the son of his -father, says the French law, whose father is recognized by law." - -"True; but it is a grave matter, when the quality of races is called -into question." - -"A merely secondary question, after all. So that, in fact, you have -never learned or heard anything in particular?" - -"Nothing." - -"That is where my secret begins. The queen, you must know, instead of -being delivered of a son, was delivered of twins." - -Fouquet looked up suddenly as he replied: - -"And the second is dead?" - -"You will see. These twins seemed likely to be regarded as the pride of -their mother, and the hope of France; but the weak nature of the king, -his superstitious feelings, made him apprehend a series of conflicts -between two children whose rights were equal; so he put out of the -way--he suppressed--one of the twins." - -"Suppressed, do you say?" - -"Have patience. Both the children grew up; the one on the throne, whose -minister you are--the other, who is my friend, in gloom and isolation." - -"Good heavens! What are you saying, Monsieur d'Herblay? And what is this -poor prince doing?" - -"Ask me, rather, what has he done." - -"Yes, yes." - -"He was brought up in the country, and then thrown into a fortress which -goes by the name of the Bastile." - -"Is it possible?" cried the surintendant, clasping his hands. - -"The one was the most fortunate of men: the other the most unhappy and -miserable of all living beings." - -"Does his mother not know this?" - -"Anne of Austria knows it all." - -"And the king?" - -"Knows absolutely nothing." - -"So much the better," said Fouquet. - -This remark seemed to make a great impression on Aramis; he looked at -Fouquet with the most anxious expression of countenance. - -"I beg your pardon; I interrupted you," said Fouquet. - -"I was saying," resumed Aramis, "that this poor prince was the -unhappiest of human beings, when Heaven, whose thoughts are over all His -creatures, undertook to come to his assistance." - -"Oh! in what way? Tell me." - -"You will see. The reigning king--I say the reigning king--you can guess -very well why?" - -"No. Why?" - -"Because _both_ of them, being legitimate princes, ought to have been -kings. Is not that your opinion?" - -"It is, certainly." - -"Unreservedly?" - -"Most unreservedly; twins are one person in two bodies." - -"I am pleased that a legist of your learning and authority should -have pronounced such an opinion. It is agreed, then, that each of them -possessed equal rights, is it not?" - -"Incontestably! but, gracious heavens, what an extraordinary -circumstance!" - -"We are not at the end of it yet.--Patience." - -"Oh! I shall find 'patience' enough." - -"Heaven wished to raise up for that oppressed child an avenger, or -a supporter, or vindicator, if you prefer it. It happened that the -reigning king, the usurper--you are quite of my opinion, I believe, that -it is an act of usurpation quietly to enjoy, and selfishly to assume the -right over, an inheritance to which a man has only half a right?" - -"Yes, usurpation is the word." - -"In that case, I continue. It was Heaven's will that the usurper should -possess, in the person of his first minister, a man of great talent, of -large and generous nature." - -"Well, well," said Fouquet, "I understand you; you have relied upon me -to repair the wrong which has been done to this unhappy brother of Louis -XIV. You have thought well; I will help you. I thank you, D'Herblay, I -thank you." - -"Oh, no, it is not that at all; you have not allowed me to finish," said -Aramis, perfectly unmoved. - -"I will not say another word, then." - -"M. Fouquet, I was observing, the minister of the reigning sovereign, -was suddenly taken into the greatest aversion, and menaced with the -ruin of his fortune, loss of liberty, loss of life even, by intrigue and -personal hatred, to which the king gave too readily an attentive ear. -But Heaven permits (still, however, out of consideration for the unhappy -prince who had been sacrificed) that M. Fouquet should in his turn have -a devoted friend who knew this state secret, and felt that he possessed -strength and courage enough to divulge this secret, after having had the -strength to carry it locked up in his own heart for twenty years. - -"Go no farther," said Fouquet, full of generous feelings. "I understand -you, and can guess everything now. You went to see the king when the -intelligence of my arrest reached you; you implored him, he refused to -listen to you; then you threatened him with that secret, threatened to -reveal it, and Louis XIV., alarmed at the risk of its betrayal, granted -to the terror of your indiscretion what he refused to your generous -intercession. I understand, I understand; you have the king in your -power; I understand." - -"You understand _nothing_--as yet," replied Aramis, "and again you -interrupt me. Then, too, allow me to observe that you pay no attention -to logical reasoning, and seem to forget what you ought most to -remember." - -"What do you mean?" - -"You know upon what I laid the greatest stress at the beginning of our -conversation?" - -"Yes, his majesty's hate, invincible hate for me; yes, but what feeling -of hate could resist the threat of such a revelation?" - -"Such a revelation, do you say? that is the very point where your logic -fails you. What! do you suppose that if I had made such a revelation to -the king, I should have been alive now?" - -"It is not ten minutes ago that you were with the king." - -"That may be. He might not have had the time to get me killed outright, -but he would have had the time to get me gagged and thrown in a dungeon. -Come, come, show a little consistency in your reasoning, _mordieu!_" - -And by the mere use of this word, which was so thoroughly his old -musketeer's expression, forgotten by one who never seemed to forget -anything, Fouquet could not but understand to what a pitch of exaltation -the calm, impenetrable bishop of Vannes had wrought himself. He -shuddered. - -"And then," replied the latter, after having mastered his feelings, -"should I be the man I really am, should I be the true friend you -believe me, if I were to expose you, whom the king already hates so -bitterly, to a feeling more than ever to be dreaded in that young man? -To have robbed him, is nothing; to have addressed the woman he loves, is -not much; but to hold in your keeping both his crown and his honor, why, -he would pluck out your heart with his own hands." - -"You have not allowed him to penetrate your secret, then?" - -"I would sooner, far sooner, have swallowed at one draught all the -poisons that Mithridates drank in twenty years, in order to try and -avoid death, than have betrayed my secret to the king." - -"What have you done, then?" - -"Ah! now we are coming to the point, monseigneur. I think I shall not -fail to excite in you a little interest. You are listening, I hope." - -"How can you ask me if I am listening? Go on." - -Aramis walked softly all round the room, satisfied himself that they -were alone, and that all was silent, and then returned and placed -himself close to the armchair in which Fouquet was seated, awaiting with -the deepest anxiety the revelation he had to make. - -"I forgot to tell you," resumed Aramis, addressing himself to Fouquet, -who listened to him with the most absorbed attention--"I forgot to -mention a most remarkable circumstance respecting these twins, namely, -that God had formed them so startlingly, so miraculously, like each -other, that it would be utterly impossible to distinguish the one from -the other. Their own mother would not be able to distinguish them." - -"Is it possible?" exclaimed Fouquet. - -"The same noble character in their features, the same carriage, the same -stature, the same voice." - -"But their thoughts? degree of intelligence? their knowledge of human -life?" - -"There is inequality there, I admit, monseigneur. Yes; for the prisoner -of the Bastile is, most incontestably, superior in every way to his -brother; and if, from his prison, this unhappy victim were to pass to -the throne, France would not, from the earliest period of its history, -perhaps, have had a master more powerful in genius and nobility of -character." - -Fouquet buried his face in his hands, as if he were overwhelmed by the -weight of this immense secret. Aramis approached him. - -"There is a further inequality," he said, continuing his work of -temptation, "an inequality which concerns yourself, monseigneur, between -the twins, both sons of Louis XIII., namely, the last comer does not -know M. Colbert." - -Fouquet raised his head immediately--his features were pale and -distorted. The bolt had hit its mark--not his heart, but his mind and -comprehension. - -"I understand you," he said to Aramis; "you are proposing a conspiracy -to me?" - -"Something like it." - -"One of those attempts which, as you said at the beginning of this -conversation, alters the fate of empires?" - -"And of superintendents, too; yes, monseigneur." - -"In a word, you propose that I should agree to the substitution of the -son of Louis XIII., who is now a prisoner in the Bastile, for the son of -Louis XIII., who is at this moment asleep in the Chamber of Morpheus?" - -Aramis smiled with the sinister expression of the sinister thought which -was passing through his brain. "Exactly," he said. - -"Have you thought," continued Fouquet, becoming animated with that -strength of talent which in a few seconds originates, and matures the -conception of a plan, and with that largeness of view which foresees all -consequences, and embraces every result at a glance--"have you thought -that we must assemble the nobility, the clergy, and the third estate -of the realm; that we shall have to depose the reigning sovereign, to -disturb by so frightful a scandal the tomb of their dead father, to -sacrifice the life, the honor of a woman, Anne of Austria, the life and -peace of mind and heart of another woman, Maria Theresa; and suppose -that it were all done, if we were to succeed in doing it--" - -"I do not understand you," continued Aramis, coldly. "There is not a -single syllable of sense in all you have just said." - -"What!" said the superintendent, surprised, "a man like you refuse to -view the practical bearing of the case! Do you confine yourself to the -childish delight of a political illusion, and neglect the chances of its -being carried into execution; in other words, the reality itself, is it -possible?" - -"My friend," said Aramis, emphasizing the word with a kind of disdainful -familiarity, "what does Heaven do in order to substitute one king for -another?" - -"Heaven!" exclaimed Fouquet--"Heaven gives directions to its agent, -who seizes upon the doomed victim, hurries him away, and seats the -triumphant rival on the empty throne. But you forget that this agent is -called death. Oh! Monsieur d'Herblay, in Heaven's name, tell me if you -have had the idea--" - -"There is no question of that, monseigneur; you are going beyond the -object in view. Who spoke of Louis XIV.'s death? who spoke of adopting -the example which Heaven sets in following out the strict execution -of its decrees? No, I wish you to understand that Heaven effects its -purposes without confusion or disturbance, without exciting comment -or remark, without difficulty or exertion; and that men, inspired by -Heaven, succeed like Heaven itself, in all their undertakings, in all -they attempt, in all they do." - -"What do you mean?" - -"I mean, my _friend_," returned Aramis, with the same intonation on the -word friend that he had applied to it the first time--"I mean that -if there has been any confusion, scandal, and even effort in the -substitution of the prisoner for the king, I defy you to prove it." - -"What!" cried Fouquet, whiter than the handkerchief with which he wiped -his temples, "what do you say?" - -"Go to the king's apartment," continued Aramis, tranquilly, "and you who -know the mystery, I defy even you to perceive that the prisoner of the -Bastile is lying in his brother's bed." - -"But the king," stammered Fouquet, seized with horror at the -intelligence. - -"What king?" said Aramis, in his gentlest tone; "the one who hates you, -or the one who likes you?" - -"The king--of--_yesterday_." - -"The king of yesterday! be quite easy on that score; he has gone to take -the place in the Bastile which his victim occupied for so many years." - -"Great God! And who took him there?" - -"I." - -"You?" - -"Yes, and in the simplest way. I carried him away last night. While he -was descending into midnight, the other was ascending into day. I do -not think there has been any disturbance whatever. A flash of lightning -without thunder awakens nobody." - -Fouquet uttered a thick, smothered cry, as if he had been struck by some -invisible blow, and clasping his head between his clenched hands, he -murmured: "You did that?" - -"Cleverly enough, too; what do you think of it?" - -"You dethroned the king? imprisoned him, too?" - -"Yes, that has been done." - -"And such an action was committed _here_, at Vaux?" - -"Yes, here, at Vaux, in the Chamber of Morpheus. It would almost seem -that it had been built in anticipation of such an act." - -"And at what time did it occur?" - -"Last night, between twelve and one o'clock." - -Fouquet made a movement as if he were on the point of springing upon -Aramis; he restrained himself. "At Vaux; under my roof!" he said, in a -half-strangled voice. - -"I believe so! for it is still your house, and it is likely to continue -so, since M. Colbert cannot rob you of it now." - -"It was under my roof, then, monsieur, that you committed this crime?" - -"This crime?" said Aramis, stupefied. - -"This abominable crime!" pursued Fouquet, becoming more and more -excited; "this crime more execrable than an assassination! this crime -which dishonors my name forever, and entails upon me the horror of -posterity." - -"You are not in your senses, monsieur," replied Aramis, in an irresolute -tone of voice; "you are speaking too loudly; take care!" - -"I will call out so loudly, that the whole world shall hear me." - -"Monsieur Fouquet, take care!" - -Fouquet turned round towards the prelate, whom he looked at full in the -face. "You have dishonored me," he said, "in committing so foul an -act of treason, so heinous a crime upon my guest, upon one who was -peacefully reposing beneath my roof. Oh! woe, woe is me!" - -"Woe to the man, rather, who beneath your roof meditated the ruin of -your fortune, your life. Do you forget that?" - -"He was my guest, my sovereign." - -Aramis rose, his eyes literally bloodshot, his mouth trembling -convulsively. "Have I a man out of his senses to deal with?" he said. - -"You have an honorable man to deal with." - -"You are mad." - -"A man who will prevent you consummating your crime." - -"You are mad, I say." - -"A man who would sooner, oh! far sooner, die; who would kill you even, -rather than allow you to complete his dishonor." - -And Fouquet snatched up his sword, which D'Artagnan had placed at the -head of his bed, and clenched it resolutely in his hand. Aramis frowned, -and thrust his hand into his breast as if in search of a weapon. This -movement did not escape Fouquet, who, full of nobleness and pride in -his magnanimity, threw his sword to a distance from him, and approached -Aramis so close as to touch his shoulder with his disarmed hand. -"Monsieur," he said, "I would sooner die here on the spot than survive -this terrible disgrace; and if you have any pity left for me, I entreat -you to take my life." - -Aramis remained silent and motionless. - -"You do not reply?" said Fouquet. - -Aramis raised his head gently, and a glimmer of hope might be seen -once more to animate his eyes. "Reflect, monseigneur," he said, "upon -everything we have to expect. As the matter now stands, the king is -still alive, and his imprisonment saves your life." - -"Yes," replied Fouquet, "you may have been acting on my behalf, but I -will not, do not, accept your services. But, first of all, I do not wish -your ruin. You will leave this house." - -Aramis stifled the exclamation which almost escaped his broken heart. - -"I am hospitable towards all who are dwellers beneath my roof," -continued Fouquet, with an air of inexpressible majesty; "you will not -be more fatally lost than he whose ruin you have consummated." - -"You will be so," said Aramis, in a hoarse, prophetic voice, "you will -be so, believe me." - -"I accept the augury, Monsieur d'Herblay; but nothing shall prevent me, -nothing shall stop me. You will leave Vaux--you must leave France; I -give you four hours to place yourself out of the king's reach." - -"Four hours?" said Aramis, scornfully and incredulously. - -"Upon the word of Fouquet, no one shall follow you before the expiration -of that time. You will therefore have four hours' advance of those whom -the king may wish to dispatch after you." - -"Four hours!" repeated Aramis, in a thick, smothered voice. - -"It is more than you will need to get on board a vessel and flee to -Belle-Isle, which I give you as a place of refuge." - -"Ah!" murmured Aramis. - -"Belle-Isle is as much mine for you, as Vaux is mine for the king. -Go, D'Herblay, go! as long as I live, not a hair of your head shall be -injured." - -"Thank you," said Aramis, with a cold irony of manner. - -"Go at once, then, and give me your hand, before we both hasten away; -you to save your life, I to save my honor." - -Aramis withdrew from his breast the hand he had concealed there; it was -stained with his blood. He had dug his nails into his flesh, as if in -punishment for having nursed so many projects, more vain, insensate, and -fleeting than the life of the man himself. Fouquet was horror-stricken, -and then his heart smote him with pity. He threw open his arms as if to -embrace him. - -"I had no arms," murmured Aramis, as wild and terrible in his wrath as -the shade of Dido. And then, without touching Fouquet's hand, he turned -his head aside, and stepped back a pace or two. His last word was an -imprecation, his last gesture a curse, which his blood-stained hand -seemed to invoke, as it sprinkled on Fouquet's face a few drops of blood -which flowed from his breast. And both of them darted out of the room -by the secret staircase which led down to the inner courtyard. Fouquet -ordered his best horses, while Aramis paused at the foot of the -staircase which led to Porthos's apartment. He reflected profoundly -and for some time, while Fouquet's carriage left the courtyard at full -gallop. - -"Shall I go alone?" said Aramis to himself, "or warn the prince? Oh! -fury! Warn the prince, and then--do what? Take him with me? To carry -this accusing witness about with me everywhere? War, too, would -follow--civil war, implacable in its nature! And without any resource -save myself--it is impossible! What could he do without me? Oh! -without me he will be utterly destroyed. Yet who knows--let destiny -be fulfilled--condemned he was, let him remain so then! Good or evil -Spirit--gloomy and scornful Power, whom men call the genius of humanity, -thou art a power more restlessly uncertain, more baselessly useless, -than wild mountain wind! Chance, thou term'st thyself, but thou art -nothing; thou inflamest everything with thy breath, crumblest mountains -at thy approach, and suddenly art thyself destroyed at the presence of -the Cross of dead wood behind which stand another Power invisible like -thyself--whom thou deniest, perhaps, but whose avenging hand is on thee, -and hurls thee in the dust dishonored and unnamed! Lost!--I am lost! -What can be done? Flee to Belle-Isle? Yes, and leave Porthos behind me, -to talk and relate the whole affair to every one! Porthos, too, who will -have to suffer for what he has done. I will not let poor Porthos suffer. -He seems like one of the members of my own frame; and his grief or -misfortune would be mine as well. Porthos shall leave with me, and shall -follow my destiny. It must be so." - -And Aramis, apprehensive of meeting any one to whom his hurried -movements might appear suspicious, ascended the staircase without being -perceived. Porthos, so recently returned from Paris, was already in a -profound sleep; his huge body forgot its fatigue, as his mind forgot -its thoughts. Aramis entered, light as a shadow, and placed his nervous -grasp on the giant's shoulder. "Come, Porthos," he cried, "come." - -Porthos obeyed, rose from his bed, opened his eyes, even before his -intelligence seemed to be aroused. - -"We leave immediately," said Aramis. - -"Ah!" returned Porthos. - -"We shall go mounted, and faster than we have ever gone in our lives." - -"Ah!" repeated Porthos. - -"Dress yourself, my friend." - -And he helped the giant to dress himself, and thrust his gold and -diamonds into his pocket. Whilst he was thus engaged, a slight noise -attracted his attention, and on looking up, he saw D'Artagnan watching -them through the half-opened door. Aramis started. - -"What the devil are you doing there in such an agitated manner?" said -the musketeer. - -"Hush!" said Porthos. - -"We are going off on a mission of great importance," added the bishop. - -"You are very fortunate," said the musketeer. - -"Oh, dear me!" said Porthos, "I feel so wearied; I would far sooner have -been fast asleep. But the service of the king...." - -"Have you seen M. Fouquet?" said Aramis to D'Artagnan. - -"Yes, this very minute, in a carriage." - -"What did he say to you?" - -"'Adieu;' nothing more." - -"Was that all?" - -"What else do you think he could say? Am I worth anything now, since you -have got into such high favor?" - -"Listen," said Aramis, embracing the musketeer; "your good times are -returning again. You will have no occasion to be jealous of any one." - -"Ah! bah!" - -"I predict that something will happen to you to-day which will increase -your importance more than ever." - -"Really?" - -"You know that I know all the news?" - -"Oh, yes!" - -"Come, Porthos, are you ready? Let us go." - -"I am quite ready, Aramis." - -"Let us embrace D'Artagnan first." - -"Most certainly." - -"But the horses?" - -"Oh! there is no want of them here. Will you have mine?" - -"No; Porthos has his own stud. So adieu! adieu!" - -The fugitives mounted their horses beneath the very eyes of the captain -of the musketeers, who held Porthos's stirrup for him, and gazed after -them until they were out of sight. - -"On any other occasion," thought the Gascon, "I should say that those -gentlemen were making their escape; but in these days politics seem -so changed that such an exit is termed going on a mission. I have no -objection; let me attend to my own affairs, that is more than enough for -_me_,"--and he philosophically entered his apartments. - - - -Chapter XXII. Showing How the Countersign Was Respected at the Bastile. - -Fouquet tore along as fast as his horses could drag him. On his way he -trembled with horror at the idea of what had just been revealed to him. - -"What must have been," he thought, "the youth of those extraordinary -men, who, even as age is stealing fast upon them, are still able to -conceive such gigantic plans, and carry them through without a tremor?" - -At one moment he could not resist the idea that all Aramis had just been -recounting to him was nothing more than a dream, and whether the fable -itself was not the snare; so that when Fouquet arrived at the Bastile, -he might possibly find an order of arrest, which would send him to join -the dethroned king. Strongly impressed with this idea, he gave certain -sealed orders on his route, while fresh horses were being harnessed -to his carriage. These orders were addressed to M. d'Artagnan and to -certain others whose fidelity to the king was far above suspicion. - -"In this way," said Fouquet to himself, "prisoner or not, I shall have -performed the duty that I owe my honor. The orders will not reach them -until after my return, if I should return free, and consequently they -will not have been unsealed. I shall take them back again. If I am -delayed; it will be because some misfortune will have befallen me; and -in that case assistance will be sent for me as well as for the king." - -Prepared in this manner, the superintendent arrived at the Bastile; -he had traveled at the rate of five leagues and a half the hour. Every -circumstance of delay which Aramis had escaped in his visit to the -Bastile befell Fouquet. It was useless giving his name, equally useless -his being recognized; he could not succeed in obtaining an entrance. -By dint of entreaties, threats, commands, he succeeded in inducing a -sentinel to speak to one of the subalterns, who went and told the major. -As for the governor they did not even dare disturb him. Fouquet sat in -his carriage, at the outer gate of the fortress, chafing with rage and -impatience, awaiting the return of the officers, who at last re-appeared -with a sufficiently sulky air. - -"Well," said Fouquet, impatiently, "what did the major say?" - -"Well, monsieur," replied the soldier, "the major laughed in my face. He -told me that M. Fouquet was at Vaux, and that even were he at Paris, M. -Fouquet would not get up at so early an hour as the present." - -"_Mordieu!_ you are an absolute set of fools," cried the minister, -darting out of the carriage; and before the subaltern had time to shut -the gate, Fouquet sprang through it, and ran forward in spite of the -soldier, who cried out for assistance. Fouquet gained ground, regardless -of the cries of the man, who, however, having at last come up with -Fouquet, called out to the sentinel of the second gate, "Look out, look -out, sentinel!" The man crossed his pike before the minister; but -the latter, robust and active, and hurried away, too, by his passion, -wrested the pike from the soldier and struck him a violent blow on the -shoulder with it. The subaltern, who approached too closely, received a -share of the blows as well. Both of them uttered loud and furious cries, -at the sound of which the whole of the first body of the advanced guard -poured out of the guardhouse. Among them there was one, however, -who recognized the superintendent, and who called, "Monseigneur, ah! -monseigneur. Stop, stop, you fellows!" And he effectually checked the -soldiers, who were on the point of revenging their companions. Fouquet -desired them to open the gate, but they refused to do so without the -countersign; he desired them to inform the governor of his presence; -but the latter had already heard the disturbance at the gate. He ran -forward, followed by his major, and accompanied by a picket of twenty -men, persuaded that an attack was being made on the Bastile. Baisemeaux -also recognized Fouquet immediately, and dropped the sword he bravely -had been brandishing. - -"Ah! monseigneur," he stammered, "how can I excuse--" - -"Monsieur," said the superintendent, flushed with anger, and heated by -his exertions, "I congratulate you. Your watch and ward are admirably -kept." - -Baisemeaux turned pale, thinking that this remark was made ironically, -and portended a furious burst of anger. But Fouquet had recovered his -breath, and, beckoning the sentinel and the subaltern, who were rubbing -their shoulders, towards him, he said, "There are twenty pistoles for -the sentinel, and fifty for the officer. Pray receive my compliments, -gentlemen. I will not fail to speak to his majesty about you. And now, -M. Baisemeaux, a word with you." - -And he followed the governor to his official residence, accompanied by -a murmur of general satisfaction. Baisemeaux was already trembling with -shame and uneasiness. Aramis's early visit, from that moment, seemed to -possess consequences, which a functionary such as he (Baisemeaux) was, -was perfectly justified in apprehending. It was quite another thing, -however, when Fouquet in a sharp tone of voice, and with an imperious -look, said, "You have seen M. d'Herblay this morning?" - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"And are you not horrified at the crime of which you have made yourself -an accomplice?" - -"Well," thought Baisemeaux, "good so far;" and then he added, aloud, -"But what crime, monseigneur, do you allude to?" - -"That for which you can be quartered alive, monsieur--do not forget -that! But this is not a time to show anger. Conduct me immediately to -the prisoner." - -"To what prisoner?" said Baisemeaux, trembling. - -"You pretend to be ignorant? Very good--it is the best plan for you, -perhaps; for if, in fact, you were to admit your participation in such -a crime, it would be all over with you. I wish, therefore, to seem to -believe in your assumption of ignorance." - -"I entreat you, monseigneur--" - -"That will do. Lead me to the prisoner." - -"To Marchiali?" - -"Who is Marchiali?" - -"The prisoner who was brought back this morning by M. d'Herblay." - -"He is called Marchiali?" said the superintendent, his conviction -somewhat shaken by Baisemeaux's cool manner. - -"Yes, monseigneur; that is the name under which he was inscribed here." - -Fouquet looked steadily at Baisemeaux, as if he would read his very -heart; and perceived, with that clear-sightedness most men possess who -are accustomed to the exercise of power, that the man was speaking with -perfect sincerity. Besides, in observing his face for a few moments, he -could not believe that Aramis would have chosen such a confidant. - -"It is the prisoner," said the superintendent to him, "whom M. d'Herblay -carried away the day before yesterday?" - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"And whom he brought back this morning?" added Fouquet, quickly: for he -understood immediately the mechanism of Aramis's plan. - -"Precisely, monseigneur." - -"And his name is Marchiali, you say?" - -"Yes, Marchiali. If monseigneur has come here to remove him, so much the -better, for I was going to write about him." - -"What has he done, then?" - -"Ever since this morning he has annoyed me extremely. He has had such -terrible fits of passion, as almost to make me believe that he would -bring the Bastile itself down about our ears." - -"I will soon relieve you of his possession," said Fouquet. - -"Ah! so much the better." - -"Conduct me to his prison." - -"Will monseigneur give me the order?" - -"What order?" - -"An order from the king." - -"Wait until I sign you one." - -"That will not be sufficient, monseigneur. I must have an order from the -king." - -Fouquet assumed an irritated expression. "As you are so scrupulous," he -said, "with regard to allowing prisoners to leave, show me the order by -which this one was set at liberty." - -Baisemeaux showed him the order to release Seldon. - -"Very good," said Fouquet; "but Seldon is not Marchiali." - -"But Marchiali is not at liberty, monseigneur; he is here." - -"But you said that M. d'Herblay carried him away and brought him back -again." - -"I did not say so." - -"So surely did you say it, that I almost seem to hear it now." - -"It was a slip of my tongue, then, monseigneur." - -"Take care, M. Baisemeaux, take care." - -"I have nothing to fear, monseigneur; I am acting according to the very -strictest regulation." - -"Do you dare to say so?" - -"I would say so in the presence of one of the apostles. M. d'Herblay -brought me an order to set Seldon at liberty. Seldon is free." - -"I tell you that Marchiali has left the Bastile." - -"You must prove that, monseigneur." - -"Let me see him." - -"You, monseigneur, who govern this kingdom, know very well that no one -can see any of the prisoners without an express order from the king." - -"M. d'Herblay has entered, however." - -"That remains to be proved, monseigneur." - -"M. de Baisemeaux, once more I warn you to pay particular attention to -what you are saying." - -"All the documents are there, monseigneur." - -"M. d'Herblay is overthrown." - -"Overthrown?--M. d'Herblay! Impossible!" - -"You see that he has undoubtedly influenced you." - -"No, monseigneur; what does, in fact, influence me, is the king's -service. I am doing my duty. Give me an order from him, and you shall -enter." - -"Stay, M. le gouverneur, I give you my word that if you allow me to see -the prisoner, I will give you an order from the king at once." - -"Give it to me now, monseigneur." - -"And that, if you refuse me, I will have you and all your officers -arrested on the spot." - -"Before you commit such an act of violence, monseigneur, you will -reflect," said Baisemeaux, who had turned very pale, "that we will only -obey an order signed by the king; and that it will be just as easy for -you to obtain one to see Marchiali as to obtain one to do me so much -injury; me, too, who am perfectly innocent." - -"True. True!" cried Fouquet, furiously; "perfectly true. M. de -Baisemeaux," he added, in a sonorous voice, drawing the unhappy governor -towards him, "do you know why I am so anxious to speak to the prisoner?" - -"No, monseigneur; and allow me to observe that you are terrifying me out -of my senses; I am trembling all over--in fact, I feel as though I were -about to faint." - -"You will stand a better chance of fainting outright, Monsieur -Baisemeaux, when I return here at the head of ten thousand men and -thirty pieces of cannon." - -"Good heavens, monseigneur, you are losing your senses." - -"When I have roused the whole population of Paris against you and your -accursed towers, and have battered open the gates of this place, and -hanged you to the topmost tree of yonder pinnacle!" - -"Monseigneur! monseigneur! for pity's sake!" - -"I give you ten minutes to make up your mind," added Fouquet, in a calm -voice. "I will sit down here, in this armchair, and wait for you; if, -in ten minutes' time, you still persist, I leave this place, and you may -think me as mad as you like. Then--you shall _see!_" - -Baisemeaux stamped his foot on the ground like a man in a state of -despair, but he did not reply a single syllable; whereupon Fouquet -seized a pen and ink, and wrote: - -"Order for M. le Prevot des Marchands to assemble the municipal guard -and to march upon the Bastile on the king's immediate service." - -Baisemeaux shrugged his shoulders. Fouquet wrote: - -"Order for the Duc de Bouillon and M. le Prince de Conde to assume the -command of the Swiss guards, of the king's guards, and to march upon the -Bastile on the king's immediate service." - -Baisemeaux reflected. Fouquet still wrote: - -"Order for every soldier, citizen, or gentleman to seize and apprehend, -wherever he may be found, le Chevalier d'Herblay, Eveque de Vannes, -and his accomplices, who are: first, M. de Baisemeaux, governor of the -Bastile, suspected of the crimes of high treason and rebellion--" - -"Stop, monseigneur!" cried Baisemeaux; "I do not understand a single -jot of the whole matter; but so many misfortunes, even were it madness -itself that had set them at their awful work, might happen here in -a couple of hours, that the king, by whom I must be judged, will see -whether I have been wrong in withdrawing the countersign before this -flood of imminent catastrophes. Come with me to the keep, monseigneur, -you shall see Marchiali." - -Fouquet darted out of the room, followed by Baisemeaux as he wiped the -perspiration from his face. "What a terrible morning!" he said; "what a -disgrace for _me!_" - -"Walk faster," replied Fouquet. - -Baisemeaux made a sign to the jailer to precede them. He was afraid of -his companion, which the latter could not fail to perceive. - -"A truce to this child's play," he said, roughly. "Let the man remain -here; take the keys yourself, and show me the way. Not a single person, -do you understand, must hear what is going to take place here." - -"Ah!" said Baisemeaux, undecided. - -"Again!" cried M. Fouquet. "Ah! say 'no' at once, and I will leave the -Bastile and will myself carry my own dispatches." - -Baisemeaux bowed his head, took the keys, and unaccompanied, except by -the minister, ascended the staircase. The higher they advanced up the -spiral staircase, the more clearly did certain muffled murmurs become -distinct appeals and fearful imprecations. - -"What is that?" asked Fouquet. - -"That is your Marchiali," said the governor; "this is the way these -madmen scream." - -And he accompanied that reply with a glance more pregnant with injurious -allusion, as far as Fouquet was concerned, than politeness. The latter -trembled; he had just recognized in one cry more terrible than any that -had preceded it, the king's voice. He paused on the staircase, snatching -the bunch of keys from Baisemeaux, who thought this new madman was going -to dash out his brains with one of them. "Ah!" he cried, "M. d'Herblay -did not say a word about that." - -"Give me the keys at once!" cried Fouquet, tearing them from his hand. -"Which is the key of the door I am to open?" - -"That one." - -A fearful cry, followed by a violent blow against the door, made the -whole staircase resound with the echo. - -"Leave this place," said Fouquet to Baisemeaux, in a threatening tone. - -"I ask nothing better," murmured the latter, to himself. "There will be -a couple of madmen face to face, and the one will kill the other, I am -sure." - -"Go!" repeated Fouquet. "If you place your foot on this staircase -before I call you, remember that you shall take the place of the meanest -prisoner in the Bastile." - -"This job will kill me, I am sure it will," muttered Baisemeaux, as he -withdrew with tottering steps. - -The prisoner's cries became more and more terrible. When Fouquet -had satisfied himself that Baisemeaux had reached the bottom of the -staircase, he inserted the key in the first lock. It was then that he -heard the hoarse, choking voice of the king, crying out, in a frenzy of -rage, "Help, help! I am the king." The key of the second door was not -the same as the first, and Fouquet was obliged to look for it on the -bunch. The king, however, furious and almost mad with rage and passion, -shouted at the top of his voice, "It was M. Fouquet who brought me here. -Help me against M. Fouquet! I am the king! Help the king against -M. Fouquet!" These cries filled the minister's heart with terrible -emotions. They were followed by a shower of blows leveled against the -door with a part of the broken chair with which the king had armed -himself. Fouquet at last succeeded in finding the key. The king was -almost exhausted; he could hardly articulate distinctly as he shouted, -"Death to Fouquet! death to the traitor Fouquet!" The door flew open. - - - -Chapter XXIII. The King's Gratitude. - -The two men were on the point of darting towards each other when they -suddenly and abruptly stopped, as a mutual recognition took place, and -each uttered a cry of horror. - -"Have you come to assassinate me, monsieur?" said the king, when he -recognized Fouquet. - -"The king in this state!" murmured the minister. - -Nothing could be more terrible indeed than the appearance of the young -prince at the moment Fouquet had surprised him; his clothes were in -tatters; his shirt, open and torn to rags, was stained with sweat -and with the blood which streamed from his lacerated breast and arms. -Haggard, ghastly pale, his hair in disheveled masses, Louis XIV. -presented the most perfect picture of despair, distress, anger and fear -combined that could possibly be united in one figure. Fouquet was so -touched, so affected and disturbed by it, that he ran towards him with -his arms stretched out and his eyes filled with tears. Louis held up the -massive piece of wood of which he had made such a furious use. - -"Sire," said Fouquet, in a voice trembling with emotion, "do you not -recognize the most faithful of your friends?" - -"A friend--you!" repeated Louis, gnashing his teeth in a manner which -betrayed his hate and desire for speedy vengeance. - -"The most respectful of your servants," added Fouquet, throwing himself -on his knees. The king let the rude weapon fall from his grasp. -Fouquet approached him, kissed his knees, and took him in his arms with -inconceivable tenderness. - -"My king, my child," he said, "how you must have suffered!" - -Louis, recalled to himself by the change of situation, looked at -himself, and ashamed of the disordered state of his apparel, ashamed -of his conduct, and ashamed of the air of pity and protection that was -shown towards him, drew back. Fouquet did not understand this movement; -he did not perceive that the king's feeling of pride would never forgive -him for having been a witness of such an exhibition of weakness. - -"Come, sire," he said, "you are free." - -"Free?" repeated the king. "Oh! you set me at liberty, then, after -having dared to lift up your hand against me." - -"You do not believe that!" exclaimed Fouquet, indignantly; "you cannot -believe me to be guilty of such an act." - -And rapidly, warmly even, he related the whole particulars of the -intrigue, the details of which are already known to the reader. While -the recital continued, Louis suffered the most horrible anguish of mind; -and when it was finished, the magnitude of the danger he had run struck -him far more than the importance of the secret relative to his twin -brother. - -"Monsieur," he said, suddenly to Fouquet, "this double birth is a -falsehood; it is impossible--you cannot have been the dupe of it." - -"Sire!" - -"It is impossible, I tell you, that the honor, the virtue of my mother -can be suspected, and my first minister has not yet done justice on the -criminals!" - -"Reflect, sire, before you are hurried away by anger," replied Fouquet. -"The birth of your brother--" - -"I have only one brother--and that is Monsieur. You know it as well as -myself. There is a plot, I tell you, beginning with the governor of the -Bastile." - -"Be careful, sire, for this man has been deceived as every one else has -by the prince's likeness to yourself." - -"Likeness? Absurd!" - -"This Marchiali must be singularly like your majesty, to be able to -deceive every one's eye," Fouquet persisted. - -"Ridiculous!" - -"Do not say so, sire; those who had prepared everything in order to face -and deceive your ministers, your mother, your officers of state, the -members of your family, must be quite confident of the resemblance -between you." - -"But where are these persons, then?" murmured the king. - -"At Vaux." - -"At Vaux! and you suffer them to remain there!" - -"My most instant duty appeared to me to be your majesty's release. I -have accomplished that duty; and now, whatever your majesty may command, -shall be done. I await your orders." - -Louis reflected for a few moments. - -"Muster all the troops in Paris," he said. - -"All the necessary orders are given for that purpose," replied Fouquet. - -"You have given orders!" exclaimed the king. - -"For that purpose, yes, sire; your majesty will be at the head of ten -thousand men in less than an hour." - -The only reply the king made was to take hold of Fouquet's hand with -such an expression of feeling, that it was very easy to perceive how -strongly he had, until that remark, maintained his suspicions of the -minister, notwithstanding the latter's intervention. - -"And with these troops," he said, "we shall go at once and besiege -in your house the rebels who by this time will have established and -intrenched themselves therein." - -"I should be surprised if that were the case," replied Fouquet. - -"Why?" - -"Because their chief--the very soul of the enterprise--having been -unmasked by me, the whole plan seems to me to have miscarried." - -"You have unmasked this false prince also?" - -"No, I have not seen him." - -"Whom have you seen, then?" - -"The leader of the enterprise, not that unhappy young man; the latter is -merely an instrument, destined through his whole life to wretchedness, I -plainly perceive." - -"Most certainly." - -"It is M. l'Abbe d'Herblay, Eveque de Vannes." - -"Your friend?" - -"He was my friend, sire," replied Fouquet, nobly. - -"An unfortunate circumstance for you," said the king, in a less generous -tone of voice. - -"Such friendships, sire, had nothing dishonorable in them so long as I -was ignorant of the crime." - -"You should have foreseen it." - -"If I am guilty, I place myself in your majesty's hands." - -"Ah! Monsieur Fouquet, it was not that I meant," returned the king, -sorry to have shown the bitterness of his thought in such a manner. -"Well! I assure you that, notwithstanding the mask with which the -villain covered his face, I had something like a vague suspicion that he -was the very man. But with this chief of the enterprise there was a -man of prodigious strength, the one who menaced me with a force almost -herculean; what is he?" - -"It must be his friend the Baron du Vallon, formerly one of the -musketeers." - -"The friend of D'Artagnan? the friend of the Comte de la Fere? Ah!" -exclaimed the king, as he paused at the name of the latter, "we must not -forget the connection that existed between the conspirators and M. de -Bragelonne." - -"Sire, sire, do not go too far. M. de la Fere is the most honorable man -in France. Be satisfied with those whom I deliver up to you." - -"With those whom you deliver up to me, you say? Very good, for you will -deliver up those who are guilty to me." - -"What does your majesty understand by that?" inquired Fouquet. - -"I understand," replied the king, "that we shall soon arrive at Vaux -with a large body of troops, that we will lay violent hands upon that -nest of vipers, and that not a soul shall escape." - -"Your majesty will put these men to death!" cried Fouquet. - -"To the very meanest of them." - -"Oh! sire." - -"Let us understand one another, Monsieur Fouquet," said the king, -haughtily. "We no longer live in times when assassination was the only -and the last resource kings held in reservation at extremity. No, Heaven -be praised! I have parliaments who sit and judge in my name, and I have -scaffolds on which supreme authority is carried out." - -Fouquet turned pale. "I will take the liberty of observing to your -majesty, that any proceedings instituted respecting these matters would -bring down the greatest scandal upon the dignity of the throne. The -august name of Anne of Austria must never be allowed to pass the lips of -the people accompanied by a smile." - -"Justice must be done, however, monsieur." - -"Good, sire; but royal blood must not be shed upon a scaffold." - -"The royal blood! you believe that!" cried the king with fury in -his voice, stamping his foot on the ground. "This double birth is an -invention; and in that invention, particularly, do I see M. d'Herblay's -crime. It is the crime I wish to punish rather than the violence, or the -insult." - -"And punish it with death, sire?" - -"With death; yes, monsieur, I have said it." - -"Sire," said the surintendant, with firmness, as he raised his head -proudly, "your majesty will take the life, if you please, of your -brother Philippe of France; that concerns you alone, and you will -doubtless consult the queen-mother upon the subject. Whatever she may -command will be perfectly correct. I do not wish to mix myself up in it, -not even for the honor of your crown, but I have a favor to ask of you, -and I beg to submit it to you." - -"Speak," said the king, in no little degree agitated by his minister's -last words. "What do you require?" - -"The pardon of M. d'Herblay and of M. du Vallon." - -"My assassins?" - -"Two rebels, sire, that is all." - -"Oh! I understand, then, you ask me to forgive your friends." - -"My friends!" said Fouquet, deeply wounded. - -"Your friends, certainly; but the safety of the state requires that an -exemplary punishment should be inflicted on the guilty." - -"I will not permit myself to remind your majesty that I have just -restored you to liberty, and have saved your life." - -"Monsieur!" - -"I will not allow myself to remind your majesty that had M. d'Herblay -wished to carry out his character of an assassin, he could very easily -have assassinated your majesty this morning in the forest of Senart, and -all would have been over." The king started. - -"A pistol-bullet through the head," pursued Fouquet, "and the disfigured -features of Louis XIV., which no one could have recognized, would be M. -d'Herblay's complete and entire justification." - -The king turned pale and giddy at the bare idea of the danger he had -escaped. - -"If M. d'Herblay," continued Fouquet, "had been an assassin, he had no -occasion to inform me of his plan in order to succeed. Freed from the -real king, it would have been impossible in all futurity to guess the -false. And if the usurper had been recognized by Anne of Austria, -he would still have been--her son. The usurper, as far as Monsieur -d'Herblay's conscience was concerned, was still a king of the blood of -Louis XIII. Moreover, the conspirator, in that course, would have had -security, secrecy, impunity. A pistol-bullet would have procured him all -that. For the sake of Heaven, sire, grant me his forgiveness." - -The king, instead of being touched by the picture, so faithfully drawn -in all details, of Aramis's generosity, felt himself most painfully and -cruelly humiliated. His unconquerable pride revolted at the idea that a -man had held suspended at the end of his finger the thread of his royal -life. Every word that fell from Fouquet's lips, and which he thought -most efficacious in procuring his friend's pardon, seemed to pour -another drop of poison into the already ulcerated heart of Louis XIV. -Nothing could bend or soften him. Addressing himself to Fouquet, he -said, "I really don't know, monsieur, why you should solicit the pardon -of these men. What good is there in asking that which can be obtained -without solicitation?" - -"I do not understand you, sire." - -"It is not difficult, either. Where am I now?" - -"In the Bastile, sire." - -"Yes; in a dungeon. I am looked upon as a madman, am I not?" - -"Yes, sire." - -"And no one is known here but Marchiali?" - -"Certainly." - -"Well; change nothing in the position of affairs. Let the poor madman -rot between the slimy walls of the Bastile, and M. d'Herblay and M. -du Vallon will stand in no need of my forgiveness. Their new king will -absolve them." - -"Your majesty does me a great injustice, sire; and you are wrong," -replied Fouquet, dryly; "I am not child enough, nor is M. d'Herblay -silly enough, to have omitted to make all these reflections; and if I -had wished to make a new king, as you say, I had no occasion to have -come here to force open the gates and doors of the Bastile, to free -you from this place. That would show a want of even common sense. Your -majesty's mind is disturbed by anger; otherwise you would be far from -offending, groundlessly, the very one of your servants who has rendered -you the most important service of all." - -Louis perceived that he had gone too far; that the gates of the Bastile -were still closed upon him, whilst, by degrees, the floodgates were -gradually being opened, behind which the generous-hearted Fouquet had -restrained his anger. "I did not say that to humiliate you, Heaven -knows, monsieur," he replied. "Only you are addressing yourself to me in -order to obtain a pardon, and I answer according to my conscience. And -so, judging by my conscience, the criminals we speak of are not worthy -of consideration or forgiveness." - -Fouquet was silent. - -"What I do is as generous," added the king, "as what you have done, for -I am in your power. I will even say it is more generous, inasmuch as you -place before me certain conditions upon which my liberty, my life, may -depend; and to reject which is to make a sacrifice of both." - -"I was wrong, certainly," replied Fouquet. "Yes,--I had the appearance -of extorting a favor; I regret it, and entreat your majesty's -forgiveness." - -"And you are forgiven, my dear Monsieur Fouquet," said the king, with -a smile, which restored the serene expression of his features, which so -many circumstances had altered since the preceding evening. - -"I have my own forgiveness," replied the minister, with some degree of -persistence; "but M. d'Herblay, and M. du Vallon?" - -"They will never obtain theirs, as long as I live," replied the -inflexible king. "Do me the kindness not to speak of it again." - -"Your majesty shall be obeyed." - -"And you will bear me no ill-will for it?" - -"Oh! no, sire; for I anticipated the event." - -"You had 'anticipated' that I should refuse to forgive those gentlemen?" - -"Certainly; and all my measures were taken in consequence." - -"What do you mean to say?" cried the king, surprised. - -"M. d'Herblay came, as may be said, to deliver himself into my hands. M. -d'Herblay left to me the happiness of saving my king and my country. I -could not condemn M. d'Herblay to death; nor could I, on the other hand, -expose him to your majesty's justifiable wrath; it would have been just -the same as if I had killed him myself." - -"Well! and what have you done?" - -"Sire, I gave M. d'Herblay the best horses in my stables and four hours' -start over all those your majesty might, probably, dispatch after him." - -"Be it so!" murmured the king. "But still, the world is wide enough -and large enough for those whom I may send to overtake your horses, -notwithstanding the 'four hours' start' which you have given to M. -d'Herblay." - -"In giving him these four hours, sire, I knew I was giving him his life, -and he will save his life." - -"In what way?" - -"After having galloped as hard as possible, with the four hours' start, -before your musketeers, he will reach my chateau of Belle-Isle, where I -have given him a safe asylum." - -"That may be! But you forget that you have made me a present of -Belle-Isle." - -"But not for you to arrest my friends." - -"You take it back again, then?" - -"As far as that goes--yes, sire." - -"My musketeers shall capture it, and the affair will be at an end." - -"Neither your musketeers, nor your whole army could take Belle-Isle," -said Fouquet, coldly. "Belle-Isle is impregnable." - -The king became perfectly livid; a lightning flash seemed to dart from -his eyes. Fouquet felt that he was lost, but he as not one to shrink -when the voice of honor spoke loudly within him. He bore the king's -wrathful gaze; the latter swallowed his rage, and after a few moments' -silence, said, "Are we going to return to Vaux?" - -"I am at your majesty's orders," replied Fouquet, with a low bow; "but -I think that your majesty can hardly dispense with changing your clothes -previous to appearing before your court." - -"We shall pass by the Louvre," said the king. "Come." And they left the -prison, passing before Baisemeaux, who looked completely bewildered as -he saw Marchiali once more leave; and, in his helplessness, tore out -the major portion of his few remaining hairs. It was perfectly true, -however, that Fouquet wrote and gave him an authority for the prisoner's -release, and that the king wrote beneath it, "Seen and approved, Louis"; -a piece of madness that Baisemeaux, incapable of putting two ideas -together, acknowledged by giving himself a terrible blow on the forehead -with his own fist. - - - -Chapter XXIV. The False King. - -In the meantime, usurped royalty was playing out its part bravely at -Vaux. Philippe gave orders that for his _petit lever_ the _grandes -entrees_, already prepared to appear before the king, should be -introduced. He determined to give this order notwithstanding the absence -of M. d'Herblay, who did not return--our readers know the reason. But -the prince, not believing that absence could be prolonged, wished, -as all rash spirits do, to try his valor and his fortune far from all -protection and instruction. Another reason urged him to this--Anne of -Austria was about to appear; the guilty mother was about to stand in the -presence of her sacrificed son. Philippe was not willing, if he had a -weakness, to render the man a witness of it before whom he was bound -thenceforth to display so much strength. Philippe opened his folding -doors, and several persons entered silently. Philippe did not stir -whilst his _valets de chambre_ dressed him. He had watched, the evening -before, all the habits of his brother, and played the king in such a -manner as to awaken no suspicion. He was thus completely dressed in -hunting costume when he received his visitors. His own memory and -the notes of Aramis announced everybody to him, first of all Anne of -Austria, to whom Monsieur gave his hand, and then Madame with M. de -Saint-Aignan. He smiled at seeing these countenances, but trembled on -recognizing his mother. That still so noble and imposing figure, ravaged -by pain, pleaded in his heart the cause of the famous queen who had -immolated a child to reasons of state. He found his mother still -handsome. He knew that Louis XIV. loved her, and he promised himself -to love her likewise, and not to prove a scourge to her old age. He -contemplated his brother with a tenderness easily to be understood. -The latter had usurped nothing, had cast no shades athwart his life. A -separate tree, he allowed the stem to rise without heeding its elevation -or majestic life. Philippe promised himself to be a kind brother to this -prince, who required nothing but gold to minister to his pleasures. He -bowed with a friendly air to Saint-Aignan, who was all reverences and -smiles, and trembling held out his hand to Henrietta, his sister-in-law, -whose beauty struck him; but he saw in the eyes of that princess an -expression of coldness which would facilitate, as he thought, their -future relations. - -"How much more easy," thought he, "it will be to be the brother of that -woman than her gallant, if she evinces towards me a coldness that my -brother could not have for her, but which is imposed upon me as a duty." -The only visit he dreaded at this moment was that of the queen; his -heart--his mind--had just been shaken by so violent a trial, that, -in spite of their firm temperament, they would not, perhaps, support -another shock. Happily the queen did not come. Then commenced, on the -part of Anne of Austria, a political dissertation upon the welcome M. -Fouquet had given to the house of France. She mixed up hostilities with -compliments addressed to the king, and questions as to his health, with -little maternal flatteries and diplomatic artifices. - -"Well, my son," said she, "are you convinced with regard to M. Fouquet?" - -"Saint-Aignan," said Philippe, "have the goodness to go and inquire -after the queen." - -At these words, the first Philippe had pronounced aloud, the slight -difference that there was between his voice and that of the king was -sensible to maternal ears, and Anne of Austria looked earnestly at her -son. Saint-Aignan left the room, and Philippe continued: - -"Madame, I do not like to hear M. Fouquet ill-spoken of, you know I do -not--and you have even spoken well of him yourself." - -"That is true; therefore I only question you on the state of your -sentiments with respect to him." - -"Sire," said Henrietta, "I, on my part, have always liked M. Fouquet. He -is a man of good taste,--a superior man." - -"A superintendent who is never sordid or niggardly," added Monsieur; -"and who pays in gold all the orders I have on him." - -"Every one in this thinks too much of himself, and nobody for the -state," said the old queen. "M. Fouquet, it is a fact, M. Fouquet is -ruining the state." - -"Well, mother!" replied Philippe, in rather a lower key, "do you -likewise constitute yourself the buckler of M. Colbert?" - -"How is that?" replied the old queen, rather surprised. - -"Why, in truth," replied Philippe, "you speak that just as your old -friend Madame de Chevreuse would speak." - -"Why do you mention Madame de Chevreuse to me?" said she, "and what sort -of humor are you in to-day towards me?" - -Philippe continued: "Is not Madame de Chevreuse always in league against -somebody? Has not Madame de Chevreuse been to pay you a visit, mother?" - -"Monsieur, you speak to me now in such a manner that I can almost fancy -I am listening to your father." - -"My father did not like Madame de Chevreuse, and had good reason for not -liking her," said the prince. "For my part, I like her no better than -_he_ did, and if she thinks proper to come here as she formerly did, to -sow divisions and hatreds under the pretext of begging money--why--" - -"Well! what?" said Anne of Austria, proudly, herself provoking the -storm. - -"Well!" replied the young man firmly, "I will drive Madame de Chevreuse -out of my kingdom--and with her all who meddle with its secrets and -mysteries." - -He had not calculated the effect of this terrible speech, or perhaps -he wished to judge the effect of it, like those who, suffering from a -chronic pain, and seeking to break the monotony of that suffering, -touch their wound to procure a sharper pang. Anne of Austria was nearly -fainting; her eyes, open but meaningless, ceased to see for several -seconds; she stretched out her arms towards her other son, who supported -and embraced her without fear of irritating the king. - -"Sire," murmured she, "you are treating your mother very cruelly." - -"In what respect, madame?" replied he. "I am only speaking of Madame de -Chevreuse; does my mother prefer Madame de Chevreuse to the security -of the state and of my person? Well, then, madame, I tell you Madame de -Chevreuse has returned to France to borrow money, and that she addressed -herself to M. Fouquet to sell him a certain secret." - -"A certain secret!" cried Anne of Austria. - -"Concerning pretended robberies that monsieur le surintendant had -committed, which is false," added Philippe. "M. Fouquet rejected her -offers with indignation, preferring the esteem of the king to complicity -with such intriguers. Then Madame de Chevreuse sold the secret to M. -Colbert, and as she is insatiable, and was not satisfied with having -extorted a hundred thousand crowns from a servant of the state, she has -taken a still bolder flight, in search of surer sources of supply. Is -that true, madame?" - -"You know all, sire," said the queen, more uneasy than irritated. - -"Now," continued Philippe, "I have good reason to dislike this fury, who -comes to my court to plan the shame of some and the ruin of others. If -Heaven has suffered certain crimes to be committed, and has concealed -them in the shadow of its clemency, I will not permit Madame de -Chevreuse to counteract the just designs of fate." - -The latter part of this speech had so agitated the queen-mother, that -her son had pity on her. He took her hand and kissed it tenderly; -she did not feel that in that kiss, given in spite of repulsion -and bitterness of the heart, there was a pardon for eight years of -suffering. Philippe allowed the silence of a moment to swallow the -emotions that had just developed themselves. Then, with a cheerful -smile: - -"We will not go to-day," said he, "I have a plan." And, turning towards -the door, he hoped to see Aramis, whose absence began to alarm him. The -queen-mother wished to leave the room. - -"Remain where you are, mother," said he, "I wish you to make your peace -with M. Fouquet." - -"I bear M. Fouquet no ill-will; I only dreaded his prodigalities." - -"We will put that to rights, and will take nothing of the superintendent -but his good qualities." - -"What is your majesty looking for?" said Henrietta, seeing the king's -eyes constantly turned towards the door, and wishing to let fly a little -poisoned arrow at his heart, supposing he was so anxiously expecting -either La Valliere or a letter from her. - -"My sister," said the young man, who had divined her thought, thanks to -that marvelous perspicuity of which fortune was from that time about to -allow him the exercise, "my sister, I am expecting a most distinguished -man, a most able counselor, whom I wish to present to you all, -recommending him to your good graces. Ah! come in, then, D'Artagnan." - -"What does your majesty wish?" said D'Artagnan, appearing. - -"Where is monsieur the bishop of Vannes, your friend?" - -"Why, sire--" - -"I am waiting for him, and he does not come. Let him be sought for." - -D'Artagnan remained for an instant stupefied; but soon, reflecting that -Aramis had left Vaux privately on a mission from the king, he concluded -that the king wished to preserve the secret. "Sire," replied he, "does -your majesty absolutely require M. d'Herblay to be brought to you?" - -"Absolutely is not the word," said Philippe; "I do not want him so -particularly as that; but if he can be found--" - -"I thought so," said D'Artagnan to himself. - -"Is this M. d'Herblay the bishop of Vannes?" - -"Yes, madame." - -"A friend of M. Fouquet?" - -"Yes, madame; an old musketeer." - -Anne of Austria blushed. - -"One of the four braves who formerly performed such prodigies." - -The old queen repented of having wished to bite; she broke off the -conversation, in order to preserve the rest of her teeth. "Whatever may -be your choice, sire," said she, "I have no doubt it will be excellent." - -All bowed in support of that sentiment. - -"You will find in him," continued Philippe, "the depth and penetration -of M. de Richelieu, without the avarice of M. de Mazarin!" - -"A prime minister, sire?" said Monsieur, in a fright. - -"I will tell you all about that, brother; but it is strange that M. -d'Herblay is not here!" - -He called out: - -"Let M. Fouquet be informed that I wish to speak to him--oh! before you, -before you; do not retire!" - -M. de Saint-Aignan returned, bringing satisfactory news of the queen, -who only kept her bed from precaution, and to have strength to carry out -the king's wishes. Whilst everybody was seeking M. Fouquet and Aramis, -the new king quietly continued his experiments, and everybody, family, -officers, servants, had not the least suspicion of his identity, his -air, his voice, and manners were so like the king's. On his side, -Philippe, applying to all countenances the accurate descriptions and -key-notes of character supplied by his accomplice Aramis, conducted -himself so as not to give birth to a doubt in the minds of those who -surrounded him. Nothing from that time could disturb the usurper. With -what strange facility had Providence just reversed the loftiest fortune -of the world to substitute the lowliest in its stead! Philippe admired -the goodness of God with regard to himself, and seconded it with all the -resources of his admirable nature. But he felt, at times, something like -a specter gliding between him and the rays of his new glory. Aramis -did not appear. The conversation had languished in the royal family; -Philippe, preoccupied, forgot to dismiss his brother and Madame -Henrietta. The latter were astonished, and began, by degrees, to -lose all patience. Anne of Austria stooped towards her son's ear and -addressed some words to him in Spanish. Philippe was completely ignorant -of that language, and grew pale at this unexpected obstacle. But, as -if the spirit of the imperturbable Aramis had covered him with his -infallibility, instead of appearing disconcerted, Philippe rose. "Well! -what?" said Anne of Austria. - -"What is all that noise?" said Philippe, turning round towards the door -of the second staircase. - -And a voice was heard saying, "This way, this way! A few steps more, -sire!" - -"The voice of M. Fouquet," said D'Artagnan, who was standing close to -the queen-mother. - -"Then M. d'Herblay cannot be far off," added Philippe. - -But he then saw what he little thought to have beheld so near to him. -All eyes were turned towards the door at which M. Fouquet was expected -to enter; but it was not M. Fouquet who entered. A terrible cry -resounded from all corners of the chamber, a painful cry uttered by -the king and all present. It is given to but few men, even those -whose destiny contains the strangest elements, and accidents the -most wonderful, to contemplate such a spectacle similar to that which -presented itself in the royal chamber at that moment. The half-closed -shutters only admitted the entrance of an uncertain light passing -through thick violet velvet curtains lined with silk. In this soft -shade, the eyes were by degrees dilated, and every one present saw -others rather with imagination than with actual sight. There could not, -however, escape, in these circumstances, one of the surrounding details; -and the new object which presented itself appeared as luminous as though -it shone out in full sunlight. So it happened with Louis XIV., when he -showed himself, pale and frowning, in the doorway of the secret stairs. -The face of Fouquet appeared behind him, stamped with sorrow and -determination. The queen-mother, who perceived Louis XIV., and who held -the hand of Philippe, uttered a cry of which we have spoken, as if she -beheld a phantom. Monsieur was bewildered, and kept turning his head in -astonishment from one to the other. Madame made a step forward, thinking -she was looking at the form of her brother-in-law reflected in a mirror. -And, in fact, the illusion was possible. The two princes, both pale as -death--for we renounce the hope of being able to describe the fearful -state of Philippe--trembling, clenching their hands convulsively, -measured each other with looks, and darted their glances, sharp as -poniards, at each other. Silent, panting, bending forward, they appeared -as if about to spring upon an enemy. The unheard-of resemblance of -countenance, gesture, shape, height, even to the resemblance of costume, -produced by chance--for Louis XIV. had been to the Louvre and put on a -violet-colored dress--the perfect analogy of the two princes, completed -the consternation of Anne of Austria. And yet she did not at once guess -the truth. There are misfortunes in life so truly dreadful that no one -will at first accept them; people rather believe in the supernatural and -the impossible. Louis had not reckoned on these obstacles. He expected -that he had only to appear to be acknowledged. A living sun, he could -not endure the suspicion of equality with any one. He did not admit that -every torch should not become darkness at the instant he shone out with -his conquering ray. At the aspect of Philippe, then, he was perhaps more -terrified than any one round him, and his silence, his immobility -were, this time, a concentration and a calm which precede the violent -explosions of concentrated passion. - -But Fouquet! who shall paint his emotion and stupor in presence of this -living portrait of his master! Fouquet thought Aramis was right, that -this newly-arrived was a king as pure in his race as the other, and -that, for having repudiated all participation in this _coup d'etat_, -so skillfully got up by the General of the Jesuits, he must be a mad -enthusiast, unworthy of ever dipping his hands in political grand -strategy work. And then it was the blood of Louis XIII. which Fouquet -was sacrificing to the blood of Louis XIII.; it was to a selfish -ambition he was sacrificing a noble ambition; to the right of keeping -he sacrificed the right of having. The whole extent of his fault was -revealed to him at simple sight of the pretender. All that passed in the -mind of Fouquet was lost upon the persons present. He had five minutes -to focus meditation on this point of conscience; five minutes, that is -to say five ages, during which the two kings and their family scarcely -found energy to breathe after so terrible a shock. D'Artagnan, leaning -against the wall, in front of Fouquet, with his hand to his brow, asked -himself the cause of such a wonderful prodigy. He could not have said at -once why he doubted, but he knew assuredly that he had reason to doubt, -and that in this meeting of the two Louis XIV.s lay all the doubt and -difficulty that during late days had rendered the conduct of Aramis so -suspicious to the musketeer. These ideas were, however, enveloped in a -haze, a veil of mystery. The actors in this assembly seemed to swim in -the vapors of a confused waking. Suddenly Louis XIV., more impatient and -more accustomed to command, ran to one of the shutters, which he opened, -tearing the curtains in his eagerness. A flood of living light entered -the chamber, and made Philippe draw back to the alcove. Louis seized -upon this movement with eagerness, and addressing himself to the queen: - -"My mother," said he, "do you not acknowledge your son, since every one -here has forgotten his king!" Anne of Austria started, and raised her -arms towards Heaven, without being able to articulate a single word. - -"My mother," said Philippe, with a calm voice, "do you not acknowledge -your son?" And this time, in his turn, Louis drew back. - -As to Anne of Austria, struck suddenly in head and heart with fell -remorse, she lost her equilibrium. No one aiding her, for all were -petrified, she sank back in her fauteuil, breathing a weak, trembling -sigh. Louis could not endure the spectacle and the affront. He bounded -towards D'Artagnan, over whose brain a vertigo was stealing and who -staggered as he caught at the door for support. - -"_A moi! mousquetaire!