Part 126 (1/2)
”Precisely; thank you! nan, ”continue your interesting description, I beg What is that large white building with e of the Jesuits Pardieu! you have an apt hand
Do you see, close to the college, a large house with steeples, turrets, built in a handsome Gothic style, as that fool, M Getard, says?”
”Yes, that is plainly to be seen Well?”
”Well, that is where Aramis resides”
”What! does he not reside at the episcopal palace?”
”No; that is in ruins The palace likewise is in the city, and Aras That is why, as I told you, he is partial to Saint-Patern; Saint-Patern is in the faubourg Besides, there are in this faubourg a mall, a tennis-court, and a house of Dominicans Look, that where the handsome steeple rises to the heavens”
”Well?”
”Next, you see the faubourg is like a separate city, it has its walls, its towers, its ditches; the quay is upon it likewise, and the boats land at the quay If our little corsair did not draw eight feet of water, we could have come full sail up to Aranan, ”you are a well of knowledge, a spring of ingenious and profound reflections Porthos, you no longer surprise me, you confoundthe conversation with his usual nan, ”for Ara away like a steed of ice”
They entered alone a hundred paces when they were surprised to find the streets streith leaves and flowers Against the old walls of Vannes, hung the oldest and the strangest tapestries of France Fro white sheets stuck all over with bouquets The streets were deserted; it was plain the entire population was assembled on one point
The blinds were closed, and the breeze penetrated into the houses under the hangings, which cast long, black shades between their places of issue and the walls Suddenly, at the turning of a street, chants struck the ears of the newly arrived travelers A crowd in holiday garb appeared through the vapors of incense which mounted to the heavens in blue fleeces, and clouds of rose-leaves fluttered as high as the first stories Above all heads were to be seen the cross and banners, the sacred syion Then, beneath these crosses and banners, as if protected by theirls clothed in white, croith corn-flowers At the two sides of the street, inclosing the cortege,bouquets in the barrels of their muskets and on the points of their lances This was the procession
Whilst D'Artagnan and Porthos were looking on with critical glances, which disguised an extrenificent dais approached preceded by a hundred Jesuits and a hundred Dominicans, and escorted by two archdeacons, a treasurer, a penitent and twelve canons
A singer with a thundering voice--a man certainly picked out from all the voices of France, as was the druiants of the empire--escorted by four other chanters, who appeared to be there only to serve him as an accompaniment, made the air resound, and the s of the houses vibrate Under the dais appeared a pale and noble countenance with black eyes, black hair streaked with threads of white, a delicate, coular chin His head, full of graceful majesty, was covered with the episcopal ave it, in addition to the character of sovereignty, that of asceticiselic meditation
”Aramis!” cried the musketeer, involuntarily, as this lofty countenance passed before him The prelate started at the sound of the voice He raised his large black eyes, with their long lashes, and turned them without hesitation towards the spot whence the exclanan close to hiht, had seen all, seized all The full portrait of the prelate had entered hishad particularly struck D'Artagnan On perceiving him, Aramis had colored, then he had concentrated under his eyelids the fire of the look of the master, and the indefinable affection of the friend It was evident that Aranan with Porthos, and what does he want at Vannes?” Aranan, on turning his look upon hi that he had not lowered his eyes He knew the acuteness and intelligence of his friend; he feared to let him divine the secret of his blush and his astonish a secret to conceal Therefore, to put an end to his look of an inquisitor, which it was necessary to get rid of at all events, as, at any price, a general extinguishes a battery which annoys him, Aramis stretched forth his beautiful white hand, upon which sparkled the an of the cross, and poured out his benediction upon his two friends Perhaps thoughtful and absent, D'Artagnan, iht not have bent beneath this holy benediction; but Porthos saw his distraction, and laying his friendly hand upon the back of his conan was forced to give way; indeed, he was little short of being flat on the ground In the nan, like Antaeus, had only touched the ground, and he turned towards Porthos, al the intention of the brave Hercules; it was a feeling of religious propriety that had influenced hi his thought, always completed it
”It is very polite of hiiven his benediction to us alone Decidedly, he is a holy nan made no reply
”Observe my friend,” continued Porthos, ”he has seen us; and, instead of continuing to walk on at the simple pace of the procession, as he did just now,--see, what a hurry he is in; do you see how the cortege is increasing its speed? He is eager to join us and embrace us, is that dear Aranan, aloud--Then to himself:--”It is equally true he has seen me, the fox, and will have time to prepare himself to receive me”
But the procession had passed; the road was free D'Artagnan and Porthos walked straight up to the episcopal palace, which was surrounded by a nunan remarked that this croas composed principally of citizens and nized in the nature of these partisans the address of his friend Aramis was not the man to seek for a useless popularity He cared very little for being beloved by people who could be of no service to hie of ordinary pastors; was not the cortege for him
Ten minutes after the two friends had passed the threshold of the palace, Aramis returned like a triumphant conqueror; the soldiers presented arms to him as to a superior; the citizens bowed to him as to a friend and a patron, rather than as a head of the Church There was so those Roman senators who had their doors always surrounded by clients At the foot of the steps, he had a conference of half a minute with a Jesuit, who, in order to speak to him more secretly, passed his head under the dais He then re-entered his palace; the doors closed slowly, and the crowdabroad It was a led with the perfumes of the air and the sea The city breathed happiness, joy, and strength D'Artagnan felt so like the presence of an invisible hand which had, all-powerfully, created this strength, this joy, this happiness, and spread everywhere these perfuot fat; but Ararown taller”
Chapter LXXII The Grandeur of the Bishop of Vannes
Porthos and D'Artagnan had entered the bishop's residence by a private door, as his personal friends Of course, Porthos served D'Artagnan as guide The worthy baron comported himself everywhere rather as if he were at hoee of Ara him who imposed upon him morally, a worthy habit which had always made Porthos a model soldier and an excellent companion; for all these reasons, say we, Porthos preserved in the palace of His Greatness the Bishop of Vannes a sort of reserve which D'Artagnan remarked at once, in the attitude he took with respect to the valets and officers