Vingt ans après. English Read online

  5. The Gascon and the Italian.

  Meanwhile the cardinal returned to his own room; and after askingBernouin, who stood at the door, whether anything had occurred duringhis absence, and being answered in the negative, he desired that hemight be left alone.

  When he was alone he opened the door of the corridor and then that ofthe ante-chamber. There D'Artagnan was asleep upon a bench.

  The cardinal went up to him and touched his shoulder. D'Artagnanstarted, awakened himself, and as he awoke, stood up exactly like asoldier under arms.

  "Here I am," said he. "Who calls me?"

  "I," said Mazarin, with his most smiling expression.

  "I ask pardon of your eminence," said D'Artagnan, "but I was sofatigued----"

  "Don't ask my pardon, monsieur," said Mazarin, "for you fatiguedyourself in my service."

  D'Artagnan admired Mazarin's gracious manner. "Ah," said he, between histeeth, "is there truth in the proverb that fortune comes while onesleeps?"

  "Follow me, monsieur," said Mazarin.

  "Come, come," murmured D'Artagnan, "Rochefort has kept his promise, butwhere in the devil is he?" And he searched the cabinet even to thesmallest recesses, but there was no sign of Rochefort.

  "Monsieur d'Artagnan," said the cardinal, sitting down on a fauteuil,"you have always seemed to me to be a brave and honorable man."

  "Possibly," thought D'Artagnan, "but he has taken a long time to let meknow his thoughts;" nevertheless, he bowed to the very ground ingratitude for Mazarin's compliment.

  "Well," continued Mazarin, "the time has come to put to use your talentsand your valor."

  There was a sudden gleam of joy in the officer's eyes, which vanishedimmediately, for he knew nothing of Mazarin's purpose.

  "Order, my lord," he said; "I am ready to obey your eminence."

  "Monsieur d'Artagnan," continued the cardinal, "you performed sundrysuperb exploits in the last reign."

  "Your eminence is too good to remember such trifles in my favor. It istrue I fought with tolerable success."

  "I don't speak of your warlike exploits, monsieur," said Mazarin;"although they gained you much reputation, they were surpassed byothers."

  D'Artagnan pretended astonishment.

  "Well, you do not reply?" resumed Mazarin.

  "I am waiting, my lord, till you tell me of what exploits you speak."

  "I speak of the adventure--Eh, you know well what I mean."

  "Alas, no, my lord!" replied D'Artagnan, surprised.

  "You are discreet--so much the better. I speak of that adventure inbehalf of the queen, of the ornaments, of the journey you made withthree of your friends."

  "Aha!" thought the Gascon; "is this a snare or not? Let me be on myguard."

  And he assumed a look of stupidity which Mendori or Bellerose, two ofthe first actors of the day, might have envied.

  "Bravo!" cried Mazarin; "they told me that you were the man I wanted.Come, let us see what you will do for me."

  "Everything that your eminence may please to command me," was the reply.

  "You will do for me what you have done for the queen?"

  "Certainly," D'Artagnan said to himself, "he wishes to make me speakout. He's not more cunning than De Richelieu was! Devil take him!" Thenhe said aloud:

  "The queen, my lord? I don't comprehend."

  "You don't comprehend that I want you and your three friends to be ofuse to me?"

  "Which of my friends, my lord?"

  "Your three friends--the friends of former days."

  "Of former days, my lord! In former days I had not only three friends, Ihad thirty; at two-and-twenty one calls every man one's friend."

  "Well, sir," returned Mazarin, "prudence is a fine thing, but to-day youmight regret having been too prudent."

  "My lord, Pythagoras made his disciples keep silence for five years thatthey might learn to hold their tongues."

  "But you have been silent for twenty years, sir. Speak, now the queenherself releases you from your promise."

  "The queen!" said D'Artagnan, with an astonishment which this time wasnot pretended.

  "Yes, the queen! And as a proof of what I say she commanded me to showyou this diamond, which she thinks you know."

  And so saying, Mazarin extended his hand to the officer, who sighed ashe recognized the ring so gracefully given to him by the queen on thenight of the ball at the Hotel de Ville and which she had repurchasedfrom Monsieur des Essarts.

  "'Tis true. I remember well that diamond, which belonged to the queen."

  "You see, then, that I speak to you in the queen's name. Answer mewithout acting as if you were on the stage; your interests are concernedin your so doing."

  "Faith, my lord, it is very necessary for me to make my fortune, youreminence has so long forgotten me."

  "We need only a week to amend all that. Come, you are accounted for, youare here, but where are your friends?"