_" said he. "Look us in the face and say which is -the paler, he or I!" - -This cry roused D'Artagnan, and stirred in his heart the fibers of -obedience. He shook his head, and, without more hesitation, he walked -straight up to Philippe, on whose shoulder he laid his hand, saying, -"Monsieur, you are my prisoner!" - -Philippe did not raise his eyes towards Heaven, nor stir from the spot, -where he seemed nailed to the floor, his eye intently fixed upon the -king his brother. He reproached him with a sublime silence for all -misfortunes past, all tortures to come. Against this language of the -soul the king felt he had no power; he cast down his eyes, dragging away -precipitately his brother and sister, forgetting his mother, sitting -motionless within three paces of the son whom she left a second time to -be condemned to death. Philippe approached Anne of Austria, and said to -her, in a soft and nobly agitated voice: - -"If I were not your son, I should curse you, my mother, for having -rendered me so unhappy." - -D'Artagnan felt a shudder pass through the marrow of his bones. He -bowed respectfully to the young prince, and said as he bent, "Excuse me, -monseigneur, I am but a soldier, and my oaths are his who has just left -the chamber." - -"Thank you, M. d'Artagnan.... What has become of M. d'Herblay?" - -"M. d'Herblay is in safety, monseigneur," said a voice behind them; "and -no one, while I live and am free, shall cause a hair to fall from his -head." - -"Monsieur Fouquet!" said the prince, smiling sadly. - -"Pardon me, monseigneur," said Fouquet, kneeling, "but he who is just -gone out from hence was my guest." - -"Here are," murmured Philippe, with a sigh, "brave friends and good -hearts. They make me regret the world. On, M. d'Artagnan, I follow you." - -At the moment the captain of the musketeers was about to leave the room -with his prisoner, Colbert appeared, and, after remitting an order from -the king to D'Artagnan, retired. D'Artagnan read the paper, and then -crushed it in his hand with rage. - -"What is it?" asked the prince. - -"Read, monseigneur," replied the musketeer. - -Philippe read the following words, hastily traced by the hand of the -king: - -"M. d'Artagnan will conduct the prisoner to the Ile Sainte-Marguerite. -He will cover his face with an iron vizor, which the prisoner shall -never raise except at peril of his life." - -"That is just," said Philippe, with resignation; "I am ready." - -"Aramis was right," said Fouquet, in a low voice, to the musketeer, -"this one is every whit as much a king as the other." - -"More so!" replied D'Artagnan. "He wanted only you and me." - - - -Chapter XXV. In Which Porthos Thinks He Is Pursuing a Duchy. - -Aramis and Porthos, having profited by the time granted them by Fouquet, -did honor to the French cavalry by their speed. Porthos did not clearly -understand on what kind of mission he was forced to display so much -velocity; but as he saw Aramis spurring on furiously, he, Porthos, -spurred on in the same way. They had soon, in this manner, placed twelve -leagues between them and Vaux; they were then obliged to change horses, -and organize a sort of post arrangement. It was during a relay that -Porthos ventured to interrogate Aramis discreetly. - -"Hush!" replied the latter, "know only that our fortune depends on our -speed." - -As if Porthos had still been the musketeer, without a sou or a _maille_ -of 1626, he pushed forward. That magic word "fortune" always means -something in the human ear. It means _enough_ for those who have -nothing; it means _too much_ for those who have enough. - -"I shall be made a duke!" said Porthos, aloud. He was speaking to -himself. - -"That is possible," replied Aramis, smiling after his own fashion, as -Porthos's horse passed him. Aramis felt, notwithstanding, as though his -brain were on fire; the activity of the body had not yet succeeded -in subduing that of the mind. All there is of raging passion, mental -toothache or mortal threat, raged, gnawed and grumbled in the thoughts -of the unhappy prelate. His countenance exhibited visible traces of this -rude combat. Free on the highway to abandon himself to every impression -of the moment, Aramis did not fail to swear at every start of his horse, -at every inequality in the road. Pale, at times inundated with boiling -sweats, then again dry and icy, he flogged his horses till the blood -streamed from their sides. Porthos, whose dominant fault was not -sensibility, groaned at this. Thus traveled they on for eight long -hours, and then arrived at Orleans. It was four o'clock in the -afternoon. Aramis, on observing this, judged that nothing showed pursuit -to be a possibility. It would be without example that a troop capable -of taking him and Porthos should be furnished with relays sufficient to -perform forty leagues in eight hours. Thus, admitting pursuit, which was -not at all manifest, the fugitives were five hours in advance of their -pursuers. - -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. But at the moment he -was about to fly into a passion, so as to procure either a horse or an -explanation, he was struck with the recollection that the Comte de la -Fere lived in the neighborhood. - -"I am not traveling," said he; "I do not want horses for a whole -stage. Find me two horses to go and pay a visit to a nobleman of my -acquaintance who resides near this place." - -"What nobleman?" asked the postmaster. - -"M. le Comte de la Fere." - -"Oh!" replied the postmaster, uncovering with respect, "a very worthy -nobleman. But, whatever may be my desire to make myself agreeable to -him, I cannot furnish you with horses, for all mine are engaged by M. le -Duc de Beaufort." - -"Indeed!" said Aramis, much disappointed. - -"Only," continued the postmaster, "if you will put up with a little -carriage I have, I will harness an old blind horse who has still his -legs left, and peradventure will draw you to the house of M. le Comte de -la Fere." - -"It is worth a louis," said Aramis. - -"No, monsieur, such a ride is worth no more than a crown; that is what -M. Grimaud, the comte's intendant, always pays me when he makes use of -that carriage; and I should not wish the Comte de la Fere to have to -reproach me with having imposed on one of his friends." - -"As you please," said Aramis, "particularly as regards disobliging the -Comte de la Fere; only I think I have a right to give you a louis for -your idea." - -"Oh! doubtless," replied the postmaster with delight. And he himself -harnessed the ancient horse to the creaking carriage. In the meantime -Porthos was curious to behold. He imagined he had discovered a clew to -the secret, and he felt pleased, because a visit to Athos, in the first -place, promised him much satisfaction, and, in the next, gave him the -hope of finding at the same time a good bed and good supper. The master, -having got the carriage ready, ordered one of his men to drive the -strangers to La Fere. Porthos took his seat by the side of Aramis, -whispering in his ear, "I understand." - -"Aha!" said Aramis, "and what do you understand, my friend?" - -"We are going, on the part of the king, to make some great proposal to -Athos." - -"Pooh!" said Aramis. - -"You need tell me nothing about it," added the worthy Porthos, -endeavoring to reseat himself so as to avoid the jolting, "you need tell -me nothing, I shall guess." - -"Well! do, my friend; guess away." - -They arrived at Athos's dwelling about nine o'clock in the evening, -favored by a splendid moon. This cheerful light rejoiced Porthos beyond -expression; but Aramis appeared annoyed by it in an equal degree. He -could not help showing something of this to Porthos, who replied--"Ay! -ay! I guess how it is! the mission is a secret one." - -These were his last words in the carriage. The driver interrupted him by -saying, "Gentlemen, we have arrived." - -Porthos and his companion alighted before the gate of the little -chateau, where we are about to meet again our old acquaintances Athos -and Bragelonne, the latter of whom had disappeared since the discovery -of the infidelity of La Valliere. If there be one saying truer than -another, it is this: great griefs contain within themselves the germ -of consolation. This painful wound, inflicted upon Raoul, had drawn -him nearer to his father again; and God knows how sweet were the -consolations which flowed from the eloquent mouth and generous heart of -Athos. The wound was not cicatrized, but Athos, by dint of conversing -with his son and mixing a little more of his life with that of the young -man, had brought him to understand that this pang of a first infidelity -is necessary to every human existence; and that no one has loved without -encountering it. Raoul listened, again and again, but never understood. -Nothing replaces in the deeply afflicted heart the remembrance and -thought of the beloved object. Raoul then replied to the reasoning of -his father: - -"Monsieur, all that you tell me is true; I believe that no one has -suffered in the affections of the heart so much as you have; but you -are a man too great by reason of intelligence, and too severely tried by -adverse fortune not to allow for the weakness of the soldier who suffers -for the first time. I am paying a tribute that will not be paid a second -time; permit me to plunge myself so deeply in my grief that I may forget -myself in it, that I may drown even my reason in it." - -"Raoul! Raoul!" - -"Listen, monsieur. Never shall I accustom myself to the idea that -Louise, the chastest and most innocent of women, has been able to so -basely deceive a man so honest and so true a lover as myself. Never can -I persuade myself that I see that sweet and noble mask change into -a hypocritical lascivious face. Louise lost! Louise infamous! -Ah! monseigneur, that idea is much more cruel to me than Raoul -abandoned--Raoul unhappy!" - -Athos then employed the heroic remedy. He defended Louise against Raoul, -and justified her perfidy by her love. "A woman who would have yielded -to a king because he is a king," said he, "would deserve to be styled -infamous; but Louise loves Louis. Young, both, they have forgotten, he -his rank, she her vows. Love absolves everything, Raoul. The two young -people love each other with sincerity." - -And when he had dealt this severe poniard-thrust, Athos, with a sigh, -saw Raoul bound away beneath the rankling wound, and fly to the thickest -recesses of the wood, or the solitude of his chamber, whence, an hour -after, he would return, pale, trembling, but subdued. Then, coming up -to Athos with a smile, he would kiss his hand, like the dog who, having -been beaten, caresses a respected master, to redeem his fault. Raoul -redeemed nothing but his weakness, and only confessed his grief. Thus -passed away the days that followed that scene in which Athos had -so violently shaken the indomitable pride of the king. Never, when -conversing with his son, did he make any allusion to that scene; never -did he give him the details of that vigorous lecture, which might, -perhaps, have consoled the young man, by showing him his rival humbled. -Athos did not wish that the offended lover should forget the respect due -to his king. And when Bragelonne, ardent, angry, and melancholy, spoke -with contempt of royal words, of the equivocal faith which certain -madmen draw from promises that emanate from thrones, when, passing over -two centuries, with that rapidity of a bird that traverses a narrow -strait to go from one continent to the other, Raoul ventured to predict -the time in which kings would be esteemed as less than other men, Athos -said to him, in his serene, persuasive voice, "You are right, Raoul; -all that you say will happen; kings will lose their privileges, as -stars which have survived their aeons lose their splendor. But when that -moment comes, Raoul, we shall be dead. And remember well what I say -to you. In this world, all, men, women, and kings, must live for the -present. We can only live for the future for God." - -This was the manner in which Athos and Raoul were, as usual, conversing, -and walking backwards and forwards in the long alley of limes in the -park, when the bell which served to announce to the comte either the -hour of dinner or the arrival of a visitor, was rung; and, without -attaching any importance to it, he turned towards the house with his -son; and at the end of the alley they found themselves in the presence -of Aramis and Porthos. - - - -Chapter XXVI. The Last Adieux. - -Raoul uttered a cry, and affectionately embraced Porthos. Aramis and -Athos embraced like old men; and this embrace itself being a question -for Aramis, he immediately said, "My friend, we have not long to remain -with you." - -"Ah!" said the comte. - -"Only time to tell you of my good fortune," interrupted Porthos. - -"Ah!" said Raoul. - -Athos looked silently at Aramis, whose somber air had already appeared -to him very little in harmony with the good news Porthos hinted. - -"What is the good fortune that has happened to you? Let us hear it," -said Raoul, with a smile. - -"The king has made me a duke," said the worthy Porthos, with an air of -mystery, in the ear of the young man, "a duke by _brevet_." - -But the _asides_ of Porthos were always loud enough to be heard by -everybody. His murmurs were in the diapason of ordinary roaring. Athos -heard him, and uttered an exclamation which made Aramis start. The -latter took Athos by the arm, and, after having asked Porthos's -permission to say a word to his friend in private, "My dear Athos," he -began, "you see me overwhelmed with grief and trouble." - -"With grief and trouble, my dear friend?" cried the comte; "oh, what?" - -"In two words. I have conspired against the king; that conspiracy has -failed, and, at this moment, I am doubtless pursued." - -"You are pursued!--a conspiracy! Eh! my friend, what do you tell me?" - -"The saddest truth. I am entirely ruined." - -"Well, but Porthos--this title of duke--what does all that mean?" - -"That is the subject of my severest pain; that is the deepest of my -wounds. I have, believing in infallible success, drawn Porthos into my -conspiracy. He threw himself into it, as you know he would do, with all -his strength, without knowing what he was about; and now he is as much -compromised as myself--as completely ruined as I am." - -"Good God!" And Athos turned towards Porthos, who was smiling -complacently. - -"I must make you acquainted with the whole. Listen to me," continued -Aramis; and he related the history as we know it. Athos, during the -recital, several times felt the sweat break from his forehead. "It was a -great idea," said he, "but a great error." - -"For which I am punished, Athos." - -"Therefore, I will not tell you my entire thought." - -"Tell it, nevertheless." - -"It is a crime." - -"A capital crime; I know it is. _Lese majeste_." - -"Porthos! poor Porthos!" - -"What would you advise me to do? Success, as I have told you, was -certain." - -"M. Fouquet is an honest man." - -"And I a fool for having so ill-judged him," said Aramis. "Oh, the -wisdom of man! Oh, millstone that grinds the world! and which is one day -stopped by a grain of sand which has fallen, no one knows how, between -its wheels." - -"Say by a diamond, Aramis. But the thing is done. How do you think of -acting?" - -"I am taking away Porthos. The king will never believe that that worthy -man has acted innocently. He never can believe that Porthos has thought -he was serving the king, whilst acting as he has done. His head would -pay my fault. It shall not, must not, be so." - -"You are taking him away, whither?" - -"To Belle-Isle, at first. That is an impregnable place of refuge. Then, -I have the sea, and a vessel to pass over into England, where I have -many relations." - -"You? in England?" - -"Yes, or else in Spain, where I have still more." - -"But, our excellent Porthos! you ruin him, for the king will confiscate -all his property." - -"All is provided for. I know how, when once in Spain, to reconcile -myself with Louis XIV., and restore Porthos to favor." - -"You have credit, seemingly, Aramis!" said Athos, with a discreet air. - -"Much; and at the service of my friends." - -These words were accompanied by a warm pressure of the hand. - -"Thank you," replied the comte. - -"And while we are on this head," said Aramis, "you also are a -malcontent; you also, Raoul, have griefs to lay to the king. Follow our -example; pass over into Belle-Isle. Then we shall see, I guarantee upon -my honor, that in a month there will be war between France and Spain on -the subject of this son of Louis XIII., who is an Infante likewise, -and whom France detains inhumanly. Now, as Louis XIV. would have no -inclination for a war on that subject, I will answer for an arrangement, -the result of which must bring greatness to Porthos and to me, and a -duchy in France to you, who are already a grandee of Spain. Will you -join us?" - -"No; for my part I prefer having something to reproach the king with; -it is a pride natural to my race to pretend to a superiority over royal -races. Doing what you propose, I should become the obliged of the king; -I should certainly be the gainer on that ground, but I should be a loser -in my conscience.--No, thank you!" - -"Then give me two things, Athos,--your absolution." - -"Oh! I give it you if you really wished to avenge the weak and oppressed -against the oppressor." - -"That is sufficient for me," said Aramis, with a blush which was lost -in the obscurity of the night. "And now, give me your two best horses -to gain the second post, as I have been refused any under the pretext of -the Duc de Beaufort being traveling in this country." - -"You shall have the two best horses, Aramis; and again I recommend poor -Porthos strongly to your care." - -"Oh! I have no fear on that score. One word more: do you think I am -maneuvering for him as I ought?" - -"The evil being committed, yes; for the king would not pardon him, and -you have, whatever may be said, always a supporter in M. Fouquet, who -will not abandon you, he being himself compromised, notwithstanding his -heroic action." - -"You are right. And that is why, instead of gaining the sea at once, -which would proclaim my fear and guilt, that is why I remain upon French -ground. But Belle-Isle will be for me whatever ground I wish it to be, -English, Spanish, or Roman; all will depend, with me, on the standard I -shall think proper to unfurl." - -"How so?" - -"It was I who fortified Belle-Isle; and, so long as I defend it, nobody -can take Belle-Isle from me. And then, as you have said just now, M. -Fouquet is there. Belle-Isle will not be attacked without the signature -of M. Fouquet." - -"That is true. Nevertheless, be prudent. The king is both cunning and -strong." Aramis smiled. - -"I again recommend Porthos to you," repeated the count, with a sort of -cold persistence. - -"Whatever becomes of me, count," replied Aramis, in the same tone, "our -brother Porthos will fare as I do--or _better_." - -Athos bowed whilst pressing the hand of Aramis, and turned to embrace -Porthos with emotion. - -"I was born lucky, was I not?" murmured the latter, transported with -happiness, as he folded his cloak round him. - -"Come, my dear friend," said Aramis. - -Raoul had gone out to give orders for the saddling of the horses. The -group was already divided. Athos saw his two friends on the point of -departure, and something like a mist passed before his eyes and weighed -upon his heart. - -"It is strange," thought he, "whence comes the inclination I feel to -embrace Porthos once more?" At that moment Porthos turned round, and -he came towards his old friend with open arms. This last endearment was -tender as in youth, as in times when hearts were warm--life happy. And -then Porthos mounted his horse. Aramis came back once more to throw -his arms round the neck of Athos. The latter watched them along the -high-road, elongated by the shade, in their white cloaks. Like phantoms -they seemed to enlarge on their departure from the earth, and it was not -in the mist, but in the declivity of the ground that they disappeared. -At the end of the perspective, both seemed to have given a spring with -their feet, which made them vanish as if evaporated into cloud-land. - -Then Athos, with a very heavy heart, returned towards the house, saying -to Bragelonne, "Raoul, I don't know what it is that has just told me -that I have seen those two for the last time." - -"It does not astonish me, monsieur, that you should have such a -thought," replied the young man, "for I have at this moment the same, -and think also that I shall never see Messieurs du Vallon and d'Herblay -again." - -"Oh! you," replied the count, "you speak like a man rendered sad by a -different cause; you see everything in black; you are young, and if you -chance never to see those old friends again, it will because they no -longer exist in the world in which you have yet many years to pass. But -I--" - -Raoul shook his head sadly, and leaned upon the shoulder of the count, -without either of them finding another word in their hearts, which were -ready to overflow. - -All at once a noise of horses and voices, from the extremity of the road -to Blois, attracted their attention that way. Flambeaux-bearers shook -their torches merrily among the trees of their route, and turned round, -from time to time, to avoid distancing the horsemen who followed them. -These flames, this noise, this dust of a dozen richly caparisoned -horses, formed a strange contrast in the middle of the night with the -melancholy and almost funereal disappearance of the two shadows of -Aramis and Porthos. Athos went towards the house; but he had hardly -reached the parterre, when the entrance gate appeared in a blaze; all -the flambeaux stopped and appeared to enflame the road. A cry was heard -of "M. le Duc de Beaufort"--and Athos sprang towards the door of his -house. But the duke had already alighted from his horse, and was looking -around him. - -"I am here, monseigneur," said Athos. - -"Ah! good evening, dear count," said the prince, with that frank -cordiality which won him so many hearts. "Is it too late for a friend?" - -"Ah! my dear prince, come in!" said the count. - -And, M. de Beaufort leaning on the arm of Athos, they entered the -house, followed by Raoul, who walked respectfully and modestly among the -officers of the prince, with several of whom he was acquainted. - - - -Chapter XXVII. Monsieur de Beaufort. - -The prince turned round at the moment when Raoul, in order to leave him -alone with Athos, was shutting the door, and preparing to go with the -other officers into an adjoining apartment. - -"Is that the young man I have heard M. le Prince speak so highly of?" -asked M. de Beaufort. - -"It is, monseigneur." - -"He is quite the soldier; let him stay, count, we cannot spare him." - -"Remain, Raoul, since monseigneur permits it," said Athos. - -"_Ma foi!_ he is tall and handsome!" continued the duke. "Will you give -him to me, monseigneur, if I ask him of you?" - -"How am I to understand you, monseigneur?" said Athos. - -"Why, I call upon you to bid you farewell." - -"Farewell!" - -"Yes, in good truth. Have you no idea of what I am about to become?" - -"Why, I suppose, what you have always been, monseigneur,--a valiant -prince, and an excellent gentleman." - -"I am going to become an African prince,--a Bedouin gentleman. The king -is sending me to make conquests among the Arabs." - -"What is this you tell me, monseigneur?" - -"Strange, is it not? I, the Parisian _par essence_, I who have reigned -in the faubourgs, and have been called King of the Halles,--I am going -to pass from the Place Maubert to the minarets of Gigelli; from a -Frondeur I am becoming an adventurer!" - -"Oh, monseigneur, if you did not yourself tell me that--" - -"It would not be credible, would it? Believe me, nevertheless, and we -have but to bid each other farewell. This is what comes of getting into -favor again." - -"Into favor?" - -"Yes. You smile. Ah, my dear count, do you know why I have accepted this -enterprise, can you guess?" - -"Because your highness loves glory above--everything." - -"Oh! no; there is no glory in firing muskets at savages. I see no glory -in that, for my part, and it is more probable that I shall there meet -with something else. But I have wished, and still wish earnestly, my -dear count, that my life should have that last _facet_, after all the -whimsical exhibitions I have seen myself make during fifty years. For, -in short, you must admit that it is sufficiently strange to be born -the grandson of a king, to have made war against kings, to have been -reckoned among the powers of the age, to have maintained my rank, to -feel Henry IV. within me, to be great admiral of France--and then to go -and get killed at Gigelli, among all those Turks, Saracens, and Moors." - -"Monseigneur, you harp with strange persistence on that theme," said -Athos, in an agitated voice. "How can you suppose that so brilliant a -destiny will be extinguished in that remote and miserable scene?" - -"And can you believe, upright and simple as you are, that if I go into -Africa for this ridiculous motive, I will not endeavor to come out of it -without ridicule? Shall I not give the world cause to speak of me? And -to be spoken of, nowadays, when there are Monsieur le Prince, M. de -Turenne, and many others, my contemporaries, I, admiral of France, -grandson of Henry IV., king of Paris, have I anything left but to get -myself killed? _Cordieu!_ I will be talked of, I tell you; I shall be -killed whether or not; if not there, somewhere else." - -"Why, monseigneur, this is mere exaggeration; and hitherto you have -shown nothing exaggerated save in bravery." - -"_Peste!_ my dear friend, there is bravery in facing scurvy, dysentery, -locusts, poisoned arrows, as my ancestor St. Louis did. Do you know -those fellows still use poisoned arrows? And then, you know me of old, -I fancy, and you know that when I once make up my mind to a thing, I -perform it in grim earnest." - -"Yes, you made up your mind to escape from Vincennes." - -"Ay, but you aided me in that, my master; and, _a propos_, I turn this -way and that, without seeing my old friend, M. Vaugrimaud. How is he?" - -"M. Vaugrimaud is still your highness's most respectful servant," said -Athos, smiling. - -"I have a hundred pistoles here for him, which I bring as a legacy. My -will is made, count." - -"Ah! monseigneur! monseigneur!" - -"And you may understand that if Grimaud's name were to appear in my -will--" The duke began to laugh; then addressing Raoul, who, from the -commencement of this conversation, had sunk into a profound reverie, -"Young man," said he, "I know there is to be found here a certain De -Vouvray wine, and I believe--" Raoul left the room precipitately to -order the wine. In the meantime M. de Beaufort took the hand of Athos. - -"What do you mean to do with him?" asked he. - -"Nothing at present, monseigneur." - -"Ah! yes, I know; since the passion of the king for La Valliere." - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"That is all true, then, is it? I think I know her, that little La -Valliere. She is not particularly handsome, if I remember right?" - -"No, monseigneur," said Athos. - -"Do you know whom she reminds me of?" - -"Does she remind your highness of any one?" - -"She reminds me of a very agreeable girl, whose mother lived in the -Halles." - -"Ah! ah!" said Athos, smiling. - -"Oh! the good old times," added M. de Beaufort. "Yes, La Valliere -reminds me of that girl." - -"Who had a son, had she not?" [3] - -"I believe she had," replied the duke, with careless _naivete_ and a -complaisant forgetfulness, of which no words could translate the tone -and the vocal expression. "Now, here is poor Raoul, who is your son, I -believe." - -"Yes, he is my son, monseigneur." - -"And the poor lad has been cut out by the king, and he frets." - -"Still better, monseigneur, he abstains." - -"You are going to let the boy rust in idleness; it is a mistake. Come, -give him to me." - -"My wish is to keep him at home, monseigneur. I have no longer anything -in the world but him, and as long as he likes to remain--" - -"Well, well," replied the duke. "I could, nevertheless, have soon put -matters to rights again. I assure you, I think he has in him the -stuff of which marechals of France are made; I have seen more than one -produced from less likely rough material." - -"That is very possible, monseigneur; but it is the king who makes -marechals of France, and Raoul will never accept anything of the king." - -Raoul interrupted this conversation by his return. He preceded Grimaud, -whose still steady hands carried the plateau with one glass and a bottle -of the duke's favorite wine. On seeing his old _protege_, the duke -uttered an exclamation of pleasure. - -"Grimaud! Good evening, Grimaud!" said he; "how goes it?" - -The servant bowed profoundly, as much gratified as his noble -interlocutor. - -"Two old friends!" said the duke, shaking honest Grimaud's shoulder -after a vigorous fashion; which was followed by another still more -profound and delighted bow from Grimaud. - -"But what is this, count, only one glass?" - -"I should not think of drinking with your highness, unless your highness -permitted me," replied Athos, with noble humility. - -"_Cordieu!_ you were right to bring only one glass, we will both drink -out of it, like two brothers in arms. Begin, count." - -"Do me the honor," said Athos, gently putting back the glass. - -"You are a charming friend," replied the Duc de Beaufort, who drank, and -passed the goblet to his companion. "But that is not all," continued he, -"I am still thirsty, and I wish to do honor to this handsome young man -who stands here. I carry good luck with me, vicomte," said he to Raoul; -"wish for something while drinking out of my glass, and may the black -plague grab me if what you wish does not come to pass!" He held the -goblet to Raoul, who hastily moistened his lips, and replied with the -same promptitude: - -"I have wished for something, monseigneur." His eyes sparkled with a -gloomy fire, and the blood mounted to his cheeks; he terrified Athos, if -only with his smile. - -"And what have you wished for?" replied the duke, sinking back into his -fauteuil, whilst with one hand he returned the bottle to Grimaud, and -with the other gave him a purse. - -"Will you promise me, monseigneur, to grant me what I wish for?" - -"_Pardieu!_ That is agreed upon." - -"I wished, monsieur le duc, to go with you to Gigelli." - -Athos became pale, and was unable to conceal his agitation. The duke -looked at his friend, as if desirous to assist him to parry this -unexpected blow. - -"That is difficult, my dear vicomte, very difficult," added he, in a -lower tone of voice. - -"Pardon me, monseigneur, I have been indiscreet," replied Raoul, in a -firm voice; "but as you yourself invited me to wish--" - -"To wish to leave me?" said Athos. - -"Oh! monsieur--can you imagine--" - -"Well, _mordieu!_" cried the duke, "the young vicomte is right! What can -he do here? He will go moldy with grief." - -Raoul blushed, and the excitable prince continued: "War is a -distraction: we gain everything by it; we can only lose one thing by -it--life--then so much the worse!" - -"That is to say, memory," said Raoul, eagerly; "and that is to say, so -much the better!" - -He repented of having spoken so warmly when he saw Athos rise and open -the window; which was, doubtless, to conceal his emotion. Raoul sprang -towards the comte, but the latter had already overcome his emotion, and -turned to the lights with a serene and impassible countenance. "Well, -come," said the duke, "let us see! Shall he go, or shall he not? If he -goes, comte, he shall be my aide-de-camp, my son." - -"Monseigneur!" cried Raoul, bending his knee. - -"Monseigneur!" cried Athos, taking the hand of the duke; "Raoul shall do -just as he likes." - -"Oh! no, monsieur, just as you like," interrupted the young man. - -"_Par la corbleu!_" said the prince in his turn, "it is neither the -comte nor the vicomte that shall have his way, it is I. I will take him -away. The marine offers a superb fortune, my friend." - -Raoul smiled again so sadly, that this time Athos felt his heart -penetrated by it, and replied to him by a severe look. Raoul -comprehended it all; he recovered his calmness, and was so guarded, that -not another word escaped him. The duke at length rose, on observing the -advanced hour, and said, with animation, "I am in great haste, but if I -am told I have lost time in talking with a friend, I will reply I have -gained--on the balance--a most excellent recruit." - -"Pardon me, monsieur le duc," interrupted Raoul, "do not tell the king -so, for it is not the king I wish to serve." - -"Eh! my friend, whom, then, will you serve? The times are past when -you might have said, 'I belong to M. de Beaufort.' No, nowadays, we all -belong to the king, great or small. Therefore, if you serve on board my -vessels, there can be nothing equivocal about it, my dear vicomte; it -will be the king you will serve." - -Athos waited with a kind of impatient joy for the reply about to be made -to this embarrassing question by Raoul, the intractable enemy of the -king, his rival. The father hoped that the obstacle would overcome the -desire. He was thankful to M. de Beaufort, whose lightness or generous -reflection had thrown an impediment in the way of the departure of a -son, now his only joy. But Raoul, still firm and tranquil, replied: -"Monsieur le duc, the objection you make I have already considered in my -mind. I will serve on board your vessels, because you do me the honor -to take me with you; but I shall there serve a more powerful master than -the king: I shall serve God!" - -"God! how so?" said the duke and Athos together. - -"My intention is to make profession, and become a knight of Malta," -added Bragelonne, letting fall, one by one, words more icy than the -drops which fall from the bare trees after the tempests of winter. [4] - -Under this blow Athos staggered and the prince himself was moved. -Grimaud uttered a heavy groan, and let fall the bottle, which was broken -without anybody paying attention. M. de Beaufort looked the young man in -the face, and read plainly, though his eyes were cast down, the fire of -resolution before which everything must give way. As to Athos, he was -too well acquainted with that tender, but inflexible soul; he could not -hope to make it deviate from the fatal road it had just chosen. He could -only press the hand the duke held out to him. "Comte, I shall set off in -two days for Toulon," said M. de Beaufort. "Will you meet me at Paris, -in order that I may know your determination?" - -"I will have the honor of thanking you there, _mon prince_, for all your -kindness," replied the comte. - -"And be sure to bring the vicomte with you, whether he follows me or -does not follow me," added the duke; "he has my word, and I only ask -yours." - -Having thrown a little balm upon the wound of the paternal heart, he -pulled the ear of Grimaud, whose eyes sparkled more than usual, and -regained his escort in the parterre. The horses, rested and refreshed, -set off with spirit through the lovely night, and soon placed a -considerable distance between their master and the chateau. - -Athos and Bragelonne were again face to face. Eleven o'clock was -striking. The father and son preserved a profound silence towards each -other, where an intelligent observer would have expected cries and -tears. But these two men were of such a nature that all emotion -following their final resolutions plunged itself so deep into their -hearts that it was lost forever. They passed, then, silently and almost -breathlessly, the hour that preceded midnight. The clock, by striking, -alone pointed out to them how many minutes had lasted the painful -journey made by their souls in the immensity of their remembrances of -the past and fear of the future. Athos rose first, saying, "it is late, -then.... Till to-morrow." - -Raoul rose, and in his turn embraced his father. The latter held him -clasped to his breast, and said, in a tremulous voice, "In two days, you -will have left me, my son--left me forever, Raoul!" - -"Monsieur," replied the young man, "I had formed a determination, that -of piercing my heart with my sword; but you would have thought that -cowardly. I have renounced that determination, and _therefore_ we must -part." - -"You leave me desolate by going, Raoul." - -"Listen to me again, monsieur, I implore you. If I do not go, I shall -die here of grief and love. I know how long a time I have to live thus. -Send me away quickly, monsieur, or you will see me basely die before -your eyes--in your house--this is stronger than my will--stronger than -my strength--you may plainly see that within one month I have lived -thirty years, and that I approach the end of my life." - -"Then," said Athos, coldly, "you go with the intention of getting killed -in Africa? Oh, tell me! do not lie!" - -Raoul grew deadly pale, and remained silent for two seconds, which were -to his father two hours of agony. Then, all at once: "Monsieur," said -he, "I have promised to devote myself to God. In exchange for the -sacrifice I make of my youth and liberty, I will only ask of Him one -thing, and that is, to preserve me for you, because you are the only tie -which attaches me to this world. God alone can give me the strength not -to forget that I owe you everything, and that nothing ought to stand in -my esteem before you." - -Athos embraced his son tenderly, and said: - -"You have just replied to me on the word of honor of an honest man; in -two days we shall be with M. de Beaufort at Paris, and you will then do -what will be proper for you to do. You are free, Raoul; adieu." - -And he slowly gained his bedroom. Raoul went down into the garden, and -passed the night in the alley of limes. - - - -Chapter XXVIII. Preparations for Departure. - -Athos lost no more time in combating this immutable resolution. He gave -all his attention to preparing, during the two days the duke had granted -him, the proper appointments for Raoul. This labor chiefly concerned -Grimaud, who immediately applied himself to it with the good-will and -intelligence we know he possessed. Athos gave this worthy servant orders -to take the route to Paris when the equipments should be ready; and, not -to expose himself to the danger of keeping the duke waiting, or delaying -Raoul, so that the duke should perceive his absence, he himself, the day -after the visit of M. de Beaufort, set off for Paris with his son. - -For the poor young man it was an emotion easily to be understood, thus -to return to Paris amongst all the people who had known and loved him. -Every face recalled a pang to him who had suffered so much; to him who -had loved so much, some circumstance of his unhappy love. Raoul, on -approaching Paris, felt as if he were dying. Once in Paris, he really -existed no longer. When he reached Guiche's residence, he was informed -that Guiche was with Monsieur. Raoul took the road to the Luxembourg, -and when arrived, without suspecting that he was going to the place -where La Valliere had lived, he heard so much music and respired so -many perfumes, he heard so much joyous laughter, and saw so many dancing -shadows, that if it had not been for a charitable woman, who perceived -him so dejected and pale beneath a doorway, he would have remained there -a few minutes, and then would have gone away, never to return. But, as -we have said, in the first ante-chamber he had stopped, solely for the -sake of not mixing himself with all those happy beings he felt were -moving around him in the adjacent salons. And as one of Monsieur's -servants, recognizing him, had asked him if he wished to see Monsieur or -Madame, Raoul had scarcely answered him, but had sunk down upon a bench -near the velvet doorway, looking at a clock, which had stopped -for nearly an hour. The servant had passed on, and another, better -acquainted with him, had come up, and interrogated Raoul whether he -should inform M. de Guiche of his being there. This name did not even -arouse the recollections of Raoul. The persistent servant went on to -relate that De Guiche had just invented a new game of lottery, and -was teaching it to the ladies. Raoul, opening his large eyes, like the -absent man in Theophrastus, made no answer, but his sadness increased -two shades. With his head hanging down, his limbs relaxed, his mouth -half open for the escape of his sighs, Raoul remained, thus forgotten, -in the ante-chamber, when all at once a lady's robe passed, rubbing -against the doors of a side salon, which opened on the gallery. A lady, -young, pretty, and gay, scolding an officer of the household, entered by -that way, and expressed herself with much vivacity. The officer replied -in calm but firm sentences; it was rather a little love pet than a -quarrel of courtiers, and was terminated by a kiss on the fingers of the -lady. Suddenly, on perceiving Raoul, the lady became silent, and pushing -away the officer: - -"Make your escape, Malicorne," said she; "I did not think there was any -one here. I shall curse you, if they have either heard or seen us!" - -Malicorne hastened away. The young lady advanced behind Raoul, and -stretching her joyous face over him as he lay: - -"Monsieur is a gallant man," said she, "and no doubt--" - -She here interrupted herself by uttering a cry. "Raoul!" said she, -blushing. - -"Mademoiselle de Montalais!" said Raoul, paler than death. - -He rose unsteadily, and tried to make his way across the slippery mosaic -of the floor; but she had comprehended that savage and cruel grief; she -felt that in the flight of Raoul there was an accusation of herself. A -woman, ever vigilant, she did not think she ought to let the opportunity -slip of making good her justification; but Raoul, though stopped by her -in the middle of the gallery, did not seem disposed to surrender without -a combat. He took it up in a tone so cold and embarrassed, that if they -had been thus surprised, the whole court would have no doubt about the -proceedings of Mademoiselle de Montalais. - -"Ah! monsieur," said she with disdain, "what you are doing is very -unworthy of a gentleman. My heart inclines me to speak to you; you -compromise me by a reception almost uncivil; you are wrong, monsieur; -and you confound your friends with enemies. Farewell!" - -Raoul had sworn never to speak of Louise, never even to look at those -who might have seen Louise; he was going into another world, that he -might never meet with anything Louise had seen, or even touched. But -after the first shock of his pride, after having had a glimpse of -Montalais, the companion of Louise--Montalais, who reminded him of the -turret of Blois and the joys of youth--all his reason faded away. - -"Pardon me, mademoiselle; it enters not, it cannot enter into my -thoughts to be uncivil." - -"Do you wish to speak to me?" said she, with the smile of former days. -"Well! come somewhere else; for we may be surprised." - -"Oh!" said he. - -She looked at the clock, doubtingly, then, having reflected: - -"In my apartment," said she, "we shall have an hour to ourselves." And -taking her course, lighter than a fairy, she ran up to her chamber, -followed by Raoul. Shutting the door, and placing in the hands of her -_cameriste_ the mantle she had held upon her arm: - -"You were seeking M. de Guiche, were you not?" said she to Raoul. - -"Yes, mademoiselle." - -"I will go and ask him to come up here, presently, after I have spoken -to you." - -"Do so, mademoiselle." - -"Are you angry with me?" - -Raoul looked at her for a moment, then, casting down his eyes, "Yes," -said he. - -"You think I was concerned in the plot which brought about the rupture, -do you not?" - -"Rupture!" said he, with bitterness. "Oh! mademoiselle, there can be no -rupture where there has been no love." - -"You are in error," replied Montalais; "Louise did love you." - -Raoul started. - -"Not with love, I know; but she liked you, and you ought to have married -her before you set out for London." - -Raoul broke into a sinister laugh, which made Montalais shudder. - -"You tell me that very much at your ease, mademoiselle. Do people marry -whom they like? You forget that the king then kept for himself as his -mistress her of whom we are speaking." - -"Listen," said the young woman, pressing the hands of Raoul in her own, -"you were wrong in every way; a man of your age ought never to leave a -woman of hers alone." - -"There is no longer any faith in the world, then," said Raoul. - -"No, vicomte," said Montalais, quietly. "Nevertheless, let me tell you -that, if, instead of loving Louise coldly and philosophically, you had -endeavored to awaken her to love--" - -"Enough, I pray you, mademoiselle," said Raoul. "I feel as though you -are all, of both sexes, of a different age from me. You can laugh, and -you can banter agreeably. I, mademoiselle, I loved Mademoiselle de--" -Raoul could not pronounce her name,--"I loved her well! I put my faith -in her--now I am quits by loving her no longer." - -"Oh, vicomte!" said Montalais, pointing to his reflection in a -looking-glass. - -"I know what you mean, mademoiselle; I am much altered, am I not? Well! -Do you know why? Because my face is the mirror of my heart, the outer -surface changed to match the mind within." - -"You are consoled, then?" said Montalais, sharply. - -"No, I shall never be consoled." - -"I don't understand you, M. de Bragelonne." - -"I care but little for that. I do not quite understand myself." - -"You have not even tried to speak to Louise?" - -"Who! I?" exclaimed the young man, with eyes flashing fire; "I!--Why do -you not advise me to marry her? Perhaps the king would consent now." And -he rose from his chair full of anger. - -"I see," said Montalais, "that you are not cured, and that Louise has -one enemy the more." - -"One enemy the more!" - -"Yes; favorites are but little beloved at the court of France." - -"Oh! while she has her lover to protect her, is not that enough? She -has chosen him of such a quality that her enemies cannot prevail against -her." But, stopping all at once, "And then she has you for a friend, -mademoiselle," added he, with a shade of irony which did not glide off -the cuirass. - -"Who! I?--Oh, no! I am no longer one of those whom Mademoiselle de la -Valliere condescends to look upon; but--" - -This _but_, so big with menace and with storm; this _but_, which made -the heart of Raoul beat, such griefs did it presage for her whom lately -he loved so dearly; this terrible _but_, so significant in a woman -like Montalais, was interrupted by a moderately loud noise heard by the -speakers proceeding from the alcove behind the wainscoting. Montalais -turned to listen, and Raoul was already rising, when a lady entered the -room quietly by the secret door, which she closed after her. - -"Madame!" exclaimed Raoul, on recognizing the sister-in-law of the king. - -"Stupid wretch!" murmured Montalais, throwing herself, but too late, -before the princess, "I have been mistaken in an hour!" She had, -however, time to warn the princess, who was walking towards Raoul. - -"M. de Bragelonne, Madame," and at these words the princess drew back, -uttering a cry in her turn. - -"Your royal highness," said Montalais, with volubility, "is kind enough -to think of this lottery, and--" - -The princess began to lose countenance. Raoul hastened his departure, -without divining all, but he felt that he was in the way. Madame was -preparing a word of transition to recover herself, when a closet opened -in front of the alcove, and M. de Guiche issued, all radiant, also from -that closet. The palest of the four, we must admit, was still Raoul. The -princess, however, was near fainting, and was obliged to lean upon the -foot of the bed for support. No one ventured to support her. This scene -occupied several minutes of terrible suspense. But Raoul broke it. -He went up to the count, whose inexpressible emotion made his knees -tremble, and taking his hand, "Dear count," said he, "tell Madame I am -too unhappy not to merit pardon; tell her also that I have loved in the -course of my life, and that the horror of the treachery that has been -practiced on me renders me inexorable towards all other treachery that -may be committed around me. This is why, mademoiselle," said he, smiling -to Montalais, "I never would divulge the secret of the visits of my -friend to your apartment. Obtain from Madame--from Madame, who is so -clement and so generous,--obtain her pardon for you whom she has just -surprised also. You are both free, love each other, be happy!" - -The princess felt for a moment a despair that cannot be described; it -was repugnant to her, notwithstanding the exquisite delicacy which Raoul -had exhibited, to feel herself at the mercy of one who had discovered -such an indiscretion. It was equally repugnant to her to accept the -evasion offered by this delicate deception. Agitated, nervous, she -struggled against the double stings of these two troubles. Raoul -comprehended her position, and came once more to her aid. Bending his -knee before her: "Madame!" said he, in a low voice, "in two days I shall -be far from Paris; in a fortnight I shall be far from France, where I -shall never be seen again." - -"Are you going away, then?" said she, with great delight. - -"With M. de Beaufort." - -"Into Africa!" cried De Guiche, in his turn. "You, Raoul--oh! my -friend--into Africa, where everybody dies!" - -And forgetting everything, forgetting that that forgetfulness itself -compromised the princess more eloquently than his presence, "Ingrate!" -said he, "and you have not even consulted me!" And he embraced him; -during which time Montalais had led away Madame, and disappeared -herself. - -Raoul passed his hand over his brow, and said, with a smile, "I have -been dreaming!" Then warmly to Guiche, who by degrees absorbed him, "My -friend," said he, "I conceal nothing from you, who are the elected of my -heart. I am going to seek death in yonder country; your secret will not -remain in my breast more than a year." - -"Oh, Raoul! a man!" - -"Do you know what is my thought, count? This is it--I shall live more -vividly, being buried beneath the earth, than I have lived for this -month past. We are Christians, my friend, and if such sufferings were to -continue, I would not be answerable for the safety of my soul." - -De Guiche was anxious to raise objections. - -"Not one word more on my account," said Raoul; "but advice to you, dear -friend; what I am going to say to you is of much greater importance." - -"What is that?" - -"Without doubt you risk much more than I do, because you love." - -"Oh!" - -"It is a joy so sweet to me to be able to speak to you thus! Well, then, -De Guiche, beware of Montalais." - -"What! of that kind friend?" - -"She was the friend of--her you know of. She ruined her by pride." - -"You are mistaken." - -"And now, when she has ruined her, she would ravish from her the only -thing that renders that woman excusable in my eyes." - -"What is that?" - -"Her love." - -"What do you mean by that?" - -"I mean that there is a plot formed against her who is the mistress of -the king--a plot formed in the very house of Madame." - -"Can you think so?" - -"I am certain of it." - -"By Montalais?" - -"Take her as the least dangerous of the enemies I dread for--the other!" - -"Explain yourself clearly, my friend; and if I can understand you--" - -"In two words. Madame has been long jealous of the king." - -"I know she has--" - -"Oh! fear nothing--you are beloved--you are beloved, count; do you feel -the value of these three words? They signify that you can raise your -head, that you can sleep tranquilly, that you can thank God every -minute of you life. You are beloved; that signifies that you may hear -everything, even the counsel of a friend who wishes to preserve your -happiness. You are beloved, De Guiche, you are beloved! You do not -endure those atrocious nights, those nights without end, which, with -arid eye and fainting heart, others pass through who are destined to -die. You will live long, if you act like the miser who, bit by bit, -crumb by crumb, collects and heaps up diamonds and gold. You are -beloved!--allow me to tell you what you must do that you may be beloved -forever." - -De Guiche contemplated for some time this unfortunate young man, half -mad with despair, till there passed through his heart something like -remorse at his own happiness. Raoul suppressed his feverish excitement, -to assume the voice and countenance of an impassible man. - -"They will make her, whose name I should wish still to be able to -pronounce--they will make her suffer. Swear to me that you will not -second them in anything--but that you will defend her when possible, as -I would have done myself." - -"I swear I will," replied De Guiche. - -"And," continued Raoul, "some day, when you shall have rendered her -a great service--some day when she shall thank you, promise me to say -these words to her--'I have done you this kindness, madame, at the warm -request of M. de Bragelonne, whom you so deeply injured.'" - -"I swear I will," murmured De Guiche. - -"That is all. Adieu! I set out to-morrow, or the day after, for -Toulon. If you have a few hours to spare, give them to me." - -"All! all!" cried the young man. - -"Thank you!" - -"And what are you going to do now?" - -"I am going to meet M. le comte at Planchet's residence, where we hope -to find M. d'Artagnan." - -"M. d'Artagnan?" - -"Yes, I wish to embrace him before my departure. He is a brave man, who -loves me dearly. Farewell, my friend; you are expected, no doubt; you -will find me, when you wish, at the lodgings of the comte. Farewell!" - -The two young men embraced. Those who chanced to see them both thus, -would not have hesitated to say, pointing to Raoul, "That is the happy -man!" - - - -Chapter XXIX. Planchet's Inventory. - -Athos, during the visit made to the Luxembourg by Raoul, had gone to -Planchet's residence to inquire after D'Artagnan. The comte, on -arriving at the Rue des Lombards, found the shop of the grocer in great -confusion; but it was not the encumberment of a lucky sale, or that of -an arrival of goods. Planchet was not enthroned, as usual, on sacks and -barrels. No. A young man with a pen behind his ear, and another with an -account-book in his hand, were setting down a number of figures, whilst -a third counted and weighed. An inventory was being taken. Athos, -who had no knowledge of commercial matters, felt himself a little -embarrassed by material obstacles and the majesty of those who were thus -employed. He saw several customers sent away, and asked himself -whether he, who came to buy nothing, would not be more properly deemed -importunate. He therefore asked very politely if he could see M. -Planchet. The reply, quite carelessly given, was that M. Planchet was -packing his trunks. These words surprised Athos. "What! his trunks?" -said he; "is M. Planchet going away?" - -"Yes, monsieur, directly." - -"Then, if you please, inform him that M. le Comte de la Fere desires to -speak to him for a moment." - -At the mention of the comte's name, one of the young men, no doubt -accustomed to hear it pronounced with respect, immediately went to -inform Planchet. It was at this moment that Raoul, after his painful -scene with Montalais and De Guiche, arrived at the grocer's house. -Planchet left his job directly he received the comte's message. - -"Ah! monsieur le comte!" exclaimed he, "how glad I am to see you! What -good star brings you here?" - -"My dear Planchet," said Athos, pressing the hand of his son, whose sad -look he silently observed,--"we are come to learn of you--But in what -confusion do I find you! You are as white as a miller; where have you -been rummaging?" - -"Ah, _diable!_ take care, monsieur; don't come near me till I have well -shaken myself." - -"What for? Flour or dust only whiten." - -"No, no; what you see on my arms is arsenic." - -"Arsenic?" - -"Yes; I am taking my precautions against rats." - -"Ay, I suppose in an establishment like this, rats play a conspicuous -part." - -"It is not with this establishment I concern myself, monsieur le comte. -The rats have robbed me of more here than they will ever rob me of -again." - -"What do you mean?" - -"Why, you may have observed, monsieur, my inventory is being taken." - -"Are you leaving trade, then?" - -"Eh! _mon Dieu!_ yes. I have disposed of my business to one of my young -men." - -"Bah! you are rich, then, I suppose?" - -"Monsieur, I have taken a dislike to the city; I don't know whether it -is because I am growing old, and as M. d'Artagnan one day said, when -we grow old we more often think of the adventures of our youth; but -for some time past I have felt myself attracted towards the country -and gardening. I was a countryman formerly." And Planchet marked this -confession with a rather pretentious laugh for a man making profession -of humility. - -Athos made a gesture of approval, and then added: "You are going to buy -an estate, then?" - -"I have bought one, monsieur." - -"Ah! that is still better." - -"A little house at Fontainebleau, with something like twenty acres of -land round it." - -"Very well, Planchet! Accept my compliments on your acquisition." - -"But, monsieur, we are not comfortable here; the cursed dust makes you -cough. _Corbleu!_ I do not wish to poison the most worthy gentleman in -the kingdom." - -Athos did not smile at this little pleasantry which Planchet had aimed -at him, in order to try his strength in mundane facetiousness. - -"Yes," said Athos, "let us have a little talk by ourselves--in your own -room, for example. You have a room, have you not?" - -"Certainly, monsieur le comte." - -"Upstairs, perhaps?" And Athos, seeing Planchet a little embarrassed, -wished to relieve him by going first. - -"It is--but--" said Planchet, hesitating. - -Athos was mistaken in the cause of this hesitation, and, attributing it -to a fear the grocer might have of offering humble hospitality, "Never -mind, never mind," said he, still going up, "the dwelling of a tradesman -in this quarter is not expected to be a palace. Come on." - -Raoul nimbly preceded him, and entered first. Two cries were heard -simultaneously--we may say three. One of these cries dominated the -others; it emanated from a woman. Another proceeded from the mouth of -Raoul; it was an exclamation of surprise. He had no sooner uttered it -than he shut the door sharply. The third was from fright; it came from -Planchet. - -"I ask your pardon!" added he; "madame is dressing." - -Raoul had, no doubt, seen that what Planchet said was true, for he -turned round to go downstairs again. - -"Madame--" said Athos. "Oh! pardon me, Planchet, I did not know that you -had upstairs--" - -"It is Truchen," added Planchet, blushing a little. - -"It is whoever you please, my good Planchet; but pardon my rudeness." - -"No, no; go up now, gentlemen." - -"We will do no such thing," said Athos. - -"Oh! madame, having notice, has had time--" - -"No, Planchet; farewell!" - -"Eh, gentlemen! you would not disoblige me by thus standing on the -staircase, or by going away without having sat down." - -"If we had known you had a lady upstairs," replied Athos, with his -customary coolness, "we would have asked permission to pay our respects -to her." - -Planchet was so disconcerted by this little extravagance, that he forced -the passage, and himself opened the door to admit the comte and his son. -Truchen was quite dressed: in the costume of the shopkeeper's wife, -rich yet coquettish; German eyes attacking French eyes. She left the -apartment after two courtesies, and went down into the shop--but not -without having listened at the door, to know what Planchet's gentlemen -visitors would say of her. Athos suspected that, and therefore turned -the conversation accordingly. Planchet, on his part, was burning to -give explanations, which Athos avoided. But, as certain tenacities are -stronger than others, Athos was forced to hear Planchet recite his idyls -of felicity, translated into a language more chaste than that of Longus. -So Planchet related how Truchen had charmed the years of his advancing -age, and brought good luck to his business, as Ruth did to Boaz. - -"You want nothing now, then, but heirs to your property." - -"If I had one he would have three hundred thousand livres," said -Planchet. - -"Humph! you must have one, then," said Athos, phlegmatically, "if only -to prevent your little fortune being lost." - -This word _little fortune_ placed Planchet in his rank, like the voice -of the sergeant when Planchet was but a _piqueur_ in the regiment of -Piedmont, in which Rochefort had placed him. Athos perceived that the -grocer would marry Truchen, and, in spite of fate, establish a family. -This appeared the more evident to him when he learned that the young man -to whom Planchet was selling the business was her cousin. Having heard -all that was necessary of the happy prospects of the retiring grocer, -"What is M. d'Artagnan about?" said he; "he is not at the Louvre." - -"Ah! monsieur le comte, Monsieur d'Artagnan has disappeared." - -"Disappeared!" said Athos, in surprise. - -"Oh! monsieur, we know what that means." - -"But _I_ do not know." - -"Whenever M. d'Artagnan disappears it is always for some mission or some -great affair." - -"Has he said anything to you about it?" - -"Never." - -"You were acquainted with his departure for England formerly, were you -not?" - -"On account of the speculation." said Planchet, heedlessly. - -"The speculation!" - -"I mean--" interrupted Planchet, quite confused. - -"Well, well; neither your affairs nor those of your master are in -question; the interest we take in him alone has induced me to apply to -you. Since the captain of the musketeers is not here, and as we cannot -learn from you where we are likely to find M. d'Artagnan, we will take -our leave of you. _Au revoir_, Planchet, _au revoir_. Let us be gone, -Raoul." - -"Monsieur le comte, I wish I were able to tell you--" - -"Oh, not at all; I am not the man to reproach a servant with -discretion." - -This word "servant" struck rudely on the ears of the _demi-millionnaire_ -Planchet, but natural respect and _bonhomie_ prevailed over pride. -"There is nothing indiscreet in telling you, monsieur le comte, M. -d'Artagnan came here the other day--" - -"Aha?" - -"And remained several hours consulting a geographical chart." - -"You are right, then, my friend; say no more about it." - -"And the chart is there as a proof," added Planchet, who went to fetch -from the neighboring wall, where it was suspended by a twist, forming a -triangle with the bar of the window to which it was fastened, the plan -consulted by the captain on his last visit to Planchet. This plan, which -he brought to the comte, was a map of France, upon which the practiced -eye of that gentleman discovered an itinerary, marked out with small -pins; wherever a pin was missing, a hole denoted its having been there. -Athos, by following with his eye the pins and holes, saw that -D'Artagnan had taken the direction of the south, and gone as far as the -Mediterranean, towards Toulon. It was near Cannes that the marks and -the punctured places ceased. The Comte de la Fere puzzled his brains for -some time, to divine what the musketeer could be going to do at Cannes, -and what motive could have led him to examine the banks of the Var. The -reflections of Athos suggested nothing. His accustomed perspicacity was -at fault. Raoul's researches were not more successful than his father's. - -"Never mind," said the young man to the comte, who silently, and with -his finger, had made him understand the route of D'Artagnan; "we must -confess that there is a Providence always occupied in connecting our -destiny with that of M. d'Artagnan. There he is on the coast of Cannes, -and you, monsieur, will, at least, conduct me as far as Toulon. Be -assured that we shall meet with him more easily upon our route than on -this map." - -Then, taking leave of Planchet, who was scolding his shopmen, even the -cousin of Truchen, his successor, the gentlemen set out to pay a visit -to M. de Beaufort. On leaving the grocer's shop, they saw a coach, the -future depository of the charms of Mademoiselle Truchen and Planchet's -bags of crowns. - -"Every one journeys towards happiness by the route he chooses," said -Raoul, in a melancholy tone. - -"Road to Fontainebleau!" cried Planchet to his coachman. - - - -Chapter XXX. The Inventory of M. de Beaufort. - -To have talked of D'Artagnan with Planchet, to have seen Planchet quit -Paris to bury himself in his country retreat, had been for Athos and his -son like a last farewell to the noise of the capital--to their life of -former days. What, in fact, did these men leave behind them--one of whom -had exhausted the past age in glory, and the other, the present age -in misfortune? Evidently neither of them had anything to ask of his -contemporaries. They had only to pay a visit to M. de Beaufort, and -arrange with him the particulars of departure. The duke was lodged -magnificently in Paris. He had one of those superb establishments -pertaining to great fortunes, the like of which certain old men -remembered to have seen in all their glory in the times of wasteful -liberality of Henry III.'s reign. Then, really, several great nobles -were richer than the king. They knew it, used it, and never deprived -themselves of the pleasure of humiliating his royal majesty when they -had an opportunity. It was this egotistical aristocracy Richelieu had -constrained to contribute, with its blood, its purse, and its duties, to -what was from his time styled the king's service. From Louis XI.--that -terrible mower-down of the great--to Richelieu, how many families had -raised their heads! How many, from Richelieu to Louis XIV., had bowed -their heads, never to raise them again! But M. de Beaufort was born a -prince, and of a blood which is not shed upon scaffolds, unless by the -decree of peoples,--a prince who had kept up a grand style of living. -How did he maintain his horses, his people, and his table? Nobody knew; -himself less than others. Only there were then privileges for the sons -of kings, to whom nobody refused to become a creditor, whether from -respect or the persuasion that they would some day be paid. - -Athos and Raoul found the mansion of the duke in as much confusion as -that of Planchet. The duke, likewise, was making his inventory; that is -to say, he was distributing to his friends everything of value he had -in his house. Owing nearly two millions--an enormous amount in those -days--M. de Beaufort had calculated that he could not set out for -Africa without a good round sum, and, in order to find that sum, he was -distributing to his old creditors plate, arms, jewels, and furniture, -which was more magnificent in selling it, and brought him back double. -In fact, how could a man to whom ten thousand livres were owing, refuse -to carry away a present worth six thousand, enhanced in estimation from -having belonged to a descendant of Henry IV.? And how, after having -carried away that present, could he refuse ten thousand livres more to -this generous noble? This, then, was what had happened. The duke had -no longer a dwelling-house--that had become useless to an admiral whose -place of residence is his ship; he had no longer need of superfluous -arms, when he was placed amidst his cannons; no more jewels, which the -sea might rob him of; but he had three or four hundred thousand crowns -fresh in his coffers. And throughout the house there was a joyous -movement of people who believed they were plundering monseigneur. The -prince had, in a supreme degree, the art of making happy the creditors -most to be pitied. Every distressed man, every empty purse, found in him -patience and sympathy for his position. To some he said, "I wish I had -what _you_ have; I would give it you." And to others, "I have but this -silver ewer; it is worth at least five hundred livres,--take it." The -effect of which was--so truly is courtesy a current payment--that the -prince constantly found means to renew his creditors. This time he -used no ceremony; it might be called a general pillage. He gave up -everything. The Oriental fable of the poor Arab who carried away from -the pillage of palace a kettle at the bottom of which was concealed a -bag of gold, and whom everybody allowed to pass without jealousy,--this -fable had become a truth in the prince's mansion. Many contractors paid -themselves upon the offices of the duke. Thus, the provision department, -who plundered the clothes-presses and the harness-rooms, attached very -little value to things which tailors and saddlers set great store by. -Anxious to carry home to their wives presents given them by monseigneur, -many were seen bounding joyously along, under the weight of earthen -jars and bottles, gloriously stamped with the arms of the prince. M. de -Beaufort finished by giving away his horses and the hay from his lofts. -He made more than thirty happy with kitchen utensils; and thirty more -with the contents of his cellar. Still further; all these people went -away with the conviction that M. de Beaufort only acted in this manner -to prepare for a new fortune concealed beneath the Arabs' tents. They -repeated to each other, while pillaging his hotel, that he was sent to -Gigelli by the king to reconstruct his lost fortunes; that the treasures -of Africa would be equally divided between the admiral and the king of -France; that these treasures consisted in mines of diamonds, or other -fabulous stones; the gold and silver mines of Mount Atlas did not -even obtain the honor of being named. In addition to the mines to be -worked--which could not be begun till after the campaign--there would -be the booty made by the army. M. de Beaufort would lay his hands on -all the riches pirates had robbed Christendom of since the battle of -Lepanto. The number of millions from these sources defied calculation. -Why, then, should he, who was going in quest of such treasure, set -any store by the poor utensils of his past life? And reciprocally, why -should they spare the property of him who spared it so little himself? - -Such was the position of affairs. Athos, with his piercing practiced -glance, saw what was going on at once. He found the admiral of France a -little exalted, for he was rising from a table of fifty covers, at -which the guests had drunk long and deeply to the prosperity of the -expedition; at the conclusion of which repast, the remains, with the -dessert, had been given to the servants, and the empty dishes and -plates to the curious. The prince was intoxicated with his ruin and his -popularity at one and the same time. He had drunk his old wine to the -health of his wine of the future. When he saw Athos and Raoul: - -"There is my aide-de-camp being brought to me!" he cried. "Come hither, -comte; come hither, vicomte." - -Athos tried to find a passage through the heaps of linen and plate. - -"Ah! step over, step over!" said the duke, offering a full glass to -Athos. The latter drank it; Raoul scarcely moistened his lips. - -"Here is your commission," said the prince to Raoul. "I had prepared it, -reckoning upon you. You will go before me as far as Antibes." - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"Here is the order." And De Beaufort gave Raoul the order. "Do you know -anything of the sea?" - -"Yes, monseigneur; I have traveled with M. le Prince." - -"That is well. All these barges and lighters must be in attendance to -form an escort and carry my provisions. The army must be prepared to -embark in a fortnight at the very latest." - -"That shall be done, monseigneur." - -"The present order gives you the right to visit and search all the isles -along the coast; you will there make the enrolments and levies you may -want for me." - -"Yes, monsieur le duc." - -"And you are an active man, and will work freely, you will spend much -money." - -"I hope not, monseigneur." - -"But I am sure you will. My intendant has prepared the orders of a -thousand livres, drawn upon the cities of the south; he will give you a -hundred of them. Now, dear vicomte, be gone." - -Athos interrupted the prince. "Keep your money, monseigneur; war is to -be waged among the Arabs with gold as well as lead." - -"I wish to try the contrary," replied the duke; "and then you are -acquainted with my ideas upon the expedition--plenty of noise, plenty -of fire, and, if so it must be, I shall disappear in the smoke." Having -spoken thus, M. de Beaufort began to laugh; but his mirth was not -reciprocated by Athos and Raoul. He perceived this at once. "Ah," said -he, with the courteous egotism of his rank and age, "you are such people -as a man should not see after dinner; you are cold, stiff, and dry when -I am all fire, suppleness, and wine. No, devil take me! I should always -see you fasting, vicomte, and you, comte, if you wear such a face as -that, you shall see me no more." - -He said this, pressing the hand of Athos, who replied with a smile, -"Monseigneur, do not talk so grandly because you happen to have plenty -of money. I predict that within a month you will be dry, stiff, and -cold, in presence of your strong-box, and that then, having Raoul at -your elbow, fasting, you will be surprised to see him gay, animated, and -generous, because he will have some new crowns to offer you." - -"God grant it may be so!" cried the delighted duke. "Comte, stay with -me!" - -"No, I shall go with Raoul; the mission with which you charge him is -a troublesome and difficult one. Alone it would be too much for him to -execute. You do not observe, monseigneur, you have given him command of -the first order." - -"Bah!" - -"And in your naval arrangements, too." - -"That may be true. But one finds that such fine young fellows as your -son generally do all that is required of them." - -"Monseigneur, I believe you will find nowhere so much zeal and -intelligence, so much real bravery, as in Raoul; but if he failed -to arrange your embarkation, you would only meet the fate that you -deserve." - -"Humph! you are scolding me, then." - -"Monseigneur, to provision a fleet, to assemble a flotilla, to enroll -your maritime force, would take an admiral a year. Raoul is a cavalry -officer, and you allow him a fortnight!" - -"I tell you he will do it." - -"He may; but I will go and help him." - -"To be sure you will; I reckoned upon you, and still further believe -that when we are once at Toulon you will not let him depart alone." - -"Oh!" said Athos, shaking his head. - -"Patience! patience!" - -"Monseigneur, permit us to take our leave." - -"Begone, then, and may my good luck attend you." - -"Adieu! monseigneur; and may your own good luck attend you likewise." - -"Here is an expedition admirably commenced!" said Athos to his son. "No -provisions--no store flotilla! What can be done, thus?" - -"Humph!" murmured Raoul; "if all are going to do as I am, provisions -will not be wanted." - -"Monsieur," replied Athos, sternly, "do not be unjust and senseless in -your egotism, or your grief, whichever you please to call it. If you set -out for this war solely with the intention of getting killed therein, -you stand in need of nobody, and it was scarcely worth while to -recommend you to M. de Beaufort. But when you have been introduced to -the prime commandant--when you have accepted the responsibility of a -post in his army, the question is no longer about _you_, but about all -those poor soldiers, who, as well as you, have hearts and bodies, who -will weep for their country and endure all the necessities of their -condition. Remember, Raoul, that officers are ministers as useful to the -world as priests, and that they ought to have more charity." - -"Monsieur, I know it and have practiced it; I would have continued to do -so still, but--" - -"You forget also that you are of a country that is proud of its military -glory; go and die if you like, but do not die without honor and without -advantage to France. Cheer up, Raoul! do not let my words grieve you; I -love you, and wish to see you perfect." - -"I love your reproaches, monsieur," said the young man, mildly; "they -alone may cure me, because they prove to me that some one loves me -still." - -"And now, Raoul, let us be off; the weather is so fine, the heavens so -clear, those heavens which we always find above our heads, which you -will see more clear still at Gigelli, and which will speak to you of me -there, as they speak to me here of God." - -The two gentlemen, after having agreed on this point, talked over the -wild freaks of the duke, convinced that France would be served in a very -incomplete manner, as regarded both spirit and practice, in the ensuing -expedition; and having summed up the ducal policy under the one word -vanity, they set forward, in obedience rather to their will than -destiny. The sacrifice was half accomplished. - - - -Chapter XXXI. The Silver Dish. - -The journey passed off pretty well. Athos and his son traversed France -at the rate of fifteen leagues per day; sometimes more, sometimes less, -according to the intensity of Raoul's grief. It took them a fortnight -to reach Toulon, and they lost all traces of D'Artagnan at Antibes. They -were forced to believe that the captain of the musketeers was desirous -of preserving an incognito on his route, for Athos derived from -his inquiries an assurance that such a cavalier as he described had -exchanged his horse for a well-closed carriage on quitting Avignon. -Raoul was much affected at not meeting with D'Artagnan. His affectionate -heart longed to take a farewell and received consolation from that heart -of steel. Athos knew from experience that D'Artagnan became impenetrable -when engaged in any serious affair, whether on his own account or on the -service of the king. He even feared to offend his friend, or thwart him -by too pressing inquiries. And yet when Raoul commenced his labor of -classing the flotilla, and got together the _chalands_ and lighters to -send them to Toulon, one of the fishermen told the comte that his boat -had been laid up to refit since a trip he had made on account of a -gentleman who was in great haste to embark. Athos, believing that this -man was telling a falsehood in order to be left at liberty to fish, -and so gain more money when all his companions were gone, insisted upon -having the details. The fisherman informed him that six days previously, -a man had come in the night to hire his boat, for the purpose of -visiting the island of St. Honnorat. The price was agreed upon, but the -gentleman had arrived with an immense carriage case, which he insisted -upon embarking, in spite of the many difficulties that opposed the -operation. The fisherman wished to retract. He had even threatened, -but his threats had procured him nothing but a shower of blows from the -gentleman's cane, which fell upon his shoulders sharp and long. Swearing -and grumbling, he had recourse to the syndic of his brotherhood at -Antibes, who administer justice among themselves and protect each other; -but the gentleman had exhibited a certain paper, at sight of which -the syndic, bowing to the very ground, enjoined obedience from the -fisherman, and abused him for having been refractory. They then departed -with the freight. - -"But all this does not tell us," said Athos, "how you injured your -boat." - -"This is the way. I was steering towards St. Honnorat as the gentleman -desired me; but he changed his mind, and pretended that I could not pass -to the south of the abbey." - -"And why not?" - -"Because, monsieur, there is in front of the square tower of the -Benedictines, towards the southern point, the bank of the _Moines_." - -"A rock?" asked Athos. - -"Level with the water, but below water; a dangerous passage, yet one I -have cleared a thousand times; the gentleman required me to land him at -Sainte-Marguerite's." - -"Well?" - -"Well, monsieur!" cried the fisherman, with his _Provencal_ accent, "a -man is a sailor, or he is not; he knows his course, or he is nothing but -a fresh-water lubber. I was obstinate, and wished to try the channel. -The gentleman took me by the collar, and told me quietly he would -strangle me. My mate armed himself with a hatchet, and so did I. We had -the affront of the night before to pay him out for. But the gentleman -drew his sword, and used it in such an astonishingly rapid manner, that -we neither of us could get near him. I was about to hurl my hatchet at -his head, and I had a right to do so, hadn't I, monsieur? for a sailor -aboard is master, as a citizen is in his chamber; I was going, then, in -self-defense, to cut the gentleman in two, when, all at once--believe me -or not, monsieur--the great carriage case opened of itself, I don't know -how, and there came out of it a sort of a phantom, his head covered with -a black helmet and a black mask, something terrible to look upon, which -came towards me threatening with its fist." - -"And that was--" said Athos. - -"That was the devil, monsieur; for the gentleman, with great glee, cried -out, on seeing him: 'Ah! thank you, monseigneur!'" - -"A most strange story!" murmured the comte, looking at Raoul. - -"And what did you do?" asked the latter of the fisherman. - -"You must know, monsieur, that two poor men, such as we are, could be -no match for two gentlemen; but when one of them turned out to be the -devil, we had no earthly chance! My companion and I did not stop to -consult one another; we made but one jump into the sea, for we were -within seven or eight hundred feet of the shore." - -"Well, and then?" - -"Why, and then, monseigneur, as there was a little wind from the -southwest, the boat drifted into the sands of Sainte-Marguerite's." - -"Oh!