Twenty years after
are only words. Where is the key you speak of?”
“Here it is.”
“Ah, my lord! You will conduct us yourself, then, to that door?”
“Very willingly, if it be necessary to reassure you,” answered the
minister, and Mazarin, who was delighted to get off so cheaply, led the
way, in high spirits, to the corridor and opened the door.
It led into the park, as the three fugitives perceived by the night
breeze which rushed into the corridor and blew the wind into their
faces.
“The devil!” exclaimed the Gascon, “’tis a dreadful night, my lord. We
don’t know the locality, and shall never find the wall. Since your
eminence has come so far, come a few steps further; conduct us, my
lord, to the wall.”
“Be it so,” replied the cardinal; and walking in a straight line he
went to the wall, at the foot of which they all four arrived at the
same instant.
“Are you satisfied, gentlemen?” asked Mazarin.
“I think so, indeed; we should be hard to please if we were not. Deuce
take it! three poor gentlemen escorted by a prince of the church! Ah!
apropos, my lord! you remarked that we were all active, vigorous and
armed.”
“Yes.”
“You are mistaken. Monsieur du Vallon and I are the only two who are
armed. The count is not; and should we meet with one of your patrol we
must defend ourselves.”
“’Tis true.”
“Where can we find another sword?” asked Porthos.
“My lord,” said D’Artagnan, “will lend his, which is of no use to him,
to the Comte de la Fère.”
“Willingly,” said the cardinal; “I will even ask the count to keep it
for my sake.”
“I promise you, my lord, never to part with it,” replied Athos.
“Well, well,” cried D’Artagnan, “this reconciliation is truly touching;
have you not tears in your eyes, Porthos?”
“Yes,” said Porthos; “but I do not know if it is feeling or the wind
that makes me weep; I think it is the wind.”
“Now climb up, Athos, quickly,” said D’Artagnan. Athos, assisted by
Porthos, who lifted him up like a feather, arrived at the top.
“Now, jump down, Athos.”
Athos jumped and disappeared on the other side of the wall.
“Are you on the ground?” asked D’Artagnan.
“Yes.”
“Without accident?”
“Perfectly safe and sound.”
“Porthos, whilst I get up, watch the cardinal. No, I don’t want your
help, watch the cardinal.”
“I am watching,” said Porthos. “Well?”
“You are right; it is more difficult than I thought. Lend me your
back—but don’t let the cardinal go.”
Porthos lent him his back and D’Artagnan was soon on the summit of the
wall, where he seated himself.
Mazarin pretended to laugh.
“Are you there?” asked Porthos.
“Yes, my friend; and now——”
“Now, what?” asked Porthos.
“Now give me the cardinal up here; if he makes any noise stifle him.”
Mazarin wished to call out, but Porthos held him tight and passed him
to D’Artagnan, who seized him by the neck and made him sit down by him;
then in a menacing tone, he said:
“Sir! jump directly down, close to Monsieur de la Fère, or, on the
honor of a gentleman, I’ll kill you!”
“Monsieur, monsieur,” cried Mazarin, “you are breaking your word to
me!”
“I—did I promise you anything, my lord?”
Mazarin groaned.
“You are free,” he said, “through me; your liberty was my ransom.”
“Agreed; but the ransom of that immense treasure buried under the
gallery, to which one descends on pushing a spring hidden in the wall,
which causes a tub to turn, revealing a staircase—must not one speak of
that a little, my lord?”
“_Diavolo!_” cried Mazarin, almost choked, and clasping his hands; “I
am a lost and ruined man!”
But without listening to his protestations of alarm, D’Artagnan slipped
him gently down into the arms of Athos, who stood immovable at the
bottom of the wall.
Porthos next made an effort which shook the solid wall, and by the aid
of his friend’s hand gained the summit.
“I didn’t understand it all,” he said, “but I understand now; how droll
it is!”
“You think so? so much the better; but that it may prove
laughter-worthy even to the end, let us not lose time.” And he jumped
off the wall.
Porthos did the same.
“Attend to monsieur le cardinal, gentlemen,” said D’Artagnan; “for
myself, I will reconnoitre.”
The Gascon then drew his sword and marched as _avant_ guard.
“My lord,” he said, “which way do we go? Think well of your reply, for
should your eminence be mistaken, there might ensue most grave results
for all of us.”
“Along the wall, sir,” said Mazarin, “there will be no danger of losing
yourselves.”
The three friends hastened on, but in a short time were obliged to
slacken the pace. The cardinal could not keep up with them, though with
every wish to do so.
Suddenly D’Artagnan touched something warm, which moved.
“Stop! a horse!” he cried; “I have found a horse!”
“And I, likewise,” said Athos.
“I, too,” said Porthos, who, faithful to the instructions, still held
the cardinal’s arm.
“There’s luck, my lord! just as you were complaining of being tired and
obliged to walk.”
But as he spoke the barrel of a pistol was presented at his breast and
these words were pronounced:
“Touch it not!”
“Grimaud!” he cried; “Grimaud! what art thou about? Why, thou art
posted here by Heaven!”
“No, sir,” said the honest servant, “it was Monsieur Aramis who posted
me here to take care of the horses.”
“Is Aramis here?”
“Yes, sir; he has been here since yesterday.”
“What are you doing?”
“On the watch——”
“What! Aramis here?” cried Athos.
“At the lesser gate of the castle; he’s posted there.”
“Are you a large party?”
“Sixty.”
“Let him know.”
“This moment, sir.”
And believing that no one could execute the commission better than
himself, Grimaud set off at full speed; whilst, enchanted at being all
together again, the friends awaited his return.
