the courtyard and the stables. Baisemeaux installed the
prelate with that all-inclusive politeness of which a good
man, or a grateful man, alone possesses the secret. An
arm-chair, a footstool, a small table beside him, on which
to rest his hand, everything was prepared by the governor
himself. With his own hands, too, he placed upon the table,
with much solicitude, the bag containing the gold, which one
of the soldiers had brought up with the most respectful
devotion; and the soldier having left the room, Baisemeaux
himself closed the door after him, drew aside one of the
window-curtains, and looked steadfastly at Aramis to see if
the prelate required anything further.
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“Well, my lord,” he said, still standing up, “of all men of
their word, you still continue to be the most punctual.”
“In matters of business, dear M. de Baisemeaux, exactitude
is not a virtue only, it is a duty as well.”
“Yes, in matters of business, certainly; but what you have
with me is not of that character; it is a service you are
rendering me.”
“Come, confess, dear M. de Baisemeaux, that, notwithstanding
this exactitude, you have not been without a little
uneasiness.”
“About your health, I certainly have,” stammered out
Baisemeaux.
“I wished to come here yesterday, but I was not able, as I
was too fatigued,” continued Aramis. Baisemeaux anxiously
slipped another cushion behind his guest’s back. “But,”
continued Aramis, “I promised myself to come and pay you a
visit to-day, early in the morning.”
“You are really very kind, my lord.”
“And it was a good thing for me I was punctual, I think.”
“What do you mean?”
“Yes, you were going out.” At which latter remark Baisemeaux
colored and said, “It is true I was going out.”
“Then I prevent you,” said Aramis; whereupon the
embarrassment of Baisemeaux became visibly greater. “I am
putting you to inconvenience,” he continued, fixing a keen
glance upon the poor governor; “if I had known that, I
should not have come.”
“How can your lordship imagine that you could ever
inconvenience me?”
“Confess you were going in search of money.”
“No,” stammered out Baisemeaux, “no! I assure you I was
going to —- ”
“Does the governor still intend to go to M. Fouquet?”
suddenly called out the major from below. Baisemeaux ran to
the window like a madman. “No, no,” he exclaimed in a state
of desperation, “who the deuce is speaking of M. Fouquet?
are you drunk below there? why an I interrupted when I am
engaged on business?”
“You were going to M. Fouquet’s,” said Aramis biting his
lips, “to M. Fouquet, the abbe, or the superintendent?”
Baisemeaux almost made up his mind to tell an untruth, but
he could not summon courage to do so. “To the
superintendent,” he said.
“It is true, then, that you were in want of money, since you
were going to a person who gives it away!”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
“I assure you, my lord —- ”
“You were afraid?”
“My dear lord, it was the uncertainty and ignorance in which
I was as to where you were to be found.”
“You would have found the money you require at M. Fouquet’s,
for he is a man whose hand is always open.”
“I swear that I should never have ventured to ask M. Fouquet
for money. I only wished to ask him for your address.”
“To ask M. Fouquet for my address?” exclaimed Aramis,
opening his eyes in real astonishment.
“Yes,” said Baisemeaux, greatly disturbed by the glance
which the prelate fixed upon him, — “at M. Fouquet’s
certainly.”
“There is no harm in that, dear M. Baisemeaux, only I would
ask, why ask my address of M. Fouquet?”
“That I might write to you.”
“I understand,” said Aramis, smiling, “but that is not what
I meant; I do not ask you what you required my address for;
I only ask why you should go to M. Fouquet for it?”
“Oh!” said Baisemeaux, “as Belle-Isle is the property of M.
Fouquet, and as Belle-Isle is in the diocese of Vannes, and
as you are bishop of Vannes —- “