Twenty Years Later by Dumas, Alexandre. Part one

de la Chevrette.”

“And I shall be at the convent of Jesuits; from six in the

morning to eight at night come by the door. From eight in

the evening until six in the morning come in by the window.”

“Adieu, dear friend.”

“Oh, I can’t let you go so! I will go with you.” And he took

his sword and cloak.

“He wants to be sure that I go away,” said D’Artagnan to

himself.

Aramis whistled for Bazin, but Bazin was asleep in the

ante-chamber, and Aramis was obliged to shake him by the ear

to awake him.

Bazin stretched his arms, rubbed his eyes, and tried to go

to sleep again.

“Come, come, sleepy head; quick, the ladder!”

“But,” said Bazin, yawning portentously, “the ladder is

still at the window.”

“The other one, the gardener’s. Didn’t you see that Monsieur

d’Artagnan mounted with difficulty? It will be even more

difficult to descend.”

D’Artagnan was about to assure Aramis that he could descend

easily, when an idea came into his head which silenced him.

Bazin uttered a profound sigh and went out to look for the

ladder. Presently a good, solid, wooden ladder was placed

against the window.

Page 78

Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After

“Now then,” said D’Artagnan, “this is something like; this

is a means of communication. A woman could go up a ladder

like that.”

Aramis’s searching look seemed to seek his friend’s thought

even at the bottom of his heart, but D’Artagnan sustained

the inquisition with an air of admirable simplicity.

Besides, at that moment he put his foot on the first step of

the ladder and began his descent. In a moment he was on the

ground. Bazin remained at the window.

“Stay there,” said Aramis; “I shall return immediately.”

The two friends went toward the shed. At their approach

Planchet came out leading the two horses.

“That is good to see,” said Aramis. “There is a servant

active and vigilant, not like that lazy fellow Bazin, who is

no longer good for anything since he became connected with

the church. Follow us, Planchet; we shall continue our

conversation to the end of the village.”

They traversed the width of the village, talking of

indifferent things, then as they reached the last houses:

“Go, then, dear friend,” said Aramis, “follow your own

career. Fortune lavishes her smiles upon you; do not let her

flee from your embrace. As for me, I remain in my humility

and indolence. Adieu!”

“Thus ’tis quite decided,” said D’Artagnan, “that what I

have to offer to you does not tempt you?”

“On the contrary, it would tempt me were I any other man,”

rejoined Aramis; “but I repeat, I am made up of

contradictions. What I hate to-day I adore to-morrow, and

vice versa. You see that I cannot, like you, for instance,

settle on any fixed plan.”

“Thou liest, subtile one,” said D’Artagnan to himself. “Thou

alone, on the contrary, knowest how to choose thy object and

to gain it stealthily.”

The friends embraced. They descended into the plain by the

ladder. Planchet met them hard by the shed. D’Artagnan

jumped into the saddle, then the old companions in arms

again shook hands. D’Artagnan and Planchet spurred their

steeds and took the road to Paris.

But after he had gone about two hundred steps D’Artagnan

stopped short, alighted, threw the bridle of his horse over

the arm of Planchet and took the pistols from his saddle-bow

to fasten them to his girdle.

“What’s the matter?” asked Planchet.

“This is the matter: be he ever so cunning he shall never

say I was his dupe. Stand here, don’t stir, turn your back

to the road and wait for me.”

Having thus spoken, D’Artagnan cleared the ditch by the

roadside and crossed the plain so as to wind around the

village. He had observed between the house that Madame de

Page 79

Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After

Longueville inhabited and the convent of the Jesuits, an

open space surrounded by a hedge.

The moon had now risen and he could see well enough to

retrace his road.

He reached the hedge and hid himself behind it; in passing

by the house where the scene which we have related took

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *