Man in the Iron Mask by Dumas, Alexandre part two

The Prince lightly touched Aramis’s arm. “You speak to me,” he said, “of that religious order whose chief you are. For me the result of your words is, that the day you desire to hurl down the man you shall have raised, the event will be accomplished; and that you will keep under your hand your creature of to-day.”

“Undeceive yourself, Monseigneur,” replied the bishop. “I should not take the trouble to play this terrible game with your royal Highness, if I had not a double interest in winning. The day you are elevated, you are elevated forever; you will overturn the footstool, as you rise, and will send it rolling so far that not even the sight of it will ever again recall to you its right to your remembrance.”

“Oh, Monsieur!”

“Your movement, Monseigneur, arises from an excellent disposition. I thank you. Be well assured, I aspire to more than gratitude! I am convinced that when arrived at the summit you will judge me still more worthy to be your friend; and then, Monseigneur, we two will do such great deeds that ages hereafter shall speak of them.”

“Tell me plainly, Monsieur,- tell me without disguise,- what I am today, and what you aim at my being tomorrow.”

“You are the son of King Louis XIII, brother of Louis XIV; you are the natural and legitimate heir to the throne of France. In keeping you near him, as Monsieur has been kept,- Monsieur, your younger brother,- the King would reserve to himself the right of being legitimate sovereign. The doctors only and God could dispute his legitimacy. But the doctors always prefer the King who is to the King who is not. God has wrought against himself in wronging a Prince who is an honest man. But God has willed that you should be persecuted; and this persecution to-day consecrates you King of France. You had then a right to reign, seeing that it is disputed; you had a right to be proclaimed, seeing that you have been concealed; you are of kingly blood, since no one has dared to shed your blood as your servants’ has been shed. Now see what He has done for you,- this God whom you so often accused of having in every way thwarted you! He has given you the features, figure, age, and voice of your brother; and the very causes of your persecution are about to become those of your triumphant restoration. To-morrow, after to-morrow,- from the very first, regal phantom, living shade of Louis XIV, you will sit upon his throne, whence the will of Heaven, confided in execution to the arm of man, will have hurled him without hope of return.”

“I understand,” said the Prince; “my brother’s blood will not be shed, then.”

“You will be sole arbiter of his fate.”

“The secret of which they made an evil use against me?”

“You will employ it against him. What did he do to conceal it? He concealed you. Living image of himself, you will defeat the conspiracy of Mazarin and Anne of Austria. You, my Prince, will have the same interest in concealing him, who will as a prisoner resemble you, as you will resemble him as King.”

“I return to what I was saying to you. Who will guard him?”

“Who guarded you?”

“You know this secret,- you have made use of it with regard to myself. Who else knows it?”

“The Queen-Mother and Madame de Chevreuse.”

“What will they do?”

“Nothing, if you choose.”

“How is that?”

“How can they recognize you, if you act so that no one can recognize you?”

“‘Tis true; but there are grave difficulties.”

“State them, Prince.”

“My brother is married; I cannot take my brother’s wife.”

“I will cause Spain to consent to a divorce: it is in the interest of your new policy; it is human morality. All that is really noble and really useful in this world will find its account therein.”

“The imprisoned King will speak.”

“To whom do you think he should speak,- to the walls?”

“You mean, by walls, the men in whom you put confidence.”

“If need be, yes. And besides, your royal Highness-“

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