fellows called Mazarin, Cromwell, Joyce, Bridge, Fairfax,
etc., we very nearly succeeded in saving it.”
“Upon my word that is true,” said Porthos; “but how can you
suppose, my dear friend, that in the midst of his great
preoccupations General Cromwell has had time to think —- ”
“Cromwell thinks of everything; Cromwell has time for
everything; and believe me, dear friend, we ought not to
lose our time — it is precious. We shall not be safe till
we have seen Mazarin, and then —- ”
“The devil!” said Porthos; “what can we say to Mazarin?”
“Leave that to me — I have my plan. He laughs best who
laughs last. Cromwell is mighty, Mazarin is tricky, but I
would rather have to do with them than with the late
Monsieur Mordaunt.”
“Ah!” said Porthos, “it is very pleasant to be able to say
`the late Monsieur Mordaunt.'”
“My faith, yes,” said D’Artagnan. “But we must be going.”
The two immediately started across country toward the road
to Paris, followed by Mousqueton, who, after being too cold
all night, at the end of a quarter of an hour found himself
too warm.
75
The Return.
During the six weeks that Athos and Aramis had been absent
from France, the Parisians, finding themselves one morning
without either queen or king, were greatly annoyed at being
thus deserted, and the absence of Mazarin, a thing so long
desired, did not compensate for that of the two august
fugitives.
The first feeling that pervaded Paris on hearing of the
flight to Saint Germain, was that sort of affright which
seizes children when they awake in the night and find
themselves alone. A deputation was therefore sent to the
queen to entreat her to return to Paris; but she not only
declined to receive the deputies, but sent an intimation by
Chancellor Seguier, implying that if the parliament did not
humble itself before her majesty by negativing all the
questions that had been the cause of the quarrel, Paris
would be besieged the very next day.
This threatening answer, unluckily for the court, produced
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quite a different effect to that which was intended. It
wounded the pride of the parliament, which, supported by the
citizens, replied by declaring that Cardinal Mazarin was the
cause of all the discontent; denounced him as the enemy both
of the king and the state, and ordered him to retire from
the court that same day and from France within a week
afterward; enjoining, in case of disobedience on his part,
all the subjects of the king to pursue and take him.
Mazarin being thus placed beyond the pale of the protection
of the law, preparations on both sides were commenced — by
the queen, to attack Paris, by the citizens, to defend it.
The latter were occupied in breaking up the pavement and
stretching chains across the streets, when, headed by the
coadjutor, appeared the Prince de Conti (the brother of the
Prince de Conde) and the Duc de Longueville, his
brother-in-law. This unexpected band of auxiliaries arrived
in Paris on the tenth of January and the Prince of Conti was
named, but not until after a stormy discussion,
generalissimo of the army of the king, out of Paris.
As for the Duc de Beaufort, he arrived from Vendome,
according to the annals of the day, bringing with him his
high bearing and his long and beautiful hair, qualifications
which gained him the sovereignty of the marketplaces.
The Parisian army had organized with the promptness
characteristic of the bourgeois whenever they are moved by
any sentiment whatever to disguise themselves as soldiers.
On the nineteenth the impromptu army had attempted a sortie,
more to assure itself and others of its actual existence
than with any more serious intention. They carried a banner,
on which could be read this strange device: “We are seeking
our king.”
The next following days were occupied in trivial movements
which resulted only in the carrying off of a few herds of
cattle and the burning of two or three houses.
That was still the situation of affairs up to the early days
of February. On the first day of that month our four