  "I do not know, my lord. We have parted company this long time; allthree have left the service."

  "Where can you find them, then?"

  "Wherever they are, that's my business."

  "Well, now, what are your conditions, if I employ you?"

  "Money, my lord, as much money as what you wish me to undertake willrequire. I remember too well how sometimes we were stopped for want ofmoney, and but for that diamond, which I was obliged to sell, we shouldhave remained on the road."

  "The devil he does! Money! and a large sum!" said Mazarin. "Pray, areyou aware that the king has no money in his treasury?"

  "Do then as I did, my lord. Sell the crown diamonds. Trust me, don't letus try to do things cheaply. Great undertakings come poorly off withpaltry means."

  "Well," returned Mazarin, "we will satisfy you."

  "Richelieu," thought D'Artagnan, "would have given me five hundredpistoles in advance."

  "You will then be at my service?" asked Mazarin.

  "Yes, if my friends agree."

  "But if they refuse can I count on you?"

  "I have never accomplished anything alone," said D'Artagnan, shaking hishead.

  "Go, then, and find them."

  "What shall I say to them by way of inducement to serve your eminence?"

  "You know them better than I. Adapt your promises to their respectivecharacters."

  "What shall I promise?"

  "That if they serve me as well as they served the queen my gratitudeshall be magnificent."

  "But what are we to do?"

  "Make your mind easy; when the time for action comes you shall be put infull possession of what I require from you; wait till that time arrivesand find out your friends."

  "My lord, perhaps they are not in Paris. It is even probable that Ishall have to make a journey. I am only a lieutenant of musketeers, verypoor, and journeys cost money.

  "My intention," said Mazarin, "is not that you go with a greatfollowing; my plans require secrecy, and would be jeopardized by a tooextravagant equipment."

  "Still, my lord, I can't travel on my pay, for it is now three monthsbehind; and I can't travel on my savings, for in my twenty-two years ofservice I have accumulated nothing but debts."

  Mazarin remained some moments in deep thought, as if he were fightingwith himself; then, going to a large cupboard closed with a triple lock,he took from it a bag of silver, and weighing it twice in his handsbefore he gave it to D'Artagnan:

  "Take this," he said with a sigh, "'tis merely for your journey."

  "If these are Spanish doubloons, or even gold crowns," thoughtD'Artagnan, "we shall yet be able to do business together." He salutedthe cardinal and plunged the bag into the depths of an immense pocket.

  "Well, then, all is settled; you are to set off," said the cardinal.

  "Yes, my lord."

  "Apropos, what are the names of your friends?"

  "The Count de la Fere, formerly styled Athos; Monsieur du Vallon, whomwe used to call Porthos; the Chevalier d'Herblay, now the Abbed'Herblay, whom we styled Aramis----"
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  The cardinal smiled.

  "Younger sons," he said, "who enlisted in the musketeers under feignednames in order not to lower their family names. Long swords but lightpurses. Was that it?"

  "If, God willing, these swords should be devoted to the service of youreminence," said D'Artagnan, "I shall venture to express a wish, whichis, that in its turn the purse of your eminence may become light andtheirs heavy--for with these three men your eminence may rouse allEurope if you like."

  "These Gascons," said the cardinal, laughing, "almost beat the Italiansin effrontery."

  "At all events," answered D'Artagnan, with a smile almost as crafty asthe cardinal's, "they beat them when they draw their swords."

  He then withdrew, and as he passed into the courtyard he stopped near alamp and dived eagerly into the bag of money.

  "Crown pieces only--silver pieces! I suspected it. Ah! Mazarin! Mazarin!thou hast no confidence in me! so much the worse for thee, for harm maycome of it!"

  Meanwhile the cardinal was rubbing his hands in great satisfaction.

  "A hundred pistoles! a hundred pistoles! for a hundred pistoles I havediscovered a secret for which Richelieu would have paid twenty thousandcrowns; without reckoning the value of that diamond"--he cast acomplacent look at the ring, which he had kept, instead of restoring toD'Artagnan--"which is worth, at least, ten thousand francs."

  He returned to his room, and after depositing the ring in a casketfilled with brilliants of every sort, for the cardinal was a connoisseurin precious stones, he called to Bernouin to undress him, regardless ofthe noises of gun-fire that, though it was now near midnight, continuedto resound through Paris.

  In the meantime D'Artagnan took his way toward the Rue Tiquetonne, wherehe lived at the Hotel de la Chevrette.

  We will explain in a few words how D'Artagnan had been led to choosethat place of residence.