last. Oh, duped, duped like a monkey, cheated with an empty
nutshell!” And with a hearty blow bestowed upon the nose of
the smirking valet de chambre, he made all haste out of the
episcopal palace. Furet, however good a trotter, was not
equal to present circumstances. D’Artagnan therefore took
the post, and chose a horse which he soon caused to
demonstrate, with good spurs and a light hand, that deer are
not the swiftest animals in nature.
CHAPTER 74
In which D’Artagnan makes all Speed,
Porthos snores, and Aramis counsels
From thirty to thirty-five hours after the events we have
just related, as M. Fouquet, according to his custom, having
interdicted his door, was working in the cabinet of his
house at Saint-Mande, with which we are already acquainted,
a carriage, drawn by four horses steaming with sweat,
entered the court at full gallop. This carriage was,
probably, expected, for three or four lackeys hastened to
the door, which they opened. Whilst M. Fouquet rose from his
bureau and ran to the window, a man got painfully out of the
carriage descending with difficulty the three steps of the
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door, leaning upon the shoulders of the lackeys. He had
scarcely uttered his name, when the valet upon whom he was
not leaning sprang up the perron, and disappeared in the
vestibule. This man went to inform his master; but he had no
occasion to knock at the door: Fouquet was standing on the
threshold.
“Monseigneur, the Bishop of Vannes,” said he.
“Very well!” replied his master.
Then, leaning over the banister of the staircase, of which
Aramis was beginning to ascend the first steps, —
“Ah, dear friend!” said he, “you, so soon!”
“Yes; I, myself, monsieur! but bruised, battered, as you
see.”
“Oh! my poor friend,” said Fouquet, presenting him his arm,
on which Aramis leant, whilst the servants drew back
respectfully.
“Bah!” replied Aramis, “it is nothing, since I am here; the
principal thing was that I should get here, and here I am.”
“Speak quickly,” said Fouquet, closing the door of the
cabinet behind Aramis and himself.
“Are we alone?”
“Yes, perfectly.”
“No one observes us? — no one can hear us?”
“Be satisfied; nobody.”
“Is M. du Vallon arrived?”
“Yes.”
“And you have received my letter?”
“Yes. The affair is serious, apparently, since it
necessitates your attendance in Paris, at a moment when your
presence was so urgent elsewhere.”
“You are right, it could not be more serious.”
“Thank you! thank you! What is it about? But, for God’s
sake! before anything else, take time to breathe, dear
friend. You are so pale, you frighten me.”
“I am really in great pain. But, for Heaven’s sake, think
nothing about me. Did M. du Vallon tell you nothing, when he
delivered the letter to you?”
“No; I heard a great noise; I went to the window; I saw at
the foot of the perron, a sort of horseman of marble; I went
down, he held the letter out to me, and his horse fell down
dead.”
“But he?”
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“He fell with the horse; he was lifted, and carried to an
apartment. Having read the letter, I went up to him, in
hopes of obtaining more ample information; but he was
asleep, and, after such a fashion, that it was impossible to
wake him. I took pity on him; I gave orders that his boots
should be cut from off his legs, and that he should be left
quite undisturbed.”
“So far well; now, this is the question in hand,
monseigneur. You have seen M. d’Artagnan in Paris, have you
not?”
“Certes, and think him a man of intelligence, and even a man
of heart; although he did bring about the death of our dear
friends, Lyodot and D’Eymeris.”
“Alas! yes, I heard of that. At Tours I met the courier who
was bringing me the letter from Gourville, and the
dispatches from Pellisson. Have you seriously reflected on
that event, monsieur?”
“Yes.”
“And in it you perceived a direct attack upon your
sovereignty?”
“And do you believe it to be so?”