“Oh, no, no! I am going,” said d’Artagnan, but imparting to his voice an evident tone of curiosity; for Aramis’s annoyance, well dissembled as it was, had not escaped him, and he knew that in that impenetrable mind even the most apparently trivial thing was designed to some end,- an unknown one, but one which from the knowledge he had of his friend’s character the musketeer felt must be important.
On his part, Aramis saw that d’Artagnan was not without suspicion, and pressed him. “Stay, by all means!” he said; “this is what it is.” Then turning towards the tailor, “My dear Percerin,” said he.- “I am even very happy that you are here, d’Artagnan.”
“Oh, indeed!” exclaimed the Gascon, for the third time, even less deceived this time than before.
Percerin never moved. Aramis roused him violently, by snatching from his hands the stuff upon which he was engaged. “My dear Percerin,” said he, “I have near at hand M. Lebrun, one of M. Fouquet’s painters.”
“Ah, very good!” thought d’Artagnan; “but why Lebrun?”
Aramis looked at d’Artagnan, who seemed to be occupied with an engraving of Mark Antony. “And you wish to have made for him a dress similar to those of the Epicureans?” answered Percerin; and while saying this in an absent manner, the worthy tailor endeavored to recapture his piece of brocade.
“An Epicurean’s dress?” asked d’Artagnan, in a tone of inquiry.
“I see,” said Aramis, with a most engaging smile; “it is written that our dear d’Artagnan shall know all our secrets this evening. Yes, my friend, you have surely heard speak of M. Fouquet’s Epicureans, have you not?”
“Undoubtedly. Is it not a kind of poetical society, of which La Fontaine, Loret, Pellisson, and Moliere are members, and which holds its sittings at St. Mande?”
“Exactly so. Well, we are going to put our poets in uniform, and enroll them in the service of the King.”
“Oh, very well! I understand,- a surprise M. Fouquet is getting up for the King. Be at ease; if that is the secret about M. Lebrun, I will not mention it.”
“Always agreeable, my friend! No, M. Lebrun has nothing to do with this part of it; the secret which concerns him is far more important than the other.”
“Then, if it is so important as all that, I prefer not to know it,” said d’Artagnan, making a show of departure.
“Come in, M. Lebrun, come in!” said Aramis, opening a side-door with his right hand and holding back d’Artagnan with his left.
“I’ faith, I too am quite in the dark,” quoth Percerin.
Aramis took an “opportunity,” as is said in theatrical matters. “My dear M. Percerin,” he continued, “you are making five dresses for the King, are you not?- one in brocade, one in hunting-cloth, one in velvet, one in satin, and one in Florentine stuffs?”
“Yes; but how do you know all that, Monseigneur?” said Percerin, astounded.
“It is all very simple, my dear Monsieur. There will be a hunt, a banquet, a concert, a promenade, and a reception; these five kinds of dress are required by etiquette.”
“You know everything, Monseigneur!
“And a great many more things too,” murmured d’Artagnan.
“But,” cried the tailor, in triumph, “what you do not know, Monseigneur, prince of the church though you are; what nobody will know; what only the King, Mademoiselle de la Valliere, and myself do know,- is the color of the materials, the nature of the ornaments, and the cut, the ensemble, the finish of it all!”
“Well,” said Aramis, “that is precisely what I have come to ask you, dear Percerin.”
“Ah, bah!” exclaimed the tailor, terrified, though Aramis had pronounced these words in his sweetest and most honeyed voice. The request appeared, on reflection, so exaggerated, so ridiculous, so monstrous to M. Percerin that first he laughed to himself, then aloud, and finished with a shout. D’Artagnan followed his example, not because he found the matter so “very funny,” but in order not to allow Aramis to cool.
Aramis suffered them to laugh, and then, when they had become quiet, “At first view,” said he, “I appear to be hazarding an absurd question, do I not? But d’Artagnan, who is incarnate wisdom itself, will tell you that I could not do otherwise than ask you this.”
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