Part 104 (1/2)
D'Artagnan started Louis XIV continued as if he had seen nothing, although this emotion had not by any means escaped hiain I promised to e 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 hireat state secret You are a brave ed nan, 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 hier violence, but strength; no longer passion, but will; no longer boasting, but council This young ht down a Fouquet, and could do without a D'Artagnan, deranged the so calculations of the musketeer
”Co, kindly ”You have given in your resignation; shall I refuse to accept it? I admit that it ood-hunan, in a melancholy tone, ”that is not nation because I am old in comparison with you, and have habits difficult to abandon Henceforward, you must have courtiers who kno to aet thereat 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 coave the bearer the right of speaking as he liked to his king But your captain of thethe outer doors Truly, sire, if that is to be my e on good terine that I bear malice; no, you have tame you have convicted me of weakness If you kneell it suits h, and what a pitifulthe 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 gentlerained er 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 theold on the lace of their cloaks, a slender storay in their dry hair, and you will behold the handsohty _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 h Because I am ambitious?--my career is almost at an end Because I love the court? No I will reo and take the orderly word of the king, and to have said tofor That snan bowed his silver head, upon which the s placed his white hand with pride
”Thanks,froer any enen field to gather youryou 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, itated ”But those poor ood! so brave!
so true!”
”Do you ask their pardon of o 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 hireatest 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 knehat 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 accohboring heath, the human remains which had stained with clouted blood the scattered stones a 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 Nohat 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 tiht, according to the calculation of D'Artagnan, to have either returned to Brest, or come back to the uous, it is true, but in sonan 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 aet this abandon 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 nan was pale and looked unhappy
The king, at the first glance, perceived the change in a countenance generally so unconcerned ”What is the reat 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