Man in the Iron Mask by Dumas, Alexandre part one

“Ah!” replied Henrietta, “what do you understand, then?”

“That which your royal Highness wishes me to understand,” said Raoul, trembling, notwithstanding his command over himself, as he pronounced these words.

“In point of fact,” murmured the princess, “it seems cruel; but since I have begun-”

“Yes, Madame, since your Highness has deigned to begin, will you deign to finish-”

Henrietta rose hurriedly, and walked a few paces up and down her room. “What did M. de Guiche tell you?” she said suddenly.

“Nothing, Madame.”

“Nothing! Did he say nothing? Ah, how well I recognize him in that!”

“No doubt he wished to spare me.”

“And that is what friends call friendship. But surely M. d’Artagnan, whom you have just left, must have told you.”

“No more than De Guiche, Madame.”

Henrietta made a gesture full of impatience, as she said, “At least, you know all that the court has known?”

“I know nothing at all, Madame.”

“Not the scene in the storm?”

“Not the scene in the storm.”

“Not the tete-a-tete in the forest?”

“Not the tete-a-tete in the forest.”

“Nor the flight to Chaillot?”

Raoul, whose head drooped like the flower which has been cut down by the sickle, made an almost superhuman effort to smile as he replied with the greatest gentleness: “I have had the honor to tell your royal Highness that I am absolutely ignorant of everything,- that I am a poor unremembered outcast, who has this moment arrived from England. There have been so many stormy waves between myself and those whom I left behind me here, that the rumor of none of the circumstances your Highness refers to has been able to reach me.”

Henrietta was affected by his extreme pallor, his gentleness, and his great courage. The principal feeling in her heart at that moment was an eager desire to hear the nature of the remembrance which the poor lover retained of her who had made him suffer so much. “M. de Bragelonne,” said she, “that which your friends have refused to do, I will do for you, whom I like and esteem. I will be your friend. You hold your head high, as a man of honor should do; and I should regret that you should have to bow it down under ridicule, and in a few days, it may be, under contempt.”

“Ah!” exclaimed Raoul, perfectly livid. “Has it already gone so far?”

“If you do not know,” said the princess, “I see that you guess; you were affianced, I believe, to Mademoiselle de la Valliere?”

“Yes, Madame.”

“By that right, then, you deserve to be warned about her, as some day or other I shall be obliged to dismiss her from my service-”

“Dismiss La Valliere!” cried Bragelonne.

“Of course! Do you suppose that I shall always be accessible to the tears and protestations of the King? No, no; my house shall no longer be made a convenience for such practices. But you tremble!”

“No, Madame, no,” said Bragelonne, making an effort over himself. “I thought I should have died just now; that was all. Your royal Highness did me the honor to say that the King wept and implored you-”

“Yes; but in vain,” returned the princess, who then related to Raoul the scene that took place at Chaillot, and the King’s despair on his return. She told him of his indulgence to herself, and the terrible word with which the outraged princess, the humiliated coquette, had dashed aside the royal anger.

Raoul bowed his head.

“What do you think of it all?” she said.

“The King loves her,” he replied.

“But you seem to think she does not love him!”

“Alas, Madame, I still think of the time when she loved me.”

Henrietta was for a moment struck with admiration at this sublime disbelief; and then, shrugging her shoulders, she said: “You do not believe me, I see. Oh, how deeply you love her! And you doubt if she loves the King?”

“Until I have proof. Pardon! I have her word, you see; and she is a noble child.”

“You require a proof? Be it so! Come with me.”

Chapter XIV: A Domiciliary Visit

THE princess, preceding Raoul, led him through the courtyard towards that part of the building which La Valliere inhabited; and ascending the same staircase which Raoul had himself ascended that very morning, she paused at the door of the room in which the young man had been so strangely received by Montalais. The opportunity had been well chosen to carry out the project which Madame Henrietta had conceived, for the chateau was empty. The King, the courtiers, and the ladies of the court had set off for St. Germain; Madame Henrietta alone, aware of Bragelonne’s return, and thinking over the advantages which might be drawn from this return, had feigned indisposition in order to remain behind. Madame was therefore confident of finding La Valliere’s room and Saint-Aignan’s apartment unoccupied. She took a pass-key from her pocket, and opened the door of her maid-of-honor’s room. Bragelonne’s gaze was immediately fixed upon the interior of the room, which he recognized at once; and the impression which the sight of it produced upon him was one of the first tortures that had awaited him. The princess looked at him, and her practised eye could at once detect what was passing in the young man’s heart.

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