Part 106 (1/2)
Here the reader stopped to take breath Every one sighed, coughed, and redoubled his attention The procureur resu any children, and it is probable I never shall have any, which to rief And yet I am mistaken, for I have a son, in couste Jules de Bragelonne, the true son of M le Co nobleentleman of whom I am the friend and very humble servant”
Here a sharp sound interrupted the reader It was D'Artagnan's sword, which, slipping fro
Every one turned his eyes that way, and saw that a large tear had rolled fronan, half-way down to his aquiline nose, the lue of which shone like a little crescent moon
”This is why,” continued the procureur, ”I have left all my property, movable, or immovable, couste Jules de Bragelonne, son of M le Corief he seems to suffer, and enable hilorious nah the auditory The procureur continued, seconded by the flashi+ng eye of D'Artagnan, which, glancing over the assembly, quickly restored the interrupted silence:
”On condition that M le Viconan, captain of the king's nan may deelonne do pay a good pension to M le Chevalier d'Herblay, my friend, if he should need it in exile I leave to my intendant Mousqueton all of my clothes, of city, war, or chase, to the number of forty-seven suits, in the assurance that he ear them till they are worn out, for the love of and in remembrance of his elonne my old servant and faithful friend Mousqueton, already na that the said vico, he has never ceased to be happy”
On hearing these words, Mousqueton bowed, pale and tre; his shoulders shook convulsively; his countenance, corief, appeared froer and hesitate, as if, though wishi+ng to leave the hall, he did not know the way
”Mousqueton, o and make your preparations I will take you withPierrefonds”
Mousquetonin that hall would fron He opened the door, and slowly disappeared
The procureur finished his reading, after which the greater part of those who had corees, many disappointed, but all penetrated with respect As for D'Artagnan, thus left alone, after having received the formal compliments of the procureur, he was lost in admiration of the wisdom of the testator, who had so judiciously bestowed his wealth upon the most necessitous and the most worthy, with a delicacy that neither nobleman nor courtier could have displayed ive D'Artagnan all that he would ask, he kneell, our worthy Porthos, that D'Artagnan would ask or take nothing; and in case he did de, none but himself could say what Porthos left a pension to Aramis, who, if he should be inclined to ask too nan; and that word _exile_, thrown out by the testator, without apparent intention, was it not the mildest, most exquisite criticisht about the death of Porthos? But there was no mention of Athos in the testament of the dead Could the latter for a moment suppose that the son would not offer the best part to the father? The rough mind of Porthos had fathomed all these causes, seized all these shades more clearly than law, better than custom, with more propriety than taste
”Porthos had indeed a heart,” said D'Artagnan to hih
As he roan in the rooht i duty to divert frorief For this purpose he left the hall hastily to seek the worthy intendant, as he had not returned He ascended the staircase leading to the first story, and perceived, in Porthos's own chamber, a heap of clothes of all colors and materials, upon which Mousqueton had laid hiether It was the legacy of the faithful friend Those clothes were truly his own; they had been given to him; the hand of Mousqueton was stretched over these relics, which he was kissing with his lips, with all his face, and covered with his body D'Artagnan approached to console the poor fellow
”My God!” said he, ”he does not stir--he has fainted!”
But D'Artagnan waslost his master, crawls back to die upon his cloak
Chapter LVI The Old Age of Athos
While these affairs were separating forever the four ether in a manner that seemed indissoluble, Athos, left alone after the departure of Raoul, began to pay his tribute to that foretaste of death which is called the absence of those we love
Back in his house at Blois, no longer having even Grih the parterre, Athos daily felt the decline of vigor of a nature which for so long a tie, which had been kept back by the presence of the beloved object, arrived with that _cortege_ of pains and inconveniences, which grows by geoer his son to induce hiood exa man, an ever-ardent focus at which to kindle anew the fire of his looks And then, must it be said, that nature, exquisite in tenderness and reserve, no longer finding anything to understand its feelings, gave itself up to grief with all the warmth of common natures when they yield to joy The Co man to his sixty-second year; the warrior who had preserved his strength in spite of fatigue; his freshness of mind in spite of misfortune, his mild serenity of soul and body in spite of Milady, in spite of Mazarin, in spite of La Valliere; Athos had become an old man in a week, from the moment at which he lost the coh bent, noble, but sad, he sought, since his solitude, the deeper glades where sunshi+ne scarcely penetrated He discontinued all the h life, when Raoul was no longer with hi with the dawn at all seasons, were astonished to hear seven o'clock strike before their master quitted his bed Athos remained in bed with a book under his pillow--but he did not sleep, neither did he read Reer have to carry his body, he allowed his soul and spirit to wander from their envelope and return to his son, or to God [6]
His people were soether, absorbed in silent reverie, er heard the timid step of the servant who ca of his ot the day had half passed away, that the hours for the two first one by Then he akened He rose, descended to his shady walk, then cah to partake of its warmth for a minute in memory of his absent child And then the disained the chamber and his bed, his domicile by choice For several days the cole word He refused to receive the visits that were paid hiht his la parchments
Athos wrote one of these letters to Vannes, another to Fontainebleau; they remained without answers We knohy: Ara from Nantes to Paris, from Paris to Pierrefonds His _valet de chambre_ observed that he shortened his walk every day by several turns The great alley of li for feet that used to traverse it formerly a hundred times a day
The comte walked feebly as far as the middle trees, seated himself upon a mossy bank that sloped towards a sidewalk, and there waited the return of his strength, or rather the return of night Very shortly a hundred steps exhausted hith Athos refused to rise at all; he declined all nourishh he did not coh he continued to speak with his sweet voice--his people went to Blois in search of the ancient physician of the late Monsieur, and brought him to the Comte de la Fere in such a fashi+on that he could see the co himself seen For this purpose, they placed hi the chamber of the patient, and i their master, who had not asked for a physician The doctor obeyed Athos was a sort of entle this sacred relic of French glory Athos was a great seigneur co with his artificial scepter the parched-up trunks of the heraldic trees of the province
People respected Athos, we say, and they loved him The physician could not bear to see his people weep, to see flock round hiiven life and consolation by his kind words and his charities He exa-place, the nature of that ed more mortally every day a man but lately so full of life and a desire to live He remarked upon the cheeks of Athos the hectic hue of fever, which feeds upon itself; slow fever, pitiless, born in a fold of the heart, sheltering itself behind that raenders, at once cause and effect of a perilous situation The comte spoke to nobody; he did not even talk to hiree of over-exciteh he does not yet belong to God, already appertains no longer to the earth
The doctor rele of the will against superior power; he was terrified at seeing those eyes always fixed, ever directed on so of that heart froh arose to vary the melancholy state; for often pain becomes the hope of the physician Half a day passed away thus The doctor formed his resolution like a brave man; he issued suddenly froht up to Athos, who beheld hiof the apparition
”Monsieur le co up to the patient with open arms; ”but I have a reproach to make you--you shall hear reat trouble in rousing himself from his preoccupation
”What is the matter, doctor?” asked the comte, after a silence