There was no one in the whole group in a bad humor except Cardinal
Mazarin.
Chapter LXXXVII.
Thinking that Porthos will be at last a Baron, and D’Artagnan a Captain.
At the expiration of ten minutes Aramis arrived, accompanied by Grimaud
and eight or ten followers. He was excessively delighted and threw
himself into his friends’ arms.
“You are free, my brothers! free without my aid! and I shall have
succeeded in doing nothing for you in spite of all my efforts.”
“Do not be unhappy, dear friend, on that account; if you have done
nothing as yet, you will do something soon,” replied Athos.
“I had well concerted my plans,” pursued Aramis; “the coadjutor gave me
sixty men; twenty guard the walls of the park, twenty the road from
Rueil to Saint Germain, twenty are dispersed in the woods. Thus I was
able, thanks to the strategic disposition of my forces, to intercept
two couriers from Mazarin to the queen.”
Mazarin listened intently.
“But,” said D’Artagnan, “I trust that you honorably sent them back to
monsieur le cardinal!”
“Ah, yes!” said Aramis, “toward him I should be very likely to practice
such delicacy of sentiment! In one of the despatches the cardinal
declares to the queen that the treasury is empty and that her majesty
has no more money. In the other he announces that he is about to
transport his prisoners to Melun, since Rueil seemed to him not
sufficiently secure. You can understand, dear friend, with what hope I
was inspired by that last letter. I placed myself in ambuscade with my
sixty men; I encircled the castle; the riding horses I entrusted to
Grimaud and I awaited your coming out, which I did not expect till
to-morrow, and I didn’t hope to free you without a skirmish. You are
free to-night, without fighting; so much the better! How did you manage
to escape that scoundrel Mazarin? You must have much reason to complain
of him.”
“Not very much,” said D’Artagnan.
“Really!”
“I might even say that we have some reason to praise him.”
“Impossible!”
“Yes, really; it is owing to him that we are free.”
“Owing to him?”
“Yes, he had us conducted into the orangery by Monsieur Bernouin, his
_valet-de-chambre_, and from there we followed him to visit the Comte
de la Fère. Then he offered us our liberty and we accepted it. He even
went so far as to show us the way out; he led us to the park wall,
which we climbed over without accident, and then we fell in with
Grimaud.”
“Well!” exclaimed Aramis, “this will reconcile me to him; but I wish he
were here that I might tell him that I did not believe him capable of
so noble an act.”
“My lord,” said D’Artagnan, no longer able to contain himself, “allow
me to introduce to you the Chevalier d’Herblay, who wishes—as you may
have heard—to offer his congratulations to your eminence.”
And he retired, discovering Mazarin, who was in great confusion, to the
astonished gaze of Aramis.
“Ho! ho!” exclaimed the latter, “the cardinal! a glorious prize!
Halloo! halloo! friends! to horse! to horse!”
Several horsemen ran quickly to him.
“Zounds!” cried Aramis, “I may have done some good; so, my lord, deign
to receive my most respectful homage! I will lay a wager that ’twas
that Saint Christopher, Porthos, who performed this feat! Apropos! I
forgot——” and he gave some orders in a low voice to one of the
horsemen.
“I think it will be wise to set off,” said D’Artagnan.
“Yes; but I am expecting some one, a friend of Athos.”
“A friend!” exclaimed the count.
“And here he comes, by Jupiter! galloping through the bushes.”
“The count! the count!” cried a young voice that made Athos start.
“Raoul! Raoul!” he ejaculated.
For one moment the young man forgot his habitual respect—he threw
himself on his father’s neck.
“Look, my lord cardinal,” said Aramis, “would it not have been a pity
to have separated men who love each other as we love? Gentlemen,” he
continued, addressing the cavaliers, who became more and more numerous
every instant; “gentlemen, encircle his eminence, that you may show him
the greater honor. He will, indeed give us the favor of his company;
you will, I hope, be grateful for it; Porthos, do not lose sight of his
eminence.”
Aramis then joined Athos and D’Artagnan, who were consulting together.
“Come,” said D’Artagnan, after a conference of five minutes’ duration,
“let us begin our journey.”
“Where are we to go?” asked Porthos.
“To your house, dear Porthos, at Pierrefonds; your fine château is
worthy of affording its princely hospitality to his eminence; it is,
likewise, well situated—neither too near Paris, nor too far from it; we
can establish a communication between it and the capital with great
facility. Come, my lord, you shall be treated like a prince, as you
are.”
“A fallen prince!” exclaimed Mazarin, piteously.
“The chances of war,” said Athos, “are many, but be assured we shall
take no improper advantage of them.”
“No, but we shall make use of them,” said D’Artagnan.
The rest of the night was employed by these cavaliers in traveling with
the wonderful rapidity of former days. Mazarin, still sombre and
pensive, permitted himself to be dragged along in this way; it looked a
race of phantoms. At dawn twelve leagues had been passed without
drawing rein; half the escort were exhausted and several horses fell
down.
“Horses, nowadays, are not what they were formerly,” observed Porthos;
“everything degenerates.”
“I have sent Grimaud to Dammartin,” said Aramis. “He is to bring us
five fresh horses—one for his eminence, four for us. We, at least, must
keep close to monseigneur; the rest of the start will rejoin us later.
Once beyond Saint Denis we shall have nothing to fear.”
Grimaud, in fact, brought back five horses. The nobleman to whom he
applied, being a friend of Porthos, was very ready, not to sell them,
as was proposed, but to lend them. Ten minutes later the escort stopped
at Ermenonville, but the four friends went on with well sustained