years,” was the reply.
“En route, Monsieur d’Artagnan,” said the cardinal; “all
goes well in this direction.”
D’Artagnan, in the meantime, had taken the head of his
detachment without a word and with that ready and profound
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Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
obedience which marks the character of an old soldier.
He led the way toward the hill of Saint Roche. The Rue
Richelieu and the Rue Villedot were then, owing to their
vicinity to the ramparts, less frequented than any others in
that direction, for the town was thinly inhabited
thereabout.
“Who is in command here?” asked the cardinal.
“Villequier,” said Guitant.
“Diavolo! Speak to him yourself, for ever since you were
deputed by me to arrest the Duc de Beaufort, this officer
and I have been on bad terms. He laid claim to that honor as
captain of the royal guards.”
“I am aware of that, and I have told him a hundred times
that he was wrong. The king could not give that order, since
at that time he was hardly four years old.”
“Yes, but I could give him the order — I, Guitant — and I
preferred to give it to you.”
Guitant, without reply, rode forward and desired the
sentinel to call Monsieur de Villequier.
“Ah! so you are here!” cried the officer, in the tone of
ill-humor habitual to him; “what the devil are you doing
here?”
“I wish to know — can you tell me, pray — is anything
fresh occurring in this part of the town?”
“What do you mean? People cry out, `Long live the king! down
with Mazarin!’ That’s nothing new; no, we’ve been used to
those acclamations for some time.”
“And you sing chorus,” replied Guitant, laughing.
“Faith, I’ve half a mind to do it. In my opinion the people
are right; and cheerfully would I give up five years of my
pay — which I am never paid, by the way — to make the king
five years older.”
“Really! And pray what would come to pass, supposing the
king were five years older than he is?”
“As soon as ever the king comes of age he will issue his
commands himself, and ’tis far pleasanter to obey the
grandson of Henry IV. than the son of Peter Mazarin.
‘Sdeath! I would die willingly for the king, but supposing I
happened to be killed on account of Mazarin, as your nephew
came near being to-day, there could be nothing in Paradise,
however well placed I might be there, that could console me
for it.”
“Well, well, Monsieur de Villequier,” Mazarin interposed, “I
shall make it my care the king hears of your loyalty. Come,
gentlemen,” addressing the troop, “let us return.”
“Stop,” exclaimed Villequier, “so Mazarin was here! so much
the better. I have been waiting for a long time to tell him
what I think of him. I am obliged to you Guitant, although
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Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
your intention was perhaps not very favorable to me, for
such an opportunity.”
He turned away and went off to his post, whistling a tune
then popular among the party called the “Fronde,” whilst
Mazarin returned, in a pensive mood, toward the Palais
Royal. All that he had heard from these three different men,
Comminges, Guitant and Villequier, confirmed him in his
conviction that in case of serious tumults there would be no
one on his side except the queen; and then Anne of Austria
had so often deserted her friends that her support seemed
most precarious. During the whole of this nocturnal ride,
during the whole time that he was endeavoring to understand
the various characters of Comminges, Guitant and Villequier,
Mazarin was, in truth, studying more especially one man.
This man, who had remained immovable as bronze when menaced
by the mob — not a muscle of whose face was stirred, either
at Mazarin’s witticisms or by the jests of the multitude —
seemed to the cardinal a peculiar being, who, having
participated in past events similar to those now occurring,
was calculated to cope with those now on the eve of taking
place.
The name of D’Artagnan was not altogether new to Mazarin,