“Ay, that’s what he did before his people,” said he,
endeavoring to cheat himself with hopes. “But, privately —
between you and him — what did he do? Answer!”
“Alas! my lord, he sent to me four cavaliers, who gave me
the horse with which you just now saw me come back. These
cavaliers conducted me, in great haste, to the little port
of Tenby, threw me, rather than embarked me, into a
fishing-boat, about to sail for Brittany, and here I am.”
“Oh!” sighed the young man, clasping his neck convulsively
with his hand, and with a sob. “Parry, is that all? — is
that all?”
“Yes, my lord; that is all.”
After this brief reply ensued a long interval of silence,
broken only by the convulsive beating of the heel of the
young man on the floor.
The old man endeavored to change the conversation; it was
leading to thoughts much too sinister.
“My lord,” said he, “what is the meaning of all the noise
which preceded me? What are these people crying `Vive le
Roi!’ for? What king do they mean? and what are all these
lights for?”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
“Ah! Parry,” replied the young man ironically, “don’t you
know that this is the King of France visiting his good city
of Blois? All those trumpets are his, all those gilded
housings are his, all those gentlemen wear swords that are
his. His mother precedes him in a carriage magnificently
encrusted with silver and gold. Happy mother! His minister
heaps up millions, and conducts him to a rich bride. Then
all these people rejoice, they love their king, they hail
him with their acclamations, and they cry, `Vive le Roi!
Vive le Roi!'”
“Well, well, my lord,” said Parry, more uneasy at the turn
the conversation had taken than at the other.
“You know,” resumed the unknown, “that my mother and my
sister, whilst all this is going on in honor of the King of
France, have neither money nor bread; you know that I myself
shall be poor and degraded within a fortnight, when all
Europe will become acquainted with what you have told me.
Parry, are there not examples in which a man of my condition
should himself —- ”
“My lord, in the name of Heaven —- ”
“You are right, Parry, I am a coward, and if I do nothing
for myself, what will God do? No, no, I have two arms,
Parry, and I have a sword.” And he struck his arm violently
with his hand and took down his sword, which hung against
the wall.
“What are you going to do, my lord?”
“What am I going to do, Parry? What every one in my family
does. My mother lives on public charity, my sister begs for
my mother; I have, somewhere or other, brothers who equally
beg for themselves; and I, the eldest, will go and do as all
the rest do — I will go and ask charity!”
And at these words, which he finished sharply with a nervous
and terrible laugh, the young man girded on his sword, took
his hat from the trunk, fastened to his shoulder a black
cloak, which he had worn during all his journey, and
pressing the two hands of the old man, who watched his
proceedings with a look of anxiety, —
“My good Parry,” said he, “order a fire, drink, eat, sleep,
and be happy; let us both be happy, my faithful friend, my
only friend. We are rich, as rich as kings!”
He struck the bag of pistoles with his clenched hand as he
spoke, and it fell heavily to the ground. He resumed that
dismal laugh that had so alarmed Parry; and whilst the whole
household was screaming, singing, and preparing to install
the travelers who had been preceded by their lackeys, he
glided out by the principal entrance into the street, where
the old man, who had gone to the window, lost sight of him
in a moment.
CHAPTER 8
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
What his Majesty King Louis XIV. was at the Age of Twenty-Two
It has been seen, by the account we have endeavored to give