Chapter LIV: The Last Adieux
RAOUL uttered a cry, and affectionately embraced Porthos. Aramis and Athos embraced like old men; and this embrace itself was a question for Aramis, who immediately said, “My friend, we have not long to remain with you.”
“Ah!” said the count.
“Only time to tell you of my good fortune,” interrupted Porthos.
“Ah!” said Raoul.
Athos looked silently at Aramis, whose sombre air had already appeared to him very little in harmony with the good news of which Porthos spoke.
“What is the good fortune that has happened to you? Let us hear it,” said Raoul, with a smile.
“The King has made me a duke,” said the worthy Porthos, with an air of mystery, in the ear of the young man; “a duke by brevet.”
But the asides of Porthos were always loud enough to be heard by everybody. His murmurs were in the diapason of ordinary roaring. Athos heard him, and uttered an exclamation which made Aramis start. The latter took Athos by the arm, and after having asked Porthos’s permission to say a word to his friend in private. “My dear Athos,” he began, “you see me overwhelmed with grief.”
“With grief, my dear friend?” cried the count.
“In two words. I have raised a conspiracy against the King; that conspiracy has failed, and at this moment I am doubtless pursued.”
“You are pursued! a conspiracy! Eh! my friend, what do you tell me?”
“A sad truth. I am entirely ruined.”
“Well, but Porthos- this title of duke- what does all that mean?”
“That is the subject of my severest pain; that is the deepest of my wounds. I have, believing in an infallible success, drawn Porthos into my conspiracy. He has thrown himself into it as you know he would do, with all his strength, without knowing what he was about; and now he is as much compromised as myself,- as completely ruined as I am.”
“Good God!” and Athos turned towards Porthos, who was smiling complacently.
“I must make you acquainted with the whole. Listen to me,” continued Aramis; and he related the history as we know it. Athos, during the recital, several times felt the sweat break from his forehead. “It was a great idea,” said he; “but a great error.”
“For which I am punished, Athos.”
“Therefore I will not tell you my entire thought.”
“Tell it, nevertheless.”
“It is a crime.”
“Capital, I know it is; high treason.”
“Porthos poor Porthos!”
“What should I have done? Success, as I have told you, was certain.”
“M. Fouquet is an honorable man.”
“And I am a fool for having so ill judged him,” said Aramis. “Oh, the wisdom of man! Oh, a vast millstone which grinds a world, and which is one day stopped by a grain of sand which has fallen, no one knows how, in its wheels!”
“Say by a diamond, Aramis. But the thing is done. How do you think of acting?”
“I am taking away Porthos. The King will never believe that that worthy man has acted innocently. He never can believe that Porthos has thought he was serving the King, while acting as he has done. His head would pay for my fault. It shall not be so.”
“You are taking him away, whither?”
“To Belle-Isle, at first. That is an impregnable place of refuge. Then I have the sea, and a vessel to pass over into England, where I have many relatives.”
“You? in England?”
“Yes; or else in Spain, where I have still more.”
“But our excellent Porthos! you ruin him, for the King will confiscate all his property.”
“All is provided for. I know how, when once in Spain, to reconcile myself with Louis XIV, and restore Porthos to favor.”
“You have credit, seemingly, Aramis?” said Athos, with a discreet air.
“Much; and at the service of my friends.”
These words were accompanied by a warm pressure of the hand.
“Thank you,” replied the count.
“And while we are on that head,” said Aramis, “you also are a malcontent; you also, Raoul, have griefs to lay to the King. Follow our example; pass over into Belle-Isle. Then we shall see. I guarantee upon my honor that in a month there will be war between France and Spain on the subject of this son of Louis XIII, who is an Infante likewise, and whom France detains inhumanly. Now, as Louis XIV would have no inclination for a war on that subject, I will answer for a transaction, the result of which must bring greatness to Porthos and to me, and a duchy in France to you, who are already a grandee of Spain. Will you join us?”