fatality that very man bars my way. What shall I say to the
cardinal?"
"You can tell him, sir," answered a voice which was the
voice of high command in the battle-field, "that he sent
against me the only two men capable of getting the better of
four men; of fighting man to man, without discomfiture,
against the Comte de la Fere and the Chevalier d'Herblay,
and of surrendering only to fifty men!
"The prince!" exclaimed at the same moment Athos and Aramis,
unmasking as they addressed the Duc de Beaufort, whilst
D'Artagnan and Porthos stepped backward.
"Fifty cavaliers!" cried the Gascon and Porthos.
"Look around you, gentlemen, if you doubt the fact," said
the duke.
The two friends looked to the right, to the left; they were
encompassed by a troop of horsemen.
"Hearing the noise of the fight," resumed the duke, "I
fancied you had about twenty men with you, so I came back
with those around me, tired of always running away, and
wishing to draw my sword in my own cause; but you are only
two."
"Yes, my lord; but, as you have said, two that are a match
for twenty," said Athos.
"Come, gentlemen, your swords," said the duke.
"Our swords!" cried D'Artagnan, raising his head and
regaining his self-possession. "Never!"
"Never!" added Porthos.
Some of the men moved toward them.
"One moment, my lord," whispered Athos, and he said
something in a low voice.
"As you will," replied the duke. "I am too much indebted to
you to refuse your first request. Gentlemen," he said to his
escort, "withdraw. Monsieur d'Artagnan, Monsieur du Vallon,
you are free."
The order was obeyed; D'Artagnan and Porthos then found
themselves in the centre of a large circle.
"Now, D'Herblay," said Athos, "dismount and come here."
Aramis dismounted and went to Porthos, whilst Athos
approached D'Artagnan.
All four once more together.
"Friends!" said Athos, "do you regret you have not shed our
blood?"
"No," replied D'Artagnan; "I regret to see that we, hitherto
united, are opposed to each other. Ah! nothing will ever go
well with us hereafter!"
"Oh, Heaven! No, all is over!" said Porthos.
"Well, be on our side now," resumed Aramis.
"Silence, D'Herblay!" cried Athos; "such proposals are not
to be made to gentlemen such as these. 'Tis a matter of
conscience with them, as with us."
"Meantime, here we are, enemies!" said Porthos. "Gramercy!
who would ever have thought it?"
D'Artagnan only sighed.
Athos looked at them both and took their hands in his.
"Gentlemen," he said, "this is a serious business and my
heart bleeds as if you had pierced it through and through.
Yes, we are severed; there is the great, the distressing
truth! But we have not as yet declared war; perhaps we shall
have to make certain conditions, therefore a solemn
conference is indispensable."
"For my own part, I demand it," said Aramis.
"I accept it," interposed D'Artagnan, proudly.
Porthos bowed, as if in assent.
"Let us choose a place of rendezvous," continued Athos, "and
in a last interview arrange our mutual position and the
conduct we are to maintain toward each other."
"Good!" the other three exclaimed.
"Well, then, the place?"
"Will the Place Royale suit you?" asked D'Artagnan.
"In Paris?"
"Yes."
Athos and Aramis looked at each other.
"The Place Royale -- be it so!" replied Athos.
"When?"
"To-morrow evening, if you like!"
"At what hour?"
"At ten in the evening, if that suits you; by that time we
shall have returned."
"Good."
"There," continued Athos, "either peace or war will be
decided; honor, at all events, will be maintained!"
"Alas!" murmured D'Artagnan, "our honor as soldiers is lost
to us forever!"
"D'Artagnan," said Athos, gravely, "I assure you that you do
me wrong in dwelling so upon that. What I think of is, that
we have crossed swords as enemies. Yes," he continued, sadly
shaking his head, "Yes, it is as you said, misfortune,
indeed, has overtaken us. Come, Aramis."
"And we, Porthos," said D'Artagnan, "will return, carrying
our shame to the cardinal."