--but the travelers?" - -"Bah! you need not be uneasy about them! It was pretty plain that one -was the devil, and protected the other; for when we recovered the boat, -after she got afloat again, instead of finding these two creatures -injured by the shock, we found nothing, not even the carriage or the -case." - -"Very strange! very strange!" repeated the comte. "But after that, what -did you do, my friend?" - -"I made my complaint to the governor of Sainte-Marguerite's, who brought -my finger under my nose by telling me if I plagued him with such silly -stories he would have me flogged." - -"What! did the governor himself say so?" - -"Yes, monsieur; and yet my boat was injured, seriously injured, for the -prow is left upon the point of Sainte-Marguerite's, and the carpenter -asks a hundred and twenty livres to repair it." - -"Very well," replied Raoul; "you will be exempted from the service. Go." - -"We will go to Sainte-Marguerite's, shall we?" said the comte to -Bragelonne, as the man walked away. - -"Yes, monsieur, for there is something to be cleared up; that man does -not seem to me to have told the truth." - -"Nor to me either, Raoul. The story of the masked man and the carriage -having disappeared, may be told to conceal some violence these fellows -have committed upon their passengers in the open sea, to punish him for -his persistence in embarking." - -"I formed the same suspicion; the carriage was more likely to contain -property than a man." - -"We shall see to that, Raoul. The gentleman very much resembles -D'Artagnan; I recognize his methods of proceeding. Alas! we are no -longer the young invincibles of former days. Who knows whether the -hatchet or the iron bar of this miserable coaster has not succeeded in -doing that which the best blades of Europe, balls, and bullets have not -been able to do in forty years?" - -That same day they set out for Sainte-Marguerite's, on board a -_chasse-maree_ come from Toulon under orders. The impression they -experienced on landing was a singularly pleasing one. The island seemed -loaded with flowers and fruits. In its cultivated part it served as a -garden for the governor. Orange, pomegranate, and fig trees bent beneath -the weight of their golden or purple fruits. All round this garden, in -the uncultivated parts, red partridges ran about in conveys among the -brambles and tufts of junipers, and at every step of the comte and Raoul -a terrified rabbit quitted his thyme and heath to scuttle away to the -burrow. In fact, this fortunate isle was uninhabited. Flat, offering -nothing but a tiny bay for the convenience of embarkation, and under the -protection of the governor, who went shares with them, smugglers made -use of it as a provisional _entrepot_, at the expense of not killing the -game or devastating the garden. With this compromise, the governor was -in a situation to be satisfied with a garrison of eight men to guard his -fortress, in which twelve cannons accumulated coats of moldy green. The -governor was a sort of happy farmer, harvesting wines, figs, oil, -and oranges, preserving his citrons and _cedrates_ in the sun of his -casemates. The fortress, encircled by a deep ditch, its only guardian, -arose like three heads upon turrets connected with each other by -terraces covered with moss. - -Athos and Raoul wandered for some time round the fences of the garden -without finding any one to introduce them to the governor. They ended by -making their own way into the garden. It was at the hottest time of -the day. Each living thing sought its shelter under grass or stone. The -heavens spread their fiery veils as if to stifle all noises, to envelop -all existences; the rabbit under the broom, the fly under the leaf, -slept as the wave did beneath the heavens. Athos saw nothing living but -a soldier, upon the terrace beneath the second and third court, who was -carrying a basket of provisions on his head. This man returned almost -immediately without his basket, and disappeared in the shade of his -sentry-box. Athos supposed he must have been carrying dinner to some -one, and, after having done so, returned to dine himself. All at once -they heard some one call out, and raising their heads, perceived in the -frame of the bars of the window something of a white color, like a -hand that was waved backwards and forwards--something shining, like a -polished weapon struck by the rays of the sun. And before they were able -to ascertain what it was, a luminous train, accompanied by a hissing -sound in the air, called their attention from the donjon to the ground. -A second dull noise was heard from the ditch, and Raoul ran to pick up -a silver plate which was rolling along the dry sand. The hand that -had thrown this plate made a sign to the two gentlemen, and then -disappeared. Athos and Raoul, approaching each other, commenced an -attentive examination of the dusty plate, and they discovered, in -characters traced upon the bottom of it with the point of a knife, this -inscription: - -"_I am the brother of the king of France--a prisoner to-day--a madman -to-morrow. French gentlemen and Christians, pray to God for the soul and -the reason of the son of your old rulers_." - -The plate fell from the hands of Athos whilst Raoul was endeavoring -to make out the meaning of these dismal words. At the same moment they -heard a cry from the top of the donjon. Quick as lightning Raoul -bent down his head, and forced down that of his father likewise. A -musket-barrel glittered from the crest of the wall. A white smoke -floated like a plume from the mouth of the musket, and a ball was -flattened against a stone within six inches of the two gentlemen. - -"_Cordieu!_" cried Athos. "What, are people assassinated here? Come -down, cowards as you are!" - -"Yes, come down!" cried Raoul, furiously shaking his fist at the castle. - -One of the assailants--he who was about to fire--replied to these cries -by an exclamation of surprise; and, as his companion, who wished to -continue the attack, had re-seized his loaded musket, he who had cried -out threw up the weapon, and the ball flew into the air. Athos and -Raoul, seeing them disappear from the platform, expected they would -come down to them, and waited with a firm demeanor. Five minutes had -not elapsed, when a stroke upon a drum called the eight soldiers of the -garrison to arms, and they showed themselves on the other side of -the ditch with their muskets in hand. At the head of these men was an -officer, whom Athos and Raoul recognized as the one who had fired the -first musket. The man ordered the soldiers to "make ready." - -"We are going to be shot!" cried Raoul; "but, sword in hand, at least, -let us leap the ditch! We shall kill at least two of these scoundrels, -when their muskets are empty." And, suiting the action to the word, -Raoul was springing forward, followed by Athos, when a well-known voice -resounded behind them, "Athos! Raoul!" - -"D'Artagnan!" replied the two gentlemen. - -"Recover arms! _Mordioux!_" cried the captain to the soldiers. "I was -sure I could not be mistaken!" - -"What is the meaning of this?" asked Athos. "What! were we to be shot -without warning?" - -"It was I who was going to shoot you, and if the governor missed you, I -should not have missed you, my dear friends. How fortunate it is that -I am accustomed to take a long aim, instead of firing at the instant I -raise my weapon! I thought I recognized you. Ah! my dear friends, how -fortunate!" And D'Artagnan wiped his brow, for he had run fast, and -emotion with him was not feigned. - -"How!" said Athos. "And is the gentleman who fired at us the governor of -the fortress?" - -"In person." - -"And why did he fire at us? What have we done to him?" - -"_Pardieu!_ You received what the prisoner threw to you?" - -"That is true." - -"That plate--the prisoner has written something on it, has he not?" - -"Yes." - -"Good heavens! I was afraid he had." - -And D'Artagnan, with all the marks of mortal disquietude, seized the -plate, to read the inscription. When he had read it, a fearful pallor -spread across his countenance. "Oh! good heavens!" repeated he. -"Silence!--Here is the governor." - -"And what will he do to us? Is it our fault?" - -"It is true, then?" said Athos, in a subdued voice. "It is true?" - -"Silence! I tell you--silence! If he only believes you can read; if he -only suspects you have understood; I love you, my dear friends, I would -willingly be killed for you, but--" - -"But--" said Athos and Raoul. - -"But I could not save you from perpetual imprisonment if I saved you -from death. Silence, then! Silence again!" - -The governor came up, having crossed the ditch upon a plank bridge. - -"Well!" said he to D'Artagnan, "what stops us?" - -"You are Spaniards--you do not understand a word of French," said the -captain, eagerly, to his friends in a low voice. - -"Well!" replied he, addressing the governor, "I was right; these -gentlemen are two Spanish captains with whom I was acquainted at Ypres, -last year; they don't know a word of French." - -"Ah!" said the governor, sharply. "And yet they were trying to read the -inscription on the plate." - -D'Artagnan took it out of his hands, effacing the characters with the -point of his sword. - -"How!" cried the governor, "what are you doing? I cannot read them now!" - -"It is a state secret," replied D'Artagnan, bluntly; "and as you know -that, according to the king's orders, it is under the penalty of death -any one should penetrate it, I will, if you like, allow you to read it, -and have you shot immediately afterwards." - -During this apostrophe--half serious, half ironical--Athos and Raoul -preserved the coolest, most unconcerned silence. - -"But, is it possible," said the governor, "that these gentlemen do not -comprehend at least some words?" - -"Suppose they do! If they do understand a few spoken words, it does not -follow that they should understand what is written. They cannot even -read Spanish. A noble Spaniard, remember, ought never to know how to -read." - -The governor was obliged to be satisfied with these explanations, but he -was still tenacious. "Invite these gentlemen to come to the fortress," -said he. - -"That I will willingly do. I was about to propose it to you." The -fact is, the captain had quite another idea, and would have wished his -friends a hundred leagues off. But he was obliged to make the best of -it. He addressed the two gentlemen in Spanish, giving them a polite -invitation, which they accepted. They all turned towards the entrance of -the fort, and, the incident being at an end, the eight soldiers returned -to their delightful leisure, for a moment disturbed by this unexpected -adventure. - - - -Chapter XXXII. Captive and Jailers. - -When they had entered the fort, and whilst the governor was making some -preparations for the reception of his guests, "Come," said Athos, "let -us have a word of explanation whilst we are alone." - -"It is simply this," replied the musketeer. "I have conducted hither a -prisoner, who the king commands shall not be seen. You came here, he -has thrown something to you through the lattice of his window; I was at -dinner with the governor, I saw the object thrown, and I saw Raoul pick -it up. It does not take long to understand this. I understood it, and I -thought you in intelligence with my prisoner. And then--" - -"And then--you commanded us to be shot." - -"_Ma foi!_ I admit it; but, if I was the first to seize a musket, -fortunately, I was the last to take aim at you." - -"If you had killed me, D'Artagnan, I should have had the good fortune -to die for the royal house of France, and it would be an honor to die by -your hand--you, its noblest and most loyal defender." - -"What the devil, Athos, do you mean by the royal house?" stammered -D'Artagnan. "You don't mean that you, a well-informed and sensible man, -can place any faith in the nonsense written by an idiot?" - -"I do believe in it." - -"With so much the more reason, my dear chevalier, from your having -orders to kill all those who do believe in it," said Raoul. - -"That is because," replied the captain of the musketeers--"because every -calumny, however absurd it may be, has the almost certain chance of -becoming popular." - -"No, D'Artagnan," replied Athos, promptly; "but because the king is not -willing that the secret of his family should transpire among the people, -and cover with shame the executioners of the son of Louis XIII." - -"Do not talk in such a childish manner, Athos, or I shall begin to think -you have lost your senses. Besides, explain to me how it is possible -Louis XIII. should have a son in the Isle of Sainte-Marguerite." - -"A son whom you have brought hither masked, in a fishing-boat," said -Athos. "Why not?" - -D'Artagnan was brought to a pause. - -"Oh!" said he; "whence do you know that a fishing-boat--?" - -"Brought you to Sainte-Marguerite's with the carriage containing -the prisoner--with a prisoner whom you styled monseigneur. Oh! I -am acquainted with all that," resumed the comte. D'Artagnan bit his -mustache. - -"If it were true," said he, "that I had brought hither in a boat and -with a carriage a masked prisoner, nothing proves that this prisoner -must be a prince--a prince of the house of France." - -"Ask Aramis such riddles," replied Athos, coolly. - -"Aramis," cried the musketeer, quite at a stand. "Have you seen Aramis?" - -"After his discomfiture at Vaux, yes; I have seen Aramis, a fugitive, -pursued, bewildered, ruined; and Aramis has told me enough to make me -believe in the complaints this unfortunate young prince cut upon the -bottom of the plate." - -D'Artagnan's head sunk on his breast in some confusion. "This is the -way," said he, "in which God turns to nothing that which men call -wisdom! A fine secret must that be of which twelve or fifteen persons -hold the tattered fragments! Athos, cursed be the chance which has -brought you face to face with me in this affair! for now--" - -"Well," said Athos, with his customary mild severity, "is your secret -lost because I know it? Consult your memory, my friend. Have I not borne -secrets heavier than this?" - -"You have never borne one so dangerous," replied D'Artagnan, in a tone -of sadness. "I have something like a sinister idea that all who are -concerned with this secret will die, and die unhappily." - -"The will of God be done!" said Athos, "but here is your governor." - -D'Artagnan and his friends immediately resumed their parts. The -governor, suspicious and hard, behaved towards D'Artagnan with a -politeness almost amounting to obsequiousness. With respect to the -travelers, he contented himself with offering good cheer, and never -taking his eye from them. Athos and Raoul observed that he often tried -to embarrass them by sudden attacks, or to catch them off their guard; -but neither the one nor the other gave him the least advantage. What -D'Artagnan had said was probable, if the governor did not believe it to -be quite true. They rose from the table to repose awhile. - -"What is this man's name? I don't like the looks of him," said Athos to -D'Artagnan in Spanish. - -"De Saint-Mars," replied the captain. - -"He is, then, I suppose, the prince's jailer?" - -"Eh! how can I tell? I may be kept at Sainte-Marguerite forever." - -"Oh! no, not you!" - -"My friend, I am in the situation of a man who finds a treasure in the -midst of a desert. He would like to carry it away, but he cannot; he -would like to leave it, but he dares not. The king will not dare to -recall me, for no one else would serve him as faithfully as I do; he -regrets not having me near him, from being aware that no one would be of -so much service near his person as myself. But it will happen as it may -please God." - -"But," observed Raoul, "your not being certain proves that your -situation here is provisional, and you will return to Paris?" - -"Ask these gentlemen," interrupted the governor, "what was their purpose -in coming to Saint-Marguerite?" - -"They came from learning there was a convent of Benedictines at -Sainte-Honnorat which is considered curious; and from being told there -was excellent shooting in the island." - -"That is quite at their service, as well as yours," replied Saint-Mars. - -D'Artagnan politely thanked him. - -"When will they depart?" added the governor. - -"To-morrow," replied D'Artagnan. - -M. de Saint-Mars went to make his rounds, and left D'Artagnan alone with -the pretended Spaniards. - -"Oh!" exclaimed the musketeer, "here is a life and a society that suits -me very little. I command this man, and he bores me, _mordioux!_ Come, -let us have a shot or two at the rabbits; the walk will be beautiful, -and not fatiguing. The whole island is but a league and a half in -length, with the breadth of a league; a real park. Let us try to amuse -ourselves." - -"As you please, D'Artagnan; not for the sake of amusing ourselves, but -to gain an opportunity for talking freely." - -D'Artagnan made a sign to a soldier, who brought the gentlemen some -guns, and then returned to the fort. - -"And now," said the musketeer, "answer me the question put to you by -that black-looking Saint-Mars: what did you come to do at the Lerin -Isles?" - -"To bid you farewell." - -"Bid me farewell! What do you mean by that? Is Raoul going anywhere?" - -"Yes." - -"Then I will lay a wager it is with M. de Beaufort." - -"With M. de Beaufort it is, my dear friend. You always guess correctly." - -"From habit." - -Whilst the two friends were commencing their conversation, Raoul, with -his head hanging down and his heart oppressed, seated himself on a -mossy rock, his gun across his knees, looking at the sea--looking at -the heavens, and listening to the voice of his soul; he allowed the -sportsmen to attain a considerable distance from him. D'Artagnan -remarked his absence. - -"He has not recovered the blow?" said he to Athos. - -"He is struck to death." - -"Oh! your fears exaggerate, I hope. Raoul is of a tempered nature. -Around all hearts as noble as his, there is a second envelope that forms -a cuirass. The first bleeds, the second resists." - -"No," replied Athos, "Raoul will die of it." - -"_Mordioux!_" said D'Artagnan, in a melancholy tone. And he did not add -a word to this exclamation. Then, a minute after, "Why do you let him -go?" - -"Because he insists on going." - -"And why do you not go with him?" - -"Because I could not bear to see him die." - -D'Artagnan looked his friend earnestly in the face. "You know one -thing," continued the comte, leaning upon the arm of the captain; "you -know that in the course of my life I have been afraid of but few things. -Well! I have an incessant gnawing, insurmountable fear that an hour will -come in which I shall hold the dead body of that boy in my arms." - -"Oh!" murmured D'Artagnan; "oh!" - -"He will die, I know, I have a perfect conviction of that; but I would -not see him die." - -"How is this, Athos? you come and place yourself in the presence of the -bravest man, you say you have ever seen, of your own D'Artagnan, of that -man without an equal, as you formerly called him, and you come and tell -him, with your arms folded, that you are afraid of witnessing the death -of your son, you who have seen all that can be seen in this world! Why -have you this fear, Athos? Man upon this earth must expect everything, -and ought to face everything." - -"Listen to me, my friend. After having worn myself out upon this earth -of which you speak, I have preserved but two religions: that of life, -friendship, my duty as a father--that of eternity, love, and respect for -God. Now, I have within me the revelation that if God should decree that -my friend or my son should render up his last sigh in my presence--oh! -no, I cannot even tell you, D'Artagnan!" - -"Speak, speak, tell me!" - -"I am strong against everything, except against the death of those I -love. For that only there is no remedy. He who dies, gains; he who sees -others die, loses. No, this is it--to know that I should no more meet on -earth him whom I now behold with joy; to know that there would nowhere -be a D'Artagnan any more, nowhere again be a Raoul, oh! I am old, look -you, I have no longer courage; I pray God to spare me in my weakness; -but if he struck me so plainly and in that fashion, I should curse him. -A Christian gentleman ought not to curse his God, D'Artagnan; it is -enough to once have cursed a king!" - -"Humph!" sighed D'Artagnan, a little confused by this violent tempest of -grief. - -"Let me speak to him, Athos. Who knows?" - -"Try, if you please, but I am convinced you will not succeed." - -"I will not attempt to console him. I will serve him." - -"You will?" - -"Doubtless, I will. Do you think this would be the first time a woman -had repented of an infidelity? I will go to him, I tell you." - -Athos shook his head, and continued his walk alone, D'Artagnan, cutting -across the brambles, rejoined Raoul and held out his hand to him. "Well, -Raoul! You have something to say to me?" - -"I have a kindness to ask of you," replied Bragelonne. - -"Ask it, then." - -"You will some day return to France?" - -"I hope so." - -"Ought I to write to Mademoiselle de la Valliere?" - -"No, you must not." - -"But I have many things to say to her." - -"Go and say them to her, then." - -"Never!" - -"Pray, what virtue do you attribute to a letter, which your speech might -not possess?" - -"Perhaps you are right." - -"She loves the king," said D'Artagnan, bluntly; "and she is an honest -girl." Raoul started. "And you, you whom she abandons, she, perhaps, -loves better than she does the king, but after another fashion." - -"D'Artagnan, do you believe she loves the king?" - -"To idolatry. Her heart is inaccessible to any other feeling. You might -continue to live near her, and would be her best friend." - -"Ah!" exclaimed Raoul, with a passionate burst of repugnance at such a -hideous hope. - -"Will you do so?" - -"It would be base." - -"That is a very absurd word, which would lead me to think slightly of -your understanding. Please to understand, Raoul, that it is never base -to do that which is imposed upon us by a superior force. If your heart -says to you, 'Go there, or die,' why go, Raoul. Was she base or brave, -she whom you loved, in preferring the king to you, the king whom her -heart commanded her imperiously to prefer to you? No, she was the -bravest of women. Do, then, as she has done. Oblige yourself. Do you -know one thing of which I am sure, Raoul?" - -"What is that?" - -"Why, that by seeing her closely with the eyes of a jealous man--" - -"Well?" - -"Well! you would cease to love her." - -"Then I am decided, my dear D'Artagnan." - -"To set off to see her again?" - -"No; to set off that I may _never_ see her again. I wish to love her -forever." - -"Ha! I must confess," replied the musketeer, "that is a conclusion which -I was far from expecting." - -"This is what I wish, my friend. You will see her again, and you will -give her a letter which, if you think proper, will explain to her, as to -yourself, what is passing in my heart. Read it; I drew it up last night. -Something told me I should see you to-day." He held the letter out, and -D'Artagnan read: - -"MADEMOISELLE,--You are not wrong in my eyes in not loving me. You have -only been guilty of one fault towards me, that of having left me to -believe you loved me. This error will cost me my life. I pardon you, -but I cannot pardon myself. It is said that happy lovers are deaf to the -sorrows of rejected lovers. It will not be so with you, who did not love -me, save with anxiety. I am sure that if I had persisted in endeavoring -to change that friendship into love, you would have yielded out of a -fear of bringing about my death, or lessening the esteem I had for you. -It is much more delightful to me to die, knowing that _you_ are free -and satisfied. How much, then, will you love me, when you will no -longer fear either my presence or reproaches? You will love me, because, -however charming a new love may appear to you, God has not made me in -anything inferior to him you have chosen, and because my devotedness, -my sacrifice, and my painful end will assure me, in your eyes, a certain -superiority over him. I have allowed to escape, in the candid credulity -of my heart, the treasure I possessed. Many people tell me that you -loved me enough to lead me to hope you would have loved me much. That -idea takes from my mind all bitterness, and leads me only to blame -myself. You will accept this last farewell, and you will bless me -for having taken refuge in the inviolable asylum where hatred is -extinguished, and where all love endures forever. Adieu, mademoiselle. -If your happiness could be purchased by the last drop of my blood, I -would shed that drop. I willingly make the sacrifice of it to my misery! - -"RAOUL, VICOTME DE BRAGELONNE." - - -"The letter reads very well," said the captain. "I have only one fault -to find with it." - -"Tell me what that is!" said Raoul. - -"Why, it is that it tells everything, except the thing which exhales, -like a mortal poison from your eyes and from your heart; except the -senseless love which still consumes you." Raoul grew paler, but remained -silent. - -"Why did you not write simply these words: - -"'MADEMOISELLE,--Instead of cursing you, I love you and I die.'" - -"That is true," exclaimed Raoul, with a sinister kind of joy. - -And tearing the letter he had just taken back, he wrote the following -words upon a leaf of his tablets: - -"To procure the happiness of once more telling you I love you, I commit -the baseness of writing to you; and to punish myself for that baseness, -I die." And he signed it. - -"You will give her these tablets, captain, will you not?" - -"When?" asked the latter. - -"On the day," said Bragelonne, pointing to the last sentence, "on the -day when you can place a date under these words." And he sprang away -quickly to join Athos, who was returning with slow steps. - -As they re-entered the fort, the sea rose with that rapid, gusty -vehemence which characterizes the Mediterranean; the ill-humor of -the element became a tempest. Something shapeless, and tossed about -violently by the waves, appeared just off the coast. - -"What is that?" said Athos,--"a wrecked boat?" - -"No, it is not a boat," said D'Artagnan. - -"Pardon me," said Raoul, "there is a bark gaining the port rapidly." - -"Yes, there is a bark in the creek, which is prudently seeking shelter -here; but that which Athos points to in the sand is not a boat at -all--it has run aground." - -"Yes, yes, I see it." - -"It is the carriage, which I threw into the sea after landing the -prisoner." - -"Well!" said Athos, "if you take my advice, D'Artagnan, you will burn -that carriage, in order that no vestige of it may remain, without which -the fishermen of Antibes, who have believed they had to do with the -devil, will endeavor to prove that your prisoner was but a man." - -"Your advice is good, Athos, and I will this night have it carried out, -or rather, I will carry it out myself; but let us go in, for the rain -falls heavily, and the lightning is terrific." - -As they were passing over the ramparts to a gallery of which D'Artagnan -had the key, they saw M. de Saint-Mars directing his steps towards the -chamber inhabited by the prisoner. Upon a sign from D'Artagnan, they -concealed themselves in an angle of the staircase. - -"What is it?" said Athos. - -"You will see. Look. The prisoner is returning from chapel." - -And they saw, by the red flashes of lightning against the violet fog -which the wind stamped upon the bank-ward sky, they saw pass gravely, -at six paces behind the governor, a man clothed in black and masked by a -vizor of polished steel, soldered to a helmet of the same nature, which -altogether enveloped the whole of his head. The fire of the heavens cast -red reflections on the polished surface, and these reflections, flying -off capriciously, seemed to be angry looks launched by the unfortunate, -instead of imprecations. In the middle of the gallery, the prisoner -stopped for a moment, to contemplate the infinite horizon, to respire -the sulphurous perfumes of the tempest, to drink in thirstily the hot -rain, and to breathe a sigh resembling a smothered groan. - -"Come on, monsieur," said Saint-Mars, sharply, to the prisoner, for -he already became uneasy at seeing him look so long beyond the walls. -"Monsieur, come on!" - -"Say monseigneur!" cried Athos, from his corner, with a voice so solemn -and terrible, that the governor trembled from head to foot. Athos -insisted upon respect being paid to fallen majesty. The prisoner turned -round. - -"Who spoke?" asked Saint-Mars. - -"It was I," replied D'Artagnan, showing himself promptly. "You know that -is the order." - -"Call me neither monsieur nor monseigneur," said the prisoner in his -turn, in a voice that penetrated to the very soul of Raoul; "call me -ACCURSED!" He passed on, and the iron door croaked after him. - -"There goes a truly unfortunate man!" murmured the musketeer in a hollow -whisper, pointing out to Raoul the chamber inhabited by the prince. - - - -Chapter XXXIII. Promises. - -Scarcely had D'Artagnan re-entered his apartment with his two friends, -when one of the soldiers of the fort came to inform him that the -governor was seeking him. The bark which Raoul had perceived at sea, and -which appeared so eager to gain the port, came to Sainte-Marguerite with -an important dispatch for the captain of the musketeers. On opening it, -D'Artagnan recognized the writing of the king: "I should think," -said Louis XIV., "you will have completed the execution of my orders, -Monsieur d'Artagnan; return, then, immediately to Paris, and join me at -the Louvre." - -"There is the end of my exile!" cried the musketeer with joy; "God be -praised, I am no longer a jailer!" And he showed the letter to Athos. - -"So, then, you must leave us?" replied the latter, in a melancholy tone. - -"Yes, but to meet again, dear friend, seeing that Raoul is old enough -now to go alone with M. de Beaufort, and will prefer his father going -back in company with M. d'Artagnan, to forcing him to travel two hundred -leagues solitarily to reach home at La Fere; will you not, Raoul?" - -"Certainly," stammered the latter, with an expression of tender regret. - -"No, no, my friend," interrupted Athos, "I will never quit Raoul till -the day his vessel disappears on the horizon. As long as he remains in -France he shall not be separated from me." - -"As you please, dear friend; but we will, at least, leave -Sainte-Marguerite together; take advantage of the bark that will convey -me back to Antibes." - -"With all my heart; we cannot too soon be at a distance from this fort, -and from the spectacle that shocked us so just now." - -The three friends quitted the little isle, after paying their respects -to the governor, and by the last flashes of the departing tempest they -took their farewell of the white walls of the fort. D'Artagnan parted -from his friend that same night, after having seen fire set to the -carriage upon the shore by the orders of Saint-Mars, according to the -advice the captain had given him. Before getting on horseback, and after -leaving the arms of Athos: "My friends," said he, "you bear too much -resemblance to two soldiers who are abandoning their post. Something -warns me that Raoul will require being supported by you in his rank. -Will you allow me to ask permission to go over into Africa with a -hundred good muskets? The king will not refuse me, and I will take you -with me." - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan," replied Raoul, pressing his hand with emotion, -"thanks for that offer, which would give us more than we wish, either -monsieur le comte or I. I, who am young, stand in need of labor of mind -and fatigue of body; monsieur le comte wants the profoundest repose. You -are his best friend. I recommend him to your care. In watching over him, -you are holding both our souls in your hands." - -"I must go; my horse is all in a fret," said D'Artagnan, with whom -the most manifest sign of a lively emotion was the change of ideas -in conversation. "Come, comte, how many days longer has Raoul to stay -here?" - -"Three days at most." - -"And how long will it take you to reach home?" - -"Oh! a considerable time," replied Athos. "I shall not like the idea -of being separated too quickly from Raoul. Time will travel too fast -of itself to require me to aid it by distance. I shall only make -half-stages." - -"And why so, my friend? Nothing is more dull than traveling slowly; and -hostelry life does not become a man like you." - -"My friend, I came hither on post-horses; but I wish to purchase two -animals of a superior kind. Now, to take them home fresh, it would not -be prudent to make them travel more than seven or eight leagues a day." - -"Where is Grimaud?" - -"He arrived yesterday morning with Raoul's appointments; and I have left -him to sleep." - -"That is, never to come back again," D'Artagnan suffered to escape him. -"Till we meet again, then, dear Athos--and if you are diligent, I shall -embrace you the sooner." So saying, he put his foot in the stirrup, -which Raoul held. - -"Farewell!" said the young man, embracing him. - -"Farewell!" said D'Artagnan, as he got into his saddle. - -His horse made a movement which divided the cavalier from his friends. -This scene had taken place in front of the house chosen by Athos, near -the gates of Antibes, whither D'Artagnan, after his supper, had ordered -his horses to be brought. The road began to branch off there, white and -undulating in the vapors of the night. The horse eagerly respired the -salt, sharp perfume of the marshes. D'Artagnan put him to a trot; and -Athos and Raoul sadly turned towards the house. All at once they heard -the rapid approach of a horse's steps, and first believed it to be one -of those singular repercussions which deceive the ear at every turn in -a road. But it was really the return of the horseman. They uttered a -cry of joyous surprise; and the captain, springing to the ground like -a young man, seized within his arms the two beloved heads of Athos and -Raoul. He held them long embraced thus, without speaking a word, or -suffering the sigh which was bursting his breast to escape him. Then, as -rapidly as he had come back, he set off again, with a sharp application -of his spurs to the sides of his fiery horse. - -"Alas!" said the comte, in a low voice, "alas! alas!" - -"An evil omen!" on his side, said D'Artagnan to himself, making up for -lost time. "I could not smile upon them. An evil omen!" - -The next day Grimaud was on foot again. The service commanded by M. de -Beaufort was happily accomplished. The flotilla, sent to Toulon by the -exertions of Raoul, had set out, dragging after it in little nutshells, -almost invisible, the wives and friends of the fishermen and smugglers -put in requisition for the service of the fleet. The time, so short, -which remained for father and son to live together, appeared to go -by with double rapidity, like some swift stream that flows towards -eternity. Athos and Raoul returned to Toulon, which began to be filled -with the noise of carriages, with the noise of arms, the noise of -neighing horses. The trumpeters sounded their spirited marches; the -drummers signalized their strength; the streets were overflowing -with soldiers, servants, and tradespeople. The Duc de Beaufort was -everywhere, superintending the embarkation with the zeal and interest of -a good captain. He encouraged the humblest of his companions; he scolded -his lieutenants, even those of the highest rank. Artillery, provisions, -baggage, he insisted upon seeing all himself. He examined the equipment -of every soldier; assured himself of the health and soundness of every -horse. It was plain that, light, boastful, egotistical, in his hotel, -the gentleman became the soldier again--the high noble, a captain--in -face of the responsibility he had accepted. And yet, it must be admitted -that, whatever was the care with which he presided over the preparations -for departure, it was easy to perceive careless precipitation, and the -absence of all the precaution that make the French soldier the first -soldier in the world, because, in that world, he is the one most -abandoned to his own physical and moral resources. All things having -satisfied, or appearing to have satisfied, the admiral, he paid his -compliments to Raoul, and gave the last orders for sailing, which was -ordered the next morning at daybreak. He invited the comte had his son -to dine with him; but they, under a pretext of service, kept themselves -apart. Gaining their hostelry, situated under the trees of the great -Place, they took their repast in haste, and Athos led Raoul to the -rocks which dominate the city, vast gray mountains, whence the view is -infinite and embraces a liquid horizon which appears, so remote is it, -on a level with the rocks themselves. The night was fine, as it always -is in these happy climes. The moon, rising behind the rocks, unrolled -a silver sheet on the cerulean carpet of the sea. In the roadsteads -maneuvered silently the vessels which had just taken their rank to -facilitate the embarkation. The sea, loaded with phosphoric light, -opened beneath the hulls of the barks that transported the baggage and -munitions; every dip of the prow plowed up this gulf of white flames; -from every oar dropped liquid diamonds. The sailors, rejoicing in the -largesses of the admiral, were heard murmuring their slow and artless -songs. Sometimes the grinding of the chains was mixed with the dull -noise of shot falling into the holds. Such harmonies, such a spectacle, -oppress the heart like fear, and dilate it like hope. All this life -speaks of death. Athos had seated himself with his son, upon the moss, -among the brambles of the promontory. Around their heads passed and -repassed large bats, carried along by the fearful whirl of their blind -chase. The feet of Raoul were over the edge of the cliff, bathed in that -void which is peopled by vertigo, and provokes to self-annihilation. -When the moon had risen to its fullest height, caressing with light -the neighboring peaks, when the watery mirror was illumined in its full -extent, and the little red fires had made their openings in the black -masses of every ship, Athos, collecting all his ideas and all his -courage, said: - -"God has made all these things that we see, Raoul; He has made us -also,--poor atoms mixed up with this monstrous universe. We shine like -those fires and those stars; we sigh like those waves; we suffer like -those great ships, which are worn out in plowing the waves, in obeying -the wind that urges them towards an end, as the breath of God blows us -towards a port. Everything likes to live, Raoul; and everything seems -beautiful to living things." - -"Monsieur," said Raoul, "we have before us a beautiful spectacle!" - -"How good D'Artagnan is!" interrupted Athos, suddenly, "and what a rare -good fortune it is to be supported during a whole life by such a friend -as he is! That is what you have missed, Raoul." - -"A friend!" cried Raoul, "I have wanted a friend!" - -"M. de Guiche is an agreeable companion," resumed the comte, coldly, -"but I believe, in the times in which you live, men are more engaged in -their own interests and their own pleasures than they were in ours. You -have sought a secluded life; that is a great happiness, but you have -lost your strength thereby. We four, more weaned from those delicate -abstractions that constitute your joy, furnished much more resistance -when misfortune presented itself." - -"I have not interrupted you, monsieur, to tell you that I had a friend, -and that that friend is M. de Guiche. _Certes_, he is good and generous, -and moreover he loves me. But I have lived under the guardianship of -another friendship, monsieur, as precious and as strong as that of which -you speak, since it is yours." - -"I have not been a friend for you, Raoul," said Athos. - -"Eh! monsieur, and in what respect not?" - -"Because I have given you reason to think that life has but one face, -because, sad and severe, alas! I have always cut off for you, without, -God knows, wishing to do so, the joyous buds that spring incessantly -from the fair tree of youth; so that at this moment I repent of not -having made of you a more expansive, dissipated, animated man." - -"I know why you say that, monsieur. No, it is not you who have made me -what I am; it was love, which took me at the time when children only -have inclinations; it is the constancy natural to my character, which -with other creatures is but habit. I believed that I should always be as -I was; I thought God had cast me in a path quite clear, quite straight, -bordered with fruits and flowers. I had ever watching over me your -vigilance and strength. I believed myself to be vigilant and strong. -Nothing prepared me; I fell once, and that once deprived me of courage -for the whole of my life. It is quite true that I wrecked myself. Oh, -no, monsieur! you are nothing in my past but happiness--in my future but -hope! No, I have no reproach to make against life such as you made it -for me; I bless you, and I love you ardently." - -"My dear Raoul, your words do me good. They prove to me that you will -act a little for me in the time to come." - -"I shall only act for you, monsieur." - -"Raoul, what I have never hitherto done with respect to you, I will -henceforward do. I will be your friend, not your father. We will live in -expanding ourselves, instead of living and holding ourselves prisoners, -when you come back. And that will be soon, will it not?" - -"Certainly, monsieur, for such an expedition cannot last long." - -"Soon, then, Raoul, soon, instead of living moderately on my income, I -will give you the capital of my estates. It will suffice for launching -you into the world till my death; and you will give me, I hope, before -that time, the consolation of not seeing my race extinct." - -"I will do all you may command," said Raoul, much agitated. - -"It is not necessary, Raoul, that your duty as aide-de-camp should lead -you into too hazardous enterprises. You have gone through your ordeal; -you are known to be a true man under fire. Remember that war with Arabs -is a war of snares, ambuscades, and assassinations." - -"So it is said, monsieur." - -"There is never much glory in falling in an ambuscade. It is a death -which always implies a little rashness or want of foresight. Often, -indeed, he who falls in one meets with but little pity. Those who are -not pitied, Raoul, have died to little purpose. Still further, the -conqueror laughs, and we Frenchmen ought not to allow stupid infidels to -triumph over our faults. Do you clearly understand what I am saying to -you, Raoul? God forbid I should encourage you to avoid encounters." - -"I am naturally prudent, monsieur, and I have very good fortune," said -Raoul, with a smile which chilled the heart of his poor father; "for," -the young man hastened to add, "in twenty combats through which I have -been, I have only received one scratch." - -"There is in addition," said Athos, "the climate to be dreaded: that is -an ugly end, to die of fever! King Saint-Louis prayed God to send him an -arrow or the plague, rather than the fever." - -"Oh, monsieur! with sobriety, with reasonable exercise--" - -"I have already obtained from M. de Beaufort a promise that his -dispatches shall be sent off every fortnight to France. You, as his -aide-de-camp, will be charged with expediting them, and will be sure not -to forget me." - -"No, monsieur," said Raoul, almost choked with emotion. - -"Besides, Raoul, as you are a good Christian, and I am one also, we -ought to reckon upon a more special protection of God and His guardian -angels. Promise me that if anything evil should happen to you, on any -occasion, you will think of me at once." - -"First and at once! Oh! yes, monsieur." - -"And will call upon me?" - -"Instantly." - -"You dream of me sometimes, do you not, Raoul?" - -"Every night, monsieur. During my early youth I saw you in my dreams, -calm and mild, with one hand stretched out over my head, and that it was -which made me sleep so soundly--formerly." - -"We love each other too dearly," said the comte, "that from this moment, -in which we separate, a portion of both our souls should not travel with -one and the other of us, and should not dwell wherever we may dwell. -Whenever you may be sad, Raoul, I feel that my heart will be dissolved -in sadness; and when you smile on thinking of me, be assured you will -send me, from however remote a distance, a vital scintillation of your -joy." - -"I will not promise you to be joyous," replied the young man; "but you -may be certain that I will never pass an hour without thinking of you, -not one hour, I swear, unless I shall be dead." - -Athos could contain himself no longer; he threw his arm round the neck -of his son, and held him embraced with all the power of his heart. The -moon began to be now eclipsed by twilight; a golden band surrounded the -horizon, announcing the approach of the day. Athos threw his cloak over -the shoulders of Raoul, and led him back to the city, where burdens and -porters were already in motion, like a vast ant-hill. At the extremity -of the plateau which Athos and Bragelonne were quitting, they saw a dark -shadow moving uneasily backwards and forwards, as if in indecision or -ashamed to be seen. It was Grimaud, who in his anxiety had tracked his -master, and was there awaiting him. - -"Oh! my good Grimaud," cried Raoul, "what do you want? You are come to -tell us it is time to be gone, have you not?" - -"Alone?" said Grimaud, addressing Athos and pointing to Raoul in a tone -of reproach, which showed to what an extent the old man was troubled. - -"Oh! you are right!" cried the comte. "No, Raoul shall not go alone; no, -he shall not be left alone in a strange land without some friendly hand -to support him, some friendly heart to recall to him all he loved!" - -"I?" said Grimaud. - -"You, yes, you!" cried Raoul, touched to the inmost heart. - -"Alas!" said Athos, "you are very old, my good Grimaud." - -"So much the better," replied the latter, with an inexpressible depth of -feeling and intelligence. - -"But the embarkation is begun," said Raoul, "and you are not prepared." - -"Yes," said Grimaud, showing the keys of his trunks, mixed with those of -his young master. - -"But," again objected Raoul, "you cannot leave monsieur le comte thus -alone; monsieur le comte, whom you have never quitted?" - -Grimaud turned his diamond eyes upon Athos and Raoul, as if to measure -the strength of both. The comte uttered not a word. - -"Monsieur le comte prefers my going," said Grimaud. - -"I do," said Athos, by an inclination of the head. - -At that moment the drums suddenly rolled, and the clarions filled -the air with their inspiring notes. The regiments destined for the -expedition began to debouch from the city. They advanced to the number -of five, each composed of forty companies. Royals marched first, -distinguished by their white uniform, faced with blue. The _ordonnance_ -colors, quartered cross-wise, violet and dead leaf, with a sprinkling -of golden _fleurs-de-lis_, left the white-colored flag, with its -_fleur-de-lised_ cross, to dominate the whole. Musketeers at the wings, -with their forked sticks and their muskets on their shoulders; pikemen -in the center, with their lances, fourteen feet in length, marched gayly -towards the transports, which carried them in detail to the ships. The -regiments of Picardy, Navarre, Normandy, and Royal Vaisseau, followed -after. M. de Beaufort had known well how to select his troops. He -himself was seen closing the march with his staff--it would take a full -hour before he could reach the sea. Raoul with Athos turned his steps -slowly towards the beach, in order to take his place when the prince -embarked. Grimaud, boiling with the ardor of a young man, superintended -the embarkation of Raoul's baggage in the admiral's vessel. Athos, with -his arm passed through that of the son he was about to lose, absorbed -in melancholy meditation, was deaf to every noise around him. An officer -came quickly towards them to inform Raoul that M. de Beaufort was -anxious to have him by his side. - -"Have the kindness to tell the prince," said Raoul, "that I request he -will allow me this hour to enjoy the company of my father." - -"No, no," said Athos, "an aide-de-camp ought not thus to quit his -general. Please to tell the prince, monsieur, that the vicomte will join -him immediately." The officer set off at a gallop. - -"Whether we part here or part there," added the comte, "it is no less -a separation." He carefully brushed the dust from his son's coat, and -passed his hand over his hair as they walked along. "But, Raoul," said -he, "you want money. M. de Beaufort's train will be splendid, and I am -certain it will be agreeable to you to purchase horses and arms, which -are very dear things in Africa. Now, as you are not actually in the -service of the king or M. de Beaufort, and are simply a volunteer, you -must not reckon upon either pay or largesse. But I should not like you -to want for anything at Gigelli. Here are two hundred pistoles; if you -would please me, Raoul, spend them." - -Raoul pressed the hand of his father, and, at the turning of a street, -they saw M. de Beaufort, mounted on a magnificent white _genet_, which -responded by graceful curvets to the applause of the women of the city. -The duke called Raoul, and held out his hand to the comte. He spoke to -him for some time, with such a kindly expression that the heart of the -poor father even felt a little comforted. It was, however, evident to -both father and son that their walk amounted to nothing less than a -punishment. There was a terrible moment--that at which, on quitting the -sands of the shore, the soldiers and sailors exchanged the last -kisses with their families and friends; a supreme moment, in which, -notwithstanding the clearness of the heavens, the warmth of the sun, of -the perfumes of the air, and the rich life that was circulating in their -veins, everything appeared black, everything bitter, everything created -doubts of Providence, nay, at the most, of God. It was customary for -the admiral and his suite to embark last; the cannon waited to announce, -with its formidable voice, that the leader had placed his foot on board -his vessel. Athos, forgetful of both the admiral and the fleet, and of -his own dignity as a strong man, opened his arms to his son, and pressed -him convulsively to his heart. - -"Accompany us on board," said the duke, very much affected; "you will -gain a good half-hour." - -"No," said Athos, "my farewell has been spoken, I do not wish to voice a -second." - -"Then, vicomte, embark--embark quickly!" added the prince, wishing -to spare the tears of these two men, whose hearts were bursting. And -paternally, tenderly, very much as Porthos might have done, he took -Raoul in his arms and placed him in the boat, the oars of which, at a -signal, immediately were dipped in the waves. He himself, forgetful of -ceremony, jumped into his boat, and pushed it off with a vigorous foot. -"Adieu!" cried Raoul. - -Athos replied only by a sign, but he felt something burning on his hand: -it was the respectful kiss of Grimaud--the last farewell of the faithful -dog. This kiss given, Grimaud jumped from the step of the mole upon -the stem of a two-oared yawl, which had just been taken in tow by a -_chaland_ served by twelve galley-oars. Athos seated himself on the -mole, stunned, deaf, abandoned. Every instant took from him one of the -features, one of the shades of the pale face of his son. With his arms -hanging down, his eyes fixed, his mouth open, he remained confounded -with Raoul--in one same look, in one same thought, in one same stupor. -The sea, by degrees, carried away boats and faces to that distance at -which men become nothing but points,--loves, nothing but remembrances. -Athos saw his son ascend the ladder of the admiral's ship, he saw him -lean upon the rail of the deck, and place himself in such a manner as -to be always an object in the eye of his father. In vain the cannon -thundered, in vain from the ship sounded the long and lordly tumult, -responded to by immense acclamations from the shore; in vain did the -noise deafen the ear of the father, the smoke obscured the cherished -object of his aspirations. Raoul appeared to him to the last moment; and -the imperceptible atom, passing from black to pale, from pale to white, -from white to nothing, disappeared for Athos--disappeared very long -after, to all the eyes of the spectators, had disappeared both gallant -ships and swelling sails. Towards midday, when the sun devoured space, -and scarcely the tops of the masts dominated the incandescent limit of -the sea, Athos perceived a soft aerial shadow rise, and vanish as soon -as seen. This was the smoke of a cannon, which M. de Beaufort ordered to -be fired as a last salute to the coast of France. The point was buried -in its turn beneath the sky, and Athos returned with slow and painful -step to his deserted hostelry. - - - -Chapter XXXIV. Among Women. - -D'Artagnan had not been able to hide his feelings from his friends -so much as he would have wished. The stoical soldier, the impassive -man-at-arms, overcome by fear and sad presentiments, had yielded, for -a few moments, to human weakness. When, therefore, he had silenced -his heart and calmed the agitation of his nerves, turning towards his -lackey, a silent servant, always listening, in order to obey the more -promptly: - -"Rabaud," said he, "mind, we must travel thirty leagues a day." - -"At your pleasure, captain," replied Rabaud. - -And from that moment, D'Artagnan, accommodating his action to the pace -of the horse, like a true centaur, gave up his thoughts to nothing--that -is to say, to everything. He asked himself why the king had sent for -him back; why the Iron Mask had thrown the silver plate at the feet of -Raoul. As to the first subject, the reply was negative; he knew right -well that the king's calling him was from necessity. He still further -knew that Louis XIV. must experience an imperious desire for a private -conversation with one whom the possession of such a secret placed on a -level with the highest powers of the kingdom. But as to saying exactly -what the king's wish was, D'Artagnan found himself completely at a loss. -The musketeer had no doubts, either, upon the reason which had urged the -unfortunate Philippe to reveal his character and birth. Philippe, buried -forever beneath a mask of steel, exiled to a country where the men -seemed little more than slaves of the elements; Philippe, deprived -even of the society of D'Artagnan, who had loaded him with honors and -delicate attentions, had nothing more to see than odious specters in -this world, and, despair beginning to devour him, he poured himself -forth in complaints, in the belief that his revelations would raise up -some avenger for him. The manner in which the musketeer had been near -killing his two best friends, the destiny which had so strangely brought -Athos to participate in the great state secret, the farewell of Raoul, -the obscurity of the future which threatened to end in a melancholy -death; all this threw D'Artagnan incessantly back on lamentable -predictions and forebodings, which the rapidity of his pace did not -dissipate, as it used formerly to do. D'Artagnan passed from these -considerations to the remembrance of the proscribed Porthos and Aramis. -He saw them both, fugitives, tracked, ruined--laborious architects of -fortunes they had lost; and as the king called for his man of execution -in hours of vengeance and malice, D'Artagnan trembled at the very -idea of receiving some commission that would make his very soul bleed. -Sometimes, ascending hills, when the winded horse breathed hard from his -red nostrils, and heaved his flanks, the captain, left to more freedom -of thought, reflected on the prodigious genius of Aramis, a genius of -acumen and intrigue, a match to which the Fronde and the civil war had -produced but twice. Soldier, priest, diplomatist; gallant, avaricious, -cunning; Aramis had never taken the good things of this life except -as stepping-stones to rise to giddier ends. Generous in spirit, if not -lofty in heart, he never did ill but for the sake of shining even -yet more brilliantly. Towards the end of his career, at the moment of -reaching the goal, like the patrician Fuscus, he had made a false step -upon a plank, and had fallen into the sea. But Porthos, good, harmless -Porthos! To see Porthos hungry, to see Mousqueton without gold lace, -imprisoned, perhaps; to see Pierrefonds, Bracieux, razed to the very -stones, dishonored even to the timber,--these were so many poignant -griefs for D'Artagnan, and every time that one of these griefs struck -him, he bounded like a horse at the sting of a gadfly beneath the vaults -of foliage where he has sought shady shelter from the burning sun. Never -was the man of spirit subjected to _ennui_, if his body was exposed to -fatigue; never did the man of healthy body fail to find life light, if -he had something to engage his mind. D'Artagnan, riding fast, thinking -as constantly, alighted from his horse in Pairs, fresh and tender in -his muscles as the athlete preparing for the gymnasium. The king did not -expect him so soon, and had just departed for the chase towards Meudon. -D'Artagnan, instead of riding after the king, as he would formerly have -done, took off his boots, had a bath, and waited till his majesty -should return dusty and tired. He occupied the interval of five hours -in taking, as people say, the air of the house, and in arming himself -against all ill chances. He learned that the king, during the last -fortnight, had been gloomy; that the queen-mother was ill and much -depressed; that Monsieur, the king's brother, was exhibiting a -devotional turn; that Madame had the vapors; and that M. de Guiche was -gone to one of his estates. He learned that M. Colbert was radiant; that -M. Fouquet consulted a fresh physician every day, who still did not cure -him, and that his principal complaint was one which physicians do not -usually cure, unless they are political physicians. The king, D'Artagnan -was told, behaved in the kindest manner to M. Fouquet, and did not allow -him to be ever out of his sight; but the surintendant, touched to the -heart, like one of those fine trees a worm has punctured, was declining -daily, in spite of the royal smile, that sun of court trees. D'Artagnan -learned that Mademoiselle de la Valliere had become indispensable to the -king; that the king, during his sporting excursions, if he did not take -her with him, wrote to her frequently, no longer verses, but, which -was much worse, prose, and that whole pages at a time. Thus, as the -political Pleiad of the day said, the _first king in the world_ was seen -descending from his horse _with an ardor beyond compare_, and on the -crown of his hat scrawling bombastic phrases, which M. de Saint-Aignan, -aide-de-camp in perpetuity, carried to La Valliere at the risk of -foundering his horses. During this time, deer and pheasants were left to -the free enjoyment of their nature, hunted so lazily that, it was said, -the art of venery ran great risk of degenerating at the court of France. -D'Artagnan then thought of the wishes of poor Raoul, of that desponding -letter destined for a woman who passed her life in hoping, and as -D'Artagnan loved to philosophize a little occasionally, he resolved -to profit by the absence of the king to have a minute's talk with -Mademoiselle de la Valliere. This was a very easy affair; while the king -was hunting, Louise was walking with some other ladies in one of -the galleries of the Palais Royal, exactly where the captain of the -musketeers had some guards to inspect. D'Artagnan did not doubt that, -if he could but open the conversation on Raoul, Louise might give him -grounds for writing a consolatory letter to the poor exile; and hope, -or at least consolation for Raoul, in the state of heart in which he had -left him, was the sun, was life to two men, who were very dear to our -captain. He directed his course, therefore, to the spot where he knew -he should find Mademoiselle de la Valliere. D'Artagnan found La Valliere -the center of the circle. In her apparent solitude, the king's favorite -received, like a queen, more, perhaps, than the queen, a homage of which -Madame had been so proud, when all the king's looks were directed to her -and commanded the looks of the courtiers. D'Artagnan, although no squire -of dames, received, nevertheless, civilities and attentions from the -ladies; he was polite, as a brave man always is, and his terrible -reputation had conciliated as much friendship among the men as -admiration among the women. On seeing him enter, therefore, they -immediately accosted him; and, as is not unfrequently the case with fair -ladies, opened the attack by questions. "Where _had_ he been? What _had_ -become of him so long? Why had they not seen him as usual make his fine -horse curvet in such beautiful style, to the delight and astonishment of -the curious from the king's balcony?" - -He replied that he had just come from the land of oranges. This set all -the ladies laughing. Those were times in which everybody traveled, but -in which, notwithstanding, a journey of a hundred leagues was a problem -often solved by death. - -"From the land of oranges?" cried Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente. "From -Spain?" - -"Eh! eh!" said the musketeer. - -"From Malta?" echoed Montalais. - -"_Ma foi!_ You are coming very near, ladies." - -"Is it an island?" asked La Valliere. - -"Mademoiselle," said D'Artagnan; "I will not give you the trouble of -seeking any further; I come from the country where M. de Beaufort is, at -this moment, embarking for Algiers." - -"Have you seen the army?" asked several warlike fair ones. - -"As plainly as I see you," replied D'Artagnan. - -"And the fleet?" - -"Yes, I saw everything." - -"Have we any of us any friends there?" said Mademoiselle de -Tonnay-Charente, coldly, but in a manner to attract attention to a -question that was not without its calculated aim. - -"Why," replied D'Artagnan, "yes; there were M. de la Guillotiere, M. de -Manchy, M. de Bragelonne--" - -La Valliere became pale. "M. de Bragelonne!" cried the perfidious -Athenais. "Eh, what!--is he gone to the wars?--he!" - -Montalais trod on her toe, but all in vain. - -"Do you know what my opinion is?" continued she, addressing D'Artagnan. - -"No, mademoiselle; but I should like very much to know it." - -"My opinion is, then, that all the men who go to this war are desperate, -desponding men, whom love has treated ill; and who go to try if they -cannot find jet-complexioned women more kind than fair ones have been." - -Some of the ladies laughed; La Valliere was evidently confused; -Montalais coughed loud enough to waken the dead. - -"Mademoiselle," interrupted D'Artagnan, "you are in error when you speak -of black women at Gigelli; the women there have not jet faces; it is -true they are not white--they are yellow." - -"Yellow!" exclaimed the bevy of fair beauties. - -"Eh! do not disparage it. I have never seen a finer color to match with -black eyes and a coral mouth." - -"So much the better for M. de Bragelonne," said Mademoiselle de -Tonnay-Charente, with persistent malice. "He will make amends for his -loss. Poor fellow!" - -A profound silence followed these words; and D'Artagnan had time to -observe and reflect that women--mild doves--treat each other more -cruelly than tigers. But making La Valliere pale did not satisfy -Athenais; she determined to make her blush likewise. Resuming the -conversation without pause, "Do you know, Louise," said she, "that there -is a great sin on your conscience?" - -"What sin, mademoiselle?" stammered the unfortunate girl, looking round -her for support, without finding it. - -"Eh!--why," continued Athenais, "the poor young man was affianced to -you; he loved you; you cast him off." - -"Well, that is a right which every honest woman has," said Montalais, in -an affected tone. "When we know we cannot constitute the happiness of a -man, it is much better to cast him off." - -"Cast him off! or refuse him!--that's all very well," said Athenais, -"but that is not the sin Mademoiselle de la Valliere has to reproach -herself with. The actual sin is sending poor Bragelonne to the wars; and -to wars in which death is so very likely to be met with." Louise pressed -her hand over her icy brow. "And if he dies," continued her pitiless -tormentor, "you will have killed him. That is the sin." - -Louise, half-dead, caught at the arm of the captain of the musketeers, -whose face betrayed unusual emotion. "You wished to speak with me, -Monsieur d'Artagnan," said she, in a voice broken by anger and pain. -"What had you to say to me?" - -D'Artagnan made several steps along the gallery, holding Louise on his -arm; then, when they were far enough removed from the others--"What -I had to say to you, mademoiselle," replied he, "Mademoiselle de -Tonnay-Charente has just expressed; roughly and unkindly, it is true but -still in its entirety." - -She uttered a faint cry; pierced to the heart by this new wound, she -went her way, like one of those poor birds which, struck unto death, -seek the shade of the thicket in which to die. She disappeared at one -door, at the moment the king was entering by another. The first glance -of the king was directed towards the empty seat of his mistress. Not -perceiving La Valliere, a frown came over his brow; but as soon as he -saw D'Artagnan, who bowed to him--"Ah! monsieur!" cried he, "you _have_ -been diligent! I am much pleased with you." This was the superlative -expression of royal satisfaction. Many men would have been ready to lay -down their lives for such a speech from the king. The maids of honor and -the courtiers, who had formed a respectful circle round the king on his -entrance, drew back, on observing he wished to speak privately with -his captain of the musketeers. The king led the way out of the gallery, -after having again, with his eyes, sought everywhere for La Valliere, -whose absence he could not account for. The moment they were out of -the reach of curious ears, "Well! Monsieur d'Artagnan," said he, "the -prisoner?" - -"Is in his prison, sire." - -"What did he say on the road?" - -"Nothing, sire." - -"What did he do?" - -"There was a moment at which the fisherman--who took me in his boat -to Sainte-Marguerite--revolted, and did his best to kill me. The--the -prisoner defended me instead of attempting to fly." - -The king became pale. "Enough!" said he; and D'Artagnan bowed. Louis -walked about his cabinet with hasty steps. "Were you at Antibes," said -he, "when Monsieur de Beaufort came there?" - -"No, sire; I was setting off when monsieur le duc arrived." - -"Ah!" which was followed by a fresh silence. "Whom did you see there?" - -"A great many persons," said D'Artagnan, coolly. - -The king perceived he was unwilling to speak. "I have sent for you, -monsieur le capitaine, to desire you to go and prepare my lodgings at -Nantes." - -"At Nantes!" cried D'Artagnan. - -"In Bretagne." - -"Yes, sire, it is in Bretagne. Will you majesty make so long a journey -as to Nantes?" - -"The States are assembled there," replied the king. "I have two demands -to make of them: I wish to be there." - -"When shall I set out?" said the captain. - -"This evening--to-morrow--to-morrow evening; for you must stand in need -of rest." - -"I have rested, sire." - -"That is well. Then between this and to-morrow evening, when you -please." - -D'Artagnan bowed as if to take his leave; but, perceiving the king -very much embarrassed, "Will you majesty," said he, stepping two paces -forward, "take the court with you?" - -"Certainly I shall." - -"Then you majesty will, doubtless, want the musketeers?" And the eye of -the king sank beneath the penetrating glance of the captain. - -"Take a brigade of them," replied Louis. - -"Is that all? Has your majesty no other orders to give me?" - -"No--ah--yes." - -"I am all attention, sire." - -"At the castle of Nantes, which I hear is very ill arranged, you will -adopt the practice of placing musketeers at the door of each of the -principal dignitaries I shall take with me." - -"Of the principal?" - -"Yes." - -"For instance, at the door of M. de Lyonne?" - -"Yes." - -"And that of M. Letellier?" - -"Yes." - -"Of M. de Brienne?" - -"Yes." - -"And of monsieur le surintendant?" - -"Without doubt." - -"Very well, sire. By to-morrow I shall have set out." - -"Oh, yes; but one more word, Monsieur d'Artagnan. At Nantes you will -meet with M. le Duc de Gesvres, captain of the guards. Be sure that -your musketeers are placed before his guards arrive. Precedence always -belongs to the first comer." - -"Yes, sire." - -"And if M. de Gesvres should question you?" - -"Question me, sire! Is it likely that M. de Gesvres should question -me?" And the musketeer, turning cavalierly on his heel, disappeared. "To -Nantes!" said he to himself, as he descended from the stairs. "Why did -he not dare to say, from thence to Belle-Isle?" - -As he reached the great gates, one of M. Brienne's clerks came running -after him, exclaiming, "Monsieur d'Artagnan! I beg your pardon--" - -"What is the matter, Monsieur Ariste?" - -"The king has desired me to give you this order." - -"Upon your cash-box?" asked the musketeer. - -"No, monsieur; on that of M. Fouquet." - -D'Artagnan was surprised, but he took the order, which was in the king's -own writing, and was for two hundred pistoles. "What!" thought he, after -having politely thanked M. Brienne's clerk, "M. Fouquet is to pay for -the journey, then! _Mordioux!_ that is a bit of pure Louis XI. Why was -not this order on the chest of M. Colbert? He would have paid it with -such joy." And D'Artagnan, faithful to his principle of never letting -an order at sight get cold, went straight to the house of M. Fouquet, to -receive his two hundred pistoles. - - - -Chapter XXXV. The Last Supper. - -The superintendent had no doubt received advice of the approaching -departure, for he was giving a farewell dinner to his friends. From -the bottom to the top of the house, the hurry of the servants bearing -dishes, and the diligence of the _registres_, denoted an approaching -change in offices and kitchen. D'Artagnan, with his order in his hand, -presented himself at the offices, when he was told it was too late -to pay cash, the chest was closed. He only replied: "On the king's -service." - -The clerk, a little put out by the serious air of the captain, replied, -that "that was a very respectable reason, but that the customs of the -house were respectable likewise; and that, in consequence, he begged the -bearer to call again next day." D'Artagnan asked if he could not see -M. Fouquet. The clerk replied that M. le surintendant did not interfere -with such details, and rudely closed the outer door in the captain's -face. But the latter had foreseen this stroke, and placed his boot -between the door and the door-case, so that the lock did not catch, and -the clerk was still nose to nose with his interlocutor. This made him -change his tone, and say, with terrified politeness, "If monsieur wishes -to speak to M. le surintendant, he must go to the ante-chambers; these -are the offices, where monseigneur never comes." - -"Oh! very well! Where are they?" replied D'Artagnan. - -"On the other side of the court," said the clerk, delighted to be free. -D'Artagnan crossed the court, and fell in with a crowd of servants. - -"Monseigneur sees nobody at this hour," he was answered by a fellow -carrying a vermeil dish, in which were three pheasants and twelve -quails. - -"Tell him," said the captain, laying hold of the servant by the end -of his dish, "that I am M. d'Artagnan, captain of his majesty's -musketeers." - -The fellow uttered a cry of surprise, and disappeared; D'Artagnan -following him slowly. He arrived just in time to meet M. Pelisson in -the ante-chamber: the latter, a little pale, came hastily out of the -dining-room to learn what was the matter. D'Artagnan smiled. - -"There is nothing unpleasant, Monsieur Pelisson; only a little order to -receive the money for." - -"Ah!" said Fouquet's friend, breathing more freely; and he took the -captain by the hand, and, dragging him behind him, led him into the -dining-room, where a number of friends surrounded the surintendant, -placed in the center, and buried in the cushions of a _fauteuil_. There -were assembled all the Epicureans who so lately at Vaux had done the -honors of the mansion of wit and money in aid of M. Fouquet. Joyous -friends, for the most part faithful, they had not fled their protector -at the approach of the storm, and, in spite of the threatening heavens, -in spite of the trembling earth, they remained there, smiling, cheerful, -as devoted in misfortune as they had been in prosperity. On the left -of the surintendant sat Madame de Belliere; on his right was Madame -Fouquet; as if braving the laws of the world, and putting all vulgar -reasons of propriety to silence, the two protecting angels of this -man united to offer, at the moment of the crisis, the support of -their twined arms. Madame de Belliere was pale, trembling, and full of -respectful attentions for madame la surintendante, who, with one hand on -her husband's, was looking anxiously towards the door by which Pelisson -had gone out to bring D'Artagnan. The captain entered at first full -of courtesy, and afterwards of admiration, when, with his infallible -glance, he had divined as well as taken in the expression of every face. -Fouquet raised himself up in his chair. - -"Pardon me, Monsieur d'Artagnan," said he, "if I did not myself receive -you when coming in the king's name." And he pronounced the last words -with a sort of melancholy firmness, which filled the hearts of all his -friends with terror. - -"Monseigneur," replied D'Artagnan, "I only come to you in the king's -name to demand payment of an order for two hundred pistoles." - -The clouds passed from every brow but that of Fouquet, which still -remained overcast. - -"Ah! then," said he, "perhaps you also are setting out for Nantes?" - -"I do not know whither I am setting out, monseigneur." - -"But," said Madame Fouquet, recovered from her fright, "you are not -going so soon, monsieur le capitaine, as not to do us the honor to take -a seat with us?" - -"Madame, I should esteem that a great honor done me, but I am so -pressed for time, that, you see, I have been obliged to permit myself to -interrupt your repast to procure payment of my note." - -"The reply to which shall be gold," said Fouquet, making a sign to his -intendant, who went out with the order D'Artagnan handed him. - -"Oh!" said the latter, "I was not uneasy about the payment; the house is -good." - -A painful smile passed over the pale features of Fouquet. - -"Are you in pain?" asked Madame de Belliere. - -"Do you feel your attack coming on?" asked Madame Fouquet. - -"Neither, thank you both," said Fouquet. - -"Your attack?" said D'Artagnan, in his turn; "are you unwell, -monseigneur?" - -"I have a tertian fever, which seized me after the _fete_ at Vaux." - -"Caught cold in the grottos, at night, perhaps?" - -"No, no; nothing but agitation, that was all." - -"The too much heart you displayed in your reception of the king," -said La Fontaine, quietly, without suspicion that he was uttering a -sacrilege. - -"We cannot devote too much heart to the reception of our king," said -Fouquet, mildly, to his poet. - -"Monsieur meant to say the too great ardor," interrupted D'Artagnan, -with perfect frankness and much amenity. "The fact is, monseigneur, that -hospitality was never practiced as at Vaux." - -Madame Fouquet permitted her countenance to show clearly that if Fouquet -had conducted himself well towards the king, the king had hardly done -the like to the minister. But D'Artagnan knew the terrible secret. He -alone with Fouquet knew it; those two men had not, the one the courage -to complain, the other the right to accuse. The captain, to whom the -two hundred pistoles were brought, was about to take his leave, when -Fouquet, rising, took a glass of wine, and ordered one to be given to -D'Artagnan. - -"Monsieur," said he, "to the health of the king, _whatever may happen_." - -"And to your health, monseigneur, _whatever may happen_," said -D'Artagnan. - -He bowed, with these words of evil omen, to all the company, who rose as -soon as they heard the sound of his spurs and boots at the bottom of the -stairs. - -"I, for a moment, thought it was I and not my money he wanted," said -Fouquet, endeavoring to laugh. - -"You!" cried his friends; "and what for, in the name of Heaven!" - -"Oh! do not deceive yourselves, my dear brothers in Epicurus," said the -superintendent; "I do not wish to make a comparison between the most -humble sinner on the earth, and the God we adore, but remember, he gave -one day to his friends a repast which is called the Last Supper, and -which was nothing but a farewell dinner, like that which we are making -at this moment." - -A painful cry of denial arose from all parts of the table. "Shut the -doors," said Fouquet, and the servants disappeared. "My friends," -continued Fouquet, lowering his voice, "what was I formerly? What am -I now? Consult among yourselves and reply. A man like me sinks when -he does not continue to rise. What shall we say, then, when he really -sinks? I have no more money, no more credit; I have no longer anything -but powerful enemies, and powerless friends." - -"Quick!" cried Pelisson. "Since you explain yourself with such -frankness, it is our duty to be frank, likewise. Yes, you are -ruined--yes, you are hastening to your ruin--stop. And, in the first -place, what money have we left?" - -"Seven hundred thousand livres," said the intendant. - -"Bread," murmured Madame Fouquet. - -"Relays," said Pelisson, "relays, and fly!" - -"Whither?" - -"To Switzerland--to Savoy--but fly!" - -"If monseigneur flies," said Madame Belliere, "it will be said that he -was guilty--was afraid." - -"More than that, it will be said that I have carried away twenty -millions with me." - -"We will draw up memoirs to justify you," said La Fontaine. "Fly!" - -"I will remain," said Fouquet. "And, besides, does not everything serve -me?" - -"You have Belle-Isle," cried the Abbe Fouquet. - -"And I am naturally going there, when going to Nantes," replied the -superintendent. "Patience, then, patience!" - -"Before arriving at Nantes, what a distance!" said Madame Fouquet. - -"Yes, I know that well," replied Fouquet. "But what is to be done there? -The king summons me to the States. I know well it is for the purpose of -ruining me; but to refuse to go would be to evince uneasiness." - -"Well, I have discovered the means of reconciling everything," cried -Pelisson. "You are going to set out for Nantes." - -Fouquet looked at him with an air of surprise. - -"But with friends; but in your own carriage as far as Orleans; in your -own barge as far as Nantes; always ready to defend yourself, if you are -attacked; to escape, if you are threatened. In fact, you will carry your -money against all chances; and, whilst flying, you will only have obeyed -the king; then, reaching the sea, when you like, you will embark for -Belle-Isle, and from Belle-Isle you will shoot out wherever it may -please you, like the eagle that leaps into space when it has been driven -from its eyrie." - -A general assent followed Pelisson's words. "Yes, do so," said Madame -Fouquet to her husband. - -"Do so," said Madame de Belliere. - -"Do it! do it!" cried all his friends. - -"I will do so," replied Fouquet. - -"This very evening?" - -"In an hour?" - -"Instantly." - -"With seven hundred thousand livres you can lay the foundation of -another fortune," said the Abbe Fouquet. - -"What is there to prevent our arming corsairs at Belle-Isle?" - -"And, if necessary, we will go and discover a new world," added La -Fontaine, intoxicated with fresh projects and enthusiasm. - -A knock at the door interrupted this concert of joy and hope. "A courier -from the king," said the master of the ceremonies. - -A profound silence immediately ensued, as if the message brought by this -courier was nothing but a reply to all the projects given birth to a -moment before. Every one waited to see what the master would do. His -brow was streaming with perspiration, and he was really suffering from -his fever at that instant. He passed into his cabinet, to receive the -king's message. There prevailed, as we have said, such a silence in the -chambers, and throughout the attendance, that from the dining-room could -be heard the voice of Fouquet, saying, "That is well, monsieur." This -voice was, however, broken by fatigue, and trembled with emotion. An -instant after, Fouquet called Gourville, who crossed the gallery amidst -the universal expectation. At length, he himself re-appeared among his -guests; but it was no longer the same pale, spiritless countenance they -had beheld when he left them; from pale he had become livid; and from -spiritless, annihilated. A breathing, living specter, he advanced with -his arms stretched out, his mouth parched, like a shade that comes to -salute the friends of former days. On seeing him thus, every one cried -out, and every one rushed towards Fouquet. The latter, looking at -Pelisson, leaned upon his wife, and pressed the icy hand of the Marquise -de Belliere. - -"Well," said he, in a voice which had nothing human in it. - -"What has happened, my God!" said some one to him. - -Fouquet opened his right hand, which was clenched, but glistening -with perspiration, and displayed a paper, upon which Pelisson cast a -terrified glance. He read the following lines, written by the king's -hand: - -"'DEAR AND WELL-BELOVED MONSIEUR FOUQUET,--Give us, upon that which you -have left of ours, the sum of seven hundred thousand livres, of which we -stand in need to prepare for our departure. - -"'And, as we know your health is not good, we pray God to restore you, -and to have you in His holy keeping. "'LOUIS. - -"'The present letter is to serve as a receipt.'" - -A murmur of terror circulated through the apartment. - -"Well," cried Pelisson, in his turn, "you have received that letter?" - -"Received it, yes!" - -"What will you do, then?" - -"Nothing, since I have received it." - -"But--" - -"If I have received it, Pelisson, I have paid it," said the -surintendant, with a simplicity that went to the heart of all present. - -"You have paid it!" cried Madame Fouquet. "Then we are ruined!" - -"Come, no useless words," interrupted Pelisson. "Next to money, life. -Monseigneur, to horse! to horse!" - -"What, leave us!" at once cried both the women, wild with grief. - -"Eh! monseigneur, in saving yourself, you save us all. To horse!" - -"But he cannot hold himself on. Look at him." - -"Oh! if he takes time to reflect--" said the intrepid Pelisson. - -"He is right," murmured Fouquet. - -"Monseigneur! Monseigneur!" cried Gourville, rushing up the stairs, four -steps at once. "Monseigneur!" - -"Well! what?" - -"I escorted, as you desired, the king's courier with the money." - -"Yes." - -"Well! when I arrived at the Palais Royal, I saw--" - -"Take breath, my poor friend, take breath; you are suffocating." - -"What did you see?" cried the impatient friends. - -"I saw the musketeers mounting on horseback," said Gourville. - -"There, then!" cried every voice at once; "there, then! is there an -instant to be lost?" - -Madame Fouquet rushed downstairs, calling for her horses; Madame de -Belliere flew after her, catching her in her arms, and saying: "Madame, -in the name of his safety, do not betray anything, do not manifest -alarm." - -Pelisson ran to have the horses put to the carriages. And, in the -meantime, Gourville gathered in his hat all that the weeping friends -were able to throw into it of gold and silver--the last offering, the -pious alms made to misery by poverty. The surintendant, dragged along by -some, carried by others, was shut up in his carriage. Gourville took the -reins, and mounted the box. Pelisson supported Madame Fouquet, who had -fainted. Madame de Belliere had more strength, and was well paid for -it; she received Fouquet's last kiss. Pelisson easily explained this -precipitate departure by saying that an order from the king had summoned -the minister to Nantes. - - - -Chapter XXXVI. In M. Colbert's Carriage. - -As Gourville had seen, the king's musketeers were mounting and following -their captain. The latter, who did not like to be confined in his -proceedings, left his brigade under the orders of a lieutenant, and set -off on post horses, recommending his men to use all diligence. However -rapidly they might travel, they could not arrive before him. He had -time, in passing along the Rue des Petits-Champs, to see something -which afforded him plenty of food for thought and conjecture. He saw M. -Colbert coming out from his house to get into his carriage, which was -stationed before the door. In this carriage D'Artagnan perceived the -hoods of two women, and being rather curious, he wished to know the -names of the ladies hid beneath these hoods. To get a glimpse at them, -for they kept themselves closely covered up, he urged his horse so near -the carriage, that he drove him against the step with such force as to -shake everything containing and contained. The terrified women uttered, -the one a faint cry, by which D'Artagnan recognized a young woman, the -other an imprecation, in which he recognized the vigor and _aplomb_ that -half a century bestows. The hoods were thrown back: one of the women -was Madame Vanel, the other the Duchesse de Chevreuse. D'Artagnan's -eyes were quicker than those of the ladies; he had seen and known them, -whilst they did not recognize him; and as they laughed at their fright, -pressing each other's hands,-- - -"Humph!" said D'Artagnan, "the old duchesse is no more inaccessible to -friendship than formerly. _She_ paying her court to the mistress of M. -Colbert! Poor M. Fouquet! that presages you nothing good!" - -He rode on. M. Colbert got into his carriage and the distinguished trio -commenced a sufficiently slow pilgrimage toward the wood of Vincennes. -Madame de Chevreuse set down Madame Vanel at her husband's house, and, -left alone with M. Colbert, chatted upon affairs whilst continuing her -ride. She had an inexhaustible fund of conversation, that dear duchesse, -and as she always talked for the ill of others, though ever with a view -to her own good, her conversation amused her interlocutor, and did not -fail to leave a favorable impression. - -She taught Colbert, who, poor man! was ignorant of the fact, how great -a minister he was, and how Fouquet would soon become a cipher. She -promised to rally around him, when he should become surintendant, -all the old nobility of the kingdom, and questioned him as to the -preponderance it would be proper to allow La Valliere. She praised him, -she blamed him, she bewildered him. She showed him the secret of so many -secrets that, for a moment, Colbert thought he was doing business with -the devil. She proved to him that she held in her hand the Colbert of -to-day, as she had held the Fouquet of yesterday; and as he asked her -very simply the reason of her hatred for the surintendant: "Why do you -yourself hate him?" said she. - -"Madame, in politics," replied he, "the differences of system oft bring -about dissentions between men. M. Fouquet always appeared to me to -practice a system opposed to the true interests of the king." - -She interrupted him.