CHAPTER 34
Of the Embarrassment of Riches
D’Artagnan lost no time, and as soon as the thing was
suitable and opportune, he paid a visit to the lord
treasurer of his majesty. He had then the satisfaction to
exchange a piece of paper, covered with very ugly writing,
for a prodigious number of crowns, recently stamped with the
effigies of his very gracious majesty Charles II.
D’Artagnan easily controlled himself: and yet, on this
occasion, he could not help evincing a joy which the reader
will perhaps comprehend, if he deigns to have some
indulgence for a man who, since his birth, had never seen so
many pieces and rolls of pieces juxtaplaced in an order
truly agreeable to the eye. The treasurer placed all the
rolls in bags, and closed each bag with a stamp sealed with
the arms of England, a favor which treasurers do not grant
to everybody. Then impassible, and just as polite as he
ought to be towards a man honored with the friendship of the
king, he said to D’Artagnan:
“Take away your money, sir.” Your money! These words made a
thousand chords vibrate in the heart of D’Artagnan, which he
had never felt before. He had the bags packed in a small
cart, and returned home meditating deeply. A man who
possesses three hundred thousand crowns can no longer expect
to wear a smooth brow; a wrinkle for every hundred thousand
livres is not too much.
D’Artagnan shut himself up, ate no dinner, closed his door
to everybody, and, with a lighted lamp, and a loaded pistol
on the table, he watched all night, ruminating upon the
means of preventing these lovely crowns, which from the
coffers of the king had passed into his coffers, from
passing from his coffers into the pockets of any thief
whatever. The best means discovered by the Gascon was to
inclose his treasure, for the present, under locks so solid
that no wrist could break them, and so complicated that no
master-key could open them. D’Artagnan remembered that the
English are masters in mechanics and conservative industry;
and he determined to go in the morning in search of a
mechanic who would sell him a strong box. He did not go far;
Master Will Jobson, dwelling in Piccadilly, listened to his
propositions, comprehended his wishes, and promised to make
him a safety lock that should relieve him from all future
fear.
“I will give you,” said he, “a piece of mechanism entirely
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
new. At the first serious attempt upon your lock, an
invisible plate will open of itself and vomit forth a pretty
copper bullet of the weight of a mark — which will knock
down the intruder, and not without a loud report. What do
you think of it?”
“I think it very ingenious,” cried D’Artagnan, “the little
copper bullet pleases me mightily. So now, sir mechanic, the
terms?”
“A fortnight for the execution, and fifteen hundred crowns
payable on delivery,” replied the artisan.
D’Artagnan’s brow darkened. A fortnight was delay enough to
allow the thieves of London time to remove all occasion for
the strong box. As to the fifteen hundred crowns — that
would be paying too dear for what a little vigilance would
procure him for nothing.
“I will think of it,” said he, “thank you, sir.” And he
returned home at full speed; nobody had yet touched his
treasure. That same day Athos paid a visit to his friend and
found him so thoughtful that he could not help expressing
his surprise.
“How is this?” said he, “you are rich and not gay — you,
who were so anxious for wealth!”
“My friend, the pleasures to which we are not accustomed
oppress us more than the griefs with which we are familiar.
Give me your opinion, if you please. I can ask you, who have
always had money: when we have money, what do we do with
it?”
“That depends.”
“What have you done with yours, seeing that it has not made
you a miser or a prodigal? For avarice dries up the heart,
and prodigality drowns it — is not that so?”
“Fabricius could not have spoken more justly. But in truth,
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