"And tell him," cried a voice, "that I am not too old yet
for a man of action."
D'Artagnan recognized the voice of De Rochefort.
"Can I do anything for you, gentlemen?" asked the duke.
"Bear witness that we have done all that we could."
"That shall be testified to, rest assured. Adieu! we shall
meet soon, I trust, in Paris, where you shall have your
revenge." The duke, as he spoke, kissed his hand, spurred
his horse into a gallop and disappeared, followed by his
troop, who were soon lost in distance and darkness.
D'Artagnan and Porthos were now alone with a man who held by
the bridles two horses; they thought it was Musqueton and
went up to him.
"What do I see?" cried the lieutenant. "Grimaud, is it
thou?"
Grimaud signified that he was not mistaken.
"And whose horses are these?" cried D'Artagnan.
"Who has given them to us?" said Porthos.
"The Comte de la Fere."
"Athos! Athos!" muttered D'Artagnan; "you think of every
one; you are indeed a nobleman! Whither art thou going,
Grimaud?"
"To join the Vicomte de Bragelonne in Flanders, your honor."
They were taking the road toward Paris, when groans, which
seemed to proceed from a ditch, attracted their attention.
"What is that?" asked D'Artagnan.
"It is I -- Musqueton," said a mournful voice, whilst a sort
of shadow arose out of the side of the road.
Porthos ran to him. "Art thou dangerously wounded, my dear
Musqueton?" he said.
"No, sir, but I am severely."
"What can we do?" said D'Artagnan; "we must return to
Paris."
"I will take care of Musqueton," said Grimaud; and he gave
his arm to his old comrade, whose eyes were full of tears,
nor could Grimaud tell whether the tears were caused by
wounds or by the pleasure of seeing him again.
D'Artagnan and Porthos went on, meantime, to Paris. They
were passed by a sort of courier, covered with dust, the
bearer of a letter from the duke to the cardinal, giving
testimony to the valor of D'Artagnan and Porthos.
Mazarin had passed a very bad night when this letter was
brought to him, announcing that the duke was free and that
he would henceforth raise up mortal strife against him.
"What consoles me," said the cardinal after reading the
letter, "is that, at least, in this chase, D'Artagnan has
done me one good turn -- he has destroyed Broussel. This
Gascon is a precious fellow; even his misadventures are of
use."
The cardinal referred to that man whom D'Artagnan upset at
the corner of the Cimetiere Saint Jean in Paris, and who was
no other than the Councillor Broussel.
27
The four old Friends prepare to meet again.
"Well," said Porthos, seated in the courtyard of the Hotel
de la Chevrette, to D'Artagnan, who, with a long and
melancholy face, had returned from the Palais Royal; "did he
receive you ungraciously, my dear friend?"
"I'faith, yes! a brute, that cardinal. What are you eating
there, Porthos?"
"I am dipping a biscuit in a glass of Spanish wine; do the
same."
"You are right. Gimblou, a glass of wine."
"Well, how has all gone off?"
"Zounds! you know there's only one way of saying things, so
I went in and said, `My lord, we were not the strongest
party.'
"`Yes, I know that,' he said, `but give me the particulars.'
"You know, Porthos, I could not give him the particulars
without naming our friends; to name them would be to commit
them to ruin, so I merely said they were fifty and we were
two.
"`There was firing, nevertheless, I heard,' he said; `and
your swords -- they saw the light of day, I presume?'
"`That is, the night, my lord,' I answered.
"`Ah!' cried the cardinal, `I thought you were a Gascon, my
friend?'
"`I am a Gascon,' said I, `only when I succeed.' The answer
pleased him and he laughed.
"`That will teach me,' he said, `to have my guards provided
with better horses; for if they had been able to keep up
with you and if each one of them had done as much as you and
your friend, you would have kept your word and would have
brought him back to me dead or alive.'"
"Well, there's nothing bad in that, it seems to me," said
Porthos.
"Oh, mon Dieu! no, nothing at all. It was the way in which
he spoke. It is incredible how these biscuit soak up wine!
They are veritable sponges! Gimblou, another bottle."
The bottle was brought with a promptness which showed the
degree of consideration D'Artagnan enjoyed in the
establishment. He continued:
"So I was going away, but he called me back.
"`You have had three horses foundered or killed?' he asked
me.
"`Yes, my lord.'
"`How much were they worth?'"
"Why," said Porthos, "that was very good of him, it seems to
me."
"`A thousand pistoles,' I said."
"A thousand pistoles!" Porthos exclaimed. "Oh! oh! that is a
large sum. If he knew anything about horses he would dispute
the price."
"Faith! he was very much inclined to do so, the contemptible
fellow. He made a great start and looked at me. I also
looked at him; then he understood, and putting his hand into
a drawer, he took from it a quantity of notes on a bank in
Lyons."
"For a thousand pistoles?"
"For a thousand pistoles -- just that amount, the beggar;
not one too many."
"And you have them?"
"They are here."
"Upon my word, I think he acted very generously."
"Generously! to men who had risked their lives for him, and
besides had done him a great service?"
"A great service -- what was that?"
"Why, it seems that I crushed for him a parliament
councillor."
"What! that little man in black that you upset at the corner
of Saint Jean Cemetery?"
"That's the man, my dear fellow; he was an annoyance to the
cardinal. Unfortunately, I didn't crush him flat. It seems
that he came to himself and that he will continue to be an
annoyance."
"See that, now!" said Porthos; "and I turned my horse aside
from going plump on to him! That will be for another time."
"He owed me for the councillor, the pettifogger!"
"But," said Porthos, "if he was not crushed completely ----
"
"Ah! Monsieur de Richelieu would have said, `Five hundred
crowns for the councillor.' Well, let's say no more about
it. How much were your animals worth, Porthos?"
"Ah, if poor Musqueton were here he could tell you to a
fraction."
"No matter; you can tell within ten crowns."
"Why, Vulcan and Bayard cost me each about two hundred
pistoles, and putting Phoebus at a hundred and fifty, we
should be pretty near the amount."
"There will remain, then, four hundred and fifty pistoles,"
said D'Artagnan, contentedly.
"Yes," said Porthos, "but there are the equipments."
"That is very true. Well, how much for the equipments?"
"If we say one hundred pistoles for the three ---- "
"Good for the hundred pistoles; there remains, then, three
hundred and fifty."
Porthos made a sign of assent.
"We will give the fifty pistoles to the hostess for our
expenses," said D'Artagnan, "and share the three hundred."
"We will share," said Porthos.
"A paltry piece of business!" murmured D'Artagnan crumpling
his note.
"Pooh!" said Porthos, "it is always that. But tell me ---- "
"What?"
"Didn't he speak of me in any way?"
"Ah! yes, indeed!" cried D'Artagnan, who was afraid of
disheartening his friend by telling him that the cardinal
had not breathed a word about him; "yes, surely, he said
---- "
"He said?" resumed Porthos.
"Stop, I want to remember his exact words. He said, `As to
your friend, tell him he may sleep in peace.'"
"Good, very good," said Porthos; "that signified as clear as
daylight that he still intends to make me a baron."
At this moment nine o'clock struck. D'Artagnan started.
"Ah, yes," said Porthos, "there is nine o'clock. We have a
rendezvous, you remember, at the Place Royale."
"Ah! stop! hold your peace, Porthos, don't remind me of it;
'tis that which has made me so cross since yesterday. I
shall not go."
"Why?" asked Porthos.
"Because it is a grievous thing for me to meet again those
two men who caused the failure of our enterprise."
"And yet," said Porthos, "neither of them had any advantage
over us. I still had a loaded pistol and you were in full
fight, sword in hand."
"Yes," said D'Artagnan; "but what if this rendezvous had
some hidden purpose?"
"Oh!" said Porthos, "you can't think that, D'Artagnan!"