--"I will say no more to you about M. Fouquet. The -journey the king is about to take to Nantes will give a good account of -him. M. Fouquet, for me, is a man gone by--and for you also." - -Colbert made no reply. "On his return from Nantes," continued the -duchesse, "the king, who is only anxious for a pretext, will find -that the States have not behaved well--that they have made too few -sacrifices. The States will say that the imposts are too heavy, and that -the surintendant has ruined them. The king will lay all the blame on M. -Fouquet, and then--" - -"And then?" said Colbert. - -"Oh! he will be disgraced. Is not that your opinion?" - -Colbert darted a glance at the duchesse, which plainly said: "If M. -Fouquet be only disgraced, you will not be the cause of it." - -"Your place, M. Colbert," the duchesse hastened to say, "must be a high -place. Do you perceive any one between the king and yourself, after the -fall of M. Fouquet?" - -"I do not understand," said he. - -"You _will_ understand. To what does your ambition aspire?" - -"I have none." - -"It was useless, then, to overthrow the superintendent, Monsieur -Colbert. It was idle." - -"I had the honor to tell you, madame--" - -"Oh! yes, I know, all about the interest of the king--but, if you -please, we will speak of your own." - -"Mine! that is to say, the affairs of his majesty." - -"In short, are you, or are you not endeavoring to ruin M. Fouquet? -Answer without evasion." - -"Madame, I ruin nobody." - -"I am endeavoring to comprehend, then, why you purchased from me the -letters of M. Mazarin concerning M. Fouquet. Neither can I conceive why -you have laid those letters before the king." - -Colbert, half stupefied, looked at the duchesse with an air of -constraint. - -"Madame," said he, "I can less easily conceive how you, who received the -money, can reproach me on that head--" - -"That is," said the old duchesse, "because we must will that which we -wish for, unless we are not able to obtain what we wish." - -"_Will!_" said Colbert, quite confounded by such coarse logic. - -"You are not able, _hein!_ Speak." - -"I am not able, I allow, to destroy certain influences near the king." - -"That fight in favor of M. Fouquet? What are they? Stop, let me help -you." - -"Do, madame." - -"La Valliere?" - -"Oh! very little influence; no knowledge of business, and small means. -M. Fouquet has paid his court to her." - -"To defend him would be to accuse herself, would it not?" - -"I think it would." - -"There is still another influence, what do you say to that?" - -"Is it considerable?" - -"The queen-mother, perhaps?" - -"Her majesty, the queen-mother, has a weakness for M. Fouquet very -prejudicial to her son." - -"Never believe that," said the old duchesse, smiling. - -"Oh!" said Colbert, with incredulity, "I have often experienced it." - -"Formerly?" - -"Very recently, madame, at Vaux. It was she who prevented the king from -having M. Fouquet arrested." - -"People do not forever entertain the same opinions, my dear monsieur. -That which the queen may have wished recently, she would not wish, -perhaps, to-day." - -"And why not?" said Colbert, astonished. - -"Oh! the reason is of very little consequence." - -"On the contrary, I think it is of great consequence; for, if I were -certain of not displeasing her majesty, the queen-mother, my scruples -would be all removed." - -"Well! have you never heard talk of a certain secret?" - -"A secret?" - -"Call it what you like. In short, the queen-mother has conceived a -bitter hatred for all those who have participated, in one fashion or -another, in the discovery of this secret, and M. Fouquet I believe is -one of these." - -"Then," said Colbert, "we may be sure of the assent of the -queen-mother?" - -"I have just left her majesty, and she assures me so." - -"So be it, then, madame." - -"But there is something further; do you happen to know a man who was the -intimate friend of M. Fouquet, M. d'Herblay, a bishop, I believe?" - -"Bishop of Vannes." - -"Well! this M. d'Herblay, who also knew the secret, the queen-mother is -pursuing with the utmost rancor." - -"Indeed!" - -"So hotly pursued, that if he were dead, she would not be satisfied with -anything less than his head, to satisfy her he would never speak again." - -"And is that the desire of the queen-mother?" - -"An order is given for it." - -"This Monsieur d'Herblay shall be sought for, madame." - -"Oh! it is well known where he is." - -Colbert looked at the duchesse. - -"Say where, madame." - -"He is at Belle-Ile-en-Mer." - -"At the residence of M. Fouquet?" - -"At the residence of M. Fouquet." - -"He shall be taken." - -It was now the duchesse's turn to smile. "Do not fancy the capture so -easy," said she; "do not promise it so lightly." - -"Why not, madame?" - -"Because M. d'Herblay is not one of those people who can be taken when -and where you please." - -"He is a rebel, then?" - -"Oh! Monsieur Colbert, we have passed all our lives in making rebels, -and yet you see plainly, that so far from being taken, we take others." - -Colbert fixed upon the old duchesse one of those fierce looks of which -no words can convey the expression, accompanied by a firmness not -altogether wanting in grandeur. "The times are gone," said he, "in which -subjects gained duchies by making war against the king of France. If M. -d'Herblay conspires, he will perish on the scaffold. That will give, or -will not give, pleasure to his enemies,--a matter, by the way, of little -importance to _us_." - -And this _us_, a strange word in the mouth of Colbert, made the duchesse -thoughtful for a moment. She caught herself reckoning inwardly with this -man--Colbert had regained his superiority in the conversation, and he -meant to keep it. - -"You ask me, madame," he said, "to have this M. d'Herblay arrested?" - -"I?--I ask you nothing of the kind!" - -"I thought you did, madame. But as I have been mistaken, we will leave -him alone; the king has said nothing about him." - -The duchesse bit her nails. - -"Besides," continued Colbert, "what a poor capture would this bishop be! -A bishop game for a king! Oh! no, no; I will not even take the slightest -notice of him." - -The hatred of the duchesse now discovered itself. - -"Game for a woman!" said she. "Is not the queen a woman? If she wishes -M. d'Herblay arrested, she has her reasons. Besides, is not M. d'Herblay -the friend of him who is doomed to fall?" - -"Oh! never mind that," said Colbert. "This man shall be spared, if he is -not the enemy of the king. Is that displeasing to you?" - -"I say nothing." - -"Yes--you wish to see him in prison, in the Bastile, for instance." - -"I believe a secret better concealed behind the walls of the Bastile -than behind those of Belle-Isle." - -"I will speak to the king about it; he will clear up the point." - -"And whilst waiting for that enlightenment, Monsieur l'Eveque de Vannes -will have escaped. I would do so." - -"Escaped! he! and whither should he escape? Europe is ours, in will, if -not in fact." - -"He will always find an asylum, monsieur. It is evident you know nothing -of the man you have to do with. You do not know D'Herblay; you do not -know Aramis. He was one of those four musketeers who, under the late -king, made Cardinal de Richelieu tremble, and who, during the regency, -gave so much trouble to Monseigneur Mazarin." - -"But, madame, what can he do, unless he has a kingdom to back him?" - -"He has one, monsieur." - -"A kingdom, he! what, Monsieur d'Herblay?" - -"I repeat to you, monsieur, that if he wants a kingdom, he either has it -or will have it." - -"Well, as you are so earnest that this rebel should not escape, madame, -I promise you he shall not escape." - -"Belle-Isle is fortified, M. Colbert, and fortified by him." - -"If Belle-Isle were also defended by him, Belle-Isle is not impregnable; -and if Monsieur l'Eveque de Vannes is shut up in Belle-Isle, well, -madame, the place shall be besieged, and he will be taken." - -"You may be very certain, monsieur, that the zeal you display in the -interest of the queen-mother will please her majesty mightily, and -you will be magnificently rewarded; but what shall I tell her of your -projects respecting this man?" - -"That when once taken, he shall be shut up in a fortress from which her -secret shall never escape." - -"Very well, Monsieur Colbert, and we may say, that, dating from this -instant, we have formed a solid alliance, that is, you and I, and that I -am absolutely at your service." - -"It is I, madame, who place myself at yours. This Chevalier d'Herblay is -a kind of Spanish spy, is he not?" - -"Much more." - -"A secret ambassador?" - -"Higher still." - -"Stop--King Phillip III. of Spain is a bigot. He is, perhaps, the -confessor of Phillip III." - -"You must go higher even than that." - -"_Mordieu!_" cried Colbert, who forgot himself so far as to swear in the -presence of this great lady, of this old friend of the queen-mother. "He -must then be the general of the Jesuits." - -"I believe you have guessed it at last," replied the duchesse. - -"Ah! then, madame, this man will ruin us all if we do not ruin him; and -we must make haste, too." - -"Such was my opinion, monsieur, but I did not dare to give it you." - -"And it was lucky for us he has attacked the throne, and not us." - -"But, mark this well, M. Colbert. M. d'Herblay is never discouraged; if -he has missed one blow, he will be sure to make another; he will begin -again. If he has allowed an opportunity to escape of making a king for -himself, sooner or later, he will make another, of whom, to a certainty, -you will not be prime minister." - -Colbert knitted his brow with a menacing expression. "I feel assured -that a prison will settle this affair for us, madame, in a manner -satisfactory for both." - -The duchesse smiled again. - -"Oh! if you knew," said she, "how many times Aramis has got out of -prison!" - -"Oh!" replied Colbert, "we will take care that he shall not get out -_this_ time." - -"But you were not attending to what I said to you just now. Do you -remember that Aramis was one of the four invincibles whom Richelieu so -dreaded? And at that period the four musketeers were not in possession -of that which they have now--money and experience." - -Colbert bit his lips. - -"We will renounce the idea of the prison," said he, in a lower tone: -"we will find a little retreat from which the invincible cannot possibly -escape." - -"That was well spoken, our ally!" replied the duchesse. "But it is -getting late; had we not better return?" - -"The more willingly, madame, from my having my preparations to make for -setting out with the king." - -"To Paris!" cried the duchesse to the coachman. - -And the carriage returned towards the Faubourg Saint Antoine, after the -conclusion of the treaty that gave to death the last friend of Fouquet, -the last defender of Belle-Isle, the former friend of Marie Michon, the -new foe of the old duchesse. - - - -Chapter XXXVII. The Two Lighters. - -D'Artagnan had set off; Fouquet likewise was gone, and with a rapidity -which doubled the tender interest of his friends. The first moments of -this journey, or better say, this flight, were troubled by a ceaseless -dread of every horse and carriage to be seen behind the fugitive. It was -not natural, in fact, if Louis XIV. was determined to seize this prey, -that he should allow it to escape; the young lion was already accustomed -to the chase, and he had bloodhounds sufficiently clever to be trusted. -But insensibly all fears were dispersed; the surintendant, by hard -traveling, placed such a distance between himself and his persecutors, -that no one of them could reasonably be expected to overtake him. As -to his position, his friends had made it excellent for him. Was he not -traveling to join the king at Nantes, and what did the rapidity prove -but his zeal to obey? He arrived, fatigued, but reassured, at Orleans, -where he found, thanks to the care of a courier who had preceded him, -a handsome lighter of eight oars. These lighters, in the shape of -gondolas, somewhat wide and heavy, containing a small chamber, covered -by the deck, and a chamber in the poop, formed by a tent, then acted as -passage-boats from Orleans to Nantes, by the Loire, and this passage, -a long one in our days, appeared then more easy and convenient than the -high-road, with its post-hacks and its ill-hung carriages. Fouquet went -on board this lighter, which set out immediately. The rowers, knowing -they had the honor of conveying the surintendant of the finances, pulled -with all their strength, and that magic word, the _finances_, promised -them a liberal gratification, of which they wished to prove themselves -worthy. The lighter seemed to leap the mimic waves of the Loire. -Magnificent weather, a sunrise that empurpled all the landscape, -displayed the river in all its limpid serenity. The current and the -rowers carried Fouquet along as wings carry a bird, and he arrived -before Beaugency without the slightest accident having signalized the -voyage. Fouquet hoped to be the first to arrive at Nantes; there he -would see the notables and gain support among the principal members of -the States; he would make himself a necessity, a thing very easy for a -man of his merit, and would delay the catastrophe, if he did not succeed -in avoiding it entirely. "Besides," said Gourville to him, "at Nantes, -you will make out, or we will make out, the intentions of your enemies; -we will have horses always ready to convey you to Poitou, a bark in -which to gain the sea, and when once upon the open sea, Belle-Isle is -your inviolable port. You see, besides, that no one is watching you, no -one is following." He had scarcely finished when they discovered at -a distance, behind an elbow formed by the river, the masts of a huge -lighter coming down. The rowers of Fouquet's boat uttered a cry of -surprise on seeing this galley. - -"What is the matter?" asked Fouquet. - -"The matter is, monseigneur," replied the patron of the bark, "that it -is a truly remarkable thing--that lighter comes along like a hurricane." - -Gourville started, and mounted to the deck, in order to obtain a better -view. - -Fouquet did not go up with him, but said to Gourville, with restrained -mistrust: "See what it is, dear friend." - -The lighter had just passed the elbow. It came on so fast, that behind -it might be plainly seen the white wake illumined with the fires of the -day. - -"How they go," repeated the skipper, "how they go! They must be well -paid! I did not think," he added, "that oars of wood could behave better -than ours, but yonder oarsmen prove the contrary." - -"Well they may," said one of the rowers, "they are twelve, and we but -eight." - -"Twelve rowers!" replied Gourville, "twelve! impossible." - -The number of eight rowers for a lighter had never been exceeded, even -for the king. This honor had been paid to monsieur le surintendant, more -for the sake of haste than of respect. - -"What does it mean?" said Gourville, endeavoring to distinguish beneath -the tent, which was already apparent, travelers which the most piercing -eye could not yet have succeeded in discovering. - -"They must be in a hurry, for it is not the king," said the patron. - -Fouquet shuddered. - -"By what sign do you know that it is not the king?" said Gourville. - -"In the first place, because there is no white flag with fleurs-de-lis, -which the royal lighter always carries." - -"And then," said Fouquet, "because it is impossible it should be the -king, Gourville, as the king was still in Paris yesterday." - -Gourville replied to the surintendant by a look which said: "You were -there yourself yesterday." - -"And by what sign do you make out they are in such haste?" added he, for -the sake of gaining time. - -"By this, monsieur," said the patron; "these people must have set out a -long while after us, and they have already nearly overtaken us." - -"Bah!" said Gourville, "who told you that they do not come from -Beaugency or from Moit even?" - -"We have seen no lighter of that shape, except at Orleans. It comes from -Orleans, monsieur, and makes great haste." - -Fouquet and Gourville exchanged a glance. The captain remarked their -uneasiness, and, to mislead him, Gourville immediately said: - -"Some friend, who has laid a wager he would catch us; let us win the -wager, and not allow him to come up with us." - -The patron opened his mouth to say that it was quite impossible, but -Fouquet said with much _hauteur_,--"If it is any one who wishes to -overtake us, let him come." - -"We can try, monseigneur," said the man, timidly. "Come, you fellows, -put out your strength; row, row!" - -"No," said Fouquet, "on the contrary; stop short." - -"Monseigneur! what folly!" interrupted Gourville, stooping towards his -ear. - -"Pull up!" repeated Fouquet. The eight oars stopped, and resisting the -water, created a retrograde motion. It stopped. The twelve rowers in the -other did not, at first, perceive this maneuver, for they continued -to urge on their boat so vigorously that it arrived quickly within -musket-shot. Fouquet was short-sighted, Gourville was annoyed by the -sun, now full in his eyes; the skipper alone, with that habit and -clearness which are acquired by a constant struggle with the elements, -perceived distinctly the travelers in the neighboring lighter. - -"I can see them!" cried he; "there are two." - -"I can see nothing," said Gourville. - -"You will not be long before you distinguish them; in twenty strokes of -their oars they will be within ten paces of us." - -But what the patron announced was not realized; the lighter imitated -the movement commanded by Fouquet, and instead of coming to join its -pretended friends, it stopped short in the middle of the river. - -"I cannot comprehend this," said the captain. - -"Nor I," cried Gourville. - -"You who can see so plainly the people in that lighter," resumed -Fouquet, "try to describe them to us, before we are too far off." - -"I thought I saw two," replied the boatman. "I can only see one now, -under the tent." - -"What sort of man is he?" - -"He is a dark man, broad-shouldered, bull-necked." - -A little cloud at that moment passed across the azure, darkening the -sun. Gourville, who was still looking, with one hand over his eyes, -became able to see what he sought, and all at once, jumping from the -deck into the chamber where Fouquet awaited him: "Colbert!" said he, in -a voice broken by emotion. - -"Colbert!" repeated Fouquet. "Too strange! but no, it is impossible!" - -"I tell you I recognized him, and he, at the same time, so plainly -recognized me, that he is just gone into the chamber on the poop. -Perhaps the king has sent him on our track." - -"In that case he would join us, instead of lying by. What is he doing -there?" - -"He is watching us, without a doubt." - -"I do not like uncertainty," said Fouquet; "let us go straight up to -him." - -"Oh! monseigneur, do not do that, the lighter is full of armed men." - -"He wishes to arrest me, then, Gourville? Why does he not come on?" - -"Monseigneur, it is not consistent with your dignity to go to meet even -your ruin." - -"But to allow them to watch me like a malefactor!" - -"Nothing yet proves that they are watching you, monseigneur; be -patient!" - -"What is to be done, then?" - -"Do not stop; you were only going so fast to appear to obey the king's -order with zeal. Redouble the speed. He who lives will see!" - -"That is better. Come!" cried Fouquet; "since they remain stock-still -yonder, let us go on." - -The captain gave the signal, and Fouquet's rowers resumed their task -with all the success that could be looked for from men who had rested. -Scarcely had the lighter made a hundred fathoms, than the other, that -with the twelve rowers, resumed its rapid course. This position lasted -all day, without any increase or diminution of distance between the two -vessels. Towards evening Fouquet wished to try the intentions of his -persecutor. He ordered his rowers to pull towards the shore, as if to -effect a landing. Colbert's lighter imitated this maneuver, and steered -towards the shore in a slanting direction. By the merest chance, at -the spot where Fouquet pretended to wish to land, a stableman, from -the chateau of Langeais, was following the flowery banks leading three -horses in halters. Without doubt the people of the twelve-oared lighter -fancied that Fouquet was directing his course to these horses ready -for flight, for four or five men, armed with muskets, jumped from the -lighter on to the shore, and marched along the banks, as if to gain -ground on the horseman. Fouquet, satisfied of having forced the enemy to -a demonstration, considered his intention evident, and put his boat -in motion again. Colbert's people returned likewise to theirs, and the -course of the two vessels was resumed with fresh perseverance. Upon -seeing this, Fouquet felt himself threatened closely, and in a prophetic -voice--"Well, Gourville," said he, whisperingly, "what did I say at our -last repast, at my house? Am I going, or not, to my ruin?" - -"Oh! monseigneur!" - -"These two boats, which follow each other with so much emulation, as if -we were disputing, M. Colbert and I, a prize for swiftness on the -Loire, do they not aptly represent our fortunes; and do you not believe, -Gourville, that one of the two will be wrecked at Nantes?" - -"At least," objected Gourville, "there is still uncertainty; you are -about to appear at the States; you are about to show what sort of man -you are; your eloquence and genius for business are the buckler and -sword that will serve to defend you, if not to conquer with. The Bretons -do not know you; and when they become acquainted with you your cause -is won! Oh! let M. Colbert look to it well, for his lighter is as much -exposed as yours to being upset. Both go quickly, his faster than yours, -it is true; we shall see which will be wrecked first." - -Fouquet, taking Gourville's hand--"My friend," said he, "everything -considered, remember the proverb, 'First come, first served!' Well! M. -Colbert takes care not to pass me. He is a prudent man is M. Colbert." - -He was right; the two lighters held their course as far as Nantes, -watching each other. When the surintendant landed, Gourville hoped he -should be able to seek refuge at once, and have the relays prepared. -But, at the landing, the second lighter joined the first, and Colbert, -approaching Fouquet, saluted him on the quay with marks of the -profoundest respect--marks so significant, so public, that their result -was the bringing of the whole population upon La Fosse. Fouquet was -completely self-possessed; he felt that in his last moments of greatness -he had obligations towards himself. He wished to fall from such a height -that his fall should crush some of his enemies. Colbert was there--so -much the worse for Colbert. The surintendant, therefore, coming up to -him, replied, with that arrogant semi-closure of the eyes peculiar to -him--"What! is that you, M. Colbert?" - -"To offer you my respects, monseigneur," said the latter. - -"Were you in that lighter?"--pointing to the one with twelve rowers. - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"Of twelve rowers?" said Fouquet; "what luxury, M. Colbert. For a moment -I thought it was the queen-mother." - -"Monseigneur!"--and Colbert blushed. - -"This is a voyage that will cost those who have to pay for it -dear, Monsieur l'Intendant!" said Fouquet. "But you have, happily, -arrived!--You see, however," added he, a moment after, "that I, who had -but eight rowers, arrived before you." And he turned his back towards -him, leaving him uncertain whether the maneuvers of the second lighter -had escaped the notice of the first. At least he did not give him -the satisfaction of showing that he had been frightened. Colbert, so -annoyingly attacked, did not give way. - -"I have not been quick, monseigneur," he replied, "because I followed -your example whenever you stopped." - -"And why did you do that, Monsieur Colbert?" cried Fouquet, irritated by -the base audacity; "as you had a superior crew to mine, why did you not -either join me or pass me?" - -"Out of respect," said the intendant, bowing to the ground. - -Fouquet got into a carriage which the city had sent to him, we know not -why or how, and he repaired to _la Maison de Nantes_, escorted by a vast -crowd of people, who for several days had been agog with expectation of -a convocation of the States. Scarcely was he installed when Gourville -went out to order horses on the route to Poitiers and Vannes, and a boat -at Paimboef. He performed these various operations with so much mystery, -activity, and generosity, that never was Fouquet, then laboring under an -attack of fever, more nearly saved, except for the counteraction of that -immense disturber of human projects,--chance. A report was spread during -the night, that the king was coming in great haste on post horses, and -would arrive in ten or twelve hours at the latest. The people, while -waiting for the king, were greatly rejoiced to see the musketeers, newly -arrived, with Monsieur d'Artagnan, their captain, and quartered in the -castle, of which they occupied all the posts, in quality of guard of -honor. M. d'Artagnan, who was very polite, presented himself, about -ten o'clock, at the lodgings of the surintendant to pay his respectful -compliments; and although the minister suffered from fever, although -he was in such pain as to be bathed in sweat, he would receive M. -d'Artagnan, who was delighted with that honor, as will be seen by the -conversation they had together. - - - -Chapter XXXVIII. Friendly Advice. - -Fouquet had gone to bed, like a man who clings to life, and wishes to -economize, as much as possible, that slender tissue of existence, of -which the shocks and frictions of this world so quickly wear out the -tenuity. D'Artagnan appeared at the door of this chamber, and was -saluted by the superintendent with a very affable "Good day." - -"_Bon jour!_ monseigneur," replied the musketeer; "how did you get -through the journey?" - -"Tolerably well, thank you." - -"And the fever?" - -"But poorly. I drink, as you perceive. I am scarcely arrived, and I have -already levied a contribution of _tisane_ upon Nantes." - -"You should sleep first, monseigneur." - -"Eh! _corbleu!_ my dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, I should be very glad to -sleep." - -"Who hinders you?" - -"Why, _you_ in the first place." - -"I? Oh, monseigneur!" - -"No doubt you do. Is it at Nantes as at Paris? Do you not come in the -king's name?" - -"For Heaven's sake, monseigneur," replied the captain, "leave the king -alone! The day on which I shall come on the part of the king, for the -purpose you mean, take my word for it, I will not leave you long in -doubt. You will see me place my hand on my sword, according to the -_ordonnance_, and you will hear my say at once, in ceremonial voice, -'Monseigneur, in the name of the king, I arrest you!'" - -"You promise me that frankness?" said the superintendent. - -"Upon my honor! But we have not come to that, believe me." - -"What makes you think that, M. d'Artagnan? For my part, I think quite -the contrary." - -"I have heard speak of nothing of the kind," replied D'Artagnan. - -"Eh! eh!" said Fouquet. - -"Indeed, no. You are an agreeable man, in spite of your fever. The king -should not, cannot help loving you, at the bottom of his heart." - -Fouquet's expression implied doubt. "But M. Colbert?" said he; "does M. -Colbert love me as much as you say?" - -"I am not speaking of M. Colbert," replied D'Artagnan. "He is an -exceptional man. He does not love you; so much is very possible; but, -_mordioux!_ the squirrel can guard himself against the adder with very -little trouble." - -"Do you know that you are speaking to me quite as a friend?" replied -Fouquet; "and that, upon my life! I have never met with a man of your -intelligence, and heart?" - -"You are pleased to say so," replied D'Artagnan. "Why did you wait till -to-day to pay me such a compliment?" - -"Blind that we are!" murmured Fouquet. - -"Your voice is getting hoarse," said D'Artagnan; "drink, monseigneur, -drink!" And he offered him a cup of _tisane_, with the most friendly -cordiality; Fouquet took it, and thanked him by a gentle smile. "Such -things only happen to me," said the musketeer. "I have passed ten years -under your very beard, while you were rolling about tons of gold. You -were clearing an annual pension of four millions; you never observed me; -and you find out there is such a person in the world, just at the moment -you--" - -"Just at the moment I am about to fall," interrupted Fouquet. "That is -true, my dear Monsieur d'Artagnan." - -"I did not say so." - -"But you thought so; and that is the same thing. Well! if I fall, -take my word as truth, I shall not pass a single day without saying -to myself, as I strike my brow, 'Fool! fool!--stupid mortal! You had a -Monsieur d'Artagnan under your eye and hand, and you did not employ him, -you did not enrich him!'" - -"You overwhelm me," said the captain. "I esteem you greatly." - -"There exists another man, then, who does not think as M. Colbert -thinks," said the surintendant. - -"How this M. Colbert looms up in your imagination! He is worse than -fever!" - -"Oh! I have good cause," said Fouquet. "Judge for yourself." And he -related the details of the course of the lighters, and the hypocritical -persecution of Colbert. "Is not this a clear sign of my ruin?" - -D'Artagnan became very serious. "That is true," he said. "Yes; it has -an unsavory odor, as M. de Treville used to say." And he fixed on M. -Fouquet his intelligent and significant look. - -"Am I not clearly designated in that, captain? Is not the king bringing -me to Nantes to get me away from Paris, where I have so many creatures, -and to possess himself of Belle-Isle?" - -"Where M. d'Herblay is," added D'Artagnan. Fouquet raised his head. "As -for me, monseigneur," continued D'Artagnan, "I can assure you the king -has said nothing to me against you." - -"Indeed!" - -"The king commanded me to set out for Nantes, it is true; and to say -nothing about it to M. de Gesvres." - -"My friend." - -"To M. de Gesvres, yes, monseigneur," continued the musketeer, whose eye -s did not cease to speak a language different from the language of his -lips. "The king, moreover, commanded me to take a brigade of musketeers, -which is apparently superfluous, as the country is quite quiet." - -"A brigade!" said Fouquet, raising himself upon his elbow. - -"Ninety-six horsemen, yes, monseigneur. The same number as were employed -in arresting MM. de Chalais, de Cinq-Mars, and Montmorency." - -Fouquet pricked up his ears at these words, pronounced without apparent -value. "And what else?" said he. - -"Oh! nothing but insignificant orders; such as guarding the castle, -guarding every lodging, allowing none of M. de Gesvres's guards to -occupy a single post." - -"And as to myself," cried Fouquet, "what orders had you?" - -"As to you, monseigneur?--not the smallest word." - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan, my safety, my honor, perhaps my life are at stake. -You would not deceive me?" - -"I?--to what end? Are you threatened? Only there really is an order with -respect to carriages and boats--" - -"An order?" - -"Yes; but it cannot concern you--a simple measure of police." - -"What is it, captain?--what is it?" - -"To forbid all horses or boats to leave Nantes, without a pass, signed -by the king." - -"Great God! but--" - -D'Artagnan began to laugh. "All that is not to be put into execution -before the arrival of the king at Nantes. So that you see plainly, -monseigneur, the order in nowise concerns you." - -Fouquet became thoughtful, and D'Artagnan feigned not to observe his -preoccupation. "It is evident, by my thus confiding to you the orders -which have been given to me, that I am friendly towards you, and that I -am trying to prove to you that none of them are directed against you." - -"Without doubt!--without doubt!" said Fouquet, still absent. - -"Let us recapitulate," said the captain, his glance beaming with -earnestness. "A special guard about the castle, in which your lodging is -to be, is it not?" - -"Do you know the castle?" - -"Ah! monseigneur, a regular prison! The absence of M. de Gesvres, who -has the honor of being one of your friends. The closing of the gates of -the city, and of the river without a pass; but, only when the king shall -have arrived. Please to observe, Monsieur Fouquet, that if, instead of -speaking to man like you, who are one of the first in the kingdom, I -were speaking to a troubled, uneasy conscience--I should compromise -myself forever. What a fine opportunity for any one who wished to be -free! No police, no guards, no orders; the water free, the roads free, -Monsieur d'Artagnan obliged to lend his horses, if required. All this -ought to reassure you, Monsieur Fouquet, for the king would not have -left me thus independent, if he had any sinister designs. In truth, -Monsieur Fouquet, ask me whatever you like, I am at your service; and, -in return, if you will consent to do it, do me a service, that of giving -my compliments to Aramis and Porthos, in case you embark for Belle-Isle, -as you have a right to do without changing your dress, immediately, in -your _robe de chambre_--just as you are." Saying these words, and with -a profound bow, the musketeer, whose looks had lost none of their -intelligent kindness, left the apartment. He had not reached the steps -of the vestibule, when Fouquet, quite beside himself, hung to the -bell-rope, and shouted, "My horses!--my lighter!" But nobody answered. -The surintendant dressed himself with everything that came to hand. - -"Gourville!--Gourville!" cried he, while slipping his watch into -his pocket. And the bell sounded again, whilst Fouquet repeated, -"Gourville!--Gourville!" - -Gourville at length appeared, breathless and pale. - -"Let us be gone! Let us be gone!" cried Fouquet, as soon as he saw him. - -"It is too late!" said the surintendant's poor friend. - -"Too late!--why?" - -"Listen!" And they heard the sounds of trumpets and drums in front of -the castle. - -"What does that mean, Gourville?" - -"It means the king is come, monseigneur." - -"The king!" - -"The king, who has ridden double stages, who has killed horses, and who -is eight hours in advance of all our calculations." - -"We are lost!" murmured Fouquet. "Brave D'Artagnan, all is over, thou -has spoken to me too late!" - -The king, in fact, was entering the city, which soon resounded with the -cannon from the ramparts, and from a vessel which replied from the lower -parts of the river. Fouquet's brow darkened; he called his _valets de -chambre_ and dressed in ceremonial costume. From his window, behind the -curtains, he could see the eagerness of the people, and the movement of -a large troop, which had followed the prince. The king was conducted -to the castle with great pomp, and Fouquet saw him dismount under the -portcullis, and say something in the ear of D'Artagnan, who held his -stirrup. D'Artagnan, when the king had passed under the arch, directed -his steps towards the house Fouquet was in; but so slowly, and stopping -so frequently to speak to his musketeers, drawn up like a hedge, that -it might be said he was counting the seconds, or the steps, before -accomplishing his object. Fouquet opened the window to speak to him in -the court. - -"Ah!" cried D'Artagnan, on perceiving him, "are you still there, -monseigneur?" - -And that word _still_ completed the proof to Fouquet of how much -information and how many useful counsels were contained in the first -visit the musketeer had paid him. The surintendant sighed deeply. -"Good heavens! yes, monsieur," replied he. "The arrival of the king has -interrupted me in the projects I had formed." - -"Oh, then you know that the king has arrived?" - -"Yes, monsieur, I have seen him; and this time you come from him--" - -"To inquire after you, monseigneur; and, if your health is not too bad, -to beg you to have the kindness to repair to the castle." - -"Directly, Monsieur d'Artagnan, directly!" - -"Ah, _mordioux!_" said the captain, "now the king is come, there is no -more walking for anybody--no more free will; the password governs all -now, you as much as me, me as much as you." - -Fouquet heaved a last sigh, climbed with difficulty into his carriage, -so great was his weakness, and went to the castle, escorted by -D'Artagnan, whose politeness was not less terrifying this time than it -had just before been consoling and cheerful. - - - -Chapter XXXIX. How the King, Louis XIV., Played His Little Part. - -As Fouquet was alighting from his carriage, to enter the castle of -Nantes, a man of mean appearance went up to him with marks of the -greatest respect, and gave him a letter. D'Artagnan endeavored to -prevent this man from speaking to Fouquet, and pushed him away, but the -message had been given to the surintendant. Fouquet opened the letter -and read it, and instantly a vague terror, which D'Artagnan did not -fail to penetrate, was painted on the countenance of the first minister. -Fouquet put the paper into the portfolio which he had under his arm, and -passed on towards the king's apartments. D'Artagnan, through the small -windows made at every landing of the donjon stairs, saw, as he went up -behind Fouquet, the man who had delivered the note, looking round him -on the place and making signs to several persons, who disappeared in the -adjacent streets, after having themselves repeated the signals. Fouquet -was made to wait for a moment on the terrace of which we have spoken,--a -terrace which abutted on the little corridor, at the end of which the -cabinet of the king was located. Here D'Artagnan passed on before the -surintendant, whom, till that time, he had respectfully accompanied, and -entered the royal cabinet. - -"Well?" asked Louis XIV., who, on perceiving him, threw on to the table -covered with papers a large green cloth. - -"The order is executed, sire." - -"And Fouquet?" - -"Monsieur le surintendant follows me," said D'Artagnan. - -"In ten minutes let him be introduced," said the king, dismissing -D'Artagnan again with a gesture. The latter retired; but had scarcely -reached the corridor at the extremity of which Fouquet was waiting for -him, when he was recalled by the king's bell. - -"Did he not appear astonished?" asked the king. - -"Who, sire?" - -"_Fouquet_," replied the king, without saying monsieur, a peculiarity -which confirmed the captain of the musketeers in his suspicions. - -"No, sire," replied he. - -"That's well!" And a second time Louis dismissed D'Artagnan. - -Fouquet had not quitted the terrace where he had been left by his guide. -He reperused his note, conceived thus: - -"Something is being contrived against you. Perhaps they will not dare to -carry it out at the castle; it will be on your return home. The house -is already surrounded by musketeers. Do not enter. A white horse is in -waiting for you behind the esplanade!" - -Fouquet recognized the writing and zeal of Gourville. Not being willing -that, if any evil happened to himself, this paper should compromise a -faithful friend, the surintendant was busy tearing it into a thousand -morsels, spread about by the wind from the balustrade of the terrace. -D'Artagnan found him watching the snowflake fluttering of the last -scraps in space. - -"Monsieur," said he, "the king awaits you." - -Fouquet walked with a deliberate step along the little corridor, where -MM. de Brienne and Rose were at work, whilst the Duc de Saint-Aignan, -seated on a chair, likewise in the corridor, appeared to be waiting -for orders, with feverish impatience, his sword between his legs. It -appeared strange to Fouquet that MM. Brienne, Rose, and de Saint-Aignan, -in general so attentive and obsequious, should scarcely take the least -notice, as he, the surintendant, passed. But how could he expect to find -it otherwise among courtiers, he whom the king no longer called anything -but _Fouquet?_ He raised his head, determined to look every one and -everything bravely in the face, and entered the king's apartment, where -a little bell, which we already know, had already announced him to his -majesty. - -The king, without rising, nodded to him, and with interest: "Well! how -are you, Monsieur Fouquet?" said he. - -"I am in a high fever," replied the surintendant; "but I am at the -king's service." - -"That is well; the States assemble to-morrow; have you a speech ready?" - -Fouquet looked at the king with astonishment. "I have not, sire," -replied he; "but I will improvise one. I am too well acquainted with -affairs to feel any embarrassment. I have only one question to ask; will -your majesty permit me?" - -"Certainly. Ask it." - -"Why did not your majesty do his first minister the honor of giving him -notice of this in Paris?" - -"You were ill; I was not willing to fatigue you." - -"Never did a labor--never did an explanation fatigue me, sire; and since -the moment is come for me to demand an explanation of my king--" - -"Oh, Monsieur Fouquet! an explanation? An explanation, pray, of what?" - -"Of your majesty's intentions with respect to myself." - -The king blushed. "I have been calumniated," continued Fouquet, warmly, -"and I feel called upon to adjure the justice of the king to make -inquiries." - -"You say all this to me very uselessly, Monsieur Fouquet; I know what I -know." - -"Your majesty can only know the things that have been told to you; and -I, on my part, have said nothing to you, whilst others have spoken many, -many times--" - -"What do you wish to say?" said the king, impatient to put an end to -this embarrassing conversation. - -"I will go straight to the facts, sire; and I accuse a certain man of -having injured me in your majesty's opinion." - -"Nobody has injured you, Monsieur Fouquet." - -"That reply proves to me, sire, that I am right." - -"Monsieur Fouquet, I do not like people to be accused." - -"Not when one is accused?" - -"We have already spoken too much about this affair." - -"Your majesty will not allow me to justify myself?" - -"I repeat that I do not accuse you." - -Fouquet, with a half-bow, made a step backward. "It is certain," thought -he, "that he has made up his mind. He alone who cannot go back can show -such obstinacy. Not to see the danger now would be to be blind indeed; -not to shun it would be stupid." He resumed aloud, "Did your majesty -send for me on business?" - -"No, Monsieur Fouquet, but for some advice I wish to give you." - -"I respectfully await it, sire." - -"Rest yourself, Monsieur Fouquet, do not throw away your strength; the -session of the States will be short, and when my secretaries shall -have closed it, I do not wish business to be talked of in France for a -fortnight." - -"Has the king nothing to say to me on the subject of this assembly of -the States?" - -"No, Monsieur Fouquet." - -"Not to me, the surintendant of the finances?" - -"Rest yourself, I beg you; that is all I have to say to you." - -Fouquet bit his lips and hung his head. He was evidently busy with -some uneasy thought. This uneasiness struck the king. "Are you angry at -having to rest yourself, M. Fouquet?" said he. - -"Yes, sire, I am not accustomed to take rest." - -"But you are ill; you must take care of yourself." - -"Your majesty spoke just now of a speech to be pronounced to-morrow." - -His majesty made no reply; this unexpected stroke embarrassed him. -Fouquet felt the weight of this hesitation. He thought he could -read danger in the eyes of the young prince, which fear would but -precipitate. "If I appear frightened, I am lost," thought he. - -The king, on his part, was only uneasy at the alarm of Fouquet. "Has he -a suspicion of anything?" murmured he. - -"If his first word is severe," again thought Fouquet; "if he becomes -angry, or feigns to be angry for the sake of a pretext, how shall I -extricate myself? Let us smooth the declivity a little. Gourville was -right." - -"Sire," said he, suddenly, "since the goodness of the king watches over -my health to the point of dispensing with my labor, may I not be allowed -to be absent from the council of to-morrow? I could pass the day in -bed, and will entreat the king to grant me his physician, that we may -endeavor to find a remedy against this fearful fever." - -"So be it, Monsieur Fouquet, it shall be as you desire; you shall have -a holiday to-morrow, you shall have the physician, and shall be restored -to health." - -"Thanks!" said Fouquet, bowing. Then, opening his game: "Shall I -not have the happiness of conducting your majesty to my residence of -Belle-Isle?" - -And he looked Louis full in the face, to judge of the effect of such a -proposal. The king blushed again. - -"Do you know," replied he, endeavoring to smile, "that you have just -said, 'My residence of Belle-Isle'?" - -"Yes, sire." - -"Well! do you not remember," continued the king in the same cheerful -tone, "that you gave me Belle-Isle?" - -"That is true again, sire. Only, as you have not taken it, you will -doubtless come with me and take possession of it." - -"I mean to do so." - -"That was, besides, your majesty's intention as well as mine; and I -cannot express to your majesty how happy and proud I have been to see -all the king's regiments from Paris to help take possession." - -The king stammered out that he did not bring the musketeers for that -alone. - -"Oh, I am convinced of that," said Fouquet, warmly; "your majesty knows -very well that you have nothing to do but to come alone with a cane in -your hand, to bring to the ground all the fortifications of Belle-Isle." - -"_Peste!_" cried the king; "I do not wish those fine fortifications, -which cost so much to build, to fall at all. No, let them stand against -the Dutch and English. You would not guess what I want to see at -Belle-Isle, Monsieur Fouquet; it is the pretty peasants and women of -the lands on the sea-shore, who dance so well, and are so seducing -with their scarlet petticoats! I have heard great boast of your pretty -tenants, monsieur le surintendant; well, let me have a sight of them." - -"Whenever your majesty pleases." - -"Have you any means of transport? It shall be to-morrow, if you like." - -The surintendant felt this stroke, which was not adroit, and replied, -"No, sire; I was ignorant of your majesty's wish; above all, I was -ignorant of your haste to see Belle-Isle, and I am prepared with -nothing." - -"You have a boat of your own, nevertheless?" - -"I have five; but they are all in port, or at Paimboeuf; and to join -them, or bring them hither, would require at least twenty-four hours. -Have I any occasion to send a courier? Must I do so?" - -"Wait a little, put an end to the fever,--wait till to-morrow." - -"That is true. Who knows but that by to-morrow we may not have a hundred -other ideas?" replied Fouquet, now perfectly convinced and very pale. - -The king started, and stretched his hand out towards his little bell, -but Fouquet prevented his ringing. - -"Sire," said he, "I have an ague--I am trembling with cold. If I remain -a moment longer, I shall most likely faint. I request your majesty's -permission to go and fling myself beneath the bedclothes." - -"Indeed, you are in a shiver; it is painful to behold! Come, Monsieur -Fouquet, begone! I will send to inquire after you." - -"Your majesty overwhelms me with kindness. In an hour I shall be -better." - -"I will call some one to reconduct you," said the king. - -"As you please, sire; I would gladly take the arm of any one." - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan!" cried the king, ringing his little bell. - -"Oh, sire," interrupted Fouquet, laughing in such a manner as made the -prince feel cold, "would you give me the captain of your musketeers to -take me to my lodgings? An equivocal honor that, sire! A simple footman, -I beg." - -"And why, M. Fouquet? M. d'Artagnan conducts me often, and extremely -well!" - -"Yes, but when he conducts you, sire, it is to obey you; whilst me--" - -"Go on!" - -"If I am obliged to return home supported by the leader of the -musketeers, it would be everywhere said you had had me arrested." - -"Arrested!" replied the king, who became paler than Fouquet -himself,--"arrested! oh!" - -"And why should they not say so?" continued Fouquet, still laughing; -"and I would lay a wager there would be people found wicked enough to -laugh at it." This sally disconcerted the monarch. Fouquet was skillful -enough, or fortunate enough, to make Louis XIV. recoil before the -appearance of the deed he meditated. M. d'Artagnan, when he appeared, -received an order to desire a musketeer to accompany the surintendant. - -"Quite unnecessary," said the latter; "sword for sword; I prefer -Gourville, who is waiting for me below. But that will not prevent me -enjoying the society of M. d'Artagnan. I am glad he will see Belle-Isle, -he is so good a judge of fortifications." - -D'Artagnan bowed, without at all comprehending what was going on. -Fouquet bowed again and left the apartment, affecting all the slowness -of a man who walks with difficulty. When once out of the castle, "I am -saved!" said he. "Oh! yes, disloyal king, you shall see Belle-Isle, but -it shall be when I am no longer there." - -He disappeared, leaving D'Artagnan with the king. - -"Captain," said the king, "you will follow M. Fouquet at the distance of -a hundred paces." - -"Yes, sire." - -"He is going to his lodgings again. You will go with him." - -"Yes, sire." - -"You will arrest him in my name, and will shut him up in a carriage." - -"In a carriage. Well, sire?" - -"In such a fashion that he may not, on the road, either converse with -any one or throw notes to people he may meet." - -"That will be rather difficult, sire." - -"Not at all." - -"Pardon me, sire, I cannot stifle M. Fouquet, and if he asks for liberty -to breathe, I cannot prevent him by closing both the windows and -the blinds. He will throw out at the doors all the cries and notes -possible." - -"The case is provided for, Monsieur d'Artagnan; a carriage with a -trellis will obviate both the difficulties you point out." - -"A carriage with an iron trellis!" cried D'Artagnan; "but a carriage -with an iron trellis is not made in half an hour, and your majesty -commands me to go immediately to M. Fouquet's lodgings." - -"The carriage in question is already made." - -"Ah! that is quite a different thing," said the captain; "if the -carriage is ready made, very well, then, we have only to set it in -motion." - -"It is ready--and the horses harnessed." - -"Ah!" - -"And the coachman, with the outriders, is waiting in the lower court of -the castle." - -D'Artagnan bowed. "There only remains for me to ask your majesty whither -I shall conduct M. Fouquet." - -"To the castle of Angers, at first." - -"Very well, sire." - -"Afterwards we will see." - -"Yes, sire." - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan, one last word: you have remarked that, for making -this capture of M. Fouquet, I have not employed my guards, on which -account M. de Gesvres will be furious." - -"Your majesty does not employ your guards," said the captain, a little -humiliated, "because you mistrust M. de Gesvres, that is all." - -"That is to say, monsieur, that I have more confidence in you." - -"I know that very well, sire! and it is of no use to make so much of -it." - -"It is only for the sake of arriving at this, monsieur, that if, from -this moment, it should happen that by any chance whatever M. Fouquet -should escape--such chances have been, monsieur--" - -"Oh! very often, sire; but for others, not for me." - -"And why not with you?" - -"Because I, sire, have, for an instant, wished to save M. Fouquet." - -The king started. "Because," continued the captain, "I had then a right -to do so, having guessed your majesty's plan, without you having spoken -to me of it, and that I took an interest in M. Fouquet. Now, was I not -at liberty to show my interest in this man?" - -"In truth, monsieur, you do not reassure me with regard to your -services." - -"If I had saved him then, I should have been perfectly innocent; I will -say more, I should have done well, for M. Fouquet is not a bad man. But -he was not willing; his destiny prevailed; he let the hour of liberty -slip by. So much the worse! Now I have orders, I will obey those orders, -and M. Fouquet you may consider as a man arrested. He is at the castle -of Angers, this very M. Fouquet." - -"Oh! you have not got him yet, captain." - -"That concerns me; every one to his trade, sire; only, once more, -reflect! Do you seriously give me orders to arrest M. Fouquet, sire?" - -"Yes, a thousand times, yes!" - -"In writing, sire, then." - -"Here is the order." - -D'Artagnan read it, bowed to the king, and left the room. From the -height of the terrace he perceived Gourville, who went by with a joyous -air towards the lodgings of M. Fouquet. - - - -Chapter XL: The White Horse and the Black. - -"That is rather surprising," said D'Artagnan; "Gourville running about -the streets so gayly, when he is almost certain that M. Fouquet is in -danger; when it is almost equally certain that it was Gourville who -warned M. Fouquet just now by the note which was torn into a thousand -pieces upon the terrace, and given to the winds by monsieur le -surintendant. Gourville is rubbing his hands; that is because he has -done something clever. Whence comes M. Gourville? Gourville is coming -from the Rue aux Herbes. Whither does the Rue aux Herbes lead?" And -D'Artagnan followed, along the tops of the houses of Nantes, dominated -by the castle, the line traced by the streets, as he would have done -upon a topographical plan; only, instead of the dead, flat paper, the -living chart rose in relief with the cries, the movements, and the -shadows of men and things. Beyond the inclosure of the city, the great -verdant plains stretched out, bordering the Loire, and appeared to run -towards the pink horizon, which was cut by the azure of the waters and -the dark green of the marshes. Immediately outside the gates of Nantes -two white roads were seen diverging like separate fingers of a gigantic -hand. D'Artagnan, who had taken in all the panorama at a glance by -crossing the terrace, was led by the line of the Rue aux Herbes to -the mouth of one of those roads which took its rise under the gates of -Nantes. One step more, and he was about to descend the stairs, take -his trellised carriage, and go towards the lodgings of M. Fouquet. But -chance decreed, at the moment of plunging into the staircase, that he -was attracted by a moving point then gaining ground upon that road. - -"What is that?" said the musketeer to himself; "a horse galloping,--a -runaway horse, no doubt. What a rate he is going at!" The moving point -became detached from the road, and entered into the fields. "A white -horse," continued the captain, who had just observed the color thrown -luminously against the dark ground, "and he is mounted; it must be some -boy whose horse is thirsty and has run away with him." - -These reflections, rapid as lightning, simultaneous with visual -perception, D'Artagnan had already forgotten when he descended the -first steps of the staircase. Some morsels of paper were spread over the -stairs, and shone out white against the dirty stones. "Eh! eh!" said the -captain to himself, "here are some of the fragments of the note torn by -M. Fouquet. Poor man! he has given his secret to the wind; the wind will -have no more to do with it, and brings it back to the king. Decidedly, -Fouquet, you play with misfortune! the game is not a fair one,--fortune -is against you. The star of Louis XIV. obscures yours; the adder is -stronger and more cunning than the squirrel." D'Artagnan picked up one -of these morsels of paper as he descended. "Gourville's pretty little -hand!" cried he, whilst examining one of the fragments of the note; "I -was not mistaken." And he read the word "horse." "Stop!" said he; and he -examined another, upon which there was not a letter traced. Upon a third -he read the word "white;" "white horse," repeated he, like a child that -is spelling. "Ah, _mordioux!_" cried the suspicious spirit, "a white -horse!" And, like that grain of powder which, burning, dilates into -ten thousand times its volume, D'Artagnan, enlightened by ideas and -suspicions, rapidly reascended the stairs towards the terrace. The -white horse was still galloping in the direction of the Loire, at the -extremity of which, melting into the vapors of the water, a little -sail appeared, wave-balanced like a water-butterfly. "Oh!" cried the -musketeer, "only a man who wants to fly would go at that pace across -plowed lands; there is but one Fouquet, a financier, to ride thus in -open day upon a white horse; there is no one but the lord of Belle-Isle -who would make his escape towards the sea, while there are such thick -forests on land, and there is but one D'Artagnan in the world to catch -M. Fouquet, who has half an hour's start, and who will have gained his -boat within an hour." This being said, the musketeer gave orders that -the carriage with the iron trellis should be taken immediately to a -thicket situated just outside the city. He selected his best horse, -jumped upon his back, galloped along the Rue aux Herbes, taking, not the -road Fouquet had taken, but the bank itself of the Loire, certain -that he should gain ten minutes upon the total distance, and, at the -intersection of the two lines, come up with the fugitive, who could have -no suspicion of being pursued in that direction. In the rapidity of the -pursuit, and with the impatience of the avenger, animating himself as in -war, D'Artagnan, so mild, so kind towards Fouquet, was surprised to find -himself become ferocious--almost sanguinary. For a long time he galloped -without catching sight of the white horse. His rage assumed fury, he -doubted himself,--he suspected that Fouquet had buried himself in some -subterranean road, or that he had changed the white horse for one of -those famous black ones, as swift as the wind, which D'Artagnan, at -Saint-Mande, had so frequently admired and envied for their vigor and -their fleetness. - -At such moments, when the wind cut his eyes so as to make the tears -spring from them, when the saddle had become burning hot, when the -galled and spurred horse reared with pain, and threw behind him a shower -of dust and stones, D'Artagnan, raising himself in his stirrups, and -seeing nothing on the waters, nothing beneath the trees, looked up into -the air like a madman. He was losing his senses. In the paroxysms of -eagerness he dreamt of aerial ways,--the discovery of the following century; -he called to his mind Daedalus and the vast wings that had saved him -from the prisons of Crete. A hoarse sigh broke from his lips, as he -repeated, devoured by the fear of ridicule, "I! I! duped by a Gourville! -I! They will say that I am growing old,--they will say I have received a -million to allow Fouquet to escape!" And he again dug his spurs into the -sides of his horse: he had ridden astonishingly fast. Suddenly, at the -extremity of some open pasture-ground, behind the hedges, he saw a white -form which showed itself, disappeared, and at last remained distinctly -visible against the rising ground. D'Artagnan's heart leaped with joy. -He wiped the streaming sweat from his brow, relaxed the tension of his -knees,--by which the horse breathed more freely,--and, gathering up his -reins, moderated the speed of the vigorous animal, his active accomplice -on this man-hunt. He had then time to study the direction of the -road, and his position with regard to Fouquet. The superintendent had -completely winded his horse by crossing the soft ground. He felt the -necessity of gaining a firmer footing, and turned towards the road by -the shortest secant line. D'Artagnan, on his part, had nothing to do but -to ride straight on, concealed by the sloping shore; so that he would -cut his quarry off the road when he came up with him. Then the real race -would begin,--then the struggle would be in earnest. - -D'Artagnan gave his horse good breathing-time. He observed that the -superintendent had relaxed into a trot, which was to say, he, too, was -favoring his horse. But both of them were too much pressed for time to -allow them to continue long at that pace. The white horse sprang off -like an arrow the moment his feet touched firm ground. D'Artagnan -dropped his head, and his black horse broke into a gallop. Both followed -the same route; the quadruple echoes of this new race-course were -confounded. Fouquet had not yet perceived D'Artagnan. But on issuing -from the slope, a single echo struck the air; it was that of the steps -of D'Artagnan's horse, which rolled along like thunder. Fouquet turned -round, and saw behind him, within a hundred paces, his enemy bent over -the neck of his horse. There could be no doubt--the shining baldrick, -the red cassock--it was a musketeer. Fouquet slackened his hand -likewise, and the white horse placed twenty feet more between his -adversary and himself. - -"Oh, but," thought D'Artagnan, becoming very anxious, "that is not -a common horse M. Fouquet is upon--let us see!" And he attentively -examined with his infallible eye the shape and capabilities of the -courser. Round full quarters--a thin long tail--large hocks--thin legs, -as dry as bars of steel--hoofs hard as marble. He spurred his own, but -the distance between the two remained the same. D'Artagnan listened -attentively; not a breath of the horse reached him, and yet he seemed -to cut the air. The black horse, on the contrary, began to puff like any -blacksmith's bellows. - -"I must overtake him, if I kill my horse," thought the musketeer; and he -began to saw the mouth of the poor animal, whilst he buried the rowels -of his merciless spurs into his sides. The maddened horse gained twenty -toises, and came up within pistol-shot of Fouquet. - -"Courage!" said the musketeer to himself, "courage! the white horse will -perhaps grow weaker, and if the horse does not fall, the master must -pull up at last." But horse and rider remained upright together, gaining -ground by difficult degrees. D'Artagnan uttered a wild cry, which made -Fouquet turn round, and added speed to the white horse. - -"A famous horse! a mad rider!" growled the captain. "Hola! _mordioux!_ -Monsieur Fouquet! stop! in the king's name!" Fouquet made no reply. - -"Do you hear me?" shouted D'Artagnan, whose horse had just stumbled. - -"_Pardieu!_" replied Fouquet, laconically; and rode on faster. - -D'Artagnan was nearly mad; the blood rushed boiling to his temples and -his eyes. "In the king's name!" cried he again, "stop, or I will bring -you down with a pistol-shot!" - -"Do!" replied Fouquet, without relaxing his speed. - -D'Artagnan seized a pistol and cocked it, hoping that the double click -of the spring would stop his enemy. "You have pistols likewise," said -he, "turn and defend yourself." - -Fouquet did turn round at the noise, and looking D'Artagnan full in the -face, opened, with his right hand, the part of his dress which concealed -his body, but he did not even touch his holsters. There were not more -than twenty paces between the two. - -"_Mordioux!_" said D'Artagnan, "I will not assassinate you; if you will -not fire upon me, surrender! what is a prison?" - -"I would rather die!" replied Fouquet; "I shall suffer less." - -D'Artagnan, drunk with despair, hurled his pistol to the ground. "I -will take you alive!" said he; and by a prodigy of skill which this -incomparable horseman alone was capable, he threw his horse forward to -within ten paces of the white horse; already his hand was stretched out -to seize his prey. - -"Kill me! kill me!" cried Fouquet, "'twould be more humane!" - -"No! alive--alive!" murmured the captain. - -At this moment his horse made a false step for the second time, and -Fouquet's again took the lead. It was an unheard-of spectacle, this -race between two horses which now only kept alive by the will of their -riders. It might be said that D'Artagnan rode, carrying his horse along -between his knees. To the furious gallop had succeeded the fast trot, -and that had sunk to what might be scarcely called a trot at all. -But the chase appeared equally warm in the two fatigued _athletoe_. -D'Artagnan, quite in despair, seized his second pistol, and cocked it. - -"At your horse! not at you!" cried he to Fouquet. And he fired. The -animal was hit in the quarters--he made a furious bound, and plunged -forward. At that moment D'Artagnan's horse fell dead. - -"I am dishonored!" thought the musketeer; "I am a miserable wretch! for -pity's sake, M. Fouquet, throw me one of your pistols, that I may blow -out my brains!" But Fouquet rode away. - -"For mercy's sake! for mercy's sake!" cried D'Artagnan; "that which you -will not do at this moment, I myself will do within an hour, but here, -upon this road, I should die bravely; I should die esteemed; do me that -service, M. Fouquet!" - -M. Fouquet made no reply, but continued to trot on. D'Artagnan began to -run after his enemy. Successively he threw away his hat, his coat, which -embarrassed him, and then the sheath of his sword, which got between his -legs as he was running. The sword in his hand itself became too heavy, -and he threw it after the sheath. The white horse began to rattle in -its throat; D'Artagnan gained upon him. From a trot the exhausted animal -sunk to a staggering walk--the foam from his mouth was mixed with blood. -D'Artagnan made a desperate effort, sprang towards Fouquet, and seized -him by the leg, saying in a broken, breathless voice, "I arrest you in -the king's name! blow my brains out, if you like; we have both done our -duty." - -Fouquet hurled far from him, into the river, the two pistols D'Artagnan -might have seized, and dismounting from his horse--"I am your prisoner, -monsieur," said he; "will you take my arm, for I see you are ready to -faint?" - -"Thanks!" murmured D'Artagnan, who, in fact, felt the earth sliding from -under his feet, and the light of day turning to blackness around him; -then he rolled upon the sand, without breath or strength. Fouquet -hastened to the brink of the river, dipped some water in his hat, with -which he bathed the temples of the musketeer, and introduced a few drop -between his lips. D'Artagnan raised himself with difficulty, and looked -about him with a wandering eye. He beheld Fouquet on his knees, with his -wet hat in his hand, smiling upon him with ineffable sweetness. "You are -not off, then?" cried he. "Oh, monsieur! the true king of royalty, -in heart, in soul, is not Louis of the Louvre, or Philippe of -Sainte-Marguerite; it is you, proscribed, condemned!" - -"I, who this day am ruined by a single error, M. d'Artagnan." - -"What, in the name of Heaven, is that?" - -"I should have had you for a friend! But how shall we return to Nantes? -We are a great way from it." - -"That is true," said D'Artagnan, gloomily. - -"The white horse will recover, perhaps; he is a good horse! Mount, -Monsieur d'Artagnan; I will walk till you have rested a little." - -"Poor beast! and wounded, too?" said the musketeer. - -"He will go, I tell you; I know him; but we can do better still, let us -both get up, and ride slowly." - -"We can try," said the captain. But they had scarcely charged the animal -with this double load, when he began to stagger, and then with a great -effort walked a few minutes, then staggered again, and sank down dead by -the side of the black horse, which he had just managed to come up to. - -"We will go on foot--destiny wills it so--the walk will be pleasant," -said Fouquet, passing his arm through that of D'Artagnan. - -"_Mordioux!_" cried the latter, with a fixed eye, a contracted brow, and -a swelling heart--"What a disgraceful day!" - -They walked slowly the four leagues which separated them from the little -wood behind which the carriage and escort were in waiting. When Fouquet -perceived that sinister machine, he said to D'Artagnan, who cast down -his eyes, ashamed of Louis XIV., "There is an idea that did not emanate -from a brave man, Captain d'Artagnan; it is not yours. What are these -gratings for?" said he. - -"To prevent your throwing letters out." - -"Ingenious!" - -"But you can speak, if you cannot write," said D'Artagnan. - -"Can I speak to you?" - -"Why, certainly, if you wish to do so." - -Fouquet reflected for a moment, then looking the captain full in the -face, "One single word," said he; "will you remember it?" - -"I will not forget it." - -"Will you speak it to whom I wish?" - -"I will." - -"Saint-Mande," articulated Fouquet, in a low voice. - -"Well! and for whom?" - -"For Madame de Belliere or Pelisson." - -"It shall be done." - -The carriage rolled through Nantes, and took the route to Angers. - - - -Chapter XLI. In Which the Squirrel Falls,--the Adder Flies. - -It was two o'clock in the afternoon. The king, full of impatience, -went to his cabinet on the terrace, and kept opening the door of the -corridor, to see what his secretaries were doing. M. Colbert, seated in -the same place M. de Saint-Aignan had so long occupied in the morning, -was chatting in a low voice with M. de Brienne. The king opened the door -suddenly, and addressed them. "What is it you are saying?" - -"We were speaking of the first sitting of the States," said M. de -Brienne, rising. - -"Very well," replied the king, and returned to his room. - -Five minutes after, the summons of the bell recalled Rose, whose hour it -was. - -"Have you finished your copies?" asked the king. - -"Not yet, sire." - -"See if M. d'Artagnan has returned." - -"Not yet, sire." - -"It is very strange," murmured the king. "Call M. Colbert." - -Colbert entered; he had been expecting this all the morning. - -"Monsieur Colbert," said the king, very sharply; "you must ascertain -what has become of M. d'Artagnan." - -Colbert in his calm voice replied, "Where does your majesty desire him -to be sought for?" - -"Eh! monsieur! do you not know on what I have sent him?" replied Louis, -acrimoniously. - -"Your majesty did not inform me." - -"Monsieur, there are things that must be guessed; and you, above all, -are apt to guess them." - -"I might have been able to imagine, sire; but I do not presume to be -positive." - -Colbert had not finished these words when a rougher voice than that of -the king interrupted the interesting conversation thus begun between the -monarch and his clerk. - -"D'Artagnan!" cried the king, with evident joy. - -D'Artagnan, pale and in evidently bad humor, cried to the king, as -he entered, "Sire, is it your majesty who has given orders to my -musketeers?" - -"What orders?" said the king. - -"About M. Fouquet's house?" - -"None!" replied Louis. - -"Ha!" said D'Artagnan, biting his mustache; "I was not mistaken, then; -it was monsieur here;" and he pointed to Colbert. - -"What orders? Let me know," said the king. - -"Orders to turn the house topsy-turvy, to beat M. Fouquet's servants, to -force the drawers, to give over a peaceful house to pillage! _Mordioux!