Part 39 (1/2)
At length they heard the cannon so near that it was evident they ithin a league of the field of battle, and at a turn of the road they perceived the little village of Aunay
The peasants were in great coone out and every one was frightened The woe in Vitry; only a fewthe prince they hastened to nized him
”Ah, my lord,” he said, ”have you come to drive away those rascal Spaniards and those Lorraine robbers?”
”Yes,” said the prince, ”if you will serve hness wish to go?”
”To some elevated spot whence I can look down on Lens and the surrounding country----”
”In that case, I'm your man”
”I can trust you--you are a true Frenchman?”
”I am an old soldier of Rocroy,him a purse, ”here is for Rocroy Now, do you want a horse, or will you go afoot?”
”Afoot, my lord; I have served always in the infantry Besides, I expect to lead your highness into places where you will have to walk”
”Come, then,” said the prince; ”let us lose no ti before the prince's horse; then, a hundred steps froe, he took a narrow road hidden at the bottoue they proceeded thus, the cannon-shot sounding so near that they expected at each discharge to hear the hu out from the road, skirted the mountainside The prince dismounted, ordered one of his aids and Raoul to follow his exa thean to ascend the path
In about ten minutes they reached the ruins of an old chateau; those ruins crowned the su country At a distance of hardly a quarter of a league they looked down on Lens, at bay, and before Lens the enelance the prince took in the extent of country that lay before him, from Lens as far as Vi day was to save France the second time from invasion was unrolled in his e from his tablets and wrote: ”My Dear Marshal,--In an hour Lens will be in the ene with you the whole army I shall be at Vendin to place it in position To-morroe shall retake Lens and beat the ene toward Raoul: ”Go, ive this letter to Monsieur de Grammont”
Raoul bowed, took the letter, went hastily down the allop A quarter of an hour later he ith the marshal
A portion of the troops had already arrived and the remainder was expected from moment to moment Marshal de Grammont put himself at the head of all the available cavalry and infantry and took the road to Vendin, leaving the Duc de Chatillon to await and bring on the rest All the artillery was ready to move, and started off at awhen the marshal arrived at the appointed place The prince awaited him there As he had foreseen, Lens had fallen into the hands of the enemy immediately after Raoul's departure The event was announced by the cessation of the firing
As the shadows of night deepened the troops summoned by the prince arrived in successive detachiven that no drum should be beaten, no truht had fully cohted the plain The army marched silently, the prince at the head of the coluht of Lens; two or three houses were in fla was endured by a town taken by assault
The prince assigned to every one his post Marshal de Gra on Mericourt The Duc de Chatillon co, resting on Aunay The order of battle on theEach one, on awaking, would find himself on the field of battle
The movement was executed in silence and with precision At ten o'clock every one was in his appointed position; at half-past ten the prince visited the posts and gave his final orders for the following day
Three things were especially urged upon the officers, ere to see that the soldiers observed them scrupulously: the first, that the different corps should so march that cavalry and infantry should be on the saaps; the second, to go to the charge no faster than a walk; the third, to let the enened the Count de Guiche to his father and kept Bragelonne near his own person; but the two young ether and it was accorded them A tent was erected for theh the day had been fatiguing, neither of them was inclined to sleep And besides, even for old soldiers the evening before a battle is a serious ti men ere about to witness for the first ti before a battle one thinks of a thousand things forgotten till then; those who are indifferent to one another become friends and those who are friends become brothers It need not be said that if in the depths of the heart there is a sentihest exaltation of which it is capable Some sentiment of this kind must have been cherished by each one of these two friends, for each of them almost ian to write
The letters were long--the four pages were covered with closely written words The writers sometimes looked up at each other and sanizations were so delicate and sy finished, each put his own into two envelopes, so that no one, without tearing the first envelope, could discover to whom the second was addressed; then they drew near to each other and sed their letters
”In case any evil should happen to elonne
”In case I should be killed,” said De Guiche
They then e himself in his cloak they soon passed into that kindly sleep of youth which is the prerogative of birds, flowers and infants
35 A Dinner in the Old Style
The second intervieeen the for as the first Athos, with his superior understanding, wisely deemed that the supper table would be the most complete and satisfactory point of reunion, and at the moment when his friends, in deference to his deportment and sobriety, dared scarcely speak of soood dinners, he was the first to propose that they should all assemble around some well spread table and abandon themselves unreservedly to their own natural character and manners--a freedoood understanding between theave them the nareeable proposition to thereed that each should leave a very exact address and that upon the request of any of the associates ahouse in the Rue de la Monnaie, of the sign of the Her Wednesday, at eight o'clock in the evening precisely
On that day, in fact, the four friends arrived punctually at the hour, each fro a new horse; D'Artagnan was on guard at the Louvre; Arahborhood; and Athos, whose doaud, found himself close at hand They were, therefore, soether at the door of the Her out fronan by the Rue des Fosse Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, and Araed between the four friends, on account of the cereled with their dean with a kind of stiffness Athos perceived this e an effectual rene
At this order, given in Athos's habitually calrew smooth Aramis was astonished He knew that Athos not only never drank, but nance to wine This astonishment was doubled when Aramis saw Athos fill a bumper and toss it off with all his former enthusiasm His companions followed his example In a very few minutes the four bottles were e even the slightest cloud that an to speak loud, scarcely waiting till one had finished before another began, and each assue fact--Ara which, Porthos unfastened his entirely
Battles, long journeys, blows given and received, sufficed for the first theles sustained against hireat cardinal
”Faith,” said Arah, let us revile the living a little; I should like to say soo on,” replied D'Artagnan, laughing heartily; ”relate your story and I will applaud it if it is a good one”
”A great prince,” said Araht an alliance, was invited by him to send him a list of the conditions on which he would do hireat repugnance to treat with such an ill-bred fellow, rain, and sent it In this list there were three conditions which displeased Mazarin and he offered the prince ten thousand crowns to renounce thehed the three friends, ”not a bad bargain; and there was no fear of being taken at his word; what did the prince do then?”
”The prince i hiain, and offered twenty thousand francs more, on condition that he would never speak to hiested Athos
”Beat the er!” cried Porthos
”Accepted the uessed it,” answered Arahed so heartily that the host appeared in order to inquire whether the gentle
At last their hilarity calnan to the two friends, ”you may ish ill to Mazarin; for I assure you, on his side he wishes you no good”
”Pooh! really?” asked Athos ”If I thought the fello ht be thought I knew him”
”He knows you better by your actions than your nareatly aided the escape of Monsieur de Beaufort, and he has instigated an active search for them, I can answer for it”
”By who he sent for me to ask me if I had obtained any information”
”And what did you reply?”
”That I had none as yet; but that I was to dine to-day with two gentleive me some”
”You told hi over his honest face ”Bravo! and you are not afraid of that, Athos?”
”No,” replied Athos, ”it is not the search of Mazarin that I fear”