punishment?”
“Alas! I cannot tell, said the young man; “all that I can
tell you now is the very opposite of what I felt seven years
ago.”
“To hear you converse, to witness your resignation, one
might almost believe that you liked your imprisonment?”
“I endure it.
“In the certainty of recovering your freedom some day, I
suppose?”
“I have no certainty; hope I have, and that is all; and yet
I acknowledge that this hope becomes less every day.”
“Still, why should you not again be free, since you have
already been so?”
“That is precisely the reason,” replied the young man,
“which prevents me expecting liberty; why should I have been
imprisoned at all if it had been intended to release me
afterwards?”
“How old are you?”
“I do not know.”
“What is your name?”
“I have forgotten the name by which I was called.”
“Who are your parents?”
“I never knew them.”
“But those who brought you up?”
“They did not call me their son.”
“Did you ever love any one before coming here?”
“I loved my nurse, and my flowers.”
“Was that all?”
“I also loved my valet.”
“Do you regret your nurse and your valet?”
“I wept very much when they died.”
“Did they die since you have been here, or before you came?”
“They died the evening before I was carried off.”
“Both at the same time?”
“Yes, both at the same time.”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
“In what manner were you carried off?”
“A man came for me, directed me to get into a carriage,
which was closed and locked, and brought me here.”
“Would you be able to recognize that man again?”
“He was masked.”
“Is not this an extraordinary tale?” said Baisemeaux, in a
low tone of voice, to Aramis, who could hardly breathe.
“It is indeed extraordinary,” he murmured.
“But what is still more extraordinary is, that he has never
told me so much as he has just told you.”
“Perhaps the reason may be that you have never questioned
him,” said Aramis.
“It’s possible,” replied Baisemeaux; “I have no curiosity.
Have you looked at the room? it’s a fine one, is it not?”
“Very much so.”
“A carpet —- ”
“Beautiful.”
“I’ll wager he had nothing like it before he came here.”
“I think so, too.” And then again turning towards the young
man, he said, “Do you not remember to have been visited at
some time or another by a strange lady or gentleman?”
“Yes, indeed; thrice by a woman, who each time came to the
door in a carriage, and entered covered with a veil, which
she raised when we were together and alone.”
“Do you remember that woman?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say to you?”
The young man smiled mournfully, and then replied, “She
inquired, as you have just done, if I were happy, and if I
were getting weary?”
“What did she do on arriving, and on leaving you?”
“She pressed me in her arms, held me in her embrace, and
kissed me.”
“Do you remember her?”
“Perfectly.”
“Do you recall her features distinctly?”
“Yes.”
“You would recognize her, then, if accident brought her
before you, or led you into her presence?”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
“Most certainly.”
A flush of fleeting satisfaction passed across Aramis’s
face. At this moment Baisemeaux heard the jailer
approaching. “Shall we leave?” he said, hastily, to Aramis.
Aramis, who probably had learnt all that he cared to know,
replied, “When you like.”
The young man saw them prepare to leave, and saluted them
politely. Baisemeaux replied merely by a nod of the head,
while Aramis, with a respect, arising perhaps from the sight
of such misfortune, saluted the prisoner profoundly. They
left the room, Baisemeaux closing the door behind them.
“Well,” said Baisemeaux, as they descended the staircase,
“what do you think of it all?”
“I have discovered the secret, my dear governor,” he said.
“Bah! what is the secret, then?”
“A murder was committed in that house.”
“Nonsense.”
“But attend; the valet and nurse died the same day.”
“Well.”
“And by poison. What do you think?”
“That it is very likely to be true.”