_ -these are savage orders!" - -"Monsieur!" said Colbert, turning pale. - -"Monsieur," interrupted D'Artagnan, "the king alone, understand,--the -king alone has a right to command my musketeers; but, as to you, I -forbid you to do it, and I tell you so before his majesty; gentlemen who -carry swords do not sling pens behind their ears." - -"D'Artagnan! D'Artagnan!" murmured the king. - -"It is humiliating," continued the musketeer; "my soldiers are -disgraced. I do not command _reitres_, thank you, nor clerks of the -intendant, _mordioux!_" - -"Well! but what is all this about?" said the king with authority. - -"About this, sire; monsieur--monsieur, who could not guess your -majesty's orders, and consequently could not know I was gone to arrest -M. Fouquet; monsieur, who has caused the iron cage to be constructed for -his patron of yesterday--has sent M. de Roncherolles to the lodgings -of M. Fouquet, and, under the pretense of securing the surintendant's -papers, they have taken away the furniture. My musketeers have been -posted round the house all the morning; such were my orders. Why did any -one presume to order them to enter? Why, by forcing them to assist in -this pillage, have they been made accomplices in it? _Mordioux!_ we -serve the king, we do; but we do not serve M. Colbert!" [5] - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan," said the king, sternly, "take care; it is not in -my presence that such explanations, and made in such a tone, should take -place." - -"I have acted for the good of the king," said Colbert, in a faltering -voice. "It is hard to be so treated by one of your majesty's officers, -and that without redress, on account of the respect I owe the king." - -"The respect you owe the king," cried D'Artagnan, his eyes flashing -fire, "consists, in the first place, in making his authority respected, -and his person beloved. Every agent of a power without control -represents that power, and when people curse the hand which strikes -them, it is the royal hand that God reproaches, do you hear? Must a -soldier, hardened by forty years of wounds and blood, give you this -lesson, monsieur? Must mercy be on my side, and ferocity on yours? You -have caused the innocent to be arrested, bound, and imprisoned!" - -"Accomplices, perhaps, of M. Fouquet," said Colbert. - -"Who told you M. Fouquet had accomplices, or even that he was guilty? -The king alone knows that; his justice is not blind! When he says, -'Arrest and imprison' such and such a man, he is obeyed. Do not talk to -me, then, any more of the respect you owe the king, and be careful of -your words, that they may not chance to convey the slightest menace; -for the king will not allow those to be threatened who do him service -by others who do him disservice; and if in case I should have, which God -forbid! a master so ungrateful, I would make myself respected." - -Thus saying, D'Artagnan took his station haughtily in the king's -cabinet, his eyes flashing, his hand on his sword, his lips trembling, -affecting much more anger than he really felt. Colbert, humiliated and -devoured with rage, bowed to the king as if to ask his permission to -leave the room. The king, thwarted alike in pride and in curiosity, knew -not which part to take. D'Artagnan saw him hesitate. To remain longer -would have been a mistake: it was necessary to score a triumph over -Colbert, and the only method was to touch the king so near the quick, -that his majesty would have no other means of extrication but choosing -between the two antagonists. D'Artagnan bowed as Colbert had done; but -the king, who, in preference to everything else, was anxious to have all -the exact details of the arrest of the surintendant of the finances from -him who had made him tremble for a moment,--the king, perceiving that -the ill-humor of D'Artagnan would put off for half an hour at least the -details he was burning to be acquainted with,--Louis, we say, forgot -Colbert, who had nothing new to tell him, and recalled his captain of -the musketeers. - -"In the first place," said he, "let me see the result of your -commission, monsieur; you may rest yourself hereafter." - -D'Artagnan, who was just passing through the doorway, stopped at the -voice of the king, retraced his steps, and Colbert was forced to leave -the closet. His countenance assumed almost a purple hue, his black and -threatening eyes shone with a dark fire beneath their thick brows; he -stepped out, bowed before the king, half drew himself up in passing -D'Artagnan, and went away with death in his heart. D'Artagnan, on -being left alone with the king, softened immediately, and composing his -countenance: "Sire," said he, "you are a young king. It is by the dawn -that people judge whether the day will be fine or dull. How, sire, will -the people, whom the hand of God has placed under your law, argue -of your reign, if between them and you, you allow angry and violent -ministers to interpose their mischief? But let us speak of myself, sire, -let us leave a discussion that may appear idle, and perhaps inconvenient -to you. Let us speak of myself. I have arrested M. Fouquet." - -"You took plenty of time about it," said the king, sharply. - -D'Artagnan looked at the king. "I perceive that I have expressed -myself badly. I announced to your majesty that I had arrested Monsieur -Fouquet." - -"You did; and what then?" - -"Well! I ought to have told your majesty that M. Fouquet had arrested -me; that would have been more just. I re-establish the truth, then; I -have been arrested by M. Fouquet." - -It was now the turn of Louis XIV. to be surprised. His majesty was -astonished in his turn. - -D'Artagnan, with his quick glance, appreciated what was passing in the -heart of his master. He did not allow him time to put any questions. He -related, with that poetry, that picturesqueness, which perhaps he -alone possessed at that period, the escape of Fouquet, the pursuit, -the furious race, and, lastly, the inimitable generosity of the -surintendant, who might have fled ten times over, who might have killed -the adversary in the pursuit, but who had preferred imprisonment, -perhaps worse, to the humiliation of one who wished to rob him of his -liberty. In proportion as the tale advanced, the king became agitated, -devouring the narrator's words, and drumming with his finger-nails upon -the table. - -"It results from all this, sire, in my eyes, at least, that the man who -conducts himself thus is a gallant man, and cannot be an enemy to the -king. That is my opinion, and I repeat it to your majesty. I know what -the king will say to me, and I bow to it,--reasons of state. So be it! -To my ears that sounds highly respectable. But I am a soldier, and I -have received my orders, my orders are executed--very unwillingly on my -part, it is true, but they are executed. I say no more." - -"Where is M. Fouquet at this moment?" asked Louis, after a short -silence. - -"M. Fouquet, sire," replied D'Artagnan, "is in the iron cage that M. -Colbert had prepared for him, and is galloping as fast as four strong -horses can drag him, towards Angers." - -"Why did you leave him on the road?" - -"Because your majesty did not tell me to go to Angers. The proof, the -best proof of what I advance, is that the king desired me to be sought -for but this minute. And then I had another reason." - -"What is that?" - -"Whilst I was with him, poor M. Fouquet would never attempt to escape." - -"Well!" cried the king, astonished. - -"Your majesty ought to understand, and does understand, certainly, that -my warmest wish is to know that M. Fouquet is at liberty. I have -given him one of my brigadiers, the most stupid I could find among my -musketeers, in order that the prisoner might have a chance of escaping." - -"Are you mad, Monsieur d'Artagnan?" cried the king, crossing his arms -on his breast. "Do people utter such enormities, even when they have the -misfortune to think them?" - -"Ah! sire, you cannot expect that I should be an enemy to M. Fouquet, -after what he has just done for you and me. No, no; if you desire that -he should remain under your lock and bolt, never give him in charge to -me; however closely wired might be the cage, the bird would, in the end, -take wing." - -"I am surprised," said the king, in his sternest tone, "you did not -follow the fortunes of the man M. Fouquet wished to place upon my -throne. You had in him all you want--affection, gratitude. In my -service, monsieur, you will only find a master." - -"If M. Fouquet had not gone to seek you in the Bastile, sire," replied -D'Artagnan, with a deeply impressive manner, "one single man would have -gone there, and I should have been that man--you know that right well, -sire." - -The king was brought to a pause. Before that speech of his captain of -the musketeers, so frankly spoken and so true, the king had nothing to -offer. On hearing D'Artagnan, Louis remembered the D'Artagnan of former -times; him who, at the Palais Royal, held himself concealed behind the -curtains of his bed, when the people of Paris, led by Cardinal de Retz, -came to assure themselves of the presence of the king; the D'Artagnan -whom he saluted with his hand at the door of his carriage, when -repairing to Notre Dame on his return to Paris; the soldier who had -quitted his service at Blois; the lieutenant he had recalled to be -beside his person when the death of Mazarin restored his power; the man -he had always found loyal, courageous, devoted. Louis advanced towards -the door and called Colbert. Colbert had not left the corridor where the -secretaries were at work. He reappeared. - -"Colbert, did you make a perquisition on the house of M. Fouquet?" - -"Yes, sire." - -"What has it produced?" - -"M. de Roncherolles, who was sent with your majesty's musketeers, has -remitted me some papers," replied Colbert. - -"I will look at them. Give me your hand." - -"My hand, sire!" - -"Yes, that I may place it in that of M. d'Artagnan. In fact, M. -d'Artagnan," added he, with a smile, turning towards the soldier, who, -at sight of the clerk, had resumed his haughty attitude, "you do not -know this man; make his acquaintance." And he pointed to Colbert. "He -has been made but a moderately valuable servant in subaltern positions, -but he will be a great man if I raise him to the foremost rank." - -"Sire!" stammered Colbert, confused with pleasure and fear. - -"I always understood why," murmured D'Artagnan in the king's ear; "he -was jealous." - -"Precisely, and his jealousy confined his wings." - -"He will henceforward be a winged-serpent," grumbled the musketeer, with -a remnant of hatred against his recent adversary. - -But Colbert, approaching him, offered to his eyes a physiognomy so -different from that which he had been accustomed to see him wear; he -appeared so good, so mild, so easy; his eyes took the expression of an -intelligence so noble, that D'Artagnan, a connoisseur in physiognomies, -was moved, and almost changed in his convictions. Colbert pressed his -hand. - -"That which the king has just told you, monsieur, proves how well -his majesty is acquainted with men. The inveterate opposition I have -displayed, up to this day, against abuses and not against men, proves -that I had it in view to prepare for my king a glorious reign, for my -country a great blessing. I have many ideas, M. d'Artagnan. You will -see them expand in the sun of public peace; and if I have not the good -fortune to conquer the friendship of honest men, I am at least certain, -monsieur, that I shall obtain their esteem. For their admiration, -monsieur, I would give my life." - -This change, this sudden elevation, this mute approbation of the king, -gave the musketeer matter for profound reflection. He bowed civilly to -Colbert, who did not take his eyes off him. The king, when he saw they -were reconciled, dismissed them. They left the room together. As soon -as they were out of the cabinet, the new minister, stopping the captain, -said: - -"Is it possible, M. d'Artagnan, that with such an eye as yours, you did -not, at the first glance, at the first impression, discover what sort of -man I am?" - -"Monsieur Colbert," replied the musketeer, "a ray of the sun in our eyes -prevents us from seeing the most vivid flame. The man in power radiates, -you know; and since you are there, why should you continue to persecute -him who had just fallen into disgrace, and fallen from such a height?" - -"I, monsieur!" said Colbert; "oh, monsieur! I would never persecute -him. I wished to administer the finances and to administer them alone, -because I am ambitious, and, above all, because I have the most entire -confidence in my own merit; because I know that all the gold of this -country will ebb and flow beneath my eyes, and I love to look at the -king's gold; because, if I live thirty years, in thirty years not a -_denir_ of it will remain in my hands; because, with that gold, I will -build granaries, castles, cities, and harbors; because I will create a -marine, I will equip navies that shall waft the name of France to the -most distant people; because I will create libraries and academies; -because I will make France the first country in the world, and the -wealthiest. These are the motives for my animosity against M. Fouquet, -who prevented my acting. And then, when I shall be great and strong, -when France is great and strong, in my turn, then, will I cry, 'Mercy'!" - -"Mercy, did you say? then ask his liberty of the king. The king is only -crushing him on _your_ account." - -Colbert again raised his head. "Monsieur," said he, "you know that is -not so, and that the king has his own personal animosity against M. -Fouquet; it is not for me to teach you that." - -"But the king will grow tired; he will forget." - -"The king never forgets, M. d'Artagnan. Hark! the king calls. He is -going to issue an order. I have not influenced him, have I? Listen." - -The king, in fact, was calling his secretaries. "Monsieur d'Artagnan," -said he. - -"I am here, sire." - -"Give twenty of your musketeers to M. de Saint-Aignan, to form a guard -for M. Fouquet." - -D'Artagnan and Colbert exchanged looks. "And from Angers," continued the -king, "they will conduct the prisoner to the Bastile, in Paris." - -"You were right," said the captain to the minister. - -"Saint-Aignan," continued the king, "you will have any one shot who -shall attempt to speak privately with M. Fouquet, during the journey." - -"But myself, sire," said the duke. - -"You, monsieur, you will only speak to him in the presence of the -musketeers." The duke bowed and departed to execute his commission. - -D'Artagnan was about to retire likewise; but the king stopped him. - -"Monsieur," said he, "you will go immediately, and take possession of -the isle and fief of Belle-Ile-en-Mer." - -"Yes, sire. Alone?" - -"You will take a sufficient number of troops to prevent delay, in case -the place should be contumacious." - -A murmur of courtly incredulity rose from the group of courtiers. "That -shall be done," said D'Artagnan. - -"I saw the place in my infancy," resumed the king, "and I do not wish to -see it again. You have heard me? Go, monsieur, and do not return without -the keys." - -Colbert went up to D'Artagnan. "A commission which, if you carry it out -well," said he, "will be worth a marechal's baton to you." - -"Why do you employ the words, 'if you carry it out well'?" - -"Because it is difficult." - -"Ah! in what respect?" - -"You have friends in Belle-Isle, Monsieur d'Artagnan; and it is not an -easy thing for men like you to march over the bodies of their friends to -obtain success." - -D'Artagnan hung his head in deepest thought, whilst Colbert returned to -the king. A quarter of an hour after, the captain received the written -order from the king, to blow up the fortress of Belle-Isle, in case of -resistance, with power of life and death over all the inhabitants or -refugees, and an injunction not to allow one to escape. - -"Colbert was right," thought D'Artagnan; "for me the baton of a marechal -of France will cost the lives of my two friends. Only they seem to -forget that my friends are not more stupid than the birds, and that they -will not wait for the hand of the fowler to extend over their wings. -I will show them that hand so plainly, that they will have quite time -enough to see it. Poor Porthos! Poor Aramis! No; my fortune should shall -not cost your wings a feather." - -Having thus determined, D'Artagnan assembled the royal army, embarked it -at Paimboeuf, and set sail, without the loss of an unnecessary minute. - - - -Chapter XLII. Belle-Ile-en-Mer. - -At the extremity of the mole, against which the furious sea beats at the -evening tide, two men, holding each other by the arm, were conversing -in an animated and expansive tone, without the possibility of any other -human being hearing their words, borne away, as they were, one by one, -by the gusts of wind, with the white foam swept from the crests of the -waves. The sun had just gone down in the vast sheet of the crimsoned -ocean, like a gigantic crucible. From time to time, one of these men, -turning towards the east, cast an anxious, inquiring look over the sea. -The other, interrogating the features of his companion, seemed to seek -for information in his looks. Then, both silent, busied with dismal -thoughts, they resumed their walk. Every one has already perceived that -these two men were our proscribed heroes, Porthos and Aramis, who had -taken refuge in Belle-Isle, since the ruin of their hopes, since the -discomfiture of the colossal schemes of M. d'Herblay. - -"If is of no use your saying anything to the contrary, my dear Aramis," -repeated Porthos, inhaling vigorously the salt breeze with which he -charged his massive chest, "It is of no use, Aramis. The disappearance -of all the fishing-boats that went out two days ago is not an ordinary -circumstance. There has been no storm at sea; the weather has been -constantly calm, not even the lightest gale; and even if we had had -a tempest, all our boats would not have foundered. I repeat, it is -strange. This complete disappearance astonishes me, I tell you." - -"True," murmured Aramis. "You are right, friend Porthos; it is true, -there is something strange in it." - -"And further," added Porthos, whose ideas the assent of the bishop of -Vannes seemed to enlarge; "and, further, do you not observe that if the -boats have perished, not a single plank has washed ashore?" - -"I have remarked it as well as yourself." - -"And do you not think it strange that the two only boats we had left in -the whole island, and which I sent in search of the others--" - -Aramis here interrupted his companion by a cry, and by so sudden a -movement, that Porthos stopped as if he were stupefied. "What do you -say, Porthos? What!--You have sent the two boats--" - -"In search of the others! Yes, to be sure I have," replied Porthos, -calmly. - -"Unhappy man! What have you done? Then we are indeed lost," cried the -bishop. - -"Lost!--what did you say?" exclaimed the terrified Porthos. "How lost, -Aramis? How are we lost?" - -Aramis bit his lips. "Nothing! nothing! Your pardon, I meant to say--" - -"What?" - -"That if we were inclined--if we took a fancy to make an excursion by -sea, we could not." - -"Very good! and why should that vex you? A precious pleasure, _ma foi!_ -For my part, I don't regret it at all. What I regret is certainly not -the more or less amusement we can find at Belle-Isle: what I regret, -Aramis, is Pierrefonds; Bracieux; le Vallon; beautiful France! Here, we -are not in France, my dear friend; we are--I know not where. Oh! I -tell you, in full sincerity of soul, and your affection will excuse my -frankness, but I declare to you I am not happy at Belle-Isle. No; in -good truth, I am not happy!" - -Aramis breathed a long, but stifled sigh. "Dear friend," replied he: -"that is why it is so sad a thing you have sent the two boats we had -left in search of the boats which disappeared two days ago. If you had -not sent them away, we would have departed." - -"'Departed!' And the orders, Aramis?" - -"What orders?" - -"_Parbleu!_ Why, the orders you have been constantly, in and out of -season, repeating to me--that we were to hold Belle-Isle against the -usurper. You know very well!" - -"That is true!" murmured Aramis again. - -"You see, then, plainly, my friend, that we could not depart; and that -the sending away of the boats in search of the others cannot prove -prejudicial to us in the very least." - -Aramis was silent; and his vague glances, luminous as that of an -albatross, hovered for a long time over the sea, interrogating space, -seeking to pierce the very horizon. - -"With all that, Aramis," continued Porthos, who adhered to his idea, -and that the more closely from the bishop having apparently endorsed -it,--"with all that, you give me no explanation about what can have -happened to these unfortunate boats. I am assailed by cries and -complaints whichever way I go. The children cry to see the desolation of -the women, as if I could restore the absent husbands and fathers. What -do you suppose, my friend, and how ought I to answer them?" - -"Think all you like, my good Porthos, and say nothing." - -This reply did not satisfy Porthos at all. He turned away grumbling -something in ill-humor. Aramis stopped the valiant musketeer. "Do you -remember," said he, in a melancholy tone, kneading the two hands of the -giant between his own with affectionate cordiality, "do you remember, -my friend, that in the glorious days of youth--do you remember, Porthos, -when we were all strong and valiant--we, and the other two--if we had -then had an inclination to return to France, do you think this sheet of -salt water would have stopped us?" - -"Oh!" said Porthos; "but six leagues." - -"If you had seen me get astride of a plank, would you have remained on -land, Porthos?" - -"No, _pardieu!_ No, Aramis. But, nowadays, what sort of a plank should -we want, my friend! I, in particular." And the Seigneur de Bracieux cast -a profound glance over his colossal rotundity with a loud laugh. "And do -you mean seriously to say you are not tired of Belle-Isle a little, -and that you would not prefer the comforts of your dwelling--of your -episcopal palace, at Vannes? Come, confess." - -"No," replied Aramis, without daring to look at Porthos. - -"Let us stay where we are, then," said his friend, with a sigh, which, -in spite of the efforts he made to restrain it, escaped his echoing -breast. "Let us remain!--let us remain! And yet," added he, "and yet, -if we seriously wished, but that decidedly--if we had a fixed idea, one -firmly taken, to return to France, and there were not boats--" - -"Have you remarked another thing, my friend--that is, since the -disappearance of our barks, during the last two days' absence of -fishermen, not a single small boat has landed on the shores of the -isle?" - -"Yes, certainly! you are right. I, too, have remarked it, and the -observation was the more naturally made, for, before the last two fatal -days, barks and shallops were as plentiful as shrimps." - -"I must inquire," said Aramis, suddenly, and with great agitation. "And -then, if we had a raft constructed--" - -"But there are some canoes, my friend; shall I board one?" - -"A canoe!--a canoe! Can you think of such a thing, Porthos? A canoe to -be upset in. No, no," said the bishop of Vannes; "it is not our trade to -ride upon the waves. We will wait, we will wait." - -And Aramis continued walking about with increased agitation. Porthos, -who grew tired of following all the feverish movements of his -friend--Porthos, who in his faith and calmness understood nothing of -the sort of exasperation which was betrayed by his companion's continual -convulsive starts--Porthos stopped him. "Let us sit down upon this -rock," said he. "Place yourself there, close to me, Aramis, and I -conjure you, for the last time, to explain to me in a manner I can -comprehend--explain to me what we are doing here." - -"Porthos," said Aramis, much embarrassed. - -"I know that the false king wished to dethrone the true king. That is a -fact, that I understand. Well--" - -"Yes?" said Aramis. - -"I know that the false king formed the project of selling Belle-Isle to -the English. I understand that, too." - -"Yes?" - -"I know that we engineers and captains came and threw ourselves into -Belle-Isle to take direction of the works, and the command of ten -companies levied and paid by M. Fouquet, or rather the ten companies of -his son-in-law. All that is plain." - -Aramis rose in a state of great impatience. He might be said to be a -lion importuned by a gnat. Porthos held him by the arm. "But what I -cannot understand, what, in spite of all the efforts of my mind, and -all my reflections, I cannot comprehend, and never shall comprehend, is, -that instead of sending us troops, instead of sending us reinforcements -of men, munitions, provisions, they leave us without boats, they -leave Belle-Isle without arrivals, without help; it is that instead of -establishing with us a correspondence, whether by signals, or written -or verbal communications, all relations with the shore are intercepted. -Tell me, Aramis, answer me, or rather, before answering me, will you -allow me to tell you what I have thought? Will you hear what my idea is, -the plan I have conceived?" - -The bishop raised his head. "Well! Aramis," continued Porthos, "I have -dreamed, I have imagined that an event has taken place in France. I -dreamt of M. Fouquet all the night, of lifeless fish, of broken eggs, -of chambers badly furnished, meanly kept. Villainous dreams, my dear -D'Herblay; very unlucky, such dreams!" - -"Porthos, what is that yonder?" interrupted Aramis, rising suddenly, and -pointing out to his friend a black spot upon the empurpled line of the -water. - -"A bark!" said Porthos; "yes, it is a bark! Ah! we shall have some news -at last." - -"There are two!" cried the bishop, on discovering another mast; "two! -three! four!" - -"Five!" said Porthos, in his turn. "Six! seven! Ah! _mon Dieu! mon -Dieu!_ it is a fleet!" - -"Our boats returning, probably," said Aramis, very uneasily, in spite of -the assurance he affected. - -"They are very large for fishing-boats," observed Porthos, "and do you -not remark, my friend, that they come from the Loire?" - -"They come from the Loire--yes--" - -"And look! everybody here sees them as well as ourselves; look, women -and children are beginning to crowd the jetty." - -An old fisherman passed. "Are those our barks, yonder?" asked Aramis. - -The old man looked steadily into the eye of the horizon. - -"No, monseigneur," replied he, "they are lighter boars, boats in the -king's service." - -"Boats in the royal service?" replied Aramis, starting. "How do you know -that?" said he. - -"By the flag." - -"But," said Porthos, "the boat is scarcely visible; how the devil, my -friend, can you distinguish the flag?" - -"I see there is one," replied the old man; "our boats, trade lighters, -do not carry any. That sort of craft is generally used for transport of -troops." - -"Ah!" groaned Aramis. - -"_Vivat!_" cried Porthos, "they are sending us reinforcements, don't you -think they are, Aramis?" - -"Probably." - -"Unless it is the English coming." - -"By the Loire? That would have an evil look, Porthos; for they must have -come through Paris!" - -"You are right; they are reinforcements, decidedly, or provisions." - -Aramis leaned his head upon his hands, and made no reply. Then, all at -once,--"Porthos," said he, "have the alarm sounded." - -"The alarm! do you imagine such a thing?" - -"Yes, and let the cannoniers mount their batteries, the artillerymen be -at their pieces, and be particularly watchful of the coast batteries." - -Porthos opened his eyes to their widest extent. He looked attentively at -his friend, to convince himself he was in his proper senses. - -"_I_ will do it, my dear Porthos," continued Aramis, in his blandest -tone; "I will go and have these orders executed myself, if you do not -go, my friend." - -"Well! I will--instantly!" said Porthos, who went to execute the orders, -casting all the while looks behind him, to see if the bishop of Vannes -were not deceived; and if, on recovering more rational ideas, he would -not recall him. The alarm was sounded, trumpets brayed, drums rolled; -the great bronze bell swung in horror from its lofty belfry. The dikes -and moles were quickly filled with the curious and soldiers; matches -sparkled in the hands of the artillerymen, placed behind the large -cannon bedded in their stone carriages. When every man was at his post, -when all the preparations for defense were made: "Permit me, Aramis, to -try to comprehend," whispered Porthos, timidly, in Aramis's ear. - -"My dear friend, you will comprehend but too soon," murmured M. -d'Herblay, in reply to this question of his lieutenant. - -"The fleet which is coming yonder, with sails unfurled, straight towards -the port of Belle-Isle, is a royal fleet, is it not?" - -"But as there are two kings in France, Porthos, to which of these two -kings does this fleet belong?" - -"Oh! you open my eyes," replied the giant, stunned by the insinuation. - -And Porthos, whose eyes this reply of his friend's had at last opened, -or rather thickened the bandage which covered his sight, went with his -best speed to the batteries to overlook his people, and exhort every -one to do his duty. In the meantime, Aramis, with his eye fixed on the -horizon, saw the ships continually drawing nearer. The people and the -soldiers, perched on the summits of the rocks, could distinguish the -masts, then the lower sails, and at last the hulls of the lighters, -bearing at the masthead the royal flag of France. It was night when -one of these vessels, which had created such a sensation among the -inhabitants of Belle-Isle, dropped anchor within cannon shot of the -place. It was soon seen, notwithstanding the darkness, that some sort -of agitation reigned on board the vessel, from the side of which a skiff -was lowered, of which the three rowers, bending to their oars, took the -direction of the port, and in a few instants struck land at the foot -of the fort. The commander jumped ashore. He had a letter in his hand, -which he waved in the air, and seemed to wish to communicate with -somebody. This man was soon recognized by several soldiers as one of -the pilots of the island. He was the captain of one of the two barks -retained by Aramis, but which Porthos, in his anxiety with regard to -the fate of the fishermen who had disappeared, had sent in search of the -missing boats. He asked to be conducted to M. d'Herblay. Two soldiers, -at a signal from a sergeant, marched him between them, and escorted him. -Aramis was upon the quay. The envoy presented himself before the -bishop of Vannes. The darkness was almost absolute, notwithstanding the -flambeaux borne at a small distance by the soldiers who were following -Aramis in his rounds. - -"Well, Jonathan, from whom do you come?" - -"Monseigneur, from those who captured me." - -"Who captured you?" - -"You know, monseigneur, we set out in search of our comrades?" - -"Yes; and afterwards?" - -"Well! monseigneur, within a short league we were captured by a _chasse -maree_ belonging to the king." - -"Ah!" said Aramis. - -"Of which king?" cried Porthos. - -Jonathan started. - -"Speak!" continued the bishop. - -"We were captured, monseigneur, and joined to those who had been taken -yesterday morning." - -"What was the cause of the mania for capturing you all?" said Porthos. - -"Monsieur, to prevent us from telling you," replied Jonathan. - -Porthos was again at a loss to comprehend. "And they have released you -to-day?" asked he. - -"That I might tell you they have captured us, monsieur." - -"Trouble upon trouble," thought honest Porthos. - -During this time Aramis was reflecting. - -"Humph!" said he, "then I suppose it is a royal fleet blockading the -coasts?" - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"Who commands it?" - -"The captain of the king's musketeers." - -"D'Artagnan?" - -"D'Artagnan!" exclaimed Porthos. - -"I believe that is the name." - -"And did he give you this letter?" - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"Bring the torches nearer." - -"It is his writing," said Porthos. - -Aramis eagerly read the following lines: - -"Order of the king to take Belle-Isle; or to put the garrison to the -sword, if they resist; order to make prisoners of all the men of the -garrison; signed, D'ARTAGNAN, who, the day before yesterday, arrested M. -Fouquet, for the purpose of his being sent to the Bastile." - -Aramis turned pale, and crushed the paper in his hands. - -"What is it?" asked Porthos. - -"Nothing, my friend, nothing." - -"Tell me, Jonathan?" - -"Monseigneur?" - -"Did you speak to M. d'Artagnan?" - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"What did he say to you?" - -"That for ampler information, he would speak with monseigneur." - -"Where?" - -"On board his own vessel." - -"On board his vessel!" and Porthos repeated, "On board his vessel!" - -"M. le mousquetaire," continued Jonathan, "told me to take you both on -board my canoe, and bring you to him." - -"Let us go at once," exclaimed Porthos. "Dear D'Artagnan!" - -But Aramis stopped him. "Are you mad?" cried he. "Who knows that it is -not a snare?" - -"Of the other king's?" said Porthos, mysteriously. - -"A snare, in fact! That's what it is, my friend." - -"Very possibly; what is to be done, then? If D'Artagnan sends for us--" - -"Who assures you that D'Artagnan sends for us?" - -"Well, but--but his writing--" - -"Writing is easily counterfeited. This looks counterfeited--unsteady--" - -"You are always right; but, in the meantime, we know nothing." - -Aramis was silent. - -"It is true," said the good Porthos, "we do not want to know anything." - -"What shall I do?" asked Jonathan. - -"You will return on board this captain's vessel." - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"And will tell him that we beg he will himself come into the island." - -"Ah! I comprehend!" said Porthos. - -"Yes, monseigneur," replied Jonathan; "but if the captain should refuse -to come to Belle-Isle?" - -"If he refuses, as we have cannon, we will make use of them." - -"What! against D'Artagnan?" - -"If it is D'Artagnan, Porthos, he will come. Go, Jonathan, go!" - -"_Ma foi!_ I no longer comprehend anything," murmured Porthos. - -"I will make you comprehend it all, my dear friend; the time for it has -come; sit down upon this gun-carriage, open your ears, and listen well -to me." - -"Oh! _pardieu!_ I will listen, no fear of that." - -"May I depart, monseigneur?" cried Jonathan. - -"Yes, begone, and bring back an answer. Allow the canoe to pass, you men -there!" And the canoe pushed off to regain the fleet. - -Aramis took Porthos by the hand, and commenced his explanations. - - - -Chapter XLIII. Explanations by Aramis. - -"What I have to say to you, friend Porthos, will probably surprise you, -but it may prove instructive." - -"I like to be surprised," said Porthos, in a kindly tone; "do not spare -me, therefore, I beg. I am hardened against emotions; don't fear, speak -out." - -"It is difficult, Porthos--difficult; for, in truth, I warn you a second -time, I have very strange things, very extraordinary things, to tell -you." - -"Oh! you speak so well, my friend, that I could listen to you for days -together. Speak, then, I beg--and--stop, I have an idea: I will, to make -your task more easy, I will, to assist you in telling me such things, -question you." - -"I shall be pleased at your doing so." - -"What are we going to fight for, Aramis?" - -"If you ask me many such questions as that--if you would render my task -the easier by interrupting my revelations thus, Porthos, you will not -help me at all. So far, on the contrary, that is the very Gordian knot. -But, my friend, with a man like you, good, generous, and devoted, the -confession must be bravely made. I have deceived you, my worthy friend." - -"You have deceived me!" - -"Good Heavens! yes." - -"Was it for my good, Aramis?" - -"I thought so, Porthos; I thought so sincerely, my friend." - -"Then," said the honest seigneur of Bracieux, "you have rendered me a -service, and I thank you for it; for if you had not deceived me, I might -have deceived myself. In what, then, have you deceived me, tell me?" - -"In that I was serving the usurper against whom Louis XIV., at this -moment, is directing his efforts." - -"The usurper!" said Porthos, scratching his head. "That is--well, I do -not quite clearly comprehend!" - -"He is one of the two kings who are contending for the crown of France." - -"Very well! Then you were serving him who is not Louis XIV.?" - -"You have hit the matter in one word." - -"It follows that--" - -"It follows that we are rebels, my poor friend." - -"The devil! the devil!" cried Porthos, much disappointed. - -"Oh! but, dear Porthos, be calm, we shall still find means of getting -out of the affair, trust me." - -"It is not that which makes me uneasy," replied Porthos; "that which -alone touches me is that ugly word _rebels_." - -"Ah! but--" - -"And so, according to this, the duchy that was promised me--" - -"It was the usurper that was to give it to you." - -"And that is not the same thing, Aramis," said Porthos, majestically. - -"My friend, if it had only depended upon me, you should have become a -prince." - -Porthos began to bite his nails in a melancholy way. - -"That is where you have been wrong," continued he, "in deceiving me; for -that promised duchy I reckoned upon. Oh! I reckoned upon it seriously, -knowing you to be a man of your word, Aramis." - -"Poor Porthos! pardon me, I implore you!" - -"So, then," continued Porthos, without replying to the bishop's prayer, -"so then, it seems, I have quite fallen out with Louis XIV.?" - -"Oh! I will settle all that, my good friend, I will settle all that. I -will take it on myself alone!" - -"Aramis!" - -"No, no, Porthos, I conjure you, let me act. No false generosity! No -inopportune devotedness! You knew nothing of my projects. You have done -nothing of yourself. With me it is different. I alone am the author of -this plot. I stood in need of my inseparable companion; I called upon -you, and you came to me in remembrance of our ancient device, 'All for -one, one for all.' My crime is that I was an egotist." - -"Now, that is a word I like," said Porthos; "and seeing that you have -acted entirely for yourself, it is impossible for me to blame you. It is -natural." - -And upon this sublime reflection, Porthos pressed his friend's hand -cordially. - -In presence of this ingenuous greatness of soul, Aramis felt his own -littleness. It was the second time he had been compelled to bend before -real superiority of heart, which is more imposing than brilliancy of -mind. He replied by a mute and energetic pressure to the endearment of -his friend. - -"Now," said Porthos, "that we have come to an explanation, now that I am -perfectly aware of our situation with respect to Louis XIV., I think, my -friend, it is time to make me comprehend the political intrigue of which -we are the victims--for I plainly see there is a political intrigue at -the bottom of all this." - -"D'Artagnan, my good Porthos, D'Artagnan is coming, and will detail it -to you in all its circumstances; but, excuse me, I am deeply grieved, I -am bowed down with mental anguish, and I have need of all my presence -of mind, all my powers of reflection, to extricate you from the false -position in which I have so imprudently involved you; but nothing can be -more clear, nothing more plain, than your position, henceforth. The king -Louis XIV. has no longer now but one enemy: that enemy is myself, -myself alone. I have made you a prisoner, you have followed me, to-day -I liberate you, you fly back to your prince. You can perceive, Porthos, -there is not one difficulty in all this." - -"Do you think so?" said Porthos. - -"I am quite sure of it." - -"Then why," said the admirable good sense of Porthos, "then why, if -we are in such an easy position, why, my friend, do we prepare cannon, -muskets, and engines of all sorts? It seems to me it would be much -more simple to say to Captain d'Artagnan: 'My dear friend, we have been -mistaken; that error is to be repaired; open the door to us, let us pass -through, and we will say good-bye.'" - -"Ah! that!" said Aramis, shaking his head. - -"Why do you say 'that'? Do you not approve of my plan, my friend?" - -"I see a difficulty in it." - -"What is it?" - -"The hypothesis that D'Artagnan may come with orders which will oblige -us to defend ourselves." - -"What! defend ourselves against D'Artagnan? Folly! Against the good -D'Artagnan!" - -Aramis once more replied by shaking his head. - -"Porthos," at length said he, "if I have had the matches lighted and -the guns pointed, if I have had the signal of alarm sounded, if I have -called every man to his post upon the ramparts, those good ramparts of -Belle-Isle which you have so well fortified, it was not for nothing. -Wait to judge; or rather, no, do not wait--" - -"What can I do?" - -"If I knew, my friend, I would have told you." - -"But there is one thing much more simple than defending ourselves:--a -boat, and away for France--where--" - -"My dear friend," said Aramis, smiling with a strong shade of sadness, -"do not let us reason like children; let us be men in council and in -execution.--But, hark! I hear a hail for landing at the port. Attention, -Porthos, serious attention!" - -"It is D'Artagnan, no doubt," said Porthos, in a voice of thunder, -approaching the parapet. - -"Yes, it is I," replied the captain of the musketeers, running lightly -up the steps of the mole, and gaining rapidly the little esplanade on -which his two friends waited for him. As soon as he came towards them, -Porthos and Aramis observed an officer who followed D'Artagnan, treading -apparently in his very steps. The captain stopped upon the stairs of the -mole, when half-way up. His companions imitated him. - -"Make your men draw back," cried D'Artagnan to Porthos and Aramis; "let -them retire out of hearing." This order, given by Porthos, was executed -immediately. Then D'Artagnan, turning towards him who followed him: - -"Monsieur," said he, "we are no longer on board the king's fleet, where, -in virtue of your order, you spoke so arrogantly to me, just now." - -"Monsieur," replied the officer, "I did not speak arrogantly to you; I -simply, but rigorously, obeyed instructions. I was commanded to follow -you. I follow you. I am directed not to allow you to communicate with -any one without taking cognizance of what you do; I am in duty bound, -accordingly, to overhear your conversations." - -D'Artagnan trembled with rage, and Porthos and Aramis, who heard this -dialogue, trembled likewise, but with uneasiness and fear. D'Artagnan, -biting his mustache with that vivacity which denoted in him -exasperation, closely to be followed by an explosion, approached the -officer. - -"Monsieur," said he, in a low voice, so much the more impressive, that, -affecting calm, it threatened tempest--"monsieur, when I sent a canoe -hither, you wished to know what I wrote to the defenders of Belle-Isle. -You produced an order to that effect; and, in my turn, I instantly -showed you the note I had written. When the skipper of the boat sent by -me returned, when I received the reply of these two gentlemen" (and -he pointed to Aramis and Porthos), "you heard every word of what the -messenger said. All that was plainly in your orders, all that was well -executed, very punctually, was it not?" - -"Yes, monsieur," stammered the officer; "yes, without doubt, but--" - -"Monsieur," continued D'Artagnan, growing warm--"monsieur, when I -manifested the intention of quitting my vessel to cross to Belle-Isle, -you demanded to accompany me; I did not hesitate; I brought you with me. -You are now at Belle-Isle, are you not?" - -"Yes, monsieur; but--" - -"But--the question no longer is of M. Colbert, who has given you that -order, or of whomsoever in the world you are following the instructions; -the question now is of a man who is a clog upon M. d'Artagnan, and who -is alone with M. d'Artagnan upon steps whose feet are bathed by thirty -feet of salt water; a bad position for that man, a bad position, -monsieur! I warn you." - -"But, monsieur, if I am a restraint upon you," said the officer, -timidly, and almost faintly, "it is my duty which--" - -"Monsieur, you have had the misfortune, either you or those that sent -you, to insult me. It is done. I cannot seek redress from those who -employ you,--they are unknown to me, or are at too great a distance. But -you are under my hand, and I swear that if you make one step behind me -when I raise my feet to go up to those gentlemen, I swear to you by my -name, I will cleave your head in two with my sword, and pitch you into -the water. Oh! it will happen! it will happen! I have only been six -times angry in my life, monsieur, and all five preceding times _I killed -my man_." - -The officer did not stir; he became pale under this terrible threat, but -replied with simplicity, "Monsieur, you are wrong in acting against my -orders." - -Porthos and Aramis, mute and trembling at the top of the parapet, cried -to the musketeer, "Good D'Artagnan, take care!" - -D'Artagnan made them a sign to keep silence, raised his foot with -ominous calmness to mount the stair, and turned round, sword in hand, -to see if the officer followed him. The officer made a sign of the cross -and stepped up. Porthos and Aramis, who knew their D'Artagnan, uttered -a cry, and rushed down to prevent the blow they thought they already -heard. But D'Artagnan passed his sword into his left hand,-- - -"Monsieur," said he to the officer, in an agitated voice, "you are a -brave man. You will all the better comprehend what I am going to say to -you now." - -"Speak, Monsieur d'Artagnan, speak," replied the officer. - -"These gentlemen we have just seen, and against whom you have orders, -are my friends." - -"I know they are, monsieur." - -"You can understand whether or not I ought to act towards them as your -instructions prescribe." - -"I understand your reserve." - -"Very well; permit me, then, to converse with them without a witness." - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan, if I yield to your request, if I do that which -you beg me, I break my word; but if I do not do it, I disoblige you. I -prefer the one dilemma to the other. Converse with your friends, and do -not despise me, monsieur, for doing this for _your_ sake, whom I esteem -and honor; do not despise me for committing for you, and you alone, an -unworthy act." D'Artagnan, much agitated, threw his arm round the -neck of the young man, and then went up to his friends. The officer, -enveloped in his cloak, sat down on the damp, weed-covered steps. - -"Well!" said D'Artagnan to his friends, "such is my position, judge for -yourselves." All three embraced as in the glorious days of their youth. - -"What is the meaning of all these preparations?" said Porthos. - -"You ought to have a suspicion of what they signify," said D'Artagnan. - -"Not any, I assure you, my dear captain; for, in fact, I have done -nothing, no more has Aramis," the worthy baron hastened to say. - -D'Artagnan darted a reproachful look at the prelate, which penetrated -that hardened heart. - -"Dear Porthos!" cried the bishop of Vannes. - -"You see what is being done against you," said D'Artagnan; "interception -of all boats coming to or going from Belle-Isle. Your means of transport -seized. If you had endeavored to fly, you would have fallen into the -hands of the cruisers that plow the sea in all directions, on the -watch for you. The king wants you to be taken, and he will take you." -D'Artagnan tore at his gray mustache. Aramis grew somber, Porthos angry. - -"My idea was this," continued D'Artagnan: "to make you both come on -board, to keep you near me, and restore you your liberty. But now, who -can say, when I return to my ship, I may not find a superior; that I may -not find secret orders which will take from me my command, and give it -to another, who will dispose of me and you without hope of help?" - -"We must remain at Belle-Isle," said Aramis, resolutely; "and I assure -you, for my part, I will not surrender easily." Porthos said nothing. -D'Artagnan remarked the silence of his friend. - -"I have another trial to make of this officer, of this brave fellow who -accompanies me, and whose courageous resistance makes me very happy; -for it denotes an honest man, who, though an enemy, is a thousand times -better than a complaisant coward. Let us try to learn from him what his -instructions are, and what his orders permit or forbid." - -"Let us try," said Aramis. - -D'Artagnan went to the parapet, leaned over towards the steps of the -mole, and called the officer, who immediately came up. "Monsieur," -said D'Artagnan, after having exchanged the cordial courtesies natural -between gentlemen who know and appreciate each other, "monsieur, if I -wished to take away these gentlemen from here, what would you do?" - -"I should not oppose it, monsieur; but having direct explicit orders to -put them under guard, I should detain them." - -"Ah!" said D'Artagnan. - -"That's all over," said Aramis, gloomily. Porthos did not stir. - -"But still take Porthos," said the bishop of Vannes. "He can prove to -the king, and I will help him do so, and you too, Monsieur d'Artagnan, -that he had nothing to do with this affair." - -"Hum!" said D'Artagnan. "Will you come? Will you follow me, Porthos? The -king is merciful." - -"I want time for reflection," said Porthos. - -"You will remain here, then?" - -"Until fresh orders," said Aramis, with vivacity. - -"Until we have an idea," resumed D'Artagnan; "and I now believe that -will not be long, for I have one already." - -"Let us say adieu, then," said Aramis; "but in truth, my good Porthos, -you ought to go." - -"No," said the latter, laconically. - -"As you please," replied Aramis, a little wounded in his -susceptibilities at the morose tone of his companion. "Only I am -reassured by the promise of an idea from D'Artagnan, an idea I fancy I -have divined." - -"Let us see," said the musketeer, placing his ear near Aramis's mouth. -The latter spoke several words rapidly, to which D'Artagnan replied, -"That is it, precisely." - -"Infallible!" cried Aramis. - -"During the first emotion this resolution will cause, take care of -yourself, Aramis." - -"Oh! don't be afraid." - -"Now, monsieur," said D'Artagnan to the officer, "thanks, a thousand -thanks! You have made yourself three friends for life." - -"Yes," added Aramis. Porthos alone said nothing, but merely bowed. - -D'Artagnan, having tenderly embraced his two old friends, left -Belle-Isle with the inseparable companion with whom M. Colbert had -saddled him. Thus, with the exception of the explanation with which the -worthy Porthos had been willing to be satisfied, nothing had changed in -appearance in the fate of one or the other, "Only," said Aramis, "there -is D'Artagnan's idea." - -D'Artagnan did not return on board without profoundly analyzing the idea -he had discovered. Now, we know that whatever D'Artagnan did examine, -according to custom, daylight was certain to illuminate. As to the -officer, now grown mute again, he had full time for meditation. -Therefore, on putting his foot on board his vessel, moored within -cannon-shot of the island, the captain of the musketeers had already got -together all his means, offensive and defensive. - -He immediately assembled his council, which consisted of the officers -serving under his orders. These were eight in number; a chief of the -maritime forces; a major directing the artillery; an engineer, the -officer we are acquainted with, and four lieutenants. Having assembled -them, D'Artagnan arose, took of his hat, and addressed them thus: - -"Gentlemen, I have been to reconnoiter Belle-Ile-en-Mer, and I have -found in it a good and solid garrison; moreover, preparations are made -for a defense that may prove troublesome. I therefore intend to send for -two of the principal officers of the place, that we may converse with -them. Having separated them from their troops and cannon, we shall be -better able to deal with them; particularly by reasoning with them. Is -not this your opinion, gentlemen?" - -The major of artillery rose. - -"Monsieur," said he, with respect, but firmness, "I have heard you say -that the place is preparing to make a troublesome defense. The place is -then, as you know, determined on rebellion?" - -D'Artagnan was visibly put out by this reply; but he was not the man to -allow himself to be subdued by a trifle, and resumed: - -"Monsieur," said he, "your reply is just. But you are ignorant that -Belle-Isle is a fief of M. Fouquet's, and that former monarchs gave the -right to the seigneurs of Belle-Isle to arm their people." The major -made a movement. "Oh! do not interrupt me," continued D'Artagnan. "You -are going to tell me that that right to arm themselves against the -English was not a right to arm themselves against their king. But it is -not M. Fouquet, I suppose, who holds Belle-Isle at this moment, since -I arrested M. Fouquet the day before yesterday. Now the inhabitants and -defenders of Belle-Isle know nothing of this arrest. You would announce -it to them in vain. It is a thing so unheard-of and extraordinary, so -unexpected, that they would not believe you. A Breton serves his master, -and not his masters; he serves his master till he has seen him dead. Now -the Bretons, as far as I know, have not seen the body of M. Fouquet. It -is not, then, surprising they hold out against that which is neither M. -Fouquet nor his signature." - -The major bowed in token of assent. - -"That is why," continued D'Artagnan, "I propose to cause two of the -principal officers of the garrison to come on board my vessel. They will -see you, gentlemen; they will see the forces we have at our disposal; -they will consequently know to what they have to trust, and the fate -that attends them, in case of rebellion. We will affirm to them, upon -our honor, that M. Fouquet is a prisoner, and that all resistance can -only be prejudicial to them. We will tell them that at the first cannon -fired, there will be no further hope of mercy from the king. Then, or so -at least I trust, they will resist no longer. They will yield up without -fighting, and we shall have a place given up to us in a friendly way -which it might cost prodigious efforts to subdue." - -The officer who had followed D'Artagnan to Belle-Isle was preparing to -speak, but D'Artagnan interrupted him. - -"Yes, I know what you are going to tell me, monsieur; I know that there -is an order of the king's to prevent all secret communications with -the defenders of Belle-Isle, and that is exactly why I do not offer to -communicate except in presence of my staff." - -And D'Artagnan made an inclination of the head to his officers, who knew -him well enough to attach a certain value to the condescension. - -The officers looked at each other as if to read each other's opinions in -their eyes, with the intention of evidently acting, should they agree, -according to the desire of D'Artagnan. And already the latter saw with -joy that the result of their consent would be sending a bark to Porthos -and Aramis, when the king's officer drew from a pocket a folded paper, -which he placed in the hands of D'Artagnan. - -This paper bore upon its superscription the number 1. - -"What, more!" murmured the surprised captain. - -"Read, monsieur," said the officer, with a courtesy that was not free -from sadness. - -D'Artagnan, full of mistrust, unfolded the paper, and read these words: -"Prohibition to M. d'Artagnan to assemble any council whatever, or to -deliberate in any way before Belle-Isle be surrendered and the prisoners -shot. Signed--LOUIS." - -D'Artagnan repressed the quiver of impatience that ran through his whole -body, and with a gracious smile: - -"That is well, monsieur," said he; "the king's orders shall be complied -with." - - - -Chapter XLIV. Result of the Ideas of the King, and the Ideas of -D'Artagnan. - -The blow was direct. It was severe, mortal. D'Artagnan, furious at -having been anticipated by an idea of the king's, did not despair, -however, even yet; and reflecting upon the idea he had brought back from -Belle-Isle, he elicited therefrom novel means of safety for his friends. - -"Gentlemen," said he, suddenly, "since the king has charged some other -than myself with his secret orders, it must be because I no longer -possess his confidence, and I should really be unworthy of it if I had -the courage to hold a command subject to so many injurious suspicions. -Therefore I will go immediately and carry my resignation to the king. -I tender it before you all, enjoining you all to fall back with me upon -the coast of France, in such a way as not to compromise the safety of -the forces his majesty has confided to me. For this purpose, return all -to your posts; within an hour, we shall have the ebb of the tide. To -your posts, gentlemen! I suppose," added he, on seeing that all prepared -to obey him, except the surveillant officer, "you have no orders to -object, this time?" - -And D'Artagnan almost triumphed while speaking these words. This plan -would prove the safety of his friends. The blockade once raised, they -might embark immediately, and set sail for England or Spain, without -fear of being molested. Whilst they were making their escape, D'Artagnan -would return to the king; would justify his return by the indignation -which the mistrust of Colbert had raised in him; he would be sent back -with full powers, and he would take Belle-Isle; that is to say, the -cage, after the birds had flown. But to this plan the officer opposed a -further order of the king's. It was thus conceived: - -"From the moment M. d'Artagnan shall have manifested the desire of -giving in his resignation, he shall no longer be reckoned leader of the -expedition, and every officer placed under his orders shall be held to -no longer obey him. Moreover, the said Monsieur d'Artagnan, having lost -that quality of leader of the army sent against Belle-Isle, shall set -out immediately for France, accompanied by the officer who will have -remitted the message to him, and who will consider him a prisoner for -whom he is answerable." - -Brave and careless as he was, D'Artagnan turned pale. Everything had -been calculated with a depth of precognition which, for the first time -in thirty years, recalled to him the solid foresight and inflexible -logic of the great cardinal. He leaned his head on his hand, thoughtful, -scarcely breathing. "If I were to put this order in my pocket," thought -he, "who would know it, what would prevent my doing it? Before the king -had had time to be informed, I should have saved those poor fellows -yonder. Let us exercise some small audacity! My head is not one of those -the executioner strikes off for disobedience. We will disobey!" But at -the moment he was about to adopt this plan, he saw the officers around -him reading similar orders, which the passive agent of the thoughts of -that infernal Colbert had distributed to them. This contingency of his -disobedience had been foreseen--as all the rest had been. - -"Monsieur," said the officer, coming up to him, "I await your good -pleasure to depart." - -"I am ready, monsieur," replied D'Artagnan, grinding his teeth. - -The officer immediately ordered a canoe to receive M. d'Artagnan and -himself. At sight of this he became almost distraught with rage. - -"How," stammered he, "will you carry on the directions of the different -corps?" - -"When you are gone, monsieur," replied the commander of the fleet, "it -is to me the command of the whole is committed." - -"Then, monsieur," rejoined Colbert's man, addressing the new leader, "it -is for you that this last order remitted to me is intended. Let us see -your powers." - -"Here they are," said the officer, exhibiting the royal signature. - -"Here are your instructions," replied the officer, placing the folded -paper in his hands; and turning round towards D'Artagnan, "Come, -monsieur," said he, in an agitated voice (such despair did he behold in -that man of iron), "do me the favor to depart at once." - -"Immediately!" articulated D'Artagnan, feebly, subdued, crushed by -implacable impossibility. - -And he painfully subsided into the little boat, which started, favored -by wind and tide, for the coast of France. The king's guards embarked -with him. The musketeer still preserved the hope of reaching Nantes -quickly, and of pleading the cause of his friends eloquently enough -to incline the king to mercy. The bark flew like a swallow. D'Artagnan -distinctly saw the land of France profiled in black against the white -clouds of night. - -"Ah! monsieur," said he, in a low voice, to the officer to whom, for -an hour, he had ceased speaking, "what would I give to know the -instructions for the new commander! They are all pacific, are they not? -and--" - -He did not finish; the thunder of a distant cannon rolled athwart the -waves, another, and two or three still louder. D'Artagnan shuddered. - -"They have commenced the siege of Belle-Isle," replied the officer. The -canoe had just touched the soil of France. - - - -Chapter XLV. The Ancestors of Porthos. - -When D'Artagnan left Aramis and Porthos, the latter returned to the -principal fort, in order to converse with greater liberty. Porthos, -still thoughtful, was a restraint on Aramis, whose mind had never felt -itself more free. - -"Dear Porthos," said he, suddenly, "I will explain D'Artagnan's idea to -you." - -"What idea, Aramis?" - -"An idea to which we shall owe our liberty within twelve hours." - -"Ah! indeed!" said Porthos, much astonished. "Let us hear it." - -"Did you remark, in the scene our friend had with the officer, that -certain orders constrained him with regard to us?" - -"Yes, I did notice that." - -"Well! D'Artagnan is going to give in his resignation to the king, and -during the confusion that will result from his absence, we will get -away, or rather you will get away, Porthos, if there is possibility of -flight for only one." - -Here Porthos shook his head and replied: "We will escape together, -Aramis, or we will stay together." - -"Thine is a right, a generous heart," said Aramis, "only your melancholy -uneasiness affects me." - -"I am not uneasy," said Porthos. - -"Then you are angry with me." - -"I am not angry with you." - -"Then why, my friend, do you put on such a dismal countenance?" - -"I will tell you; I am making my will." And while saying these words, -the good Porthos looked sadly in the face of Aramis. - -"Your will!" cried the bishop. "What, then! do you think yourself lost?" - -"I feel fatigued. It is the first time, and there is a custom in our -family." - -"What is it, my friend?" - -"My grandfather was a man twice as strong as I am." - -"Indeed!" said Aramis; "then your grandfather must have been Samson -himself." - -"No; his name was Antoine. Well! he was about my age, when, setting -out one day for the chase, he felt his legs weak, the man who had never -known what weakness was before." - -"What was the meaning of that fatigue, my friend?" - -"Nothing good, as you will see; for having set out, complaining still of -weakness of the legs, he met a wild boar, which made head against him; -he missed him with his arquebuse, and was ripped up by the beast and -died immediately." - -"There is no reason in that why you should alarm yourself, dear -Porthos." - -"Oh! you will see. My father was as strong again as I am. He was a rough -soldier, under Henry III. and Henry IV.; his name was not Antoine, but -Gaspard, the same as M. de Coligny. Always on horseback, he had never -known what lassitude was. One evening, as he rose from table, his legs -failed him." - -"He had supped heartily, perhaps," said Aramis, "and that was why he -staggered." - -"Bah! A friend of M. de Bassompierre, nonsense! No, no, he was -astonished at this lassitude, and said to my mother, who laughed at him, -'Would not one believe I was going to meet with a wild boar, as the late -M. du Vallon, my father did?'" - -"Well?" said Aramis. - -"Well, having this weakness, my father insisted upon going down into the -garden, instead of going to bed; his foot slipped on the first stair, -the staircase was steep; my father fell against a stone in which an iron -hinge was fixed. The hinge gashed his temple; and he was stretched out -dead upon the spot." - -Aramis raised his eyes to his friend: "These are two extraordinary -circumstances," said he; "let us not infer that there may succeed a -third. It is not becoming in a man of your strength to be superstitious, -my brave Porthos. Besides, when were your legs known to fail? Never have -you stood so firm, so haughtily; why, you could carry a house on your -shoulders." - -"At this moment," said Porthos, "I feel myself pretty active; but at -times I vacillate; I sink; and lately this phenomenon, as you say, has -occurred four times. I will not say this frightens me, but it annoys me. -Life is an agreeable thing. I have money; I have fine estates; I have -horses that I love; I have also friends that I love: D'Artagnan, Athos, -Raoul, and you." - -The admirable Porthos did not even take the trouble to dissimulate in -the very presence of Aramis the rank he gave him in his friendship. -Aramis pressed his hand: "We will still live many years," said he, "to -preserve to the world such specimens of its rarest men. Trust yourself -to me, my friend; we have no reply from D'Artagnan, that is a good sign. -He must have given orders to get the vessels together and clear the -seas. On my part I have just issued directions that a bark should be -rolled on rollers to the mouth of the great cavern of Locmaria, which -you know, where we have so often lain in wait for the foxes." - -"Yes, and which terminates at the little creek by a trench where we -discovered the day that splendid fox escaped that way." - -"Precisely. In case of misfortunes, a bark is to be concealed for us in -that cavern; indeed, it must be there by this time. We will wait for a -favorable moment, and during the night we will go to sea!" - -"That is a grand idea. What shall we gain by it?" - -"We shall gain this--nobody knows that grotto, or rather its issue, -except ourselves and two or three hunters of the island; we shall gain -this--that if the island is occupied, the scouts, seeing no bark upon -the shore, will never imagine we can escape, and will cease to watch." - -"I understand." - -"Well! that weakness in the legs?" - -"Oh! better, much, just now." - -"You see, then, plainly, that everything conspires to give us quietude -and hope. D'Artagnan will sweep the sea and leave us free. No royal -fleet or descent to be dreaded. _Vive Dieu!_ Porthos, we have still -half a century of magnificent adventure before us, and if I once touch -Spanish ground, I swear to you," added the bishop with terrible energy, -"that your brevet of duke is not such a chance as it is said to be." - -"We live by hope," said Porthos, enlivened by the warmth of his -companion. - -All at once a cry resounded in their ears: "To arms! to arms!" - -This cry, repeated by a hundred throats, piercing the chamber where the -two friends were conversing, carried surprise to one, and uneasiness to -the other. Aramis opened the window; he saw a crowd of people running -with flambeaux. Women were seeking places of safety, the armed -population were hastening to their posts. - -"The fleet! the fleet!" cried a soldier, who recognized Aramis. - -"The fleet?" repeated the latter. - -"Within half cannon-shot," continued the soldier. - -"To arms!" cried Aramis. - -"To arms!" repeated Porthos, formidably. And both rushed forth towards -the mole to place themselves within the shelter of the batteries. Boats, -laden with soldiers, were seen approaching; and in three directions, for -the purpose of landing at three points at once. - -"What must be done?" said an officer of the guard. - -"Stop them; and if they persist, fire!" said Aramis. - -Five minutes later, the cannonade commenced. These were the shots that -D'Artagnan had heard as he landed in France. But the boats were too -near the mole to allow the cannon to aim correctly. They landed, and the -combat commenced hand to hand. - -"What's the matter, Porthos?" said Aramis to his friend. - -"Nothing! nothing!--only my legs; it is really incomprehensible!--they -will be better when we charge." In fact, Porthos and Aramis did -charge with such vigor, and so thoroughly animated their men, that the -royalists re-embarked precipitately, without gaining anything but the -wounds they carried away. - -"Eh! but Porthos," cried Aramis, "we must have a prisoner, quick! -quick!" Porthos bent over the stair of the mole, and seized by the nape -of the neck one of the officers of the royal army who was waiting to -embark till all his people should be in the boat. The arm of the giant -lifted up his prey, which served him as a buckler, and he recovered -himself without a shot being fired at him. - -"Here is a prisoner for you," said Porthos coolly to Aramis. - -"Well!" cried the latter, laughing, "did you not calumniate your legs?" - -"It was not with my legs I captured him," said Porthos, "it was with my -arms!" - - - -Chapter XLVI. The Son of Biscarrat. - -The Bretons of the Isle were very proud of this victory; Aramis did not -encourage them in the feeling. - -"What will happen," said he to Porthos, when everybody was gone home, -"will be that the anger of the king will be roused by the account of the -resistance; and that these brave people will be decimated or shot when -they are taken, which cannot fail to take place." - -"From which it results, then," said Porthos, "that what we have done is -of not the slightest use." - -"For the moment it may be," replied the bishop, "for we have a prisoner -from whom we shall learn what our enemies are preparing to do." - -"Yes, let us interrogate the prisoner," said Porthos, "and the means of -making him speak are very simple. We are going to supper; we will invite -him to join us; as he drinks he will talk." - -This was done. The officer was at first rather uneasy, but became -reassured on seeing what sort of men he had to deal with. He gave, -without having any fear of compromising himself, all the details -imaginable of the resignation and departure of D'Artagnan. He explained -how, after that departure, the new leader of the expedition had ordered -a surprise upon Belle-Isle. There his explanations stopped. Aramis -and Porthos exchanged a glance that evinced their despair. No more -dependence to be placed now on D'Artagnan's fertile imagination--no -further resource in the event of defeat. Aramis, continuing his -interrogations, asked the prisoner what the leaders of the expedition -contemplated doing with the leaders of Belle-Isle. - -"The orders are," replied he, "to kill _during_ combat, or hang -_afterwards_." - -Porthos and Aramis looked at each other again, and the color mounted to -their faces. - -"I am too light for the gallows," replied Aramis; "people like me are -not hung." - -"And I am too heavy," said Porthos; "people like me break the cord." - -"I am sure," said the prisoner, gallantly, "that we could have -guaranteed you the exact kind of death you preferred." - -"A thousand thanks!" said Aramis, seriously. Porthos bowed. - -"One more cup of wine to your health," said he, drinking himself. From -one subject to another the chat with the officer was prolonged. He was -an intelligent gentleman, and suffered himself to be led on by the charm -of Aramis's wit and Porthos's cordial _bonhomie_. - -"Pardon me," said he, "if I address a question to you; but men who are -in their sixth bottle have a clear right to forget themselves a little." - -"Address it!" cried Porthos; "address it!" - -"Speak," said Aramis. - -"Were you not, gentlemen, both in the musketeers of the late king?" - -"Yes, monsieur, and amongst the best of them, if you please," said -Porthos. - -"That is true; I should say even the best of all soldiers, messieurs, if -I did not fear to offend the memory of my father." - -"Of your father?" cried Aramis. - -"Do you know what my name is?" - -"_Ma foi!_ no, monsieur; but you can tell us, and--" - -"I am called Georges de Biscarrat." - -"Oh!" cried Porthos, in his turn. "Biscarrat! Do you remember that name, -Aramis?" - -"Biscarrat!" reflected the bishop. "It seems to me--" - -"Try to recollect, monsieur," said the officer. - -"_Pardieu!_ that won't take me long," said Porthos. "Biscarrat--called -Cardinal--one of the four who interrupted us on the day on which we -formed our friendship with D'Artagnan, sword in hand." - -"Precisely, gentlemen." - -"The only one," cried Aramis, eagerly, "we could not scratch." - -"Consequently, a capital blade?" said the prisoner. - -"That's true! most true!" exclaimed both friends together. "_Ma foi!_ -Monsieur Biscarrat, we are delighted to make the acquaintance of such a -brave man's son." - -Biscarrat pressed the hands held out by the two musketeers. Aramis -looked at Porthos as much as to say, "Here is a man who will help us," -and without delay,--"Confess, monsieur," said he, "that it is good to -have once been a good man." - -"My father always said so, monsieur." - -"Confess, likewise, that it is a sad circumstance in which you find -yourself, of falling in with men destined to be shot or hung, and -to learn that these men are old acquaintances, in fact, hereditary -friends." - -"Oh! you are not reserved for such a frightful fate as that, messieurs -and friends!" said the young man, warmly. - -"Bah! you said so yourself." - -"I said so just now, when I did not know you; but now that I know you, I -say--you will evade this dismal fate, if you wish!" - -"How--if we wish?" echoed Aramis, whose eyes beamed with intelligence as -he looked alternately at the prisoner and Porthos. - -"Provided," continued Porthos, looking, in his turn, with noble -intrepidity, at M. Biscarrat and the bishop--"provided nothing -disgraceful be required of us." - -"Nothing at all will be required of you, gentlemen," replied the -officer--"what should they ask of you? If they find you they will kill -you, that is a predetermined thing; try, then, gentlemen, to prevent -their finding you." - -"I don't think I am mistaken," said Porthos, with dignity; "but it -appears evident to me that if they want to find us, they must come and -seek us here." - -"In that you are perfectly right, my worthy friend," replied Aramis, -constantly consulting with his looks the countenance of Biscarrat, who -had grown silent and constrained. "You wish, Monsieur de Biscarrat, to -say something to us, to make us some overture, and you dare not--is that -true?" - -"Ah! gentlemen and friends! it is because by speaking I betray the -watchword. But, hark! I hear a voice that frees mine by dominating it." - -"Cannon!" said Porthos. - -"Cannon and musketry, too!" cried the bishop. - -On hearing at a distance, among the rocks, these sinister reports of a -combat which they thought had ceased: - -"What can that be?" asked Porthos. - -"Eh! _Pardieu!_" cried Aramis; "that is just what I expected." - -"What is that?" - -"That the attack made by you was nothing but a feint; is not that true, -monsieur? And whilst your companions allowed themselves to be repulsed, -you were certain of effecting a landing on the other side of the -island." - -"Oh! several, monsieur." - -"We are lost, then," said the bishop of Vannes, quietly. - -"Lost! that is possible," replied the Seigneur de Pierrefonds, "but we -are not taken or hung." And so saying, he rose from the table, went to -the wall, and coolly took down his sword and pistols, which he examined -with the care of an old soldier who is preparing for battle, and who -feels that life, in a great measure, depends upon the excellence and -right conditions of his arms. - -At the report of the cannon, at the news of the surprise which might -deliver up the island to the royal troops, the terrified crowd rushed -precipitately to the fort to demand assistance and advice from their -leaders. Aramis, pale and downcast, between two flambeaux, showed -himself at the window which looked into the principal court, full of -soldiers waiting for orders and bewildered inhabitants imploring succor. - -"My friends," said D'Herblay, in a grave and sonorous voice, "M. -Fouquet, your protector, your friend, you father, has been arrested by -an order of the king, and thrown into the Bastile." A sustained yell of -vengeful fury came floating up to the window at which the bishop stood, -and enveloped him in a magnetic field. - -"Avenge Monsieur Fouquet!" cried the most excited of his hearers, "death -to the royalists!" - -"No, my friends," replied Aramis, solemnly; "no, my friends; no -resistance. The king is master in his kingdom. The king is the mandatory -of God. The king and God have struck M. Fouquet. Humble yourselves -before the hand of God. Love God and the king, who have struck M. -Fouquet. But do not avenge your seigneur, do not think of avenging him. -You would sacrifice yourselves in vain--you, your wives and children, -your property, your liberty. Lay down your arms, my friends--lay down -your arms! since the king commands you so to do--and retire peaceably to -your dwellings. It is I who ask you to do so; it is I who beg you to do -so; it is I who now, in the hour of need, command you to do so, in the -name of M. Fouquet." - -The crowd collected under the window uttered a prolonged roar of anger -and terror. "The soldiers of Louis XIV. have reached the island," -continued Aramis. "From this time it would no longer be a fight betwixt -them and you--it would be a massacre. Begone, then, begone, and forget; -this time I command you, in the name of the Lord of Hosts!" - -The mutineers retired slowly, submissive, silent. - -"Ah! what have you just been saying, my friend?" said Porthos. - -"Monsieur," said Biscarrat to the bishop, "you may save all these -inhabitants, but thus you will neither save yourself nor your friend." - -"Monsieur de Biscarrat," said the bishop of Vannes, with a singular -accent of nobility and courtesy, "Monsieur de Biscarrat, be kind enough -to resume your liberty." - -"I am very willing to do so, monsieur; but--" - -"That would render us a service, for when announcing to the king's -lieutenant the submission of the islanders, you will perhaps obtain some -grace for us on informing him of the manner in which that submission has -been effected." - -"Grace!" replied Porthos with flashing eyes, "what is the meaning of -that word?" - -Aramis touched the elbow of his friend roughly, as he had been -accustomed to do in the days of their youth, when he wanted to warn -Porthos that he had committed, or was about to commit, a blunder. -Porthos understood him, and was silent immediately. - -"I will go, messieurs," replied Biscarrat, a little surprised likewise -at the word "grace" pronounced by the haughty musketeer, of and to whom, -but a few minutes before, he had related with so much enthusiasm the -heroic exploits with which his father had delighted him. - -"Go, then, Monsieur Biscarrat," said Aramis, bowing to him, "and at -parting receive the expression of our entire gratitude." - -"But you, messieurs, you whom I think it an honor to call my friends, -since you have been willing to accept that title, what will become of -you in the meantime?" replied the officer, very much agitated at taking -leave of the two ancient adversaries of his father. - -"We will wait here." - -"But, _mon Dieu!_--the order is precise and formal." - -"I am bishop of Vannes, Monsieur de Biscarrat; and they no more shoot a -bishop than they hang a gentleman." - -"Ah! yes, monsieur--yes, monseigneur," replied Biscarrat; "it is true, -you are right, there is still that chance for you. Then, I will depart, -I will repair to the commander of the expedition, the king's lieutenant. -Adieu! then, messieurs, or rather, to meet again, I hope." - -The worthy officer, jumping upon a horse given him by Aramis, departed -in the direction of the sound of cannon, which, by surging the crowd -into the fort, had interrupted the conversation of the two friends with -their prisoner. Aramis watched the departure, and when left alone with -Porthos: - -"Well, do you comprehend?" said he. - -"_Ma foi!_ no." - -"Did not Biscarrat inconvenience you here?" - -"No; he is a brave fellow." - -"Yes; but the grotto of Locmaria--is it necessary all the world should -know it?" - -"Ah! that is true, that is true; I comprehend. We are going to escape by -the cavern." - -"If you please," cried Aramis, gayly. "Forward, friend Porthos; our boat -awaits us. King Louis has not caught us--_yet_." - - - -Chapter XLVII. The Grotto of Locmaria. - -The cavern of Locmaria was sufficiently distant from the mole to render -it necessary for our friends to husband their strength in order to -reach it. Besides, night was advancing; midnight had struck at the fort. -Porthos and Aramis were loaded with money and arms. They walked, then, -across the heath, which stretched between the mole and the cavern, -listening to every noise, in order better to avoid an ambush. From time -to time, on the road which they had carefully left on their left, passed -fugitives coming from the interior, at the news of the landing of the -royal troops. Aramis and Porthos, concealed behind some projecting mass -of rock, collected the words that escaped from the poor people, who -fled, trembling, carrying with them their most valuable effects, and -tried, whilst listening to their complaints, to gather something from -them for their own interest. At length, after a rapid race, frequently -interrupted by prudent stoppages, they reached the deep grottoes, in -which the prophetic bishop of Vannes had taken care to have secreted a -bark capable of keeping the sea at this fine season. - -"My good friend," said Porthos, panting vigorously, "we have arrived, it -seems. But I thought you spoke of three men, three servants, who were to -accompany us. I don't see them--where are they?" - -"Why should you see them, Porthos?" replied Aramis. "They are certainly -waiting for us in the cavern, and, no doubt, are resting, having -accomplished their rough and difficult task." - -Aramis stopped Porthos, who was preparing to enter the cavern. "Will you -allow me, my friend," said he to the giant, "to pass in first? I know -the signal I have given to these men; who, not hearing it, would be very -likely to fire upon you or slash away with their knives in the dark." - -"Go on, then, Aramis; go on--go first; you impersonate wisdom and -foresight; go. Ah! there is that fatigue again, of which I spoke to you. -It has just seized me afresh." - -Aramis left Porthos sitting at the entrance of the grotto, and bowing -his head, he penetrated into the interior of the cavern, imitating the -cry of the owl. A little plaintive cooing, a scarcely distinct echo, -replied from the depths of the cave. Aramis pursued his way cautiously, -and soon was stopped by the same kind of cry as he had first uttered, -within ten paces of him. - -"Are you there, Yves?" said the bishop. - -"Yes, monseigneur; Goenne is here likewise. His son accompanies us." - -"That is well. Are all things ready?" - -"Yes, monseigneur." - -"Go to the entrance of the grottoes, my good Yves, and you will there -find the Seigneur de Pierrefonds, who is resting after the fatigue of -our journey. And if he should happen not to be able to walk, lift him -up, and bring him hither to me." - -The three men obeyed. But the recommendation given to his servants was -superfluous. Porthos, refreshed, had already commenced the descent, and -his heavy step resounded amongst the cavities, formed and supported by -columns of porphyry and granite. As soon as the Seigneur de Bracieux had -rejoined the bishop, the Bretons lighted a lantern with which they were -furnished, and Porthos assured his friend that he felt as strong again -as ever. - -"Let us inspect the boat," said Aramis, "and satisfy ourselves at once -what it will hold." - -"Do not go too near with the light," said the patron Yves; "for as you -desired me, monseigneur, I have placed under the bench of the poop, in -the coffer you know of, the barrel of powder, and the musket-charges -that you sent me from the fort." - -"Very well," said Aramis; and, taking the lantern himself, he examined -minutely all parts of the canoe, with the precautions of a man who is -neither timid nor ignorant in the face of danger. The canoe was long, -light, drawing little water, thin of keel; in short, one of those that -have always been so aptly built at Belle-Isle; a little high in its -sides, solid upon the water, very manageable, furnished with planks -which, in uncertain weather, formed a sort of deck over which the waves -might glide, so as to protect the rowers. In two well-closed coffers, -placed beneath the benches of the prow and the poop, Aramis found bread, -biscuit, dried fruits, a quarter of bacon, a good provision of water in -leathern bottles; the whole forming rations sufficient for people who -did not mean to quit the coast, and would be able to revictual, if -necessity commanded. The arms, eight muskets, and as many horse-pistols, -were in good condition, and all loaded. There were additional oars, in -case of accident, and that little sail called _trinquet_, which assists -the speed of the canoe at the same time the boatmen row, and is so -useful when the breeze is slack. When Aramis had seen to all these -things, and appeared satisfied with the result of his inspection, "Let -us consult Porthos," said he, "to know if we must endeavor to get the -boat out by the unknown extremity of the grotto, following the descent -and the shade of the cavern, or whether it be better, in the open air, -to make it slide upon its rollers through the bushes, leveling the road -of the little beach, which is but twenty feet high, and gives, at high -tide, three or four fathoms of good water upon a sound bottom." - -"It must be as you please, monseigneur," replied the skipper Yves, -respectfully; "but I don't believe that by the slope of the cavern, and -in the dark in which we shall be obliged to maneuver our boat, the road -will be so convenient as the open air. I know the beach well, and can -certify that it is as smooth as a grass-plot in a garden; the -interior of the grotto, on the contrary, is rough; without reckoning, -monseigneur, that at its extremity we shall come to the trench which -leads into the sea, and perhaps the canoe will not pass down it." - -"I have made my calculation," said the bishop, "and I am certain it will -pass." - -"So be it; I wish it may, monseigneur," continued Yves; "but your -highness knows very well that to make it reach the extremity of the -trench, there is an enormous stone to be lifted--that under which the -fox always passes, and which closes the trench like a door." - -"It can be raised," said Porthos; "that is nothing." - -"Oh! I know that monseigneur has the strength of ten men," replied Yves; -"but that is giving him a great deal of trouble." - -"I think the skipper may be right," said Aramis; "let us try the -open-air passage." - -"The more so, monseigneur," continued the fisherman, "that we should not -be able to embark before day, it will require so much labor, and that -as soon as daylight appears, a good _vedette_ placed outside the grotto -would be necessary, indispensable even, to watch the maneuvers of the -lighters or cruisers that are on the look-out for us." - -"Yes, yes, Yves, your reasons are good; we will go by the beach." - -And the three robust Bretons went to the boat, and were beginning to -place their rollers underneath it to put it in motion, when the distant -barking of dogs was heard, proceeding from the interior of the island. - -Aramis darted out of the grotto, followed by Porthos. Dawn just tinted -with purple and white the waves and plain; through the dim light, -melancholy fir-trees waved their tender branches over the pebbles, -and long flights of crows were skimming with their black wings the -shimmering fields of buckwheat. In a quarter of an hour it would be -clear daylight; the wakened birds announced it to all nature. The -barkings which had been heard, which had stopped the three fishermen -engaged in moving the boat, and had brought Aramis and Porthos out of -the cavern, now seemed to come from a deep gorge within about a league -of the grotto. - -"It is a pack of hounds," said Porthos; "the dogs are on a scent." - -"Who can be hunting at such a moment as this?" said Aramis. - -"And this way, particularly," continued Porthos, "where they might -expect the army of the royalists." - -"The noise comes nearer. Yes, you are right, Porthos, the dogs are on a -scent. But, Yves!" cried Aramis, "come here! come here!" - -Yves ran towards him, letting fall the cylinder which he was about to -place under the boat when the bishop's call interrupted him. - -"What is the meaning of this hunt, skipper?" said Porthos. - -"Eh! monseigneur, I cannot understand it," replied the Breton. "It is -not at such a moment that the Seigneur de Locmaria would hunt. No, and -yet the dogs--" - -"Unless they have escaped from the kennel." - -"No," said Goenne, "they are not the Seigneur de Locmaria's hounds." - -"In common prudence," said Aramis, "let us go back into the grotto; the -voices evidently draw nearer, we shall soon know what we have to trust -to." - -They re-entered, but had scarcely proceeded a hundred steps in the -darkness, when a noise like the hoarse sigh of a creature in distress -resounded through the cavern, and breathless, rapid, terrified, a fox -passed like a flash of lightning before the fugitives, leaped over -the boat and disappeared, leaving behind its sour scent, which was -perceptible for several seconds under the low vaults of the cave. - -"The fox!" cried the Bretons, with the glad surprise of born hunters. - -"Accursed mischance!" cried the bishop, "our retreat is discovered." - -"How so?" said Porthos; "are you afraid of a fox?" - -"Eh! my friend, what do you mean by that? why do you specify the fox? It -is not the fox alone. _Pardieu!_ But don't you know, Porthos, that after -the foxes come hounds, and after hounds men?" - -Porthos hung his head. As though to confirm the words of Aramis, they -heard the yelping pack approach with frightful swiftness upon the trail. -Six foxhounds burst at once upon the little heath, with mingling yelps -of triumph. - -"There are the dogs, plain enough!" said Aramis, posted on the look-out -behind a chink in the rocks; "now, who are the huntsmen?" - -"If it is the Seigneur de Locmaria's," replied the sailor, "he will -leave the dogs to hunt the grotto, for he knows them, and will not enter -in himself, being quite sure that the fox will come out the other side; -it is there he will wait for him." - -"It is not the Seigneur de Locmaria who is hunting," replied Aramis, -turning pale in spite of his efforts to maintain a placid countenance. - -"Who is it, then?" said Porthos. - -"Look!" - -Porthos applied his eye to the slit, and saw at the summit of a hillock -a dozen horsemen urging on their horses in the track of the dogs, -shouting, "_Taiaut! taiaut!_" - -"The guards!" said he. - -"Yes, my friend, the king's guards." - -"The king's guards! do you say, monseigneur?" cried the Bretons, growing -pale in turn. - -"With Biscarrat at their head, mounted upon my gray horse," continued -Aramis. - -The hounds at the same moment rushed into the grotto like an avalanche, -and the depths of the cavern were filled with their deafening cries. - -"Ah! the devil!" said Aramis, resuming all his coolness at the sight of -this certain, inevitable danger. "I am perfectly satisfied we are lost, -but we have, at least, one chance left. If the guards who follow their -hounds happen to discover there is an issue to the grotto, there is no -help for us, for on entering they must see both ourselves and our boat. -The dogs must not go out of the cavern. Their masters must not enter." - -"That is clear," said Porthos. - -"You understand," added Aramis, with the rapid precision of command; -"there are six dogs that will be forced to stop at the great stone under -which the fox has glided--but at the too narrow opening of which they -must be themselves stopped and killed." - -The Bretons sprang forward, knife in hand. In a few minutes there was a -lamentable concert of angry barks and mortal howls--and then, silence. - -"That's well!" said Aramis, coolly, "now for the masters!" - -"What is to be done with them?" said Porthos. - -"Wait their arrival, conceal ourselves, and kill them." - -"_Kill them!_" replied Porthos. - -"There are sixteen," said Aramis, "at least, at present." - -"And well armed," added Porthos, with a smile of consolation. - -"It will last about ten minutes," said Aramis. "To work!" - -And with a resolute air he took up a musket, and placed a hunting-knife -between his teeth. - -"Yves, Goenne, and his son," continued Aramis, "will pass the muskets to -us. You, Porthos, will fire when they are close. We shall have brought -down, at the lowest computation, eight, before the others are aware of -anything--that is certain; then all, there are five of us, will dispatch -the other eight, knife in hand." - -"And poor Biscarrat?" said Porthos. - -Aramis reflected a moment--"Biscarrat first," replied he, coolly. "He -knows us." - - - -Chapter XLVIII. The Grotto. - -In spite of the sort of divination which was the remarkable side of -the character of Aramis, the event, subject to the risks of things over -which uncertainty presides, did not fall out exactly as the bishop of -Vannes had foreseen. Biscarrat, better mounted than his companions, -arrived first at the opening of the grotto, and comprehended that -fox and hounds were one and all engulfed in it. Only, struck by that -superstitious terror which every dark and subterraneous way naturally -impresses upon the mind of man, he stopped at the outside of the grotto, -and waited till his companions should have assembled round him. - -"Well!" asked the young men, coming up, out of breath, and unable to -understand the meaning of this inaction. - -"Well! I cannot hear the dogs; they and the fox must all be lost in this -infernal cavern." - -"They were too close up," said one of the guards, "to have lost scent -all at once. Besides, we should hear them from one side or another. They -must, as Biscarrat says, be in this grotto." - -"But then," said one of the young men, "why don't they give tongue?" - -"It is strange!" muttered another. - -"Well, but," said a fourth, "let us go into this grotto. Does it happen -to be forbidden we should enter it?" - -"No," replied Biscarrat. "Only, as it looks as dark as a wolf's mouth, -we might break our necks in it." - -"Witness the dogs," said a guard, "who seem to have broken theirs." - -"What the devil can have become of them?" asked the young men in chorus. -And every master called his dog by his name, whistled to him in his -favorite mode, without a single one replying to either call or whistle. - -"It is perhaps an enchanted grotto," said Biscarrat; "let us see." And, -jumping from his horse, he made a step into the grotto. - -"Stop! stop! I will accompany you," said one of the guards, on seeing -Biscarrat disappear in the shades of the cavern's mouth. - -"No," replied Biscarrat, "there must be something extraordinary in the -place--don't let us risk ourselves all at once. If in ten minutes you do -not hear of me, you can come in, but not all at once." - -"Be it so," said the young man, who, besides, did not imagine that -Biscarrat ran much risk in the enterprise, "we will wait for you." And -without dismounting from their horses, they formed a circle round the -grotto. - -Biscarrat entered then alone, and advanced through the darkness till -he came in contact with the muzzle of Porthos's musket. The resistance -which his chest met with astonished him; he naturally raised his hand -and laid hold of the icy barrel. At the same instant, Yves lifted a -knife against the young man, which was about to fall upon him with -all force of a Breton's arm, when the iron wrist of Porthos stopped it -half-way. Then, like low muttering thunder, his voice growled in the -darkness, "I will not have him killed!" - -Biscarrat found himself between a protection and a threat, the one -almost as terrible as the other. However brave the young man might -be, he could not prevent a cry escaping him, which Aramis immediately -suppressed by placing a handkerchief over his mouth. "Monsieur de -Biscarrat," said he, in a low voice, "we mean you no harm, and you must -know that if you have recognized us; but, at the first word, the first -groan, the first whisper, we shall be forced to kill you as we have -killed your dogs." - -"Yes, I recognize you, gentlemen," said the officer, in a low voice. -"But why are you here--what are you doing, here? Unfortunate men! I -thought you were in the fort." - -"And you, monsieur, you were to obtain conditions for us, I think?" - -"I did all I was able, messieurs, but--" - -"But what?" - -"But there are positive orders." - -"To kill us?" - -Biscarrat made no reply. It would have cost him too much to speak of the -cord to gentlemen. Aramis understood the silence of the prisoner. - -"Monsieur Biscarrat," said he, "you would be already dead if we had not -regard for your youth and our ancient association with your father; but -you may yet escape from the place by swearing that you will not tell -your companions what you have seen." - -"I will not only swear that I will not speak of it," said Biscarrat, -"but I still further swear that I will do everything in the world to -prevent my companions from setting foot in the grotto." - -"Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" cried several voices from the outside, coming -like a whirlwind into the cave. - -"Reply," said Aramis. - -"Here I am!" cried Biscarrat. - -"Now, begone; we depend on your loyalty." And he left his hold of the -young man, who hastily returned towards the light. - -"Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" cried the voices, still nearer. And the shadows -of several human forms projected into the interior of the grotto. -Biscarrat rushed to meet his friends in order to stop them, and met them -just as they were adventuring into the cave. Aramis and Porthos listened -with the intense attention of men whose life depends upon a breath of -air. - -"Oh! oh!" exclaimed one of the guards, as he came to the light, "how -pale you are!" - -"Pale!" cried another; "you ought to say corpse-color." - -"I!" said the young man, endeavoring to collect his faculties. - -"In the name of Heaven! what has happened?" exclaimed all the voices. - -"You have not a drop of blood in your veins, my poor friend," said one -of them, laughing. - -"Messieurs, it is serious," said another, "he is going to faint; does -any one of you happen to have any salts?" And they all laughed. - -This hail of jests fell round Biscarrat's ears like musket-balls in a -_melee_. He recovered himself amidst a deluge of interrogations. - -"What do you suppose I have seen?" asked he. "I was too hot when I -entered the grotto, and I have been struck with a chill. That is all." - -"But the dogs, the dogs; have you seen them again--did you see anything -of them--do you know anything about them?" - -"I suppose they have got out some other way." - -"Messieurs," said one of the young men, "there is in that which is going -on, in the paleness and silence of our friend, a mystery which Biscarrat -will not, or cannot reveal. Only, and this is certain, Biscarrat has -seen something in the grotto. Well, for my part, I am very curious to -see what it is, even if it is the devil! To the grotto! messieurs, to -the grotto!" - -"To the grotto!" repeated all the voices. And the echo of the cavern -carried like a menace to Porthos and Aramis, "To the grotto! to the -grotto!" - -Biscarrat threw himself before his companions. "Messieurs! messieurs!" -cried he, "in the name of Heaven! do not go in!" - -"Why, what is there so terrific in the cavern?" asked several at once. -"Come, speak, Biscarrat." - -"Decidedly, it is the devil he has seen," repeated he who had before -advanced that hypothesis. - -"Well," said another, "if he has seen him, he need not be selfish; he -may as well let us have a look at him in turn." - -"Messieurs! messieurs! I beseech you," urged Biscarrat. - -"Nonsense! Let us pass!" - -"Messieurs, I implore you not to enter!" - -"Why, you went in yourself." - -Then one of the officers, who--of a riper age than the others--had till -this time remained behind, and had said nothing, advanced. "Messieurs," -said he, with a calmness which contrasted with the animation of the -young men, "there is in there some person, or something, that is not -the devil; but which, whatever it may be, has had sufficient power to -silence our dogs. We must discover who this some one is, or what this -something is." - -Biscarrat made a last effort to stop his friends, but it was useless. In -vain he threw himself before the rashest; in vain he clung to the rocks -to bar the passage; the crowd of young men rushed into the cave, in the -steps of the officer who had spoken last, but who had sprung in first, -sword in hand, to face the unknown danger. Biscarrat, repulsed by -his friends, unable to accompany them, without passing in the eyes -of Porthos and Aramis for a traitor and a perjurer, with painfully -attentive ear and unconsciously supplicating hands leaned against the -rough side of a rock which he thought must be exposed to the fire of the -musketeers. As to the guards, they penetrated further and further, -with exclamations that grew fainter as they advanced. All at once, a -discharge of musketry, growling like thunder, exploded in the entrails -of the vault. Two or three balls were flattened against the rock on -which Biscarrat was leaning. At the same instant, cries, shrieks, -imprecations burst forth, and the little troop of gentlemen -reappeared--some pale, some bleeding--all enveloped in a cloud of -smoke, which the outer air seemed to suck from the depths of the cavern. -"Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" cried the fugitives, "you knew there was an -ambuscade in that cavern, and you did not warn us! Biscarrat, you are -the cause that four of us are murdered men! Woe be to you, Biscarrat!" - -"You are the cause of my being wounded unto death," said one of the -young men, letting a gush of scarlet life-blood vomit in his palm, and -spattering it into Biscarrat's livid face. "My blood be on your head!" -And he rolled in agony at the feet of the young man. - -"But, at least, tell us who is there?" cried several furious voices. - -Biscarrat remained silent. "Tell us, or die!" cried the wounded man, -raising himself upon one knee, and lifting towards his companion an -arm bearing a useless sword. Biscarrat rushed towards him, opening his -breast for the blow, but the wounded man fell back not to rise again, -uttering a groan which was his last. Biscarrat, with hair on end, -haggard eyes, and bewildered head, advanced towards the interior of -the cavern, saying, "You are right. Death to me, who have allowed my -comrades to be assassinated. I am a worthless wretch!" And throwing away -his sword, for he wished to die without defending himself, he rushed -head foremost into the cavern. The others followed him. The eleven -who remained out of sixteen imitated his example; but they did not go -further than the first. A second discharge laid five upon the icy sand; -and as it was impossible to see whence this murderous thunder issued, -the others fell back with a terror that can be better imagined than -described. But, far from flying, as the others had done, Biscarrat -remained safe and sound, seated on a fragment of rock, and waited. There -were only six gentlemen left. - -"Seriously," said one of the survivors, "is it the devil?" - -"_Ma foi!_ it is much worse," said another. - -"Ask Biscarrat, he knows." - -"Where is Biscarrat?" The young men looked round them, and saw that -Biscarrat did not answer. - -"He is dead!" said two or three voices. - -"Oh! no!" replied another, "I saw him through the smoke, sitting quietly -on a rock. He is in the cavern; he is waiting for us." - -"He must know who are there." - -"And how should he know them?" - -"He was taken prisoner by the rebels." - -"That is true. Well! let us call him, and learn from him whom we have -to deal with." And all voices shouted, "Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" But -Biscarrat did not answer. - -"Good!" said the officer who had shown so much coolness in the affair. -"We have no longer any need of him; here are reinforcements coming." - -In fact, a company of guards, left in the rear by their officers, whom -the ardor of the chase had carried away--from seventy-five to eighty -men--arrived in good order, led by their captain and the first -lieutenant. The five officers hastened to meet their soldiers; and, in -language the eloquence of which may be easily imagined, they related the -adventure, and asked for aid. The captain interrupted them. "Where are -your companions?" demanded he. - -"Dead!" - -"But there were sixteen of you!" - -"Ten are dead. Biscarrat is in the cavern, and we are five." - -"Biscarrat is a prisoner?" - -"Probably." - -"No, for here he is--look." In fact, Biscarrat appeared at the opening -of the grotto. - -"He is making a sign to come on," said the officer. "Come on!" - -"Come on!" cried all the troop. And they advanced to meet Biscarrat. - -"Monsieur," said the captain, addressing Biscarrat, "I am assured that -you know who the men are in that grotto, and who make such a desperate -defense. In the king's name I command you to declare what you know." - -"Captain," said Biscarrat, "you have no need to command me. My word has -been restored to me this very instant; and I came in the name of these -men." - -"To tell me who they are?" - -"To tell you they are determined to defend themselves to the death, -unless you grant them satisfactory terms." - -"How many are there of them, then?" - -"There are two," said Biscarrat. - -"There are two--and want to impose conditions upon us?" - -"There are two, and they have already killed ten of our men." - -"What sort of people are they--giants?" - -"Worse than that. Do you remember the history of the Bastion -Saint-Gervais, captain?" - -"Yes; where four musketeers held out against an army." - -"Well, these are two of those same musketeers." - -"And their names?" - -"At that period they were called Porthos and Aramis. Now they are styled -M. d'Herblay and M. du Vallon." - -"And what interest have they in all this?" - -"It is they who were holding Bell-Isle for M. Fouquet." - -A murmur ran through the ranks of the soldiers on hearing the two words -"Porthos and Aramis." "The musketeers! the musketeers!" repeated they. -And among all these brave men, the idea that they were going to have a -struggle against two of the oldest glories of the French army, made a -shiver, half enthusiasm, two-thirds terror, run through them. In fact, -those four names--D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis--were venerated -among all who wore a sword; as, in antiquity, the names of Hercules, -Theseus, Castor, and Pollux were venerated. - -"Two men--and they have killed ten in two discharges! It is impossible, -Monsieur Biscarrat!" - -"Eh! captain," replied the latter, "I do not tell you that they have -not with them two or three men, as the musketeers of the Bastion -Saint-Gervais had two or three lackeys; but, believe me, captain, I -have seen these men, I have been taken prisoner by them--I know they -themselves alone are all-sufficient to destroy an army." - -"That we shall see," said the captain, "and that in a moment, too. -Gentlemen, attention!" - -At this reply, no one stirred, and all prepared to obey. Biscarrat alone -risked a last attempt. - -"Monsieur," said he, in a low voice, "be persuaded by me; let us pass -on our way. Those two men, those two lions you are going to attack, will -defend themselves to the death. They have already killed ten of our men; -they will kill double the number, and end by killing themselves rather -than surrender. What shall we gain by fighting them?" - -"We shall gain the consciousness, monsieur, of not having allowed eighty -of the king's guards to retire before two rebels. If I listened to -your advice, monsieur, I should be a dishonored man; and by dishonoring -myself I should dishonor the army. Forward, my men!" - -And he marched first as far as the opening of the grotto. There he -halted. The object of this halt was to give Biscarrat and his companions -time to describe to him the interior of the grotto. Then, when he -believed he had a sufficient acquaintance with the place, he divided his -company into three bodies, which were to enter successively, keeping up -a sustained fire in all directions. No doubt, in this attack they would -lose five more, perhaps ten; but, certainly, they must end by taking the -rebels, since there was no issue; and, at any rate, two men could not -kill eighty. - -"Captain," said Biscarrat, "I beg to be allowed to march at the head of -the first platoon." - -"So be it," replied the captain; "you have all the honor. I make you a -present of it." - -"Thanks!" replied the young man, with all the firmness of his race. - -"Take your sword, then." - -"I shall go as I am, captain," said Biscarrat, "for I do not go to kill, -I go to be killed." - -And placing himself at the head of the first platoon, with head -uncovered and arms crossed,--"March, gentlemen," said he. - - - -Chapter XLIX. An Homeric Song. - -It is time to pass to the other camp, and to describe at once the -combatants and the field of battle. Aramis and Porthos had gone to the -grotto of Locmaria with the expectation of finding there their canoe -ready armed, as well as the three Bretons, their assistants; and they -at first hoped to make the bark pass through the little issue of the -cavern, concealing in that fashion both their labors and their flight. -The arrival of the fox and dogs obliged them to remain concealed. The -grotto extended the space of about a hundred _toises_, to that little -slope dominating a creek. Formerly a temple of the Celtic divinities, -when Belle-Isle was still called Kalonese, this grotto had beheld more -than one human sacrifice accomplished in its mystic depths. The first -entrance to the cavern was by a moderate descent, above which distorted -rocks formed a weird arcade; the interior, very uneven and dangerous -from the inequalities of the vault, was subdivided into several -compartments, which communicated with each other by means of rough and -jagged steps, fixed right and left, in uncouth natural pillars. At the -third compartment the vault was so low, the passage so narrow, that the -bark would scarcely have passed without touching the side; nevertheless, -in moments of despair, wood softens and stone grows flexible beneath the -human will. Such was the thought of Aramis, when, after having fought -the fight, he decided upon flight--a flight most dangerous, since all -the assailants were not dead; and that, admitting the possibility of -putting the bark to sea, they would have to fly in open day, before the -conquered, so interested on recognizing their small number, in pursuing -their conquerors. When the two discharges had killed ten men, Aramis, -familiar with the windings of the cavern, went to reconnoiter them one -by one, and counted them, for the smoke prevented seeing outside; and -he immediately commanded that the canoe should be rolled as far as the -great stone, the closure of the liberating issue. Porthos collected all -his strength, took the canoe in his arms, and raised it up, whilst the -Bretons made it run rapidly along the rollers. They had descended into -the third compartment; they had arrived at the stone which walled the -outlet. Porthos seized this gigantic stone at its base, applied his -robust shoulder, and gave a heave which made the wall crack. A cloud of -dust fell from the vault, with the ashes of ten thousand generations of -sea birds, whose nests stuck like cement to the rock. At the third shock -the stone gave way, and oscillated for a minute. Porthos, placing his -back against the neighboring rock, made an arch with his foot, which -drove the block out of the calcareous masses which served for hinges and -cramps. The stone fell, and daylight was visible, brilliant, radiant, -flooding the cavern through the opening, and the blue sea appeared to -the delighted Bretons. They began to lift the bark over the barricade. -Twenty more _toises_, and it would glide into the ocean. It was during -this time that the company arrived, was drawn up by the captain, and -disposed for either an escalade or an assault. Aramis watched -over everything, to favor the labors of his friends. He saw the -reinforcements, counted the men, and convinced himself at a single -glance of the insurmountable peril to which fresh combat would expose -them. To escape by sea, at the moment the cavern was about to be -invaded, was impossible. In fact, the daylight which had just been -admitted to the last compartments had exposed to the soldiers the bark -being rolled towards the sea, the two rebels within musket-shot; and -one of their discharges would riddle the boat if it did not kill the -navigators. Besides, allowing everything,--if the bark escaped with the -men on board of it, how could the alarm be suppressed--how could notice -to the royal lighters be prevented? What could hinder the poor canoe, -followed by sea and watched from the shore, from succumbing before the -end of the day? Aramis, digging his hands into his gray hair with rage, -invoked the assistance of God and the assistance of the demons. Calling -to Porthos, who was doing more work than all the rollers--whether of -flesh or wood--"My friend," said he, "our adversaries have just received -a reinforcement." - -"Ah, ah!" said Porthos, quietly, "what is to be done, then?" - -"To recommence the combat," said Aramis, "is hazardous." - -"Yes," said Porthos, "for it is difficult to suppose that out of two, -one should not be killed; and certainly, if one of us was killed, the -other would get himself killed also." Porthos spoke these words with -that heroic nature which, with him, grew grander with necessity. - -Aramis felt it like a spur to his heart. "We shall neither of us be -killed if you do what I tell you, friend Porthos." - -"Tell me what?" - -"These people are coming down into the grotto." - -"Yes." - -"We could kill about fifteen of them, but no more." - -"How many are there in all?" asked Porthos. - -"They have received a reinforcement of seventy-five men." - -"Seventy-five and five, eighty. Ah!" sighed Porthos. - -"If they fire all at once they will riddle us with balls." - -"Certainly they will." - -"Without reckoning," added Aramis, "that the detonation might occasion a -collapse of the cavern." - -"Ay," said Porthos, "a piece of falling rock just now grazed my -shoulder." - -"You see, then?" - -"Oh! it is nothing." - -"We must determine upon something quickly. Our Bretons are going to -continue to roll the canoe towards the sea." - -"Very well." - -"We two will keep the powder, the balls, and the muskets here." - -"But only two, my dear Aramis--we shall never fire three shots -together," said Porthos, innocently, "the defense by musketry is a bad -one." - -"Find a better, then." - -"I have found one," said the giant, eagerly; "I will place myself -in ambuscade behind the pillar with this iron bar, and invisible, -unattackable, if they come in floods, I can let my bar fall upon their -skulls, thirty times in a minute. _Hein!_ what do you think of the -project? You smile!" - -"Excellent, dear friend, perfect! I approve it greatly; only you will -frighten them, and half of them will remain outside to take us by -famine. What we want, my good friend, is the entire destruction of the -troop. A single survivor encompasses our ruin." - -"You are right, my friend, but how can we attract them, pray?" - -"By not stirring, my good Porthos." - -"Well! we won't stir, then; but when they are all together--" - -"Then leave it to me, I have an idea." - -"If it is so, and your idea proves a good one--and your idea is most -likely to be good--I am satisfied." - -"To your ambuscade, Porthos, and count how many enter." - -"But you, what will you do?" - -"Don't trouble yourself about me; I have a task to perform." - -"I think I hear shouts." - -"It is they! To your post. Keep within reach of my voice and hand." - -Porthos took refuge in the second compartment, which was in darkness, -absolutely black. Aramis glided into the third; the giant held in his -hand an iron bar of about fifty pounds weight. Porthos handled this -lever, which had been used in rolling the bark, with marvelous facility. -During this time, the Bretons had pushed the bark to the beach. In the -further and lighter compartment, Aramis, stooping and concealed, was -busy with some mysterious maneuver. A command was given in a loud voice. -It was the last order of the captain commandant. Twenty-five men jumped -from the upper rocks into the first compartment of the grotto, and -having taken their ground, began to fire. The echoes shrieked and -barked, the hissing balls seemed actually to rarefy the air, and then -opaque smoke filled the vault. - -"To the left! to the left!" cried Biscarrat, who, in his first assault, -had seen the passage to the second chamber, and who, animated by the -smell of powder, wished to guide his soldiers in that direction. The -troop, accordingly, precipitated themselves to the left--the passage -gradually growing narrower. Biscarrat, with his hands stretched forward, -devoted to death, marched in advance of the muskets. "Come on! come on!" -exclaimed he, "I see daylight!" - -"Strike, Porthos!" cried the sepulchral voice of Aramis. - -Porthos breathed a heavy sigh--but he obeyed. The iron bar fell full and -direct upon the head of Biscarrat, who was dead before he had ended his -cry. Then the formidable lever rose ten times in ten seconds, and -made ten corpses. The soldiers could see nothing; they heard sighs and -groans; they stumbled over dead bodies, but as they had no conception -of the cause of all this, they came forward jostling each other. The -implacable bar, still falling, annihilated the first platoon, without -a single sound to warn the second, which was quietly advancing; only, -commanded by the captain, the men had stripped a fir, growing on the -shore, and, with its resinous branches twisted together, the captain had -made a flambeau. On arriving at the compartment where Porthos, like the -exterminating angel, had destroyed all he touched, the first rank drew -back in terror. No firing had replied to that of the guards, and yet -their way was stopped by a heap of dead bodies--they literally walked in -blood. Porthos was still behind his pillar. The captain, illumining with -trembling pine-torch this frightful carnage, of which he in vain -sought the cause, drew back towards the pillar behind which Porthos was -concealed. Then a gigantic hand issued from the shade, and fastened -on the throat of the captain, who uttered a stifle rattle; his -stretched-out arms beating the air, the torch fell and was extinguished -in blood. A second after, the corpse of the captain dropped close to -the extinguished torch, and added another body to the heap of dead which -blocked up the passage. All this was effected as mysteriously as though -by magic. At hearing the rattling in the throat of the captain, the -soldiers who accompanied him had turned round, caught a glimpse of his -extended arms, his eyes starting from their sockets, and then the torch -fell and they were left in darkness. From an unreflective, instinctive, -mechanical feeling, the lieutenant cried: - -"Fire!" - -Immediately a volley of musketry flamed, thundered, roared in the -cavern, bringing down enormous fragments from the vaults. The cavern was -lighted for an instant by this discharge, and then immediately returned -to pitchy darkness rendered thicker by the smoke. To this succeeded a -profound silence, broken only by the steps of the third brigade, now -entering the cavern. - - - -Chapter L: The Death of a Titan. - -At the moment when Porthos, more accustomed to the darkness than these -men, coming from open daylight, was looking round him to see if through -this artificial midnight Aramis were not making him some signal, he felt -his arm gently touched, and a voice low as a breath murmured in his ear, -"Come." - -"Oh!" said Porthos. - -"Hush!" said Aramis, if possible, yet more softly. - -And amidst the noise of the third brigade, which continued to advance, -the imprecations of the guards still left alive, the muffled groans of -the dying, Aramis and Porthos glided unseen along the granite walls of -the cavern. Aramis led Porthos into the last but one compartment, and -showed him, in a hollow of the rocky wall, a barrel of powder weighing -from seventy to eighty pounds, to which he had just attached a fuse. "My -friend," said he to Porthos, "you will take this barrel, the match of -which I am going to set fire to, and throw it amidst our enemies; can -you do so?" - -"_Parbleu!_" replied Porthos; and he lifted the barrel with one hand. -"Light it!" - -"Stop," said Aramis, "till they are all massed together, and then, my -Jupiter, hurl your thunderbolt among them." - -"Light it," repeated Porthos. - -"On my part," continued Aramis, "I will join our Bretons, and help them -to get the canoe to the sea. I will wait for you on the shore; launch it -strongly, and hasten to us." - -"Light it," said Porthos, a third time. - -"But do you understand me?" - -"_Parbleu!_" said Porthos again, with laughter that he did not even -attempt to restrain, "when a thing is explained to me I understand it; -begone, and give me the light." - -Aramis gave the burning match to Porthos, who held out his arm to him, -his hands being engaged. Aramis pressed the arm of Porthos with both his -hands, and fell back to the outlet of the cavern where the three rowers -awaited him. - -Porthos, left alone, applied the spark bravely to the match. The -spark--a feeble spark, first principle of conflagration--shone in the -darkness like a glow-worm, then was deadened against the match which it -set fire to, Porthos enlivening the flame with his breath. The smoke -was a little dispersed, and by the light of the sparkling match objects -might, for two seconds, be distinguished. It was a brief but splendid -spectacle, that of this giant, pale, bloody, his countenance lighted by -the fire of the match burning in surrounding darkness! The soldiers saw -him, they saw the barrel he held in his hand--they at once understood -what was going to happen. Then, these men, already choked with horror at -the sight of what had been accomplished, filled with terror at thought -of what was about to be accomplished, gave out a simultaneous shriek of -agony. Some endeavored to fly, but they encountered the third brigade, -which barred their passage; others mechanically took aim and attempted -to fire their discharged muskets; others fell instinctively upon their -knees. Two or three officers cried out to Porthos to promise him his -liberty if he would spare their lives. The lieutenant of the third -brigade commanded his men to fire; but the guards had before them their -terrified companions, who served as a living rampart for Porthos. We -have said that the light produced by the spark and the match did not -last more than two seconds; but during these two seconds this is what -it illumined: in the first place, the giant, enlarged in the darkness; -then, at ten paces off, a heap of bleeding bodies, crushed, mutilated, -in the midst of which some still heaved in the last agony, lifting the -mass as a last respiration inflating the sides of some old monster dying -in the night. Every breath of Porthos, thus vivifying the match, sent -towards this heap of bodies a phosphorescent aura, mingled with streaks -of purple. In addition to this principal group scattered about the -grotto, as the chances of death or surprise had stretched them, isolated -bodies seemed to be making ghastly exhibitions of their gaping wounds. -Above ground, bedded in pools of blood, rose, heavy and sparkling, the -short, thick pillars of the cavern, of which the strongly marked shades -threw out the luminous particles. And all this was seen by the tremulous -light of a match attached to a barrel of powder, that is to say, a torch -which, whilst throwing a light on the dead past, showed death to come. - -As I have said, this spectacle did not last above two seconds. During -this short space of time an officer of the third brigade got together -eight men armed with muskets, and, through an opening, ordered them to -fire upon Porthos. But they who received the order to fire trembled so -that three guards fell by the discharge, and the five remaining balls -hissed on to splinter the vault, plow the ground, or indent the pillars -of the cavern. - -A burst of laughter replied to this volley; then the arm of the giant -swung round; then was seen whirling through the air, like a falling -star, the train of fire. The barrel, hurled a distance of thirty -feet, cleared the barricade of dead bodies, and fell amidst a group of -shrieking soldiers, who threw themselves on their faces. The officer had -followed the brilliant train in the air; he endeavored to precipitate -himself upon the barrel and tear out the match before it reached the -powder it contained. Useless! The air had made the flame attached to the -conductor more active; the match, which at rest might have burnt five -minutes, was consumed in thirty seconds, and the infernal work exploded. -Furious vortices of sulphur and nitre, devouring shoals of fire which -caught every object, the terrible thunder of the explosion, this is what -the second which followed disclosed in that cavern of horrors. The rocks -split like planks of deal beneath the axe. A jet of fire, smoke, and -_debris_ sprang from the middle of the grotto, enlarging as it mounted. -The large walls of silex tottered and fell upon the sand, and the sand -itself, an instrument of pain when launched from its hard bed, riddled -the faces with its myriad cutting atoms. Shrieks, imprecations, human -life, dead bodies--all were engulfed in one terrific crash. - -The three first compartments became one sepulchral sink into which fell -grimly back, in the order of their weight, every vegetable, mineral, -or human fragment. Then the lighter sand and ash came down in turn, -stretching like a winding sheet and smoking over the dismal scene. And -now, in this burning tomb, this subterranean volcano, seek the king's -guards with their blue coats laced with silver. Seek the officers, -brilliant in gold, seek for the arms upon which they depended for their -defense. One single man has made of all of those things a chaos more -confused, more shapeless, more terrible than the chaos which existed -before the creation of the world. There remained nothing of the three -compartments--nothing by which God could have recognized His handiwork. -As for Porthos, after having hurled the barrel of powder amidst his -enemies, he had fled, as Aramis had directed him to do, and had gained -the last compartment, into which air, light, and sunshine penetrated -through the opening. Scarcely had he turned the angle which separated -the third compartment from the fourth when he perceived at a hundred -paces from him the bark dancing on the waves. There were his friends, -there liberty, there life and victory. Six more of his formidable -strides, and he would be out of the vault; out of the vault! a dozen of -his vigorous leaps and he would reach the canoe. Suddenly he felt his -knees give way; his knees seemed powerless, his legs to yield beneath -him. - -"Oh! oh!" murmured he, "there is my weakness seizing me again! I can -walk no further! What is this?" - -Aramis perceived him through the opening, and unable to conceive what -could induce him to stop thus--"Come on, Porthos! come on," he cried; -"come quickly!" - -"Oh!" replied the giant, making an effort that contorted every muscle of -his body--"oh! but I cannot." While saying these words, he fell upon -his knees, but with his mighty hands he clung to the rocks, and raised -himself up again. - -"Quick! quick!" repeated Aramis, bending forward towards the shore, as -if to draw Porthos towards him with his arms. - -"Here I am," stammered Porthos, collecting all his strength to make one -step more. - -"In the name of Heaven! Porthos, make haste! the barrel will blow up!" - -"Make haste, monseigneur!" shouted the Bretons to Porthos, who was -floundering as in a dream. - -But there was no time; the explosion thundered, earth gaped, the smoke -which hurled through the clefts obscured the sky; the sea flowed back as -though driven by the blast of flame which darted from the grotto as if -from the jaws of some gigantic fiery chimera; the reflux took the -bark out twenty _toises_; the solid rocks cracked to their base, and -separated like blocks beneath the operation of the wedge; a portion -of the vault was carried up towards heaven, as if it had been built of -cardboard; the green and blue and topaz conflagration and black lava of -liquefactions clashed and combated an instant beneath a majestic dome -of smoke; then oscillated, declined, and fell successively the mighty -monoliths of rock which the violence of the explosion had not been able -to uproot from the bed of ages; they bowed to each other like grave and -stiff old men, then prostrating themselves, lay down forever in their -dusty tomb. - -This frightful shock seemed to restore Porthos the strength that he had -lost; he arose, a giant among granite giants. But at the moment he was -flying between the double hedge of granite phantoms, these latter, which -were no longer supported by the corresponding links, began to roll and -totter round our Titan, who looked as if precipitated from heaven amidst -rocks which he had just been launching. Porthos felt the very earth -beneath his feet becoming jelly-tremulous. He stretched both hands to -repulse the falling rocks. A gigantic block was held back by each of his -extended arms. He bent his head, and a third granite mass sank between -his shoulders. For an instant the power of Porthos seemed about to fail -him, but this new Hercules united all his force, and the two walls of -the prison in which he was buried fell back slowly and gave him place. -For an instant he appeared, in this frame of granite, like the angel -of chaos, but in pushing back the lateral rocks, he lost his point of -support, for the monolith which weighed upon his shoulders, and the -boulder, pressing upon him with all its weight, brought the giant down -upon his knees. The lateral rocks, for an instant pushed back, drew -together again, and added their weight to the ponderous mass which would -have been sufficient to crush ten men. The hero fell without a groan--he -fell while answering Aramis with words of encouragement and hope, for, -thanks to the powerful arch of his hands, for an instant he believed -that, like Enceladus, he would succeed in shaking off the triple load. -But by degrees Aramis beheld the block sink; the hands, strung for an -instant, the arms stiffened for a last effort, gave way, the extended -shoulders sank, wounded and torn, and the rocks continued to gradually -collapse. - -"Porthos! Porthos!" cried Aramis, tearing his hair. "Porthos! where are -you? Speak!" - -"Here, here," murmured Porthos, with a voice growing evidently weaker, -"patience! patience!" - -Scarcely had he pronounced these words, when the impulse of the fall -augmented the weight; the enormous rock sank down, pressed by those -others which sank in from the sides, and, as it were, swallowed up -Porthos in a sepulcher of badly jointed stones. On hearing the dying -voice of his friend, Aramis had sprung to land. Two of the Bretons -followed him, with each a lever in his hand--one being sufficient to -take care of the bark. The dying rattle of the valiant gladiator guided -them amidst the ruins. Aramis, animated, active and young as at twenty, -sprang towards the triple mass, and with his hands, delicate as those of -a woman, raised by a miracle of strength the corner-stone of this great -granite grave. Then he caught a glimpse, through the darkness of that -charnel-house, of the still brilliant eye of his friend, to whom the -momentary lifting of the mass restored a momentary respiration. The -two men came rushing up, grasped their iron levers, united their triple -strength, not merely to raise it, but sustain it. All was useless. They -gave way with cries of grief, and the rough voice of Porthos, seeing -them exhaust themselves in a useless struggle, murmured in an almost -cheerful tone those supreme words which came to his lips with the last -respiration, "Too heavy!" - -After which his eyes darkened and closed, his face grew ashy pale, the -hands whitened, and the colossus sank quite down, breathing his last -sigh. With him sank the rock, which, even in his dying agony he had -still held up. The three men dropped the levers, which rolled upon the -tumulary stone. Then, breathless, pale, his brow covered with sweat, -Aramis listened, his breast oppressed, his heart ready to break. - -Nothing more. The giant slept the eternal sleep, in the sepulcher which -God had built about him to his measure. - - - -Chapter LI. Porthos's Epitaph. - -Aramis, silent and sad as ice, trembling like a timid child, arose -shivering from the stone. A Christian does not walk on tombs. But, -though capable of standing, he was not capable of walking. It might -be said that something of dead Porthos had just died within him. His -Bretons surrounded him; Aramis yielded to their kind exertions, and the -three sailors, lifting him up, carried him to the canoe. Then, having -laid him down upon the bench near the rudder, they took to their oars, -preferring this to hoisting sail, which might betray them. - -On all that leveled surface of the ancient grotto of Locmaria, one -single hillock attracted their eyes. Aramis never removed his from it; -and, at a distance out in the sea, in proportion as the shore receded, -that menacing proud mass of rock seemed to draw itself up, as formerly -Porthos used to draw himself up, raising a smiling, yet invincible head -towards heaven, like that of his dear old honest valiant friend, the -strongest of the four, yet the first dead. Strange destiny of these men -of brass! The most simple of heart allied to the most crafty; strength -of body guided by subtlety of mind; and in the decisive moment, when -vigor alone could save mind and body, a stone, a rock, a vile material -weight, triumphed over manly strength, and falling upon the body, drove -out the mind. - -Worthy Porthos! born to help other men, always ready to sacrifice -himself for the safety of the weak, as if God had only given him -strength for that purpose; when dying he only thought he was carrying -out the conditions of his compact with Aramis, a compact, however, which -Aramis alone had drawn up, and which Porthos had only known to suffer -by its terrible solidarity. Noble Porthos! of what good now are thy -chateaux overflowing with sumptuous furniture, forests overflowing with -game, lakes overflowing with fish, cellars overflowing with wealth! Of -what service to thee now thy lackeys in brilliant liveries, and in the -midst of them Mousqueton, proud of the power delegated by thee! Oh, -noble Porthos! careful heaper-up of treasure, was it worth while to -labor to sweeten and gild life, to come upon a desert shore, surrounded -by the cries of seagulls, and lay thyself, with broken bones, beneath -a torpid stone? Was it worth while, in short, noble Porthos, to heap so -much gold, and not have even the distich of a poor poet engraven upon -thy monument? Valiant Porthos! he still, without doubt, sleeps, lost, -forgotten, beneath the rock the shepherds of the heath take for the -gigantic abode of a _dolmen_. And so many twining branches, so many -mosses, bent by the bitter wind of ocean, so many lichens solder thy -sepulcher to earth, that no passers-by will imagine such a block of -granite could ever have been supported by the shoulders of one man. - -Aramis, still pale, still icy-cold, his heart upon his lips, looked, -even till, with the last ray of daylight, the shore faded on the -horizon. Not a word escaped him, not a sigh rose from his deep breast. -The superstitious Bretons looked upon him, trembling. Such silence was -not that of a man, it was the silence of a statue. In the meantime, with -the first gray lines that lighted up the heavens, the canoe hoisted its -little sail, which, swelling with the kisses of the breeze, and carrying -them rapidly from the coast, made bravest way towards Spain, across the -dreaded Gulf of Gascony, so rife with storms. But scarcely half an hour -after the sail had been hoisted, the rowers became inactive, reclining -on their benches, and, making an eye-shade with their hands, pointed out -to each other a white spot which appeared on the horizon as motionless -as a gull rocked by the viewless respiration of the waves. But that -which might have appeared motionless to ordinary eyes was moving at a -quick rate to the experienced eye of the sailor; that which appeared -stationary upon the ocean was cutting a rapid way through it. For some -time, seeing the profound torpor in which their master was plunged, -they did not dare to rouse him, and satisfied themselves with exchanging -their conjectures in whispers. Aramis, in fact, so vigilant, so -active--Aramis, whose eye, like that of the lynx, watched without -ceasing, and saw better by night than by day--Aramis seemed to sleep -in this despair of soul. An hour passed thus, during which daylight -gradually disappeared, but during which also the sail in view gained so -swiftly on the bark, that Goenne, one of the three sailors, ventured to -say aloud: - -"Monseigneur, we are being chased!" - -Aramis made no reply; the ship still gained upon them. Then, of their -own accord, two of the sailors, by the direction of the patron Yves, -lowered the sail, in order that that single point upon the surface of -the waters should cease to be a guide to the eye of the enemy pursuing -them. On the part of the ship in sight, on the contrary, two more small -sails were run up at the extremities of the masts. Unfortunately, it was -the time of the finest and longest days of the year, and the moon, in -all her brilliancy, succeeded inauspicious daylight. The _balancelle_, -which was pursuing the little bark before the wind, had then still half -an hour of twilight, and a whole night almost as light as day. - -"Monseigneur! monseigneur! we are lost!" said the captain. "Look! they -see us plainly, though we have lowered sail." - -"That is not to be wondered at," murmured one of the sailors, "since -they say that, by the aid of the devil, the Paris-folk have fabricated -instruments with which they see as well at a distance as near, by night -as well as by day." - -Aramis took a telescope from the bottom of the boat, focussed it -silently, and passing it to the sailor, "Here," said he, "look!" The -sailor hesitated. - -"Don't be alarmed," said the bishop, "there is no sin in it; and if -there is any sin, I will take it on myself." - -The sailor lifted the glass to his eye, and uttered a cry. He believed -that the vessel, which appeared to be distant about cannon-shot, had -at a single bound cleared the whole distance. But, on withdrawing -the instrument from his eye, he saw that, except the way which the -_balancelle_ had been able to make during that brief instant, it was -still at the same distance. - -"So," murmured the sailor, "they can see us as we see them." - -"They see us," said Aramis, and sank again into impassibility. - -"What!--they see us!" said Yves. "Impossible!" - -"Well, captain, look yourself," said the sailor. And he passed him the -glass. - -"Monseigneur assures me that the devil has nothing to do with this?" -asked Yves. - -Aramis shrugged his shoulders. - -The skipper lifted the glass to his eye. "Oh! monseigneur," said he, "it -is a miracle--there they are; it seems as if I were going to touch them. -Twenty-five men at least! Ah! I see the captain forward. He holds a -glass like this, and is looking at us. Ah! he turns round, and gives -an order; they are rolling a piece of cannon forward--they are loading -it--pointing it. _Misericorde!_ they are firing at us!" - -And by a mechanical movement, the skipper put aside the telescope, and -the pursuing ship, relegated to the horizon, appeared again in its true -aspect. The vessel was still at the distance of nearly a league, but the -maneuver sighted thus was not less real. A light cloud of smoke appeared -beneath the sails, more blue than they, and spreading like a flower -opening; then, at about a mile from the little canoe, they saw the ball -take the crown off two or three waves, dig a white furrow in the sea, -and disappear at the end of it, as inoffensive as the stone with which, -in play, a boy makes ducks and drakes. It was at once a menace and a -warning. - -"What is to be done?" asked the patron. - -"They will sink us!" said Goenne, "give us absolution, monseigneur!" And -the sailors fell on their knees before him. - -"You forget that they can see you," said he. - -"That is true!" said the sailors, ashamed of their weakness. "Give us -your orders, monseigneur, we are prepared to die for you." - -"Let us wait," said Aramis. - -"How--let us wait?" - -"Yes; do you not see, as you just now said, that if we endeavor to fly, -they will sink us?" - -"But, perhaps," the patron ventured to say, "perhaps under cover of -night, we could escape them." - -"Oh!" said Aramis, "they have, no doubt, Greek fire with which to -lighten their own course and ours likewise." - -At the same moment, as if the vessel was responsive to the appeal of -Aramis, a second cloud of smoke mounted slowly to the heavens, and from -the bosom of that cloud sparkled an arrow of flame, which described a -parabola like a rainbow, and fell into the sea, where it continued to -burn, illuminating a space of a quarter of a league in diameter. - -The Bretons looked at each other in terror. "You see plainly," said -Aramis, "it will be better to wait for them." - -The oars dropped from the hands of the sailors, and the bark, ceasing -to make way, rocked motionless upon the summits of the waves. Night came -on, but still the ship drew nearer. It might be imagined it redoubled -its speed with darkness. From time to time, as a vulture rears its head -out of its nest, the formidable Greek fire darted from its sides, and -cast its flame upon the ocean like an incandescent snowfall. At last -it came within musket-shot. All the men were on deck, arms in hand; the -cannoniers were at their guns, the matches burning. It might be thought -they were about to board a frigate and to fight a crew superior in -number to their own, not to attempt the capture of a canoe manned by -four people. - -"Surrender!" cried the commander of the _balancelle_, with the aid of -his speaking-trumpet. - -The sailors looked at Aramis. Aramis made a sign with his head. Yves -waved a white cloth at the end of a gaff. This was like striking their -flag. The pursuer came on like a race-horse. It launched a fresh Greek -fire, which fell within twenty paces of the little canoe, and threw a -light upon them as white as sunshine. - -"At the first sign of resistance," cried the commander of the -_balancelle_, "fire!" The soldiers brought their muskets to the present. - -"Did we not say we surrendered?" said Yves. - -"Alive, alive, captain!" cried one excited soldier, "they must be taken -alive." - -"Well, yes--living," said the captain. Then turning towards the Bretons, -"Your lives are safe, my friends!" cried he, "all but the Chevalier -d'Herblay." - -Aramis stared imperceptibly. For an instant his eye was fixed upon the -depths of the ocean, illumined by the last flashes of the Greek fire, -which ran along the sides of the waves, played on the crests like -plumes, and rendered still darker and more terrible the gulfs they -covered. - -"Do you hear, monseigneur?" said the sailors. - -"Yes." - -"What are your orders?" - -"Accept!" - -"But you, monseigneur?" - -Aramis leaned still more forward, and dipped the ends of his long white -fingers in the green limpid waters of the sea, to which he turned with -smiles as to a friend. - -"Accept!" repeated he. - -"We accept," repeated the sailors; "but what security have we?" - -"The word of a gentleman," said the officer. "By my rank and by my name -I swear that all except M. le Chevalier d'Herblay shall have their lives -spared. I am lieutenant of the king's frigate the 'Pomona,' and my name -is Louis Constant de Pressigny." - -With a rapid gesture, Aramis--already bent over the side of the bark -towards the sea--drew himself up, and with a flashing eye, and a smile -upon his lips, "Throw out the ladder, messieurs," said he, as if the -command had belonged to him. He was obeyed. When Aramis, seizing the -rope ladder, walked straight up to the commander, with a firm step, -looked at him earnestly, made a sign to him with his hand, a mysterious -and unknown sign at sight of which the officer turned pale, trembled, -and bowed his head, the sailors were profoundly astonished. Without a -word Aramis then raised his hand to the eyes of the commander and showed -him the collet of a ring he wore on the ring-finger of his left hand. -And while making this sign Aramis, draped in cold and haughty majesty, -had the air of an emperor giving his hand to be kissed. The commandant, -who for a moment had raised his head, bowed a second time with marks of -the most profound respect. Then stretching his hand out, in his turn, -towards the poop, that is to say, towards his own cabin, he drew back to -allow Aramis to go first. The three Bretons, who had come on board after -their bishop, looked at each other, stupefied. The crew were awed to -silence. Five minutes after, the commander called the second lieutenant, -who returned immediately, ordering the head to be put towards Corunna. -Whilst this order was being executed, Aramis reappeared upon the deck, -and took a seat near the _bastingage_. Night had fallen; the moon had -not yet risen, yet Aramis looked incessantly towards Belle-Isle. Yves -then approached the captain, who had returned to take his post in the -stern, and said, in a low and humble voice, "What course are we to -follow, captain?" - -"We take what course monseigneur pleases," replied the officer. - -Aramis passed the night leaning upon the _bastingage_. Yves, on -approaching him next morning, remarked that "the night must have been -a very damp one, for the wood on which the bishop's head had rested was -soaked with dew." Who knows?--that dew was, it may be, the first tears -that had ever fallen from the eyes of Aramis! - -What epitaph would have been worth that, good Porthos? - - - -Chapter LII. M. de Gesvres's Round. - -D'Artagnan was little used to resistance like that he had just -experienced. He returned, profoundly irritated, to Nantes. Irritation, -with this vigorous man, usually vented itself in impetuous attack, which -few people, hitherto, were they king, were they giants, had been able to -resist. Trembling with rage, he went straight to the castle, and asked -an audience with the king. It might be about seven o'clock in the -morning, and, since his arrival at Nantes, the king had been an early -riser. But on arriving at the corridor with which we are acquainted, -D'Artagnan found M. de Gesvres, who stopped him politely, telling him -not to speak too loud and disturb the king. "Is the king asleep?" said -D'Artagnan. "Well, I will let him sleep. But about what o'clock do you -suppose he will rise?" - -"Oh! in about two hours; his majesty has been up all night." - -D'Artagnan took his hat again, bowed to M. de Gesvres, and returned to -his own apartments. He came back at half-past nine, and was told that -the king was at breakfast. "That will just suit me," said D'Artagnan. "I -will talk to the king while he is eating." - -M. de Brienne reminded D'Artagnan that the king would not see any one at -meal-time. - -"But," said D'Artagnan, looking askant at Brienne, "you do not know, -perhaps, monsieur, that I have the privilege of _entree_ anywhere--and -at any hour." - -Brienne took the captain's hand kindly, and said, "Not at Nantes, dear -Monsieur d'Artagnan. The king, in this journey, has changed everything." - -D'Artagnan, a little softened, asked about what o'clock the king would -have finished his breakfast. - -"We don't know." - -"Eh?--don't know! What does that mean? You don't know how much time the -king devotes to eating? It is generally an hour; and, if we admit that -the air of the Loire gives an additional appetite, we will extend it to -an hour and a half; that is enough, I think. I will wait where I am." - -"Oh! dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, the order of the day is not to allow any -person to remain in this corridor; I am on guard for that particular -purpose." - -D'Artagnan felt his anger mounting to his brain a second time. He -went out quickly, for fear of complicating the affair by a display of -premature ill-humor. As soon as he was out he began to reflect. "The -king," said he, "will not receive me, that is evident. The young man is -angry; he is afraid, beforehand, of the words that I may speak to him. -Yes; but in the meantime Belle-Isle is besieged, and my two friends by -now probably taken or killed. Poor Porthos! As to Master Aramis, he is -always full of resources, and I am easy on his account. But, no, no; -Porthos is not yet an invalid, nor is Aramis in his dotage. The one -with his arm, the other with his imagination, will find work for his -majesty's soldiers. Who knows if these brave men may not get up for -the edification of his most Christian majesty a little bastion of -Saint-Gervais! I don't despair of it. They have cannon and a garrison. -And yet," continued D'Artagnan, "I don't know whether it would not -be better to stop the combat. For myself alone I will not put up with -either surly looks or insults from the king; but for my friends I must -put up with everything. Shall I go to M. Colbert? Now, there is a man -I must acquire the habit of terrifying. I will go to M. Colbert." And -D'Artagnan set forward bravely to find M. Colbert, but was informed that -he was working with the king, at the castle of Nantes. "Good!" cried he, -"the times have come again in which I measured my steps from De Treville -to the cardinal, from the cardinal to the queen, from the queen to -Louis XIII. Truly is it said that men, in growing old, become children -again!--To the castle, then!" He returned thither. M. de Lyonne was -coming out. He gave D'Artagnan both hands, but told him that the king -had been busy all the preceding evening and all night, and that orders -had been given that no one should be admitted. "Not even the captain who -takes the order?" cried D'Artagnan. "I think that is rather too strong." - -"Not even he," said M. de Lyonne. - -"Since that is the case," replied D'Artagnan, wounded to the heart; -"since the captain of the musketeers, who has always entered the -king's chamber, is no longer allowed to enter it, his cabinet, or -his _salle-a-manger_, either the king is dead, or his captain is in -disgrace. Do me the favor, then, M. de Lyonne, who are in favor, to -return and tell the king, plainly, I send him my resignation." - -"D'Artagnan, beware of what you are doing!" - -"For friendship's sake, go!" and he pushed him gently towards the -cabinet. - -"Well, I will go," said Lyonne. - -D'Artagnan waited, walking about the corridor in no enviable mood. -Lyonne returned. - -"Well, what did the king say?" exclaimed D'Artagnan. - -"He simply answered, ''Tis well,'" replied Lyonne. - -"That it was well!" said the captain, with an explosion. "That is to -say, that he accepts it? Good! Now, then, I am free! I am only a plain -citizen, M. de Lyonne. I have the pleasure of bidding you good-bye! -Farewell, castle, corridor, ante-chamber! a _bourgeois_, about to -breathe at liberty, takes his farewell of you." - -And without waiting longer, the captain sprang from the terrace down the -staircase, where he had picked up the fragments of Gourville's letter. -Five minutes after, he was at the hostelry, where, according to the -custom of all great officers who have lodgings at the castle, he had -taken what was called his city-chamber. But when he arrived there, -instead of throwing off his sword and cloak, he took his pistols, put -his money into a large leather purse, sent for his horses from the -castle-stables, and gave orders that would ensure their reaching Vannes -during the night. Everything went on according to his wishes. At eight -o'clock in the evening, he was putting his foot in the stirrup, when -M. de Gesvres appeared, at the head of twelve guards, in front of the -hostelry. D'Artagnan saw all from the corner of his eye; he could not -fail seeing thirteen men and thirteen horses. But he feigned not to -observe anything, and was about to put his horse in motion. Gesvres rode -up to him. "Monsieur d'Artagnan!" said he, aloud. - -"Ah, Monsieur de Gesvres! good evening!" - -"One would say you were getting on horseback." - -"More than that,--I am mounted,--as you see." - -"It is fortunate I have met with you." - -"Were you looking for me, then?" - -"_Mon Dieu!_ yes." - -"On the part of the king, I will wager?" - -"Yes." - -"As I, three days ago, went in search of M. Fouquet?" - -"Oh!" - -"Nonsense! It is of no use being over-delicate with me; that is all -labor lost. Tell me at once you are come to arrest me." - -"To arrest you?--Good heavens! no." - -"Why do you come to accost me with twelve horsemen at your heels, then?" - -"I am making my round." - -"That isn't bad! And so you pick me up in your round, eh?" - -"I don't pick you up; I meet with you, and I beg you to come with me." - -"Where?" - -"To the king." - -"Good!" said D'Artagnan, with a bantering air; "the king is disengaged." - -"For Heaven's sake, captain," said M. de Gesvres, in a low voice to the -musketeer, "do not compromise yourself! these men hear you." - -D'Artagnan laughed aloud, and replied: - -"March! People who are arrested are placed between the six first guards -and the six last." - -"But as I am not arresting you," said M. de Gesvres, "you will march -behind, with me, if you please." - -"Well," said D'Artagnan, "that is very polite, duke, and you are -right in being so; for if ever I had had to make my rounds near your -_chambre-de-ville_, I should have been courteous to you, I assure you, -on the word of a gentleman! Now, one favor more; what does the king want -with me?" - -"Oh, the king is furious!" - -"Very well! the king, who has thought it worth while to be angry, may -take the trouble to grow calm again; that is all. I shan't die of that, -I will swear." - -"No, but--" - -"But--I shall be sent to keep company with unfortunate M. Fouquet. -_Mordioux!_ That is a gallant man, a worthy man! We shall live very -sociably together, I will be sworn." - -"Here we are at our place of destination," said the duke. "Captain, for -Heaven's sake be calm with the king!" - -"Ah! ah! you are playing the brave man with me, duke!" said D'Artagnan, -throwing one of his defiant glances over Gesvres. "I have been told -that you are ambitious of uniting your guards with my musketeers. This -strikes me as a splendid opportunity." - -"I will take exceeding good care not to avail myself of it, captain." - -"And why not, pray?" - -"Oh, for many reasons--in the first place, for this: if I were to -succeed you in the musketeers after having arrested you--" - -"Ah! then you admit you have arrested me?" - -"No, I _don't_." - -"Say met me, then. So, you were saying _if_ you were to succeed me after -having arrested me?" - -"Your musketeers, at the first exercise with ball cartridges, would fire -_my_ way, by mistake." - -"Oh, as to that I won't say; for the fellows _do_ love me a little." - -Gesvres made D'Artagnan pass in first, and took him straight to the -cabinet where Louis was waiting for his captain of the musketeers, and -placed himself behind his colleague in the ante-chamber. The king could -be heard distinctly, speaking aloud to Colbert in the same cabinet where -Colbert might have heard, a few days before, the king speaking aloud -with M. d'Artagnan. The guards remained as a mounted picket before the -principal gate; and the report was quickly spread throughout the city -that monsieur le capitaine of the musketeers had been arrested by order -of the king. Then these men were seen to be in motion, and as in the -good old times of Louis XIII. and M. de Treville, groups were formed, -and staircases were filled; vague murmurs, issuing from the court below, -came rolling to the upper stories, like the distant moaning of the -waves. M. de Gesvres became uneasy. He looked at his guards, who, after -being interrogated by the musketeers who had just got among their ranks, -began to shun them with a manifestation of innocence. D'Artagnan was -certainly less disturbed by all this than M. de Gesvres, the captain of -the guards. As soon as he entered, he seated himself on the ledge of a -window whence with his eagle glance he saw all that was going on without -the least emotion. No step of the progressive fermentation which had -shown itself at the report of his arrest escaped him. He foresaw -the very moment the explosion would take place; and we know that his -previsions were in general correct. - -"It would be very whimsical," thought he, "if, this evening, my -praetorians should make me king of France. How I should laugh!" - -But, at the height, all was stopped. Guards, musketeers, officers, -soldiers, murmurs, uneasiness, dispersed, vanished, died away; there was -an end of menace and sedition. One word had calmed the waves. The king -had desired Brienne to say, "Hush, messieurs! you disturb the king." - -D'Artagnan sighed. "All is over!" said he; "the musketeers of the -present day are not those of his majesty Louis XIII. All is over!" - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan, you are wanted in the ante-chamber of the king," -proclaimed an usher. - - - -Chapter LIII. King Louis XIV. - -The king was seated in his cabinet, with his back turned towards the -door of entrance. In front of him was a mirror, in which, while turning -over his papers, he could see at a glance those who came in. He did -not take any notice of the entrance of D'Artagnan, but spread above his -letters and plans the large silk cloth he used to conceal his secrets -from the importunate. D'Artagnan understood this by-play, and kept -in the background; so that at the end of a minute the king, who heard -nothing, and saw nothing save from the corner of his eye, was obliged to -cry, "Is not M. d'Artagnan there?" - -"I am here, sire," replied the musketeer, advancing. - -"Well, monsieur," said the king, fixing his pellucid eyes on D'Artagnan, -"what have you to say to me?" - -"I, sire!" replied the latter, who watched the first blow of his -adversary to make a good retort; "I have nothing to say to your majesty, -unless it be that you have caused me to be arrested, and here I am." - -The king was going to reply that he had not had D'Artagnan arrested, but -any such sentence appeared too much like an excuse, and he was silent. -D'Artagnan likewise preserved an obstinate silence. - -"Monsieur," at length resumed the king, "what did I charge you to go and -do at Belle-Isle? Tell me, if you please." - -The king while uttering these words looked intently at his captain. -Here D'Artagnan was fortunate; the king seemed to place the game in his -hands. - -"I believe," replied he, "that your majesty does me the honor to ask -what I went to Belle-Isle to accomplish?" - -"Yes, monsieur." - -"Well! sire, I know nothing about it; it is not of me that question -should be asked, but of that infinite number of officers of all kinds, -to whom have been given innumerable orders of all kinds, whilst to me, -head of the expedition, nothing precise was said or stated in any form -whatever." - -The king was hurt: he showed it by his reply. "Monsieur," said he, -"orders have only been given to such as were judged faithful." - -"And, therefore, I have been astonished, sire," retorted the musketeer, -"that a captain like myself, who ranks with a marechal of France, -should have found himself under the orders of five or six lieutenants or -majors, good to make spies of, possibly, but not at all fit to conduct -a warlike expedition. It was upon this subject I came to demand an -explanation of your majesty, when I found the door closed against me, -which, the final insult offered to a brave man, has led me to quit your -majesty's service." - -"Monsieur," replied the king, "you still believe that you are living in -an age when kings were, as you complain of having been, under the orders -and at the discretion of their inferiors. You seem to forget that a king -owes an account of his actions to none but God." - -"I forget nothing, sire," said the musketeer, wounded by this lesson. -"Besides, I do not see in what an honest man, when he asks of his king -how he has ill-served him, offends him." - -"You have ill-served me, monsieur, by siding with my enemies against -me." - -"Who are your enemies, sire?" - -"The men I sent you to fight." - -"Two men the enemies of the whole of your majesty's army! That is -incredible." - -"You have no power to judge of my will." - -"But I have to judge of my own friendships, sire." - -"He who serves his friends does not serve his master." - -"I so well understand this, sire, that I have respectfully offered your -majesty my resignation." - -"And I have accepted it, monsieur," said the king. "Before being -separated from you I was willing to prove to you that I know how to keep -my word." - -"Your majesty has kept more than your word, for your majesty has had me -arrested," said D'Artagnan, with his cold, bantering air; "you did not -promise me that, sire." - -The king would not condescend to perceive the pleasantry, and continued, -seriously, "You see, monsieur, to what grave steps your disobedience -forces me." - -"My disobedience!" cried D'Artagnan, red with anger. - -"It is the mildest term that I can find," pursued the king. "My idea was -to take and punish rebels; was I bound to inquire whether these rebels -were your friends or not?" - -"But I was," replied D'Artagnan. "It was a cruelty on your majesty's -part to send me to capture my friends and lead them to your gibbets." - -"It was a trial I had to make, monsieur, of pretended servants, who eat -my bread and _should_ defend my person. The trial has succeeded ill, -Monsieur d'Artagnan." - -"For one bad servant your majesty loses," said the musketeer, with -bitterness, "there are ten who, on that same day, go through a like -ordeal. Listen to me, sire; I am not accustomed to that service. Mine -is a rebel sword when I am required to do ill. It was ill to send me -in pursuit of two men whose lives M. Fouquet, your majesty's preserver, -implored you to save. Still further, these men were my friends. They did -not attack your majesty, they succumbed to your blind anger. Besides, -why were they not allowed to escape? What crime had they committed? I -admit you may contest with me the right of judging their conduct. -But why suspect me before the action? Why surround me with spies? Why -disgrace me before the army? Why me, in whom till now you showed the -most entire confidence--who for thirty years have been attached to your -person, and have given you a thousand proofs of my devotion--for it must -be said, now that I am accused--why reduce me to see three thousand of -the king's soldiers march in battle against two men?" - -"One would say you have forgotten what these men have done to me!" said -the king, in a hollow voice, "and that it was no merit of theirs I was -not lost." - -"Sire, one would imagine you forget that I was there." - -"Enough, Monsieur d'Artagnan, enough of these dominating interests which -arise to keep the sun itself from my interests. I am founding a state in -which there shall be but one master, as I promised you; the moment is at -hand for me to keep my promise. You wish to be, according to your tastes -or private friendships, free to destroy my plans and save my enemies? I -will thwart you or will drop you--seek a more compliant master. I know -full well that another king would not conduct himself as I do, and would -allow himself to be dominated by you, at the risk of sending you -some day to keep company with M. Fouquet and the rest; but I have an -excellent memory, and for me, services are sacred titles to gratitude, -to impunity. You shall only have this lesson, Monsieur d'Artagnan, as -the punishment of your want of discipline, and I will not imitate my -predecessors in anger, not having imitated them in favor. And, then, -other reasons make me act mildly towards you; in the first place, -because you are a man of sense, a man of excellent sense, a man of -heart, and that you will be a capital servant to him who shall have -mastered you; secondly, because you will cease to have any motives for -insubordination. Your friends are now destroyed or ruined by me. These -supports on which your capricious mind instinctively relied I have -caused to disappear. At this moment, my soldiers have taken or killed -the rebels of Belle-Isle." - -D'Artagnan became pale. "Taken or killed!" cried he. "Oh! sire, if you -thought what you tell, if you were sure you were telling me the truth, -I should forget all that is just, all that is magnanimous in your words, -to call you a barbarous king, and an unnatural man. But I pardon you -these words," said he, smiling with pride; "I pardon them to a young -prince who does not know, who cannot comprehend what such men as M. -d'Herblay, M. du Vallon, and myself are. Taken or killed! Ah! Ah! sire! -tell me, if the news is true, how much has it cost you in men and money. -We will then reckon if the game has been worth the stakes." - -As he spoke thus, the king went up to him in great anger, and said, -"Monsieur d'Artagnan, your replies are those of a rebel! Tell me, if you -please, who is king of France? Do you know any other?" - -"Sire," replied the captain of the musketeers, coldly, "I very well -remember that one morning at Vaux you addressed that question to many -people who did not answer to it, whilst I, on my part, did answer to -it. If I recognized my king on that day, when the thing was not easy, -I think it would be useless to ask the question of me now, when your -majesty and I are alone." - -At these words Louis cast down his eyes. It appeared to him that the -shade of the unfortunate Philippe passed between D'Artagnan and himself, -to evoke the remembrance of that terrible adventure. Almost at the same -moment an officer entered and placed a dispatch in the hands of the -king, who, in his turn, changed color, while reading it. - -"Monsieur," said he, "what I learn here you would know later; it is -better I should tell you, and that you should learn it from the mouth of -your king. A battle has taken place at Belle-Isle." - -"Is it possible?" said D'Artagnan, with a calm air, though his heart was -beating fast enough to choke him. "Well, sire?" - -"Well, monsieur--and I have lost a hundred and ten men." - -A beam of joy and pride shone in the eyes of D'Artagnan. "And the -rebels?" said he. - -"The rebels have fled," said the king. - -D'Artagnan could not restrain a cry of triumph. "Only," added the king, -"I have a fleet which closely blockades Belle-Isle, and I am certain not -a bark can escape." - -"So that," said the musketeer, brought back to his dismal idea, "if -these two gentlemen are taken--" - -"They will be hanged," said the king, quietly. - -"And do they know it?" replied D'Artagnan, repressing his trembling. - -"They know it, because you must have told them yourself; and all the -country knows it." - -"Then, sire, they will never be taken alive, I will answer for that." - -"Ah!" said the king, negligently, and taking up his letter again. "Very -well, they will be dead, then, Monsieur d'Artagnan, and that will come -to the same thing, since I should only take them to have them hanged." - -D'Artagnan wiped the sweat which flowed from his brow. - -"I have told you," pursued Louis XIV., "that I would one day be an -affectionate, generous, and constant master. You are now the only man of -former times worthy of my anger or my friendship. I will not spare you -either sentiment, according to your conduct. Could you serve a king, -Monsieur d'Artagnan, who should have a hundred kings, his equals, in -the kingdom? Could I, tell me, do with such weak instruments the great -things I meditate? Did you ever see an artist effect great works with -an unworthy tool? Far from us, monsieur, the old leaven of feudal abuse! -The Fronde, which threatened to ruin monarchy, has emancipated it. I -am master at home, Captain d'Artagnan, and I shall have servants who, -lacking, perhaps, your genius, will carry devotion and obedience to the -verge of heroism. Of what consequence, I ask you, of what consequence -is it that God has given no sense to arms and legs? It is to the head he -has given genius, and the head, you know, the rest obey. I am the head." - -D'Artagnan started. Louis XIV. continued as if he had seen nothing, -although this emotion had not by any means escaped him. "Now, let us -conclude between us two the bargain I promised to make with you one day -when you found me in a very strange predicament at Blois. Do me justice, -monsieur, when you admit I do not make any one pay for the tears of -shame that I then shed. Look around you; lofty heads have bowed. Bow -yours, or choose such exile as will suit you. Perhaps, when reflecting -upon it, you will find your king has a generous heart, who reckons -sufficiently upon your loyalty to allow you to leave him dissatisfied, -when you possess a great state secret. You are a brave man; I know you -to be so. Why have you judged me prematurely? Judge me from this day -forward, D'Artagnan, and be as severe as you please." - -D'Artagnan remained bewildered, mute, undecided for the first time in -his life. At last he had found an adversary worthy of him. This was no -longer trick, it was calculation; no longer violence, but strength; no -longer passion, but will; no longer boasting, but council. This young -man who had brought down a Fouquet, and could do without a D'Artagnan, -deranged the somewhat headstrong calculations of the musketeer. - -"Come, let us see what stops you?" said the king, kindly. "You have -given in your resignation; shall I refuse to accept it? I admit that it -may be hard for such an old captain to recover lost good-humor." - -"Oh!" replied D'Artagnan, in a melancholy tone, "that is not my most -serious care. I hesitate to take back my resignation because I am old in -comparison with you, and have habits difficult to abandon. Henceforward, -you must have courtiers who know how to amuse you--madmen who will get -themselves killed to carry out what you call your great works. Great -they will be, I feel--but, if by chance I should not think them so? -I have seen war, sire, I have seen peace; I have served Richelieu and -Mazarin; I have been scorched with your father, at the fire of Rochelle; -riddled with sword-thrusts like a sieve, having grown a new skin ten -times, as serpents do. After affronts and injustices, I have a command -which was formerly something, because it gave the bearer the right of -speaking as he liked to his king. But your captain of the musketeers -will henceforward be an officer guarding the outer doors. Truly, sire, -if that is to be my employment from this time, seize the opportunity of -our being on good terms, to take it from me. Do not imagine that I bear -malice; no, you have tamed me, as you say; but it must be confessed that -in taming me you have lowered me; by bowing me you have convicted me of -weakness. If you knew how well it suits me to carry my head high, -and what a pitiful mien I shall have while scenting the dust of your -carpets! Oh! sire, I regret sincerely, and you will regret as I do, the -old days when the king of France saw in every vestibule those insolent -gentlemen, lean, always swearing--cross-grained mastiffs, who could bite -mortally in the hour of danger or of battle. These men were the best of -courtiers to the hand which fed them--they would lick it; but for the -hand that struck them, oh! the bite that followed! A little gold on the -lace of their cloaks, a slender stomach in their _hauts-de-chausses_, -a little sparkling of gray in their dry hair, and you will behold the -handsome dukes and peers, the haughty _marechaux_ of France. But why -should I tell you all this? The king is master; he wills that I -should make verses, he wills that I should polish the mosaics of his -ante-chambers with satin shoes. _Mordioux!_ that is difficult, but I -have got over greater difficulties. I will do it. Why should I do it? -Because I love money?--I have enough. Because I am ambitious?--my career -is almost at an end. Because I love the court? No. I will remain here -because I have been accustomed for thirty years to go and take the -orderly word of the king, and to have said to me 'Good evening, -D'Artagnan,' with a smile I did not beg for. That smile I will beg for! -Are you content, sire?" And D'Artagnan bowed his silver head, upon which -the smiling king placed his white hand with pride. - - "Thanks, my old servant, my faithful friend," said he. "As, reckoning -from this day, I have no longer any enemies in France, it remains with -me to send you to a foreign field to gather your marshal's baton. Depend -upon me for finding you an opportunity. In the meanwhile, eat of my very -best bread, and sleep in absolute tranquillity." - -"That is all kind and well!" said D'Artagnan, much agitated. "But those -poor men at Belle-Isle? One of them, in particular--so good! so brave! -so true!" - -"Do you ask their pardon of me?" - -"Upon my knees, sire!" - -"Well! then, go and take it to them, if it be still in time. But do you -answer for them?" - -"With my life, sire." - -"Go, then. To-morrow I set out for Paris. Return by that time, for I do -not wish you to leave me in the future." - -"Be assured of that, sire," said D'Artagnan, kissing the royal hand. - -And with a heart swelling with joy, he rushed out of the castle on his -way to Belle-Isle. - - - -Chapter LIV. M. Fouquet's Friends. - -The king had returned to Paris, and with him D'Artagnan, who, in -twenty-four hours, having made with greatest care all possible inquiries -at Belle-Isle, succeeded in learning nothing of the secret so well kept -by the heavy rock of Locmaria, which had fallen on the heroic Porthos. -The captain of the musketeers only knew what those two valiant -men--these two friends, whose defense he had so nobly taken up, whose -lives he had so earnestly endeavored to save--aided by three faithful -Bretons, had accomplished against a whole army. He had seen, spread on -the neighboring heath, the human remains which had stained with clouted -blood the scattered stones among the flowering broom. He learned also -that a bark had been seen far out at sea, and that, like a bird of prey, -a royal vessel had pursued, overtaken, and devoured the poor little -bird that was flying with such palpitating wings. But there D'Artagnan's -certainties ended. The field of supposition was thrown open. Now, what -could he conjecture? The vessel had not returned. It is true that a -brisk wind had prevailed for three days; but the corvette was known to -be a good sailer and solid in its timbers; it had no need to fear a gale -of wind, and it ought, according to the calculation of D'Artagnan, to -have either returned to Brest, or come back to the mouth of the Loire. -Such was the news, ambiguous, it is true, but in some degree reassuring -to him personally, which D'Artagnan brought to Louis XIV., when the -king, followed by all the court, returned to Paris. - -Louis, satisfied with his success--Louis, more mild and affable as he -felt himself more powerful--had not ceased for an instant to ride beside -the carriage door of Mademoiselle de la Valliere. Everybody was anxious -to amuse the two queens, so as to make them forget this abandonment by -son and husband. Everything breathed the future, the past was nothing to -anybody. Only that past was like a painful bleeding wound to the hearts -of certain tender and devoted spirits. Scarcely was the king reinstalled -in Paris, when he received a touching proof of this. Louis XIV. had -just risen and taken his first repast when his captain of the musketeers -presented himself before him. D'Artagnan was pale and looked unhappy. -The king, at the first glance, perceived the change in a countenance -generally so unconcerned. "What is the matter, D'Artagnan?" said he. - -"Sire, a great misfortune has happened to me." - -"Good heavens! what is that?" - -"Sire, I have lost one of my friends, M. du Vallon, in the affair of -Belle-Isle." - -And, while speaking these words, D'Artagnan fixed his falcon eye upon -Louis XIV., to catch the first feeling that would show itself. - -"I knew it," replied the king, quietly. - -"You knew it, and did not tell me!" cried the musketeer. - -"To what good? Your grief, my friend, was so well worthy of respect. It -was my duty to treat it gently. To have informed you of this misfortune, -which I knew would pain you so greatly, D'Artagnan, would have been, in -your eyes, to have triumphed over you. Yes, I knew that M. du Vallon had -buried himself beneath the rocks of Locmaria; I knew that M. d'Herblay -had taken one of my vessels with its crew, and had compelled it to -convey him to Bayonne. But I was willing you should learn these matters -in a direct manner, in order that you might be convinced my friends are -with me respected and sacred; that always in me the man will sacrifice -himself to subjects, whilst the king is so often found to sacrifice men -to majesty and power." - -"But, sire, how could you know?" - -"How do you yourself know, D'Artagnan?" - -"By this letter, sire, which M. d'Herblay, free and out of danger, -writes me from Bayonne." - -"Look here," said the king, drawing from a casket placed upon the table -closet to the seat upon which D'Artagnan was leaning, "here is a letter -copied exactly from that of M. d'Herblay. Here is the very letter, which -Colbert placed in my hands a week before you received yours. I am well -served, you may perceive." - -"Yes, sire," murmured the musketeer, "you were the only man whose star -was equal to the task of dominating the fortune and strength of my two -friends. You have used your power, sire, you will not abuse it, will -you?" - -"D'Artagnan," said the king, with a smile beaming with kindness, "I -could have M. d'Herblay carried off from the territories of the king -of Spain, and brought here, alive, to inflict justice upon him. But, -D'Artagnan, be assured I will not yield to this first and natural -impulse. He is free--let him continue free." - -"Oh, sire! you will not always remain so clement, so noble, so generous -as you have shown yourself with respect to me and M. d'Herblay; you will -have about you counselors who will cure you of that weakness." - -"No, D'Artagnan, you are mistaken when you accuse my council of urging -me to pursue rigorous measures. The advice to spare M. d'Herblay comes -from Colbert himself." - -"Oh, sire!" said D'Artagnan, extremely surprised. - -"As for you," continued the king, with a kindness very uncommon to him, -"I have several pieces of good news to announce to you; but you shall -know them, my dear captain, the moment I have made my accounts all -straight. I have said that I wish to make, and would make, your fortune; -that promise will soon become reality." - -"A thousand times thanks, sire! I can wait. But I implore you, whilst I -go and practice patience, that your majesty will deign to notice those -poor people who have for so long a time besieged your ante-chamber, and -come humbly to lay a petition at your feet." - -"Who are they?" - -"Enemies of your majesty." The king raised his head. - -"Friends of M. Fouquet," added D'Artagnan. - -"Their names?" - -"M. Gourville, M. Pelisson, and a poet, M. Jean de la Fontaine." - -The king took a moment to reflect. "What do they want?" - -"I do not know." - -"How do they appear?" - -"In great affliction." - -"What do they say?" - -"Nothing." - -"What do they do?" - -"They weep." - -"Let them come in," said the king, with a serious brow. - -D'Artagnan turned rapidly on his heel, raised the tapestry which closed -the entrance to the royal chamber, and directing his voice to the -adjoining room, cried, "Enter." - -The three men D'Artagnan had named immediately appeared at the door of -the cabinet in which were the king and his captain. A profound silence -prevailed in their passage. The courtiers, at the approach of the -friends of the unfortunate superintendent of finances, drew back, as -if fearful of being affected by contagion with disgrace and misfortune. -D'Artagnan, with a quick step, came forward to take by the hand the -unhappy men who stood trembling at the door of the cabinet; he led them -in front of the king's _fauteuil_, who, having placed himself in the -embrasure of a window, awaited the moment of presentation, and was -preparing himself to give the supplicants a rigorously diplomatic -reception. - -The first of the friends of Fouquet's to advance was Pelisson. He did -not weep, but his tears were only restrained that the king might better -hear his voice and prayer. Gourville bit his lips to check his tears, -out of respect for the king. La Fontaine buried his face in his -handkerchief, and the only signs of life he gave were the convulsive -motions of his shoulders, raised by his sobs. - -The king preserved his dignity. His countenance was impassible. He -even maintained the frown which appeared when D'Artagnan announced his -enemies. He made a gesture which signified, "Speak;" and he remained -standing, with his eyes fixed searchingly on these desponding men. -Pelisson bowed to the ground, and La Fontaine knelt as people do in -churches. This dismal silence, disturbed only by sighs and groans, began -to excite in the king, not compassion, but impatience. - -"Monsieur Pelisson," said he, in a sharp, dry tone. "Monsieur Gourville, -and you, Monsieur--" and he did not name La Fontaine, "I cannot, without -sensible displeasure, see you come to plead for one of the greatest -criminals it is the duty of justice to punish. A king does not allow -himself to soften save at the tears of the innocent, the remorse of the -guilty. I have no faith either in the remorse of M. Fouquet or the tears -of his friends, because the one is tainted to the very heart, and the -others ought to dread offending me in my own palace. For these reasons, -I beg you, Monsieur Pelisson, Monsieur Gourville, and you, Monsieur--, -to say nothing that will not plainly proclaim the respect you have for -my will." - -"Sire," replied Pelisson, trembling at these words, "we are come to say -nothing to your majesty that is not the most profound expression of -the most sincere respect and love that are due to a king from all his -subjects. Your majesty's justice is redoubtable; every one must yield to -the sentences it pronounces. We respectfully bow before it. Far from us -the idea of coming to defend him who has had the misfortune to offend -your majesty. He who has incurred your displeasure may be a friend of -ours, but he is an enemy to the state. We abandon him, but with tears, -to the severity of the king." - -"Besides," interrupted the king, calmed by that supplicating voice, -and those persuasive words, "my parliament will decide. I do not strike -without first having weighed the crime; my justice does not wield the -sword without employing first a pair of scales." - -"Therefore we have every confidence in that impartiality of the king, -and hope to make our feeble voices heard, with the consent of your -majesty, when the hour for defending an accused friend strikes." - -"In that case, messieurs, what do you ask of me?" said the king, with -his most imposing air. - -"Sire," continued Pelisson, "the accused has a wife and family. The -little property he had was scarcely sufficient to pay his debts, -and Madame Fouquet, since her husband's captivity, is abandoned by -everybody. The hand of your majesty strikes like the hand of God. When -the Lord sends the curse of leprosy or pestilence into a family, -every one flies and shuns the abode of the leprous or plague-stricken. -Sometimes, but very rarely, a generous physician alone ventures to -approach the ill-reputed threshold, passes it with courage, and risks -his life to combat death. He is the last resource of the dying, the -chosen instrument of heavenly mercy. Sire, we supplicate you, with -clasped hands and bended knees, as a divinity is supplicated! Madame -Fouquet has no longer any friends, no longer any means of support; she -weeps in her deserted home, abandoned by all those who besieged its -doors in the hour of prosperity; she has neither credit nor hope left. -At least, the unhappy wretch upon whom your anger falls receives from -you, however culpable he may be, his daily bread though moistened by -his tears. As much afflicted, more destitute than her husband, Madame -Fouquet--the lady who had the honor to receive your majesty at her -table--Madame Fouquet, the wife of the ancient superintendent of your -majesty's finances, Madame Fouquet has no longer bread." - -Here the mortal silence which had chained the breath of Pelisson's two -friends was broken by an outburst of sobs; and D'Artagnan, whose chest -heaved at hearing this humble prayer, turned round towards the angle of -the cabinet to bite his mustache and conceal a groan. - -The king had preserved his eye dry and his countenance severe; but -the blood had mounted to his cheeks, and the firmness of his look was -visibly diminished. - -"What do you wish?" said he, in an agitated voice. - -"We come humbly to ask your majesty," replied Pelisson, upon whom -emotion was fast gaining, "to permit us, without incurring the -displeasure of your majesty, to lend to Madame Fouquet two thousand -pistoles collected among the old friends of her husband, in order that -the widow may not stand in need of the necessaries of life." - -At the word _widow_, pronounced by Pelisson whilst Fouquet was still -alive, the king turned very pale;--his pride disappeared; pity rose from -his heart to his lips; he cast a softened look upon the men who knelt -sobbing at his feet. - -"God forbid," said he, "that I should confound the innocent with the -guilty. They know me but ill who doubt my mercy towards the weak. I -strike none but the arrogant. Do, messieurs, do all that your hearts -counsel you to assuage the grief of Madame Fouquet. Go, messieurs--go!" - -The three now rose in silence with dry eyes. The tears had been scorched -away by contact with their burning cheeks and eyelids. They had not -the strength to address their thanks to the king, who himself cut short -their solemn reverences by entrenching himself suddenly behind the -_fauteuil_. - -D'Artagnan remained alone with the king. - -"Well," said he, approaching the young prince, who interrogated him with -his look. "Well, my master! If you had not the device which belongs to -your sun, I would recommend you one which M. Conrart might translate -into eclectic Latin, 'Calm with the lowly; stormy with the strong.'" - -The king smiled, and passed into the next apartment, after having said -to D'Artagnan, "I give you the leave of absence you must want to put the -affairs of your friend, the late M. du Vallon, in order." - - - -Chapter LV. Porthos's Will. - -At Pierrefonds everything was in mourning. The courts were deserted--the -stables closed--the parterres neglected. In the basins, the fountains, -formerly so jubilantly fresh and noisy, had stopped of themselves. Along -the roads around the chateau came a few grave personages mounted on -mules or country nags. These were rural neighbors, cures and bailiffs of -adjacent estates. All these people entered the chateau silently, handed -their horses to a melancholy-looking groom, and directed their steps, -conducted by a huntsman in black, to the great dining-room, where -Mousqueton received them at the door. Mousqueton had become so thin in -two days that his clothes moved upon him like an ill-fitting scabbard in -which the sword-blade dances at each motion. His face, composed of red -and white, like that of the Madonna of Vandyke, was furrowed by two -silver rivulets which had dug their beds in his cheeks, as full formerly -as they had become flabby since his grief began. At each fresh arrival, -Mousqueton found fresh tears, and it was pitiful to see him press -his throat with his fat hand to keep from bursting into sobs and -lamentations. All these visits were for the purpose of hearing the -reading of Porthos's will, announced for that day, and at which all the -covetous friends of the dead man were anxious to be present, as he had -left no relations behind him. - -The visitors took their places as they arrived, and the great room had -just been closed when the clock struck twelve, the hour fixed for the -reading of the important document. Porthos's procureur--and that -was naturally the successor of Master Coquenard--commenced by slowly -unfolding the vast parchment upon which the powerful hand of Porthos had -traced his sovereign will. The seal broken--the spectacles put on--the -preliminary cough having sounded--every one pricked up his ears. -Mousqueton had squatted himself in a corner, the better to weep and the -better to hear. All at once the folding-doors of the great room, which -had been shut, were thrown open as if by magic, and a warlike figure -appeared upon the threshold, resplendent in the full light of the sun. -This was D'Artagnan, who had come alone to the gate, and finding nobody -to hold his stirrup, had tied his horse to the knocker and announced -himself. The splendor of daylight invading the room, the murmur of all -present, and, more than all, the instinct of the faithful dog, drew -Mousqueton from his reverie; he raised his head, recognized the old -friend of his master, and, screaming with grief, he embraced his knees, -watering the floor with his tears. D'Artagnan raised the poor intendant, -embraced him as if he had been a brother, and, having nobly saluted the -assembly, who all bowed as they whispered to each other his name, he -went and took his seat at the extremity of the great carved oak hall, -still holding by the hand poor Mousqueton, who was suffocating with -excess of woe, and sank upon the steps. Then the procureur, who, like -the rest, was considerably agitated, commenced. - -Porthos, after a profession of faith of the most Christian character, -asked pardon of his enemies for all the injuries he might have done -them. At this paragraph, a ray of inexpressible pride beamed from the -eyes of D'Artagnan. - -He recalled to his mind the old soldier; all those enemies of Porthos -brought to earth by his valiant hand; he reckoned up the numbers -of them, and said to himself that Porthos had acted wisely, not to -enumerate his enemies or the injuries done to them, or the task would -have been too much for the reader. Then came the following schedule of -his extensive lands: - -"I possess at this present time, by the grace of God-- - -"1. The domain of Pierrefonds, lands, woods, meadows, waters, and -forests, surrounded by good walls. - -"2. The domain of Bracieux, chateaux, forests, plowed lands, forming -three farms. - -"3. The little estate Du Vallon, so named because it is in the valley." -(Brave Porthos!) - -"4. Fifty farms in Touraine, amounting to five hundred acres. - -"5. Three mills upon the Cher, bringing in six hundred livres each. - -"6. Three fish-pools in Berry, producing two hundred livres a year. - -"As to my personal or movable property, so called because it can be -moved, as is so well explained by my learned friend the bishop of -Vannes--" (D'Artagnan shuddered at the dismal remembrance attached to -that name)--the procureur continued imperturbably--"they consist--" - -"1. In goods which I cannot detail here for want of room, and which -furnish all my chateaux or houses, but of which the list is drawn up by -my intendant." - -Every one turned his eyes towards Mousqueton, who was still lost in -grief. - -"2. In twenty horses for saddle and draught, which I have particularly -at my chateau of Pierrefonds, and which are called--Bayard, Roland, -Charlemagne, Pepin, Dunois, La Hire, Ogier, Samson, Milo, Nimrod, -Urganda, Armida, Flastrade, Dalilah, Rebecca, Yolande, Finette, -Grisette, Lisette, and Musette. - -"3. In sixty dogs, forming six packs, divided as follows: the first, for -the stag; the second, for the wolf; the third, for the wild boar; the -fourth, for the hare; and the two others, for setters and protection. - -"4. In arms for war and the chase contained in my gallery of arms. - -"5. My wines of Anjou, selected for Athos, who liked them formerly; -my wines of Burgundy, Champagne, Bordeaux, and Spain, stocking eight -cellars and twelve vaults, in my various houses. - -"6. My pictures and statues, which are said to be of great value, and -which are sufficiently numerous to fatigue the sight. - -"7. My library, consisting of six thousand volumes, quite new, and have -never been opened. - -"8. My silver plate, which is perhaps a little worn, but which ought to -weigh from a thousand to twelve hundred pounds, for I had great trouble -in lifting the coffer that contained it and could not carry it more than -six times round my chamber. - -"9. All these objects, in addition to the table and house linen, are -divided in the residences I liked the best." - -Here the reader stopped to take breath. Every one sighed, coughed, and -redoubled his attention. The procureur resumed: - -"I have lived without having any children, and it is probable I never -shall have any, which to me is a cutting grief. And yet I am mistaken, -for I have a son, in common with my other friends; that is, M. Raoul -Auguste Jules de Bragelonne, the true son of M. le Comte de la Fere. - -"This young nobleman appears to me extremely worthy to succeed the -valiant gentleman of whom I am the friend and very humble servant." - -Here a sharp sound interrupted the reader. It was D'Artagnan's sword, -which, slipping from his baldric, had fallen on the sonorous flooring. -Every one turned his eyes that way, and saw that a large tear had rolled -from the thick lid of D'Artagnan, half-way down to his aquiline nose, -the luminous edge of which shone like a little crescent moon. - -"This is why," continued the procureur, "I have left all my property, -movable, or immovable, comprised in the above enumerations, to M. le -Vicomte Raoul Auguste Jules de Bragelonne, son of M. le Comte de la -Fere, to console him for the grief he seems to suffer, and enable him to -add more luster to his already glorious name." - -A vague murmur ran through the auditory. The procureur continued, -seconded by the flashing eye of D'Artagnan, which, glancing over the -assembly, quickly restored the interrupted silence: - -"On condition that M. le Vicomte de Bragelonne do give to M. le -Chevalier d'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers, whatever the -said Chevalier d'Artagnan may demand of my property. On condition that -M. le Vicomte de Bragelonne do pay a good pension to M. le Chevalier -d'Herblay, my friend, if he should need it in exile. I leave to my -intendant Mousqueton all of my clothes, of city, war, or chase, to the -number of forty-seven suits, in the assurance that he will wear them -till they are worn out, for the love of and in remembrance of his -master. Moreover, I bequeath to M. le Vicomte de Bragelonne my old -servant and faithful friend Mousqueton, already named, providing that -the said vicomte shall so act that Mousqueton shall declare, when dying, -he has never ceased to be happy." - -On hearing these words, Mousqueton bowed, pale and trembling; his -shoulders shook convulsively; his countenance, compressed by a frightful -grief, appeared from between his icy hands, and the spectators saw him -stagger and hesitate, as if, though wishing to leave the hall, he did -not know the way. - -"Mousqueton, my good friend," said D'Artagnan, "go and make your -preparations. I will take you with me to Athos's house, whither I shall -go on leaving Pierrefonds." - -Mousqueton made no reply. He scarcely breathed, as if everything in that -hall would from that time be foreign. He opened the door, and slowly -disappeared. - -The procureur finished his reading, after which the greater part -of those who had come to hear the last will of Porthos dispersed by -degrees, many disappointed, but all penetrated with respect. As -for D'Artagnan, thus left alone, after having received the formal -compliments of the procureur, he was lost in admiration of the wisdom of -the testator, who had so judiciously bestowed his wealth upon the most -necessitous and the most worthy, with a delicacy that neither nobleman -nor courtier could have displayed more kindly. When Porthos enjoined -Raoul de Bragelonne to give D'Artagnan all that he would ask, he knew -well, our worthy Porthos, that D'Artagnan would ask or take nothing; and -in case he did demand anything, none but himself could say what. Porthos -left a pension to Aramis, who, if he should be inclined to ask too much, -was checked by the example of D'Artagnan; and that word _exile_, thrown -out by the testator, without apparent intention, was it not the mildest, -most exquisite criticism upon that conduct of Aramis which had brought -about the death of Porthos? But there was no mention of Athos in the -testament of the dead. Could the latter for a moment suppose that the -son would not offer the best part to the father? The rough mind of -Porthos had fathomed all these causes, seized all these shades more -clearly than law, better than custom, with more propriety than taste. - -"Porthos had indeed a heart," said D'Artagnan to himself with a sigh. -As he made this reflection, he fancied he hard a groan in the room above -him; and he thought immediately of poor Mousqueton, whom he felt it was -a pleasing duty to divert from his grief. For this purpose he left the -hall hastily to seek the worthy intendant, as he had not returned. He -ascended the staircase leading to the first story, and perceived, in -Porthos's own chamber, a heap of clothes of all colors and materials, -upon which Mousqueton had laid himself down after heaping them all on -the floor together. It was the legacy of the faithful friend. Those -clothes were truly his own; they had been given to him; the hand of -Mousqueton was stretched over these relics, which he was kissing with -his lips, with all his face, and covered with his body. D'Artagnan -approached to console the poor fellow. - -"My God!" said he, "he does not stir--he has fainted!" - -But D'Artagnan was mistaken. Mousqueton was dead! Dead, like the dog -who, having lost his master, crawls back to die upon his cloak. - - - -Chapter LVI. The Old Age of Athos. - -While these affairs were separating forever the four musketeers, -formerly bound together in a manner that seemed indissoluble, Athos, -left alone after the departure of Raoul, began to pay his tribute to -that foretaste of death which is called the absence of those we love. -Back in his house at Blois, no longer having even Grimaud to receive -a poor smile as he passed through the parterre, Athos daily felt -the decline of vigor of a nature which for so long a time had seemed -impregnable. Age, which had been kept back by the presence of the -beloved object, arrived with that _cortege_ of pains and inconveniences, -which grows by geometrical accretion. Athos had no longer his son to -induce him to walk firmly, with head erect, as a good example; he had no -longer, in those brilliant eyes of the young man, an ever-ardent focus -at which to kindle anew the fire of his looks. And then, must it be -said, that nature, exquisite in tenderness and reserve, no longer -finding anything to understand its feelings, gave itself up to grief -with all the warmth of common natures when they yield to joy. The Comte -de la Fere, who had remained a young man to his sixty-second year; -the warrior who had preserved his strength in spite of fatigue; his -freshness of mind in spite of misfortune, his mild serenity of soul and -body in spite of Milady, in spite of Mazarin, in spite of La Valliere; -Athos had become an old man in a week, from the moment at which he lost -the comfort of his later youth. Still handsome, though bent, noble, but -sad, he sought, since his solitude, the deeper glades where sunshine -scarcely penetrated. He discontinued all the mighty exercises he had -enjoyed through life, when Raoul was no longer with him. The servants, -accustomed to see him stirring with the dawn at all seasons, were -astonished to hear seven o'clock strike before their master quitted his -bed. Athos remained in bed with a book under his pillow--but he did not -sleep, neither did he read. Remaining in bed that he might no longer -have to carry his body, he allowed his soul and spirit to wander from -their envelope and return to his son, or to God. [6] - -His people were sometimes terrified to see him, for hours together, -absorbed in silent reverie, mute and insensible; he no longer heard the -timid step of the servant who came to the door of his chamber to watch -the sleeping or waking of his master. It often occurred that he forgot -the day had half passed away, that the hours for the two first meals -were gone by. Then he was awakened. He rose, descended to his shady -walk, then came out a little into the sun, as though to partake of its -warmth for a minute in memory of his absent child. And then the dismal -monotonous walk recommenced, until, exhausted, he regained the chamber -and his bed, his domicile by choice. For several days the comte did not -speak a single word. He refused to receive the visits that were paid -him, and during the night he was seen to relight his lamp and pass long -hours in writing, or examining parchments. - -Athos wrote one of these letters to Vannes, another to Fontainebleau; -they remained without answers. We know why: Aramis had quitted France, -and D'Artagnan was traveling from Nantes to Paris, from Paris to -Pierrefonds. His _valet de chambre_ observed that he shortened his walk -every day by several turns. The great alley of limes soon became too -long for feet that used to traverse it formerly a hundred times a day. -The comte walked feebly as far as the middle trees, seated himself upon -a mossy bank that sloped towards a sidewalk, and there waited the return -of his strength, or rather the return of night. Very shortly a hundred -steps exhausted him. At length Athos refused to rise at all; he declined -all nourishment, and his terrified people, although he did not complain, -although he wore a smile upon his lips, although he continued to speak -with his sweet voice--his people went to Blois in search of the ancient -physician of the late Monsieur, and brought him to the Comte de la Fere -in such a fashion that he could see the comte without being himself -seen. For this purpose, they placed him in a closet adjoining the -chamber of the patient, and implored him not to show himself, for fear -of displeasing their master, who had not asked for a physician. The -doctor obeyed. Athos was a sort of model for the gentlemen of the -country; the Blaisois boasted of possessing this sacred relic of French -glory. Athos was a great seigneur compared with such nobles as the king -improvised by touching with his artificial scepter the patched-up trunks -of the heraldic trees of the province. - -People respected Athos, we say, and they loved him. The physician could -not bear to see his people weep, to see flock round him the poor of the -canton, to whom Athos had so often given life and consolation by his -kind words and his charities. He examined, therefore, from the depths -of his hiding-place, the nature of that mysterious malady which bent -and aged more mortally every day a man but lately so full of life and a -desire to live. He remarked upon the cheeks of Athos the hectic hue of -fever, which feeds upon itself; slow fever, pitiless, born in a fold -of the heart, sheltering itself behind that rampart, growing from -the suffering it engenders, at once cause and effect of a perilous -situation. The comte spoke to nobody; he did not even talk to -himself. His thought feared noise; it approached to that degree of -over-excitement which borders upon ecstasy. Man thus absorbed, though he -does not yet belong to God, already appertains no longer to the earth. -The doctor remained for several hours studying this painful struggle of -the will against superior power; he was terrified at seeing those eyes -always fixed, ever directed on some invisible object; was terrified at -the monotonous beating of that heart from which never a sigh arose -to vary the melancholy state; for often pain becomes the hope of the -physician. Half a day passed away thus. The doctor formed his resolution -like a brave man; he issued suddenly from his place of retreat, and went -straight up to Athos, who beheld him without evincing more surprise than -if he had understood nothing of the apparition. - -"Monsieur le comte, I crave your pardon," said the doctor, coming up -to the patient with open arms; "but I have a reproach to make you--you -shall hear me." And he seated himself by the pillow of Athos, who had -great trouble in rousing himself from his preoccupation. - -"What is the matter, doctor?" asked the comte, after a silence. - -"The matter is, you are ill, monsieur, and have had no advice." - -"I! ill!" said Athos, smiling. - -"Fever, consumption, weakness, decay, monsieur le comte!" - -"Weakness!" replied Athos; "is it possible? I do not get up." - -"Come, come! monsieur le comte, no subterfuges; you are a good -Christian?" - -"I hope so," said Athos. - -"Is it your wish to kill yourself?" - -"Never, doctor." - -"Well! monsieur, you are in a fair way of doing so. Thus to remain is -suicide. Get well! monsieur le comte, get well!" - -"Of what? Find the disease first. For my part, I never knew myself -better; never did the sky appear more blue to me; never did I take more -care of my flowers." - -"You have a hidden grief." - -"Concealed!--not at all; the absence of my son, doctor; that is my -malady, and I do not conceal it." - -"Monsieur le comte, your son lives, he is strong, he has all the future -before him--the future of men of merit, of his race; live for him--" - -"But I do live, doctor; oh! be satisfied of that," added he, with a -melancholy smile; "for as long as Raoul lives, it will be plainly known, -for as long as he lives, I shall live." - -"What do you say?" - -"A very simple thing. At this moment, doctor, I leave life suspended -within me. A forgetful, dissipated, indifferent life would be beyond my -strength, now I have no longer Raoul with me. You do not ask the lamp -to burn when the match has not illumed the flame; do not ask me to live -amidst noise and merriment. I vegetate, I prepare myself, I wait. Look, -doctor; remember those soldiers we have so often seen together at the -ports, where they were waiting to embark; lying down, indifferent, half -on one element, half on the other; they were neither at the place where -the sea was going to carry them, nor at the place the earth was going -to lose them; baggage prepared, minds on the stretch, arms stacked--they -waited. I repeat it, the word is the one which paints my present life. -Lying down like the soldiers, my ear on the stretch for the report that -may reach me, I wish to be ready to set out at the first summons. Who -will make me that summons? life or death? God or Raoul? My baggage -is packed, my soul is prepared, I await the signal--I wait, doctor, I -wait!" - -The doctor knew the temper of that mind; he appreciated the strength -of that body; he reflected for the moment, told himself that words -were useless, remedies absurd, and left the chateau, exhorting Athos's -servants not to quit him for a moment. - -The doctor being gone, Athos evinced neither anger nor vexation at -having been disturbed. He did not even desire that all letters that -came should be brought to him directly. He knew very well that every -distraction which should arise would be a joy, a hope, which his -servants would have paid with their blood to procure him. Sleep had -become rare. By intense thinking, Athos forgot himself, for a few hours -at most, in a reverie most profound, more obscure than other people -would have called a dream. The momentary repose which this forgetfulness -thus gave the body, still further fatigued the soul, for Athos lived a -double life during these wanderings of his understanding. One night, -he dreamt that Raoul was dressing himself in a tent, to go upon an -expedition commanded by M. de Beaufort in person. The young man was sad; -he clasped his cuirass slowly, and slowly he girded on his sword. - -"What is the matter?" asked his father, tenderly. - -"What afflicts me is the death of Porthos, ever so dear a friend," -replied Raoul. "I suffer here the grief you soon will feel at home." - -And the vision disappeared with the slumber of Athos. At daybreak one of -his servants entered his master's apartment, and gave him a letter which -came from Spain. - -"The writing of Aramis," thought the comte; and he read. - -"Porthos is dead!" cried he, after the first lines. "Oh! Raoul, Raoul! -thanks! thou keepest thy promise, thou warnest me!" - -And Athos, seized with a mortal sweat, fainted in his bed, without any -other cause than weakness. - - - -Chapter LVII. Athos's Vision. - -When this fainting of Athos had ceased, the comte, almost ashamed of -having given way before this superior natural event, dressed himself -and ordered his horse, determined to ride to Blois, to open more certain -correspondences with either Africa, D'Artagnan, or Aramis. In fact, this -letter from Aramis informed the Comte de la Fere of the bad success -of the expedition of Belle-Isle. It gave him sufficient details of the -death of Porthos to move the tender and devoted heart of Athos to its -innermost fibers. Athos wished to go and pay his friend Porthos a last -visit. To render this honor to his companion in arms, he meant to send -to D'Artagnan, to prevail upon him to recommence the painful voyage to -Belle-Isle, to accomplish in his company that sad pilgrimage to the tomb -of the giant he had so much loved, then to return to his dwelling to -obey that secret influence which was conducting him to eternity by a -mysterious road. But scarcely had his joyous servants dressed their -master, whom they saw with pleasure preparing for a journey which might -dissipate his melancholy; scarcely had the comte's gentlest horse been -saddled and brought to the door, when the father of Raoul felt his -head become confused, his legs give way, and he clearly perceived -the impossibility of going one step further. He ordered himself to be -carried into the sun; they laid him upon his bed of moss where he passed -a full hour before he could recover his spirits. Nothing could be more -natural than this weakness after then inert repose of the latter days. -Athos took a _bouillon_, to give him strength, and bathed his dried -lips in a glassful of the wine he loved the best--that old Anjou wine -mentioned by Porthos in his admirable will. Then, refreshed, free in -mind, he had his horse brought again; but only with the aid of his -servants was he able painfully to climb into the saddle. He did not go a -hundred paces; a shivering seized him again at the turning of the road. - -"This is very strange!" said he to his _valet de chambre_, who -accompanied him. - -"Let us stop, monsieur--I conjure you!" replied the faithful servant; -"how pale you are getting!" - -"That will not prevent my pursuing my route, now I have once started," -replied the comte. And he gave his horse his head again. But suddenly, -the animal, instead of obeying the thought of his master, stopped. A -movement, of which Athos was unconscious, had checked the bit. - -"Something," said Athos, "wills that I should go no further. Support -me," added he, stretching out his arms; "quick! come closer! I feel my -muscles relax--I shall fall from my horse." - -The valet had seen the movement made by his master at the moment he -received the order. He went up to him quickly, received the comte in his -arms, and as they were not yet sufficiently distant from the house -for the servants, who had remained at the door to watch their master's -departure, not to perceive the disorder in the usually regular -proceeding of the comte, the valet called his comrades by gestures and -voice, and all hastened to his assistance. Athos had gone but a few -steps on his return, when he felt himself better again. His strength -seemed to revive and with it the desire to go to Blois. He made his -horse turn round: but, at the animal's first steps, he sunk again into a -state of torpor and anguish. - -"Well! decidedly," said he, "it is _willed_ that I should stay at home." -His people flocked around him; they lifted him from his horse, and -carried him as quickly as possible into the house. Everything was -prepared in his chamber, and they put him to bed. - -"You will be sure to remember," said he, disposing himself to sleep, -"that I expect letters from Africa this very day." - -"Monsieur will no doubt hear with pleasure that Blaisois's son is gone -on horseback, to gain an hour over the courier of Blois," replied his -_valet de chambre_. - -"Thank you," replied Athos, with his placid smile. - -The comte fell asleep, but his disturbed slumber resembled torture -rather than repose. The servant who watched him saw several times the -expression of internal suffering shadowed on his features. Perhaps Athos -was dreaming. - -The day passed away. Blaisois's son returned; the courier had brought -no news. The comte reckoned the minutes with despair; he shuddered when -those minutes made an hour. The idea that he was forgotten seized him -once, and brought on a fearful pang of the heart. Everybody in the house -had given up all hopes of the courier--his hour had long passed. Four -times the express sent to Blois had repeated his journey, and there was -nothing to the address of the comte. Athos knew that the courier only -arrived once a week. Here, then, was a delay of eight mortal days to be -endured. He commenced the night in this painful persuasion. All that a -sick man, irritated by suffering, can add of melancholy suppositions to -probabilities already gloomy, Athos heaped up during the early hours of -this dismal night. The fever rose: it invaded the chest, where the fire -soon caught, according to the expression of the physician, who had been -brought back from Blois by Blaisois at his last journey. Soon it gained -the head. The physician made two successive bleedings, which dislodged -it for the time, but left the patient very weak, and without power of -action in anything but his brain. And yet this redoubtable fever had -ceased. It besieged with its last palpitations the tense extremities; it -ended by yielding as midnight struck. - -The physician, seeing the incontestable improvement, returned to Blois, -after having ordered some prescriptions, and declared that the comte was -saved. Then commenced for Athos a strange, indefinable state. Free to -think, his mind turned towards Raoul, that beloved son. His imagination -penetrated the fields of Africa in the environs of Gigelli, where M. de -Beaufort must have landed with his army. A waste of gray rocks, rendered -green in certain parts by the waters of the sea, when it lashed the -shore in storms and tempest. Beyond, the shore, strewed over with these -rocks like gravestones, ascended, in form of an amphitheater among -mastic-trees and cactus, a sort of small town, full of smoke, confused -noises, and terrified movements. All of a sudden, from the bosom of -this smoke arose a flame, which succeeded, creeping along the houses, -in covering the entire surface of the town, and increased by degrees, -uniting in its red and angry vortices tears, screams, and supplicating -arms outstretched to Heaven. - -There was, for a moment, a frightful _pele-mele_ of timbers falling -to pieces, of swords broken, of stones calcined, trees burnt and -disappearing. It was a strange thing that in this chaos, in which Athos -distinguished raised arms, in which he heard cries, sobs, and groans, -he did not see one human figure. The cannon thundered at a distance, -musketry madly barked, the sea moaned, flocks made their escape, -bounding over the verdant slope. But not a soldier to apply the match -to the batteries of cannon, not a sailor to assist in maneuvering the -fleet, not a shepherd in charge of the flocks. After the ruin of the -village, the destruction of the forts which dominated it, a ruin and -destruction magically wrought without the co-operation of a single human -being, the flames were extinguished, the smoke began to subside, then -diminished in intensity, paled and disappeared entirely. Night then came -over the scene; night dark upon the earth, brilliant in the firmament. -The large blazing stars which spangled the African sky glittered and -gleamed without illuminating anything. - -A long silence ensued, which gave, for a moment, repose to the troubled -imagination of Athos; and as he felt that that which he saw was not -terminated, he applied more attentively the eyes of his understanding -on the strange spectacle which his imagination had presented. This -spectacle was soon continued for him. A mild pale moon rose behind the -declivities of the coast, streaking at first the undulating ripples of -the sea, which appeared to have calmed after the roaring it had sent -forth during the vision of Athos--the moon, we say, shed its diamonds -and opals upon the briers and bushes of the hills. The gray rocks, so -many silent and attentive phantoms, appeared to raise their heads to -examine likewise the field of battle by the light of the moon, and Athos -perceived that the field, empty during the combat, was now strewn with -fallen bodies. - -An inexpressible shudder of fear and horror seized his soul as he -recognized the white and blue uniforms of the soldiers of Picardy, -with their long pikes and blue handles, and muskets marked with the -_fleur-de-lis_ on the butts. When he saw all the gaping wounds, looking -up to the bright heavens as if to demand back of them the souls to which -they had opened a passage,--when he saw the slaughtered horses, stiff, -their tongues hanging out at one side of their mouths, sleeping in the -shiny blood congealed around them, staining their furniture and their -manes,--when he saw the white horse of M. de Beaufort, with his head -beaten to pieces, in the first ranks of the dead, Athos passed a cold -hand over his brow, which he was astonished not to find burning. He was -convinced by this touch that he was present, as a spectator, without -delirium's dreadful aid, the day after the battle fought upon the shores -of Gigelli by the army of the expedition, which he had seen leave the -coast of France and disappear upon the dim horizon, and of which he had -saluted with thought and gesture the last cannon-shot fired by the duke -as a signal of farewell to his country. - -Who can paint the mortal agony with which his soul followed, like a -vigilant eye, these effigies of clay-cold soldiers, and examined them, -one after the other, to see if Raoul slept among them? Who can express -the intoxication of joy with which Athos bowed before God, and thanked -Him for not having seen him he sought with so much fear among the dead? -In fact, fallen in their ranks, stiff, icy, the dead, still recognizable -with ease, seemed to turn with complacency towards the Comte de la Fere, -to be the better seen by him, during his sad review. But yet, he -was astonished, while viewing all these bodies, not to perceive the -survivors. To such a point did the illusion extend, that this vision -was for him a real voyage made by the father into Africa, to obtain more -exact information respecting his son. - -Fatigued, therefore, with having traversed seas and continents, he -sought repose under one of the tents sheltered behind a rock, on the -top of which floated the white _fleur-de-lised_ pennon. He looked for -a soldier to conduct him to the tent of M. de Beaufort. Then, while his -eye was wandering over the plain, turning on all sides, he saw a white -form appear behind the scented myrtles. This figure was clothed in the -costume of an officer; it held in its hand a broken sword; it advanced -slowly towards Athos, who, stopping short and fixing his eyes upon it, -neither spoke nor moved, but wished to open his arms, because in this -silent officer he had already recognized Raoul. The comte attempted to -utter a cry, but it was stifled in his throat. Raoul, with a gesture, -directed him to be silent, placing his finger on his lips and drawing -back by degrees, without Athos being able to see his legs move. The -comte, still paler than Raoul, followed his son, painfully traversing -briers and bushes, stones and ditches, Raoul not appearing to touch the -earth, no obstacle seeming to impede the lightness of his march. -The comte, whom the inequalities of the path fatigued, soon stopped, -exhausted. Raoul still continued to beckon him to follow him. The tender -father, to whom love restored strength, made a last effort, and climbed -the mountain after the young man, who attracted him by gesture and by -smile. - -At length he gained the crest of the hill, and saw, thrown out in black, -upon the horizon whitened by the moon, the aerial form of Raoul. -Athos reached forth his hand to get closer to his beloved son upon the -plateau, and the latter also stretched out his; but suddenly, as if the -young man had been drawn away in his own despite, still retreating, he -left the earth, and Athos saw the clear blue sky shine between the feet -of his child and the ground of the hill. Raoul rose insensibly into the -void, smiling, still calling with gesture:--he departed towards heaven. -Athos uttered a cry of tenderness and terror. He looked below again. He -saw a camp destroyed, and all those white bodies of the royal army, like -so many motionless atoms. And, then, raising his head, he saw the figure -of his son still beckoning him to climb the mystic void. - - - -Chapter LVIII. The Angel of Death. - -Athos was at this part of his marvelous vision, when the charm was -suddenly broken by a great noise rising from the outer gates. A horse -was heard galloping over the hard gravel of the great alley, and the -sound of noisy and animated conversations ascended to the chamber in -which the comte was dreaming. Athos did not stir from the place he -occupied; he scarcely turned his head towards the door to ascertain the -sooner what these noises could be. A heavy step ascended the stairs; the -horse, which had recently galloped, departed slowly towards the stables. -Great hesitation appeared in the steps, which by degrees approached the -chamber. A door was opened, and Athos, turning a little towards the part -of the room the noise came from, cried, in a weak voice: - -"It is a courier from Africa, is it not?" - -"No, monsieur le comte," replied a voice which made the father of Raoul -start upright in his bed. - -"Grimaud!" murmured he. And the sweat began to pour down his face. -Grimaud appeared in the doorway. It was no longer the Grimaud we have -seen, still young with courage and devotion, when he jumped the first -into the boat destined to convey Raoul de Bragelonne to the vessels of -the royal fleet. 'Twas now a stern and pale old man, his clothes covered -with dust, and hair whitened by old age. He trembled whilst leaning -against the door-frame, and was near falling on seeing, by the light of -the lamps, the countenance of his master. These two men who had lived so -long together in a community of intelligence, and whose eyes, accustomed -to economize expressions, knew how to say so many things silently--these -two old friends, one as noble as the other in heart, if they were -unequal in fortune and birth, remained tongue-tied whilst looking at -each other. By the exchange of a single glance they had just read to -the bottom of each other's hearts. The old servitor bore upon his -countenance the impression of a grief already old, the outward token of -a grim familiarity with woe. He appeared to have no longer in use more -than a single version of his thoughts. As formerly he was accustomed not -to speak much, he was now accustomed not to smile at all. Athos read at -a glance all these shades upon the visage of his faithful servant, and -in the same tone he would have employed to speak to Raoul in his dream: - -"Grimaud," said he, "Raoul is dead. _Is it not so?_" - -Behind Grimaud the other servants listened breathlessly, with their -eyes fixed upon the bed of their sick master. They heard the terrible -question, and a heart-breaking silence followed. - -"Yes," replied the old man, heaving the monosyllable from his chest with -a hoarse, broken sigh. - -Then arose voices of lamentation, which groaned without measure, and -filled with regrets and prayers the chamber where the agonized father -sought with his eyes the portrait of his son. This was for Athos like -the transition which led to his dream. Without uttering a cry, without -shedding a tear, patient, mild, resigned as a martyr, he raised his eyes -towards Heaven, in order there to see again, rising above the mountain -of Gigelli, the beloved shade that was leaving him at the moment of -Grimaud's arrival. Without doubt, while looking towards the heavens, -resuming his marvelous dream, he repassed by the same road by which the -vision, at once so terrible and sweet, had led him before; for after -having gently closed his eyes, he reopened them and began to smile: he -had just seen Raoul, who had smiled upon him. With his hands joined upon -his breast, his face turned towards the window, bathed by the fresh air -of night, which brought upon its wings the aroma of the flowers and -the woods, Athos entered, never again to come out of it, into the -contemplation of that paradise which the living never see. God willed, -no doubt, to open to this elect the treasures of eternal beatitude, -at this hour when other men tremble with the idea of being severely -received by the Lord, and cling to this life they know, in the dread of -the other life of which they get but merest glimpses by the dismal murky -torch of death. Athos was spirit-guided by the pure serene soul of his -son, which aspired to be like the paternal soul. Everything for this -just man was melody and perfume in the rough road souls take to return -to the celestial country. After an hour of this ecstasy, Athos softly -raised his hands as white as wax; the smile did not quit his lips, and -he murmured low, so low as scarcely to be audible, these three words -addressed to God or to Raoul: - -"HERE I AM!" - -And his hands fell slowly, as though he himself had laid them on the -bed. - -Death had been kind and mild to this noble creature. It had spared him -the tortures of the agony, convulsions of the last departure; had opened -with an indulgent finger the gates of eternity to that noble soul. God -had no doubt ordered it thus that the pious remembrance of this death -should remain in the hearts of those present, and in the memory of other -men--a death which caused to be loved the passage from this life to the -other by those whose existence upon this earth leads them not to dread -the last judgment. Athos preserved, even in the eternal sleep, that -placid and sincere smile--an ornament which was to accompany him to the -tomb. The quietude and calm of his fine features made his servants for -a long time doubt whether he had really quitted life. The comte's people -wished to remove Grimaud, who, from a distance, devoured the face now -quickly growing marble-pale, and did not approach, from pious fear of -bringing to him the breath of death. But Grimaud, fatigued as he was, -refused to leave the room. He sat himself down upon the threshold, -watching his master with the vigilance of a sentinel, jealous to receive -either his first waking look or his last dying sigh. The noises all were -quiet in the house--every one respected the slumber of their lord. But -Grimaud, by anxiously listening, perceived that the comte no longer -breathed. He raised himself with his hands leaning on the ground, looked -to see if there did not appear some motion in the body of his master. -Nothing! Fear seized him; he rose completely up, and, at the very -moment, heard some one coming up the stairs. A noise of spurs knocking -against a sword--a warlike sound familiar to his ears--stopped him as he -was going towards the bed of Athos. A voice more sonorous than brass or -steel resounded within three paces of him. - -"Athos! Athos! my friend!" cried this voice, agitated even to tears. - -"Monsieur le Chevalier d'Artagnan," faltered out Grimaud. - -"Where is he? Where is he?" continued the musketeer. Grimaud seized -his arm in his bony fingers, and pointed to the bed, upon the sheets of -which the livid tints of death already showed. - -A choked respiration, the opposite to a sharp cry, swelled the throat of -D'Artagnan. He advanced on tip-toe, trembling, frightened at the noise -his feet made on the floor, his heart rent by a nameless agony. He -placed his ear to the breast of Athos, his face to the comte's mouth. -Neither noise, nor breath! D'Artagnan drew back. Grimaud, who had -followed him with his eyes, and for whom each of his movements had been -a revelation, came timidly; seated himself at the foot of the bed, and -glued his lips to the sheet which was raised by the stiffened feet of -his master. Then large drops began to flow from his red eyes. This old -man in invincible despair, who wept, bent doubled without uttering a -word, presented the most touching spectacle that D'Artagnan, in a life -so filled with emotion, had ever met with. - -The captain resumed standing in contemplation before that smiling dead -man, who seemed to have burnished his last thought, to give his best -friend, the man he had loved next to Raoul, a gracious welcome even -beyond life. And for reply to that exalted flattery of hospitality, -D'Artagnan went and kissed Athos fervently on the brow, and with his -trembling fingers closed his eyes. Then he seated himself by the pillow -without dread of that dead man, who had been so kind and affectionate -to him for five and thirty years. He was feeding his soul with the -remembrances the noble visage of the comte brought to his mind in -crowds--some blooming and charming as that smile--some dark, dismal, and -icy as that visage with its eyes now closed to all eternity. - -All at once the bitter flood which mounted from minute to minute invaded -his heart, and swelled his breast almost to bursting. Incapable of -mastering his emotion, he arose, and tearing himself violently from the -chamber where he had just found dead him to whom he came to report the -news of the death of Porthos, he uttered sobs so heart-rending that the -servants, who seemed only to wait for an explosion of grief, answered to -it by their lugubrious clamors, and the dogs of the late comte by their -lamentable howlings. Grimaud was the only one who did not lift up his -voice. Even in the paroxysm of his grief he would not have dared to -profane the dead, or for the first time disturb the slumber of his -master. Had not Athos always bidden him be dumb? - -At daybreak D'Artagnan, who had wandered about the lower hall, biting -his fingers to stifle his sighs--D'Artagnan went up once more; and -watching the moments when Grimaud turned his head towards him, he made -him a sign to come to him, which the faithful servant obeyed without -making more noise than a shadow. D'Artagnan went down again, followed -by Grimaud; and when he had gained the vestibule, taking the old man's -hands, "Grimaud," said he, "I have seen how the father died; now let me -know about the son." - -Grimaud drew from his breast a large letter, upon the envelope of which -was traced the address of Athos. He recognized the writing of M. de -Beaufort, broke the seal, and began to read, while walking about in the -first steel-chill rays of dawn, in the dark alley of old limes, marked -by the still visible footsteps of the comte who had just died. - - - -Chapter LIX. The Bulletin. - -The Duc de Beaufort wrote to Athos. The letter destined for the living -only reached the dead. God had changed the address. - -"MY DEAR COMTE," wrote the prince, in his large, school-boy's hand,--"a -great misfortune has struck us amidst a great triumph. The king -loses one of the bravest of soldiers. I lose a friend. You lose M. de -Bragelonne. He has died gloriously, so gloriously that I have not the -strength to weep as I could wish. Receive my sad compliments, my dear -comte. Heaven distributes trials according to the greatness of our -hearts. This is an immense one, but not above your courage. Your good -friend, - -"LE DUC DE BEAUFORT." - - -The letter contained a relation written by one of the prince's -secretaries. It was the most touching recital, and the most true, -of that dismal episode which unraveled two existences. D'Artagnan, -accustomed to battle emotions, and with a heart armed against -tenderness, could not help starting on reading the name of Raoul, the -name of that beloved boy who had become a shade now--like his father. - -"In the morning," said the prince's secretary, "monseigneur commanded -the attack. Normandy and Picardy had taken positions in the rocks -dominated by the heights of the mountain, upon the declivity of which -were raised the bastions of Gigelli. - -"The cannon opened the action; the regiments marched full of resolution; -the pikemen with pikes elevated, the musket-bearers with their weapons -ready. The prince followed attentively the march and movements of the -troops, so as to be able to sustain them with a strong reserve. With -monseigneur were the oldest captains and his aides-de-camp. M. le -Vicomte de Bragelonne had received orders not to leave his highness. In -the meantime the enemy's cannon, which at first thundered with little -success against the masses, began to regulate their fire, and the balls, -better directed, killed several men near the prince. The regiments -formed in column, and, advancing against the ramparts, were rather -roughly handled. There was a sort of hesitation in our troops, who found -themselves ill-seconded by the artillery. In fact, the batteries which -had been established the evening before had but a weak and uncertain -aim, on account of their position. The upward direction of the aim -lessened the justness of the shots as well as their range. - -"Monseigneur, comprehending the bad effect of this position on the siege -artillery, commanded the frigates moored in the little road to commence -a regular fire against the place. M. de Bragelonne offered himself at -once to carry this order. But monseigneur refused to acquiesce in the -vicomte's request. Monseigneur was right, for he loved and wished to -spare the young nobleman. He was quite right, and the event took upon -itself to justify his foresight and refusal; for scarcely had the -sergeant charged with the message solicited by M. de Bragelonne gained -the seashore, when two shots from long carbines issued from the enemy's -ranks and laid him low. The sergeant fell, dyeing the sand with his -blood; observing which, M. de Bragelonne smiled at monseigneur, who said -to him, 'You see, vicomte, I have saved your life. Report that, some -day, to M. le Comte de la Fere, in order that, learning it from you, he -may thank me.' The young nobleman smiled sadly, and replied to the duke, -'It is true, monseigneur, that but for your kindness I should have been -killed, where the poor sergeant has fallen, and should be at rest.' M. -de Bragelonne made this reply in such a tone that monseigneur answered -him warmly, '_Vrai Dieu!_ Young man, one would say that your mouth -waters for death; but, by the soul of Henry IV., I have promised your -father to bring you back alive; and, please the Lord, I mean to keep my -word.' - -"Monseigneur de Bragelonne colored, and replied, in a lower voice, -'Monseigneur, pardon me, I beseech you. I have always had a desire -to meet good opportunities; and it is so delightful to distinguish -ourselves before our general, particularly when that general is M. le -Duc de Beaufort.' - -"Monseigneur was a little softened by this; and, turning to the officers -who surrounded him, gave different orders. The grenadiers of the two -regiments got near enough to the ditches and intrenchments to launch -their grenades, which had but small effect. In the meanwhile, M. -d'Estrees, who commanded the fleet, having seen the attempt of the -sergeant to approach the vessels, understood that he must act without -orders, and opened fire. Then the Arabs, finding themselves seriously -injured by the balls from the fleet, and beholding the destruction and -the ruin of their walls, uttered the most fearful cries. Their horsemen -descended the mountain at a gallop, bent over their saddles, and rushed -full tilt upon the columns of infantry, which, crossing their pikes, -stopped this mad assault. Repulsed by the firm attitude of the -battalion, the Arabs threw themselves with fury towards the -_etat-major_, which was not on its guard at that moment. - -"The danger was great; monseigneur drew his sword; his secretaries and -people imitated him; the officers of the suite engaged in combat with -the furious Arabs. It was then M. de Bragelonne was able to satisfy the -inclination he had so clearly shown from the commencement of the action. -He fought near the prince with the valor of a Roman, and killed three -Arabs with his small sword. But it was evident that his bravery did not -arise from that sentiment of pride so natural to all who fight. It was -impetuous, affected, even forced; he sought to glut, intoxicate himself -with strife and carnage. He excited himself to such a degree that -monseigneur called to him to stop. He must have heard the voice of -monseigneur, because we who were close to him heard it. He did not, -however, stop, but continued his course to the intrenchments. As M. -de Bragelonne was a well-disciplined officer, this disobedience to the -orders of monseigneur very much surprised everybody, and M. de Beaufort -redoubled his earnestness, crying, 'Stop, Bragelonne! Where are you -going? Stop,' repeated monseigneur, 'I command you!' - -"We all, imitating the gesture of M. le duc, we all raised our hands. -We expected that the cavalier would turn bridle; but M. de Bragelonne -continued to ride towards the palisades. - -"'Stop, Bragelonne!' repeated the prince, in a very loud voice, 'stop! -in the name of your father!' - -"At these words M. de Bragelonne turned round; his countenance expressed -a lively grief, but he did not stop; we then concluded that his horse -must have run away with him. When M. le duc saw cause to conclude that -the vicomte was no longer master of his horse, and had watched him -precede the first grenadiers, his highness cried, 'Musketeers, kill -his horse! A hundred pistoles for the man who kills his horse!' But who -could expect to hit the beast without at least wounding his rider? -No one dared the attempt. At length one presented himself; he was a -sharp-shooter of the regiment of Picardy, named Luzerne, who took aim -at the animal, fired, and hit him in the quarters, for we saw the blood -redden the hair of the horse. Instead of falling, the cursed jennet was -irritated, and carried him on more furiously than ever. Every Picard who -saw this unfortunate young man rushing on to meet certain death, -shouted in the loudest manner, 'Throw yourself off, monsieur le -vicomte!--off!--off! throw yourself off!' M. de Bragelonne was an -officer much beloved in the army. Already had the vicomte arrived within -pistol-shot of the ramparts, when a discharge was poured upon him -that enshrouded him in fire and smoke. We lost sight of him; the smoke -dispersed; he was on foot, upright; his horse was killed. - -"The vicomte was summoned to surrender by the Arabs, but he made them -a negative sign with his head, and continued to march towards the -palisades. This was a mortal imprudence. Nevertheless the entire army -was pleased that he would not retreat, since ill-chance had led him -so near. He marched a few paces further, and the two regiments clapped -their hands. It was at this moment the second discharge shook the walls, -and the Vicomte de Bragelonne again disappeared in the smoke; but this -time the smoke dispersed in vain; we no longer saw him standing. He was -down, with his head lower than his legs, among the bushes, and the Arabs -began to think of leaving their intrenchments to come and cut off -his head or take his body--as is the custom with the infidels. But -Monseigneur le Duc de Beaufort had followed all this with his eyes, and -the sad spectacle drew from him many painful sighs. He then cried aloud, -seeing the Arabs running like white phantoms among the mastic-trees, -'Grenadiers! lancers! will you let them take that noble body?' - -"Saying these words and waving his sword, he himself rode towards the -enemy. The regiments, rushing in his steps, ran in their turn, uttering -cries as terrible as those of the Arabs were wild. - -"The combat commenced over the body of M. de Bragelonne, and with such -inveteracy was it fought that a hundred and sixty Arabs were left -upon the field, by the side of at least fifty of our troops. It was -a lieutenant from Normandy who took the body of the vicomte on his -shoulders and carried it back to the lines. The advantage was, however, -pursued, the regiments took the reserve with them, and the enemy's -palisades were utterly destroyed. At three o'clock the fire of the Arabs -ceased; the hand-to-hand fight lasted two hours; it was a massacre. At -five o'clock we were victorious at all points; the enemy had abandoned -his positions, and M. le duc ordered the white flag to be planted on the -summit of the little mountain. It was then we had time to think of M. de -Bragelonne, who had eight large wounds in his body, through which almost -all his blood had welled away. Still, however, he had breathed, which -afforded inexpressible joy to monseigneur, who insisted on being -present at the first dressing of the wounds and the consultation of the -surgeons. There were two among them who declared M. de Bragelonne would -live. Monseigneur threw his arms around their necks, and promised them a -thousand louis each if they could save him. - -"The vicomte heard these transports of joy, and whether he was in -despair, or whether he suffered much from his wounds, he expressed -by his countenance a contradiction, which gave rise to reflection, -particularly in one of the secretaries when he had heard what follows. -The third surgeon was the brother of Sylvain de Saint-Cosme, the most -learned of them all. He probed the wounds in his turn, and said nothing. -M. de Bragelonne fixed his eyes steadily upon the skillful surgeon, -and seemed to interrogate his every movement. The latter, upon being -questioned by monseigneur, replied that he saw plainly three mortal -wounds out of eight, but so strong was the constitution of the wounded, -so rich was he in youth, and so merciful was the goodness of God, that -perhaps M. de Bragelonne might recover, particularly if he did not -move in the slightest manner. Frere Sylvain added, turning towards his -assistants, 'Above everything, do not allow him to move, even a finger, -or you will kill him;' and we all left the tent in very low spirits. -That secretary I have mentioned, on leaving the tent, thought he -perceived a faint and sad smile glide over the lips of M. de Bragelonne -when the duke said to him, in a cheerful, kind voice, 'We will save you, -vicomte, we will save you yet.' - -"In the evening, when it was believed the wounded youth had taken some -repose, one of the assistants entered his tent, but rushed out again -immediately, uttering loud cries. We all ran up in disorder, M. le duc -with us, and the assistant pointed to the body of M. de Bragelonne -upon the ground, at the foot of his bed, bathed in the remainder of his -blood. It appeared that he had suffered some convulsion, some delirium, -and that he had fallen; that the fall had accelerated his end, according -to the prognosis of Frere Sylvain. We raised the vicomte; he was cold -and dead. He held a lock of fair hair in his right hand, and that hand -was tightly pressed upon his heart." - -Then followed the details of the expedition, and of the victory obtained -over the Arabs. D'Artagnan stopped at the account of the death of poor -Raoul. "Oh!" murmured he, "unhappy boy! a suicide!" And turning his -eyes towards the chamber of the chateau, in which Athos slept in eternal -sleep, "They kept their words with each other," said he, in a low voice; -"now I believe them to be happy; they must be reunited." And he -returned through the parterre with slow and melancholy steps. All the -village--all the neighborhood--were filled with grieving neighbors -relating to each other the double catastrophe, and making preparations -for the funeral. - - - -Chapter LX. The Last Canto of the Poem. - -On the morrow, all the _noblesse_ of the provinces, of the environs, and -wherever messengers had carried the news, might have been seen arriving -in detachments. D'Artagnan had shut himself up, without being willing -to speak to anybody. Two such heavy deaths falling upon the captain, -so closely after the death of Porthos, for a long time oppressed that -spirit which had hitherto been so indefatigable and invulnerable. -Except Grimaud, who entered his chamber once, the musketeer saw neither -servants nor guests. He supposed, from the noises in the house, and the -continual coming and going, that preparations were being made for the -funeral of the comte. He wrote to the king to ask for an extension of -his leave of absence. Grimaud, as we have said, had entered D'Artagnan's -apartment, had seated himself upon a joint-stool near the door, like a -man who meditates profoundly; then, rising, he made a sign to D'Artagnan -to follow him. The latter obeyed in silence. Grimaud descended to the -comte's bed-chamber, showed the captain with his finger the place of the -empty bed, and raised his eyes eloquently towards Heaven. - -"Yes," replied D'Artagnan, "yes, good Grimaud--now with the son he loved -so much!" - -Grimaud left the chamber, and led the way to the hall, where, according -to the custom of the province, the body was laid out, previously to -being put away forever. D'Artagnan was struck at seeing two open coffins -in the hall. In reply to the mute invitation of Grimaud, he approached, -and saw in one of them Athos, still handsome in death, and, in the -other, Raoul with his eyes closed, his cheeks pearly as those of the -Palls of Virgil, with a smile on his violet lips. He shuddered at seeing -the father and son, those two departed souls, represented on earth by -two silent, melancholy bodies, incapable of touching each other, however -close they might be. - -"Raoul here!" murmured he. "Oh! Grimaud, why did you not tell me this?" - -Grimaud shook his head, and made no reply; but taking D'Artagnan by -the hand, he led him to the coffin, and showed him, under the thin -winding-sheet, the black wounds by which life had escaped. The captain -turned away his eyes, and, judging it was useless to question Grimaud, -who would not answer, he recollected that M. de Beaufort's secretary had -written more than he, D'Artagnan, had had the courage to read. Taking up -the recital of the affair which had cost Raoul his life, he found these -words, which ended the concluding paragraph of the letter: - -"Monseigneur le duc has ordered that the body of monsieur le vicomte -should be embalmed, after the manner practiced by the Arabs when they -wish their dead to be carried to their native land; and monsieur le duc -has appointed relays, so that the same confidential servant who brought -up the young man might take back his remains to M. le Comte de la Fere." - -"And so," thought D'Artagnan, "I shall follow thy funeral, my dear -boy--I, already old--I, who am of no value on earth--and I shall scatter -dust upon that brow I kissed but two months since. God has willed it to -be so. Thou hast willed it to be so, thyself. I have no longer the right -even to weep. Thou hast chosen death; it seemed to thee a preferable -gift to life." - -At length arrived the moment when the chill remains of these two -gentlemen were to be given back to mother earth. There was such an -affluence of military and other people that up to the place of the -sepulture, which was a little chapel on the plain, the road from the -city was filled with horsemen and pedestrians in mourning. Athos had -chosen for his resting-place the little inclosure of a chapel erected by -himself near the boundary of his estates. He had had the stones, cut -in 1550, brought from an old Gothic manor-house in Berry, which had -sheltered his early youth. The chapel, thus rebuilt, transported, was -pleasing to the eye beneath its leafy curtains of poplars and sycamores. -It was ministered in every Sunday, by the cure of the neighboring bourg, -to whom Athos paid an allowance of two hundred francs for this service; -and all the vassals of his domain, with their families, came thither to -hear mass, without having any occasion to go to the city. - -Behind the chapel extended, surrounded by two high hedges of -hazel, elder and white thorn, and a deep ditch, the little -inclosure--uncultivated, though gay in its sterility; because the mosses -there grew thick, wild heliotrope and ravenelles there mingled perfumes, -while from beneath an ancient chestnut issued a crystal spring, a -prisoner in its marble cistern, and on the thyme all around alighted -thousands of bees from the neighboring plants, whilst chaffinches and -redthroats sang cheerfully among the flower-spangled hedges. It was to -this place the somber coffins were carried, attended by a silent and -respectful crowd. The office of the dead being celebrated, the last -adieux paid to the noble departed, the assembly dispersed, talking, -along the roads, of the virtues and mild death of the father, of the -hopes the son had given, and of his melancholy end upon the arid coast -of Africa. - -Little by little, all noises were extinguished, like the lamps -illuminating the humble nave. The minister bowed for the last time to -the altar and the still fresh graves; then, followed by his assistant, -he slowly took the road back to the presbytery. D'Artagnan, left alone, -perceived that night was coming on. He had forgotten the hour, thinking -only of the dead. He arose from the oaken bench on which he was seated -in the chapel, and wished, as the priest had done, to go and bid a last -adieu to the double grave which contained his two lost friends. - -A woman was praying, kneeling on the moist earth. D'Artagnan stopped at -the door of the chapel, to avoid disturbing her, and also to endeavor to -find out who was the pious friend who performed this sacred duty with -so much zeal and perseverance. The unknown had hidden her face in her -hands, which were white as alabaster. From the noble simplicity of her -costume, she must be a woman of distinction. Outside the inclosure were -several horses mounted by servants; a travelling carriage was in waiting -for this lady. D'Artagnan in vain sought to make out what caused her -delay. She continued praying, and frequently pressed her handkerchief to -her face, by which D'Artagnan perceived she was weeping. He beheld her -strike her breast with the compunction of a Christian woman. He heard -her several times exclaim as from a wounded heart: "Pardon! pardon!" And -as she appeared to abandon herself entirely to her grief, as she threw -herself down, almost fainting, exhausted by complaints and prayers, -D'Artagnan, touched by this love for his so much regretted friends, -made a few steps towards the grave, in order to interrupt the melancholy -colloquy of the penitent with the dead. But as soon as his step sounded -on the gravel, the unknown raised her head, revealing to D'Artagnan a -face aflood with tears, a well-known face. It was Mademoiselle de la -Valliere! "Monsieur d'Artagnan!" murmured she. - -"You!" replied the captain, in a stern voice, "you here!--oh! madame, I -should better have liked to see you decked with flowers in the mansion -of the Comte de la Fere. You would have wept less--and they too--and I!" - -"Monsieur!" said she, sobbing. - -"For it was you," added this pitiless friend of the dead,--"it was you -who sped these two men to the grave." - -"Oh! spare me!" - -"God forbid, madame, that I should offend a woman, or that I should make -her weep in vain; but I must say that the place of the murderer is not -upon the grave of her victims." She wished to reply. - -"What I now tell you," added he, coldly, "I have already told the king." - -She clasped her hands. "I know," said she, "I have caused the death of -the Vicomte de Bragelonne." - -"Ah! you know it?" - -"The news arrived at court yesterday. I have traveled during the night -forty leagues to come and ask pardon of the comte, whom I supposed to be -still living, and to pray God, on the tomb of Raoul, that he would -send me all the misfortunes I have merited, except a single one. Now, -monsieur, I know that the death of the son has killed the father; I have -two crimes to reproach myself with; I have two punishments to expect -from Heaven." - -"I will repeat to you, mademoiselle," said D'Artagnan, "what M. de -Bragelonne said of you, at Antibes, when he already meditated death: 'If -pride and coquetry have misled her, I pardon her while despising her. If -love has produced her error, I pardon her, but I swear that no one could -have loved her as I have done.'" - -"You know," interrupted Louise, "that of my love I was about to -sacrifice myself; you know whether I suffered when you met me lost, -dying, abandoned. Well! never have I suffered so much as now; because -then I hoped, desired,--now I have no longer anything to wish for; -because this death drags all my joy into the tomb; because I can no -longer dare to love without remorse, and I feel that he whom I love--oh! -it is but just!--will repay me with the tortures I have made others -undergo." - -D'Artagnan made no reply; he was too well convinced that she was not -mistaken. - -"Well, then," added she, "dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, do not overwhelm me -to-day, I again implore you! I am like the branch torn from the trunk, I -no longer hold to anything in this world--a current drags me on, I -know not whither. I love madly, even to the point of coming to tell it, -wretch that I am, over the ashes of the dead, and I do not blush for -it--I have no remorse on this account. Such love is a religion. Only, as -hereafter you will see me alone, forgotten, disdained; as you will see -me punished, as I am destined to be punished, spare me in my ephemeral -happiness, leave it to me for a few days, for a few minutes. Now, even -at the moment I am speaking to you, perhaps it no longer exists. My God! -this double murder is perhaps already expiated!" - -While she was speaking thus, the sound of voices and of horses drew the -attention of the captain. M. de Saint-Aignan came to seek La -Valliere. "The king," he said, "is a prey to jealousy and uneasiness." -Saint-Aignan did not perceive D'Artagnan, half concealed by the trunk -of a chestnut-tree which shaded the double grave. Louise thanked -Saint-Aignan, and dismissed him with a gesture. He rejoined the party -outside the inclosure. - -"You see, madame," said the captain bitterly to the young woman,--"you -see your happiness still lasts." - -The young woman raised her head with a solemn air. "A day will come," -said she, "when you will repent of having so misjudged me. On that day, -it is I who will pray God to forgive you for having been unjust towards -me. Besides, I shall suffer so much that you yourself will be the first -to pity my sufferings. Do not reproach me with my fleeting happiness, -Monsieur d'Artagnan; it costs me dear, and I have not paid all my debt." -Saying these words, she again knelt down, softly and affectionately. - -"Pardon me the last time, my affianced Raoul!" said she. "I have -broken our chain; we are both destined to die of grief. It is thou who -departest first; fear nothing, I shall follow thee. See, only, that I -have not been base, and that I have come to bid thee this last adieu. -The Lord is my witness, Raoul, that if with my life I could have -redeemed thine, I would have given that life without hesitation. I could -not give my love. Once more, forgive me, dearest, kindest friend." - -She strewed a few sweet flowers on the freshly sodded earth; then, -wiping the tears from her eyes, the heavily stricken lady bowed to -D'Artagnan, and disappeared. - -The captain watched the departure of the horses, horsemen, and carriage, -then crossing his arms upon his swelling chest, "When will it be my turn -to depart?" said he, in an agitated voice. "What is there left for -man after youth, love, glory, friendship, strength, and wealth have -disappeared? That rock, under which sleeps Porthos, who possessed all I -have named; this moss, under which repose Athos and Raoul, who possessed -much more!" - -He hesitated for a moment, with a dull eye; then, drawing himself up, -"Forward! still forward!" said he. "When it is time, God will tell me, -as he foretold the others." - -He touched the earth, moistened with the evening dew, with the ends -of his fingers, signed himself as if he had been at the _benitier_ in -church, and retook alone--ever alone--the road to Paris. - - -Epilogue. - -Four years after the scene we have just described, two horsemen, well -mounted, traversed Blois early in the morning, for the purpose of -arranging a hawking party the king had arranged to make in that uneven -plain the Loire divides in two, which borders on the one side Meung, on -the other Amboise. These were the keeper of the king's harriers and the -master of the falcons, personages greatly respected in the time of -Louis XIII., but rather neglected by his successor. The horsemen, having -reconnoitered the ground, were returning, their observations made, when -they perceived certain little groups of soldiers, here and there, -whom the sergeants were placing at distances at the openings of the -inclosures. These were the king's musketeers. Behind them came, upon a -splendid horse, the captain, known by his richly embroidered uniform. -His hair was gray, his beard turning so. He seemed a little bent, -although sitting and handling his horse gracefully. He was looking about -him watchfully. - -"M. d'Artagnan does not get any older," said the keeper of the harriers -to his colleague the falconer; "with ten years more to carry than either -of us, he has the seat of a young man on horseback." - -"That is true," replied the falconer. "I don't see any change in him for -the last twenty years." - -But this officer was mistaken; D'Artagnan in the last four years had -lived a dozen. Age had printed its pitiless claws at each angle of his -eyes; his brow was bald; his hands, formerly brown and nervous, were -getting white, as if the blood had half forgotten them. - -D'Artagnan accosted the officers with the shade of affability which -distinguishes superiors, and received in turn for his courtesy two most -respectful bows. - -"Ah! what a lucky chance to see you here, Monsieur d'Artagnan!" cried -the falconer. - -"It is rather I who should say that, messieurs," replied the captain, -"for nowadays, the king makes more frequent use of his musketeers than -of his falcons." - -"Ah! it is not as it was in the good old times," sighed the falconer. -"Do you remember, Monsieur d'Artagnan, when the late king flew the pie -in the vineyards beyond Beaugence? Ah! _dame!_ you were not the captain -of the musketeers at that time, Monsieur d'Artagnan." [7] - -"And you were nothing but under-corporal of the tiercelets," replied -D'Artagnan, laughing. "Never mind that, it was a good time, seeing -that it is always a good time when we are young. Good day, monsieur the -keeper of the harriers." - -"You do me honor, monsieur le comte," said the latter. D'Artagnan made -no reply. The title of comte had hardly struck him; D'Artagnan had been -a comte four years. - -"Are you not very much fatigued with the long journey you have taken, -monsieur le capitaine?" continued the falconer. "It must be full two -hundred leagues from hence to Pignerol." - -"Two hundred and sixty to go, and as many to return," said D'Artagnan, -quietly. - -"And," said the falconer, "is _he_ well?" - -"Who?" asked D'Artagnan. - -"Why, poor M. Fouquet," continued the falconer, in a low voice. The -keeper of the harriers had prudently withdrawn. - -"No," replied D'Artagnan, "the poor man frets terribly; he cannot -comprehend how imprisonment can be a favor; he says that parliament -absolved him by banishing him, and banishment is, or should be, liberty. -He cannot imagine that they had sworn his death, and that to save his -life from the claws of parliament was to be under too much obligation to -Heaven." - -"Ah! yes; the poor man had a close chance of the scaffold," replied the -falconer; "it is said that M. Colbert had given orders to the governor -of the Bastile, and that the execution was ordered." - -"Enough!" said D'Artagnan, pensively, and with a view of cutting short -the conversation. - -"Yes," said the keeper of the harriers, drawing towards them, "M. -Fouquet is now at Pignerol; he has richly deserved it. He had the good -fortune to be conducted there by you; he robbed the king sufficiently." - -D'Artagnan launched at the master of the dogs one of his crossest looks, -and said to him, "Monsieur, if any one told me you had eaten your dogs' -meat, not only would I refuse to believe it; but still more, if you were -condemned to the lash or to jail for it, I should pity you and would not -allow people to speak ill of you. And yet, monsieur, honest man as you -may be, I assure you that you are not more so than poor M. Fouquet was." - -After having undergone this sharp rebuke, the keeper of the harriers -hung his head, and allowed the falconer to get two steps in advance of -him nearer to D'Artagnan. - -"He is content," said the falconer, in a low voice, to the musketeer; -"we all know that harriers are in fashion nowadays; if he were a -falconer he would not talk in that way." - -D'Artagnan smiled in a melancholy manner at seeing this great political -question resolved by the discontent of such humble interest. He for a -moment ran over in his mind the glorious existence of the surintendant, -the crumbling of his fortunes, and the melancholy death that awaited -him; and to conclude, "Did M. Fouquet love falconry?" said he. - -"Oh, passionately, monsieur!" repeated the falconer, with an accent of -bitter regret and a sigh that was the funeral oration of Fouquet. - -D'Artagnan allowed the ill-humor of the one and the regret of the other -to pass, and continued to advance. They could already catch glimpses -of the huntsmen at the issue of the wood, the feathers of the outriders -passing like shooting stars across the clearings, and the white horses -skirting the bosky thickets looking like illuminated apparitions. - -"But," resumed D'Artagnan, "will the sport last long? Pray, give us a -good swift bird, for I am very tired. Is it a heron or a swan?" - -"Both, Monsieur d'Artagnan," said the falconer; "but you need not be -alarmed; the king is not much of a sportsman; he does not take the field -on his own account, he only wishes to amuse the ladies." - -The words "to amuse the ladies" were so strongly accented they set -D'Artagnan thinking. - -"Ah!" said he, looking keenly at the falconer. - -The keeper of the harriers smiled, no doubt with a view of making it up -with the musketeer. - -"Oh! you may safely laugh," said D'Artagnan; "I know nothing of current -news; I only arrived yesterday, after a month's absence. I left the -court mourning the death of the queen-mother. The king was not willing -to take any amusement after receiving the last sigh of Anne of Austria; -but everything comes to an end in this world. Well! then he is no longer -sad? So much the better." [8] - -"And everything begins as well as ends," said the keeper with a coarse -laugh. - -"Ah!" said D'Artagnan, a second time,--he burned to know, but dignity -would not allow him to interrogate people below him,--"there is -something beginning, then, it seems?" - -The keeper gave him a significant wink; but D'Artagnan was unwilling to -learn anything from this man. - -"Shall we see the king early?" asked he of the falconer. - -"At seven o'clock, monsieur, I shall fly the birds." - -"Who comes with the king? How is Madame? How is the queen?" - -"Better, monsieur." - -"Has she been ill, then?" - -"Monsieur, since the last chagrin she suffered, her majesty has been -unwell." - -"What chagrin? You need not fancy your news is old. I have but just -returned." - -"It appears that the queen, a little neglected since the death of her -mother-in-law, complained to the king, who answered her,--'Do I not -sleep at home every night, madame? What more do you expect?'" - -"Ah!" said D'Artagnan,--"poor woman! She must heartily hate Mademoiselle -de la Valliere." - -"Oh, no! not Mademoiselle de la Valliere," replied the falconer. - -"Who then--" The blast of a hunting-horn interrupted this conversation. -It summoned the dogs and the hawks. The falconer and his companions set -off immediately, leaving D'Artagnan alone in the midst of the suspended -sentence. The king appeared at a distance, surrounded by ladies and -horsemen. All the troop advanced in beautiful order, at a foot's pace, -the horns of various sorts animating the dogs and horses. There was an -animation in the scene, a mirage of light, of which nothing now can give -an idea, unless it be the fictitious splendor of a theatric spectacle. -D'Artagnan, with an eye a little, just a little, dimmed by age, -distinguished behind the group three carriages. The first was intended -for the queen; it was empty. D'Artagnan, who did not see Mademoiselle de -la Valliere by the king's side, on looking about for her, saw her in the -second carriage. She was alone with two of her women, who seemed as dull -as their mistress. On the left hand of the king, upon a high-spirited -horse, restrained by a bold and skillful hand, shone a lady of most -dazzling beauty. The king smiled upon her, and she smiled upon the king. -Loud laughter followed every word she uttered. - - -"I must know that woman," thought the musketeer; "who can she be?" And -he stooped towards his friend, the falconer, to whom he addressed the -question he had put to himself. - -The falconer was about to reply, when the king, perceiving D'Artagnan, -"Ah, comte!" said he, "you are amongst us once more then! Why have I not -seen you?" - -"Sire," replied the captain, "because your majesty was asleep when I -arrived, and not awake when I resumed my duties this morning." - -"Still the same," said Louis, in a loud voice, denoting satisfaction. -"Take some rest, comte; I command you to do so. You will dine with me -to-day." - -A murmur of admiration surrounded D'Artagnan like a caress. Every one -was eager to salute him. Dining with the king was an honor his majesty -was not so prodigal of as Henry IV. had been. The king passed a few -steps in advance, and D'Artagnan found himself in the midst of a fresh -group, among whom shone Colbert. - -"Good-day, Monsieur d'Artagnan," said the minister, with marked -affability, "have you had a pleasant journey?" - -"Yes, monsieur," said D'Artagnan, bowing to the neck of his horse. - -"I heard the king invite you to his table for this evening," continued -the minister; "you will meet an old friend there." - -"An old friend of mine?" asked D'Artagnan, plunging painfully into -the dark waves of the past, which had swallowed up for him so many -friendships and so many hatreds. - -"M. le Duc d'Almeda, who is arrived this morning from Spain." - -"The Duc d'Almeda?" said D'Artagnan, reflecting in vain. - -"Here!" cried an old man, white as snow, sitting bent in his carriage, -which he caused to be thrown open to make room for the musketeer. - -"_Aramis!_" cried D'Artagnan, struck with profound amazement. And he -felt, inert as it was, the thin arm of the old nobleman hanging round -his neck. - -Colbert, after having observed them in silence for a few moments, urged -his horse forward, and left the two old friends together. - -"And so," said the musketeer, taking Aramis's arm, "you, the exile, the -rebel, are again in France?" - -"Ah! and I shall dine with you at the king's table," said Aramis, -smiling. "Yes, will you not ask yourself what is the use of fidelity -in this world? Stop! let us allow poor La Valliere's carriage to pass. -Look, how uneasy she is! How her eyes, dim with tears, follow the king, -who is riding on horseback yonder!" - -"With whom?" - -"With Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente, now Madame de Montespan," replied -Aramis. - -"She is jealous. Is she then deserted?" - -"Not quite yet, but it will not be long before she _is_." [9] - -They chatted together, while following the sport, and Aramis's coachman -drove them so cleverly that they arrived at the instant when the falcon, -attacking the bird, beat him down, and fell upon him. The king alighted; -Madame de Montespan followed his example. They were in front of an -isolated chapel, concealed by huge trees, already despoiled of their -leaves by the first cutting winds of autumn. Behind this chapel was an -inclosure, closed by a latticed gate. The falcon had beaten down his -prey in the inclosure belonging to this little chapel, and the king was -desirous of going in to take the first feather, according to custom. The -_cortege_ formed a circle round the building and the hedges, too small -to receive so many. D'Artagnan held back Aramis by the arm, as he was -about, like the rest, to alight from his carriage, and in a hoarse, -broken voice, "Do you know, Aramis," said he, "whither chance has -conducted us?" - -"No," replied the duke. - -"Here repose men that we knew well," said D'Artagnan, greatly agitated. - -Aramis, without divining anything, and with a trembling step, penetrated -into the chapel by a little door which D'Artagnan opened for him. "Where -are they buried?" said he. - -"There, in the inclosure. There is a cross, you see, beneath yon little -cypress. The tree of grief is planted over their tomb; don't go to it; -the king is going that way; the heron has fallen just there." - -Aramis stopped, and concealed himself in the shade. They then saw, -without being seen, the pale face of La Valliere, who, neglected in her -carriage, at first looked on, with a melancholy heart, from the door, -and then, carried away by jealousy, advanced into the chapel, whence, -leaning against a pillar, she contemplated the king smiling and making -signs to Madame de Montespan to approach, as there was nothing to be -afraid of. Madame de Montespan complied; she took the hand the king held -out to her, and he, plucking out the first feather from the heron, which -the falconer had strangled, placed it in his beautiful companion's hat. -She, smiling in her turn, kissed the hand tenderly which made her this -present. The king grew scarlet with vanity and pleasure; he looked at -Madame de Montespan with all the fire of new love. - -"What will you give me in exchange?" said he. - -She broke off a little branch of cypress and offered it to the king, who -looked intoxicated with hope. - -"Humph!" said Aramis to D'Artagnan; "the present is but a sad one, for -that cypress shades a tomb." - -"Yes, and the tomb is that of Raoul de Bragelonne," said D'Artagnan -aloud; "of Raoul, who sleeps under that cross with his father." - -A groan resounded--they saw a woman fall fainting to the ground. -Mademoiselle de la Valliere had seen all, heard all. - -"Poor woman!" muttered D'Artagnan, as he helped the attendants to carry -back to her carriage the lonely lady whose lot henceforth in life was -suffering. - -That evening D'Artagnan was seated at the king's table, near M. Colbert -and M. le Duc d'Almeda. The king was very gay. He paid a thousand little -attentions to the queen, a thousand kindnesses to Madame, seated at his -left hand, and very sad. It might have been supposed that time of calm -when the king was wont to watch his mother's eyes for the approval or -disapproval of what he had just done. - -Of mistresses there was no question at this dinner. The king addressed -Aramis two or three times, calling him M. l'ambassadeur, which increased -the surprise already felt by D'Artagnan at seeing his friend the rebel -so marvelously well received at court. - -The king, on rising from table, gave his hand to the queen, and made -a sign to Colbert, whose eye was on his master's face. Colbert took -D'Artagnan and Aramis on one side. The king began to chat with his -sister, whilst Monsieur, very uneasy, entertained the queen with a -preoccupied air, without ceasing to watch his wife and brother from -the corner of his eye. The conversation between Aramis, D'Artagnan, -and Colbert turned upon indifferent subjects. They spoke of preceding -ministers; Colbert related the successful tricks of Mazarin, and desired -those of Richelieu to be related to him. D'Artagnan could not overcome -his surprise at finding this man, with his heavy eyebrows and low -forehead, display so much sound knowledge and cheerful spirits. Aramis -was astonished at that lightness of character which permitted this -serious man to retard with advantage the moment for more important -conversation, to which nobody made any allusion, although all -three interlocutors felt its imminence. It was very plain, from the -embarrassed appearance of Monsieur, how much the conversation of the -king and Madame annoyed him. Madame's eyes were almost red: was she -going to complain? Was she going to expose a little scandal in open -court? The king took her on one side, and in a tone so tender that -it must have reminded the princess of the time when she was loved for -herself: - -"Sister," said he, "why do I see tears in those lovely eyes?" - -"Why--sire--" said she. - -"Monsieur is jealous, is he not, sister?" - -She looked towards Monsieur, an infallible sign that they were talking -about him. - -"Yes," said she. - -"Listen to me," said the king; "if your friends compromise you, it is -not Monsieur's fault." - -He spoke these words with so much kindness that Madame, encouraged, -having borne so many solitary griefs so long, was nearly bursting into -tears, so full was her heart. - -"Come, come, dear little sister," said the king, "tell me your griefs; -on the word of a brother, I pity them; on the word of a king, I will put -an end to them." - -She raised her glorious eyes and, in a melancholy tone: - -"It is not my friends who compromise me," said she; "they are either -absent or concealed; they have been brought into disgrace with your -majesty; they, so devoted, so good, so loyal!" - -"You say this on account of De Guiche, whom I have exiled, at Monsieur's -desire?" - -"And who, since that unjust exile, has endeavored to get himself killed -once every day." - -"Unjust, say you, sister?" - -"So unjust, that if I had not had the respect mixed with friendship that -I have always entertained for your majesty--" - -"Well!" - -"Well! I would have asked my brother Charles, upon whom I can always--" - -The king started. "What, then?" - -"I would have asked him to have had it represented to you that Monsieur -and his favorite M. le Chevalier de Lorraine ought not with impunity to -constitute themselves the executioners of my honor and my happiness." - -"The Chevalier de Lorraine," said the king; "that dismal fellow?" - -"Is my mortal enemy. Whilst that man lives in my household, where -Monsieur retains him and delegates his power to him, I shall be the most -miserable woman in the kingdom." - -"So," said the king, slowly, "you call your brother of England a better -friend than I am?" - -"Actions speak for themselves, sire." - -"And you would prefer going to ask assistance there--" - -"To my own country!" said she with pride; "yes, sire." - -"You are the grandchild of Henry IV. as well as myself, lady. Cousin -and brother-in-law, does not that amount pretty well to the title of -brother-germain?" - -"Then," said Henrietta, "act!" - -"Let us form an alliance." - -"Begin." - -"I have, you say, unjustly exiled De Guiche." - -"Oh! yes," said she, blushing. - -"De Guiche shall return." [10] - -"So far, well." - -"And now you say that I do wrong in having in your household the -Chevalier de Lorraine, who gives Monsieur ill advice respecting you?" - -"Remember well what I tell you, sire; the Chevalier de Lorraine some -day--Observe, if ever I come to a dreadful end, I beforehand accuse the -Chevalier de Lorraine; he has a spirit that is capable of any crime!" - -"The Chevalier de Lorraine shall no longer annoy you--I promise you -that." [11] - -"Then that will be a true preliminary of alliance, sire,--I sign; but -since you have done your part, tell me what shall be mine." - -"Instead of embroiling me with your brother Charles, you must make him a -more intimate friend than ever." - -"That is very easy." - -"Oh! not quite so easy as you may suppose, for in ordinary friendship -people embrace or exercise hospitality, and that only costs a kiss or a -return, profitable expenses; but in political friendship--" - -"Ah! it's a political friendship, is it?" - -"Yes, my sister; and then, instead of embraces and feasts, it is -soldiers--it is soldiers all alive and well equipped--that we must serve -up to our friends; vessels we must offer, all armed with cannons and -stored with provisions. It hence results that we have not always coffers -in a fit condition for such friendships." - -"Ah! you are quite right," said Madame; "the coffers of the king of -England have been sonorous for some time." - -"But you, my sister, who have so much influence over your brother, you -can secure more than an ambassador could ever get the promise of." - -"To effect that I must go to London, my dear brother." - -"I have thought so," replied the king, eagerly; "and I have said to -myself that such a voyage would do your health and spirits good." - -"Only," interrupted Madame, "it is possible I should fail. The king of -England has dangerous counselors." - -"Counselors, do you say?" - -"Precisely. If, by chance, your majesty had any intention--I am only -supposing so--of asking Charles II. his alliance in a war--" - -"A war?" - -"Yes; well! then the king's counselors, who are in number -seven--Mademoiselle Stewart, Mademoiselle Wells, Mademoiselle Gwyn, -Miss Orchay, Mademoiselle Zunga, Miss Davies, and the proud Countess of -Castlemaine--will represent to the king that war costs a great deal of -money; that it is better to give balls and suppers at Hampton Court than -to equip ships of the line at Portsmouth and Greenwich." - -"And then your negotiations will fail?" - -"Oh! those ladies cause all negotiations to fall through which they -don't make themselves." - -"Do you know the idea that has struck me, sister?" - -"No; inform me what it is." - -"It is that, searching well around you, you might perhaps find a female -counselor to take with you to your brother, whose eloquence might -paralyze the ill-will of the seven others." - -"That is really an idea, sire, and I will search." - -"You will find what you want." - -"I hope so." - -"A pretty ambassadress is necessary; an agreeable face is better than an -ugly one, is it not?" - -"Most assuredly." - -"An animated, lively, audacious character." - -"Certainly." - -"Nobility; that is, enough to enable her to approach the king without -awkwardness--not too lofty, so as not to trouble herself about the -dignity of her race." - -"Very true." - -"And who knows a little English." - -"_Mon Dieu!_ why, some one," cried Madame, "like Mademoiselle de -Keroualle, for instance!" - -"Oh! why, yes!" said Louis XIV.; "you have hit the mark,--it is you who -have found, my sister." - -"I will take her; she will have no cause to complain, I suppose." - -"Oh! no, I will name her _seductrice plenipotentiaire_ at once, and will -add a dowry to the title." - -"That is well." - -"I fancy you already on your road, my dear little sister, consoled for -all your griefs." - -"I will go, on two conditions. The first is, that I shall know what I am -negotiating about." - -"That is it. The Dutch, you know, insult me daily in their gazettes, and -by their republican attitude. I do not like republics." - -"That may easily be imagined, sire." - -"I see with pain that these kings of the sea--they call themselves -so--keep trade from France in the Indies, and that their vessels will -soon occupy all the ports of Europe. Such a power is too near me, -sister." - -"They are your allies, nevertheless." - -"That is why they were wrong in having the medal you have heard of -struck; a medal which represents Holland stopping the sun, as Joshua -did, with this legend: _The sun had stopped before me_. There is not -much fraternity in that, _is_ there?" - -"I thought you had forgotten that miserable episode?" - -"I never forget anything, sister. And if my true friends, such as your -brother Charles, are willing to second me--" The princess remained -pensively silent. - -"Listen to me; there is the empire of the seas to be shared," said -Louis XIV. "For this partition, which England submits to, could I not -represent the second party as well as the Dutch?" - -"We have Mademoiselle de Keroualle to treat that question," replied -Madame. - -"Your second condition for going, if you please, sister?" - -"The consent of Monsieur, my husband." - -"You shall have it." - -"Then consider me already gone, brother." - -On hearing these words, Louis XIV. turned round towards the corner of -the room in which D'Artagnan, Colbert, and Aramis stood, and made -an affirmative sign to his minister. Colbert then broke in on the -conversation suddenly, and said to Aramis: - -"Monsieur l'ambassadeur, shall we talk about business?" - -D'Artagnan immediately withdrew, from politeness. He directed his steps -towards the fireplace, within hearing of what the king was about to say -to Monsieur, who, evidently uneasy, had gone to him. The face of the -king was animated. Upon his brow was stamped a strength of will, the -expression of which already met no further contradiction in France, and -was soon to meet no more in Europe. - -"Monsieur," said the king to his brother, "I am not pleased with M. le -Chevalier de Lorraine. You, who do him the honor to protect him, must -advise him to travel for a few months." - -These words fell with the crush of an avalanche upon Monsieur, who -adored his favorite, and concentrated all his affections in him. - -"In what has the chevalier been inconsiderate enough to displease your -majesty?" cried he, darting a furious look at Madame. - -"I will tell you that when he is gone," said the king, suavely. "And -also when Madame, here, shall have crossed over into England." - -"Madame! in England!" murmured Monsieur, in amazement. - -"In a week, brother," continued the king, "whilst we will go whither I -will shortly tell you." And the king turned on his heel, smiling in his -brother's face, to sweeten, as it were, the bitter draught he had given -him. - -During this time Colbert was talking with the Duc d'Almeda. - -"Monsieur," said Colbert to Aramis, "this is the moment for us to come -to an understanding. I have made your peace with the king, and I owed -that clearly to a man of so much merit; but as you have often expressed -friendship for me, an opportunity presents itself for giving me a proof -of it. You are, besides, more a Frenchman than a Spaniard. Shall we -secure--answer me frankly--the neutrality of Spain, if we undertake -anything against the United Provinces?" - -"Monsieur," replied Aramis, "the interest of Spain is clear. To embroil -Europe with the Provinces would doubtless be our policy, but the king -of France is an ally of the United Provinces. You are not ignorant, -besides, that it would infer a maritime war, and that France is in no -state to undertake this with advantage." - -Colbert, turning round at this moment, saw D'Artagnan who was seeking -some interlocutor, during this "aside" of the king and Monsieur. He -called him, at the same time saying in a low voice to Aramis, "We may -talk openly with D'Artagnan, I suppose?" - -"Oh! certainly," replied the ambassador. - -"We were saying, M. d'Almeda and I," said Colbert, "that a conflict with -the United Provinces would mean a maritime war." - -"That's evident enough," replied the musketeer. - -"And what do you think of it, Monsieur d'Artagnan?" - -"I think that to carry on such a war successfully, you must have very -large land forces." - -"What did you say?" said Colbert, thinking he had ill understood him. - -"Why such a large land army?" said Aramis. - -"Because the king will be beaten by sea if he has not the English with -him, and that when beaten by sea, he will soon be invaded, either by the -Dutch in his ports, or by the Spaniards by land." - -"And Spain neutral?" asked Aramis. - -"Neutral as long as the king shall prove stronger," rejoined D'Artagnan. - -Colbert admired that sagacity which never touched a question without -enlightening it thoroughly. Aramis smiled, as he had long known that in -diplomacy D'Artagnan acknowledged no superior. Colbert, who, like all -proud men, dwelt upon his fantasy with a certainty of success, resumed -the subject, "Who told you, M. d'Artagnan, that the king had no navy?" - -"Oh! I take no heed of these details," replied the captain. "I am but an -indifferent sailor. Like all nervous people, I hate the sea; and yet I -have an idea that, with ships, France being a seaport with two hundred -exits, we might have sailors." - -Colbert drew from his pocket a little oblong book divided into two -columns. On the first were the names of vessels, on the other the -figures recapitulating the number of cannon and men requisite to equip -these ships. "I have had the same idea as you," said he to -D'Artagnan, "and I have had an account drawn up of the vessels we have -altogether--thirty-five ships." - -"Thirty-five ships! impossible!" cried D'Artagnan. - -"Something like two thousand pieces of cannon," said Colbert. "That is -what the king possesses at this moment. Of five and thirty vessels we -can make three squadrons, but I must have five." - -"Five!" cried Aramis. - -"They will be afloat before the end of the year, gentlemen; the king -will have fifty ship of the line. We may venture on a contest with them, -may we not?" - -"To build vessels," said D'Artagnan, "is difficult, but possible. As -to arming them, how is that to be done? In France there are neither -foundries nor military docks." - -"Bah!" replied Colbert, in a bantering tone, "I have planned all -that this year and a half past, did you not know it? Do you know M. -d'Imfreville?" - -"D'Imfreville?" replied D'Artagnan; "no." - -"He is a man I have discovered; he has a specialty; he is a man of -genius--he knows how to set men to work. It is he who has cast cannon -and cut the woods of Bourgogne. And then, monsieur l'ambassadeur, you -may not believe what I am going to tell you, but I have a still further -idea." - -"Oh, monsieur!" said Aramis, civilly, "I always believe you." - -"Calculating upon the character of the Dutch, our allies, I said to -myself, 'They are merchants, they are friendly with the king; they will -be happy to sell to the king what they fabricate for themselves; then -the more we buy'--Ah! I must add this: I have Forant--do you know -Forant, D'Artagnan?" - -Colbert, in his warmth, forgot himself; he called the captain simply -_D'Artagnan_, as the king did. But the captain only smiled at it. - -"No," replied he, "I do not know him." - -"That is another man I have discovered, with a genius for buying. This -Forant has purchased for me 350,000 pounds of iron in balls, 200,000 -pounds of powder, twelve cargoes of Northern timber, matches, grenades, -pitch, tar--I know not what! with a saving of seven per cent upon what -all those articles would cost me fabricated in France." - -"That is a capital and quaint idea," replied D'Artagnan, "to have Dutch -cannon-balls cast which will return to the Dutch." - -"Is it not, with loss, too?" And Colbert laughed aloud. He was delighted -with his own joke. - -"Still further," added he, "these same Dutch are building for the king, -at this moment, six vessels after the model of the best of their name. -Destouches--Ah! perhaps you don't know Destouches?" - -"No, monsieur." - -"He is a man who has a sure glance to discern, when a ship is launched, -what are the defects and qualities of that ship--that is valuable, -observe! Nature is truly whimsical. Well, this Destouches appeared to -me to be a man likely to prove useful in marine affairs, and he is -superintending the construction of six vessels of seventy-eight guns, -which the Provinces are building for his majesty. It results from this, -my dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, that the king, if he wished to quarrel with -the Provinces, would have a very pretty fleet. Now, you know better than -anybody else if the land army is efficient." - -D'Artagnan and Aramis looked at each other, wondering at the mysterious -labors this man had undertaken in so short a time. Colbert understood -them, and was touched by this best of flatteries. - -"If we, in France, were ignorant of what was going on," said D'Artagnan, -"out of France still less must be known." - -"That is why I told monsieur l'ambassadeur," said Colbert, "that, Spain -promising its neutrality, England helping us--" - -"If England assists you," said Aramis, "I promise the neutrality of -Spain." - -"I take you at your word," Colbert hastened to reply with his blunt -_bonhomie_. "And, _a propos_ of Spain, you have not the 'Golden Fleece,' -Monsieur d'Almeda. I heard the king say the other day that he should -like to see you wear the _grand cordon_ of St. Michael." - -Aramis bowed. "Oh!" thought D'Artagnan, "and Porthos is no longer here! -What ells of ribbons would there be for him in these _largesses!_ Dear -Porthos!" - -"Monsieur d'Artagnan," resumed Colbert, "between us two, you will have, -I wager, an inclination to lead your musketeers into Holland. Can you -swim?" And he laughed like a man in high good humor. - -"Like an eel," replied D'Artagnan. - -"Ah! but there are some bitter passages of canals and marshes yonder, -Monsieur d'Artagnan, and the best swimmers are sometimes drowned there." - -"It is my profession to die for his majesty," said the musketeer. "Only, -as it is seldom in war that much water is met with without a little -fire, I declare to you beforehand, that I will do my best to choose -fire. I am getting old; water freezes me--but fire warms, Monsieur -Colbert." - -And D'Artagnan looked so handsome still in quasi-juvenile strength as -he pronounced these words, that Colbert, in his turn, could not help -admiring him. D'Artagnan perceived the effect he had produced. He -remembered that the best tradesman is he who fixes a high price upon his -goods, when they are valuable. He prepared his price in advance. - -"So, then," said Colbert, "we go into Holland?" - -"Yes," replied D'Artagnan; "only--" - -"Only?" said M. Colbert. - -"Only," repeated D'Artagnan, "there lurks in everything the question of -interest, the question of self-love. It is a very fine title, that of -captain of the musketeers; but observe this: we have now the king's -guards and the military household of the king. A captain of musketeers -ought to command all that, and then he would absorb a hundred thousand -livres a year for expenses." - -"Well! but do you suppose the king would haggle with you?" said Colbert. - -"Eh! monsieur, you have not understood me," replied D'Artagnan, sure of -carrying his point. "I was telling you that I, an old captain, formerly -chief of the king's guard, having precedence of the _marechaux_ of -France--I saw myself one day in the trenches with two other equals, the -captain of the guards and the colonel commanding the Swiss. Now, at no -price will I suffer that. I have old habits, and I will stand or fall by -them." - -Colbert felt this blow, but he was prepared for it. - -"I have been thinking of what you said just now," replied he. - -"About what, monsieur?" - -"We were speaking of canals and marshes in which people are drowned." - -"Well!" - -"Well! if they are drowned, it is for want of a boat, a plank, or a -stick." - -"Of a stick, however short it may be," said D'Artagnan. - -"Exactly," said Colbert. "And, therefore, I never heard of an instance -of a _marechal_ of France being drowned." - -D'Artagnan became very pale with joy, and in a not very firm voice, -"People would be very proud of me in my country," said he, "if I were -a _marechal_ of France; but a man must have commanded an expedition in -chief to obtain the _baton_." - -"Monsieur!" said Colbert, "here is in this pocket-book which you will -study, a plan of campaign you will have to lead a body of troops to -carry out in the next spring." [12] - -D'Artagnan took the book, tremblingly, and his fingers meeting those of -Colbert, the minister pressed the hand of the musketeer loyally. - -"Monsieur," said he, "we had both a revenge to take, one over the other. -I have begun; it is now your turn!" - -"I will do you justice, monsieur," replied D'Artagnan, "and implore you -to tell the king that the first opportunity that shall offer, he may -depend upon a victory, or to behold me dead--_or both_." - -"Then I will have the _fleurs-de-lis_ for your _marechal's baton_ -prepared immediately," said Colbert. - -On the morrow, Aramis, who was setting out for Madrid, to negotiate the -neutrality of Spain, came to embrace D'Artagnan at his hotel. - -"Let us love each other for four," said D'Artagnan. "We are now but -two." - -"And you will, perhaps, never see me again, dear D'Artagnan," said -Aramis; "if you knew how I have loved you! I am old, I am extinct--ah, I -am almost dead." - -"My friend," said D'Artagnan, "you will live longer than I shall: -diplomacy commands you to live; but, for my part, honor condemns me to -die." - -"Bah! such men as we are, monsieur le marechal," said Aramis, "only die -satisfied with joy in glory." - -"Ah!" replied D'Artagnan, with a melancholy smile, "I assure you, -monsieur le duc, I feel very little appetite for either." - -They once more embraced, and, two hours after, separated--forever. - - -The Death of D'Artagnan. - -Contrary to that which generally happens, whether in politics or morals, -each kept his promises, and did honor to his engagements. - -The king recalled M. de Guiche, and banished M. le Chevalier de -Lorraine; so that Monsieur became ill in consequence. Madame set out -for London, where she applied herself so earnestly to make her brother, -Charles II., acquire a taste for the political counsels of Mademoiselle -de Keroualle, that the alliance between England and France was signed, -and the English vessels, ballasted by a few millions of French gold, -made a terrible campaign against the fleets of the United Provinces. -Charles II. had promised Mademoiselle de Keroualle a little gratitude -for her good counsels; he made her Duchess of Portsmouth. Colbert had -promised the king vessels, munitions, victories. He kept his word, as -is well known. At length Aramis, upon whose promises there was least -dependence to be placed, wrote Colbert the following letter, on the -subject of the negotiations which he had undertaken at Madrid: - -"MONSIEUR COLBERT,--I have the honor to expedite to you the R. P. Oliva, -general _ad interim_ of the Society of Jesus, my provisional successor. -The reverend father will explain to you, Monsieur Colbert, that I -preserve to myself the direction of all the affairs of the order which -concern France and Spain; but that I am not willing to retain the title -of general, which would throw too high a side-light on the progress of -the negotiations with which His Catholic Majesty wishes to intrust me. I -shall resume that title by the command of his majesty, when the labors I -have undertaken in concert with you, for the great glory of God and His -Church, shall be brought to a good end. The R. P. Oliva will inform you -likewise, monsieur, of the consent His Catholic Majesty gives to the -signature of a treaty which assures the neutrality of Spain in the event -of a war between France and the United Provinces. This consent will be -valid even if England, instead of being active, should satisfy herself -with remaining neutral. As for Portugal, of which you and I have spoken, -monsieur, I can assure you it will contribute with all its resources to -assist the Most Christian King in his war. I beg you, Monsieur -Colbert, to preserve your friendship and also to believe in my profound -attachment, and to lay my respect at the feet of His Most Christian -Majesty. Signed, - -"LE DUC D'ALMEDA." [13] - - -Aramis had performed more than he had promised; it remained to be seen -how the king, M. Colbert, and D'Artagnan would be faithful to each -other. In the spring, as Colbert had predicted, the land army entered -on its campaign. It preceded, in magnificent order, the court of Louis -XIV., who, setting out on horseback, surrounded by carriages filled -with ladies and courtiers, conducted the _elite_ of his kingdom to this -sanguinary _fete_. The officers of the army, it is true, had no other -music save the artillery of the Dutch forts; but it was enough for a -great number, who found in this war honor, advancement, fortune--or -death. - -M. d'Artagnan set out commanding a body of twelve thousand men, cavalry, -and infantry, with which he was ordered to take the different places -which form knots of that strategic network called La Frise. Never was an -army conducted more gallantly to an expedition. The officers knew that -their leader, prudent and skillful as he was brave, would not sacrifice -a single man, nor yield an inch of ground without necessity. He had -the old habits of war, to live upon the country, keeping his soldiers -singing and the enemy weeping. The captain of the king's musketeers -well knew his business. Never were opportunities better chosen, -_coups-de-main_ better supported, errors of the besieged more quickly -taken advantage of. - -The army commanded by D'Artagnan took twelve small places within a -month. He was engaged in besieging the thirteenth, which had held out -five days. D'Artagnan caused the trenches to be opened without appearing -to suppose that these people would ever allow themselves to be taken. -The pioneers and laborers were, in the army of this man, a body full of -ideas and zeal, because their commander treated them like soldiers, knew -how to render their work glorious, and never allowed them to be killed -if he could help it. It should have been seen with what eagerness the -marshy glebes of Holland were turned over. Those turf-heaps, mounds of -potter's clay, melted at the word of the soldiers like butter in the -frying-pans of Friesland housewives. - -M. d'Artagnan dispatched a courier to the king to give him an account of -the last success, which redoubled the good humor of his majesty and his -inclination to amuse the ladies. These victories of M. d'Artagnan gave -so much majesty to the prince, that Madame de Montespan no longer -called him anything but Louis the Invincible. So that Mademoiselle de -la Valliere, who only called the king Louis the Victorious, lost much -of his majesty's favor. Besides, her eyes were frequently red, and to an -Invincible nothing is more disagreeable than a mistress who weeps while -everything is smiling round her. The star of Mademoiselle de la Valliere -was being drowned in clouds and tears. But the gayety of Madame de -Montespan redoubled with the successes of the king, and consoled him for -every other unpleasant circumstance. It was to D'Artagnan the king owed -this; and his majesty was anxious to acknowledge these services; he -wrote to M. Colbert: - -"MONSIEUR COLBERT,--We have a promise to fulfil with M. d'Artagnan, -who so well keeps his. This is to inform you that the time is come for -performing it. All provisions for this purpose you shall be furnished -with in due time. LOUIS." - -In consequence of this, Colbert, detaining D'Artagnan's envoy, placed in -the hands of that messenger a letter from himself, and a small coffer -of ebony inlaid with gold, not very important in appearance, but which, -without doubt, was very heavy, as a guard of five men was given to the -messenger, to assist him in carrying it. These people arrived before -the place which D'Artagnan was besieging towards daybreak, and presented -themselves at the lodgings of the general. They were told that M. -d'Artagnan, annoyed by a sortie which the governor, an artful man, had -made the evening before, and in which the works had been destroyed and -seventy-seven men killed, and the reparation of the breaches commenced, -had just gone with twenty companies of grenadiers to reconstruct the -works. - -M. Colbert's envoy had orders to go and seek M. d'Artagnan, wherever -he might be, or at whatever hour of the day or night. He directed his -course, therefore, towards the trenches, followed by his escort, all -on horseback. They perceived M. d'Artagnan in the open plain, with his -gold-laced hat, his long cane, and gilt cuffs. He was biting his white -mustache, and wiping off, with his left hand, the dust which the passing -balls threw up from the ground they plowed so near him. They also saw, -amidst this terrible fire, which filled the air with whistling hisses, -officers handling the shovel, soldiers rolling barrows, and vast -fascines, rising by being either carried or dragged by from ten to -twenty men, cover the front of the trench reopened to the center by this -extraordinary effort of the general. In three hours, all was reinstated. -D'Artagnan began to speak more mildly; and he became quite calm when the -captain of the pioneers approached him, hat in hand, to tell him that -the trench was again in proper order. This man had scarcely finished -speaking, when a ball took off one of his legs, and he fell into the -arms of D'Artagnan. The latter lifted up his soldier, and quietly, with -soothing words, carried him into the trench, amidst the enthusiastic -applause of the regiments. From that time it was no longer a question of -valor--the army was delirious; two companies stole away to the advanced -posts, which they instantly destroyed. - -When their comrades, restrained with great difficulty by D'Artagnan, saw -them lodged upon the bastions, they rushed forward likewise; and soon a -furious assault was made upon the counterscarp, upon which depended the -safety of the place. D'Artagnan perceived there was only one means left -of checking his army--to take the place. He directed all his force to -the two breaches, where the besieged were busy in repairing. The shock -was terrible; eighteen companies took part in it, and D'Artagnan went -with the rest, within half cannon-shot of the place, to support the -attack by _echelons_. The cries of the Dutch, who were being poniarded -upon their guns by D'Artagnan's grenadiers, were distinctly audible. The -struggle grew fiercer with the despair of the governor, who disputed his -position foot by foot. D'Artagnan, to put an end to the affair, and -to silence the fire, which was unceasing, sent a fresh column, which -penetrated like a very wedge; and he soon perceived upon the ramparts, -through the fire, the terrified flight of the besieged, pursued by the -besiegers. - -At this moment the general, breathing feely and full of joy, heard a -voice behind him, saying, "Monsieur, if you please, from M. Colbert." - -He broke the seal of the letter, which contained these words: - -"MONSIEUR D'ARTAGNAN:--The king commands me to inform you that he has -nominated you marechal of France, as a reward for your magnificent -services, and the honor you do to his arms. The king is highly -pleased, monsieur, with the captures you have made; he commands you, in -particular, to finish the siege you have commenced, with good fortune to -you, and success for him." - -D'Artagnan was standing with a radiant countenance and sparkling eye. -He looked up to watch the progress of his troops upon the walls, still -enveloped in red and black volumes of smoke. "I have finished," replied -he to the messenger; "the city will have surrendered in a quarter of an -hour." He then resumed his reading: - -"The _coffret_, Monsieur d'Artagnan, is my own present. You will not be -sorry to see that, whilst you warriors are drawing the sword to defend -the king, I am moving the pacific arts to ornament a present worthy of -you. I commend myself to your friendship, monsieur le marechal, and beg -you to believe in mine. COLBERT" - -D'Artagnan, intoxicated with joy, made a sign to the messenger, who -approached, with his _coffret_ in his hands. But at the moment the -_marechal_ was going to look at it, a loud explosion resounded from the -ramparts, and called his attention towards the city. "It is strange," -said D'Artagnan, "that I don't yet see the king's flag on the walls, or -hear the drums beat the _chamade_." He launched three hundred fresh men, -under a high-spirited officer, and ordered another breach to be made. -Then, more tranquilly, he turned towards the _coffret_, which Colbert's -envoy held out to him.--It was his treasure--he had won it. - -D'Artagnan was holding out his hand to open the _coffret_, when a ball -from the city crushed the _coffret_ in the arms of the officer, struck -D'Artagnan full in the chest, and knocked him down upon a sloping heap -of earth, whilst the _fleur-de-lised baton_, escaping from the broken -box, came rolling under the powerless hand of the _marechal_. D'Artagnan -endeavored to raise himself. It was thought he had been knocked down -without being wounded. A terrible cry broke from the group of terrified -officers; the _marechal_ was covered with blood; the pallor of death -ascended slowly to his noble countenance. Leaning upon the arms held -out on all sides to receive him, he was able once more to turn his eyes -towards the place, and to distinguish the white flag at the crest of the -principal bastion; his ears, already deaf to the sounds of life, caught -feebly the rolling of the drum which announced the victory. Then, -clasping in his nerveless hand the _baton_, ornamented with its -_fleurs-de-lis_, he cast on it his eyes, which had no longer the power -of looking upwards towards Heaven, and fell back, murmuring strange -words, which appeared to the soldiers cabalistic--words which had -formerly represented so many things on earth, and which none but the -dying man any longer comprehended: - -"Athos--Porthos, farewell till we meet again! Aramis, adieu forever!" - -Of the four valiant men whose history we have related, there now -remained but one. Heaven had taken to itself three noble souls. [14] - -End of The Man in the Iron Mask. This is the last text in the series. - - - - -Footnotes - -[Footnote 1: "He is patient because he is eternal." is how the Latin translates. -It is from St. Augustine. This motto was sometimes applied to the -Papacy, but not to the Jesuits.] - -[Footnote 2: In the five-volume edition, Volume 4 ends here.] - -[Footnote 3: It is possible that the preceding conversation is an obscure -allegorical allusion to the Fronde, or perhaps an intimation that the -Duc was the father of Mordaunt, from Twenty Years After, but a definite -interpretation still eludes modern scholars.] - -[Footnote 4: The dictates of such a service would require Raoul to spend the -rest of his life outside of France, hence Athos's and Grimaud's extreme -reactions.] - -[Footnote 5: Dumas here, and later in the chapter, uses the name Roncherat. -Roncherolles is the actual name of the man.] - -[Footnote 6: In some editions, "in spite of Milady" reads "in spite of malady".] - -[Footnote 7: "Pie" in this case refers to magpies, the prey for the falcons.] - -[Footnote 8: Anne of Austria did not die until 1666, and Dumas sets the current -year as 1665.] - -[Footnote 9: Madame de Montespan would oust Louise from the king's affections by -1667.] - -[Footnote 10: De Guiche would not return to court until 1671.] - -[Footnote 11: Madame did die of poison in 1670, shortly after returning from the -mission described later. The Chevalier de Lorraine had actually been -ordered out of France in 1662.] - -[Footnote 12: This particular campaign did not actually occur until 1673.] - -[Footnote 13: Jean-Paul Oliva was the actual general of the Jesuits from -1664-1681.] - -[Footnote 14: In earlier editions, the last line reads, "Of the four valiant men -whose history we have related, there now no longer remained but one -single body; God had resumed the souls." Dumas made the revision in -later editions.] - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas, Pere - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK *** - -***** This file should be named 2759.txt or 2759.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/5/2759/ - -Produced by John Bursey - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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