Twenty Years Later by Dumas, Alexandre. Part two

Every one shuddered and there was a moment of silence,

during which the queen pressed her hand to her side,

evidently to still the beatings of her heart.

(“Porthos,” murmured D’Artagnan, “look well at that priest.”

“Yes,” said Porthos, “I see him. What then?”

“Well, he is a man.”

Porthos looked at D’Artagnan in astonishment. Evidently he

did not understand his meaning.)

“Your majesty,” continued the coadjutor, pitilessly, “is

about to take such measures as seem good to you, but I

foresee that they will be violent and such as will still

further exasperate the rioters.”

“In that case, you, monsieur le coadjuteur, who have such

power over them and are at the same time friendly to us,”

said the queen, ironically, “will quiet them by bestowing

your blessing upon them.”

“Perhaps it will be too late,” said Gondy, still unmoved;

“perhaps I shall have lost all influence; while by giving up

Broussel your majesty will strike at the root of the

sedition and will gain the right to punish severely any

revival of the revolt.”

“Have I not, then, that right?” cried the queen.

“If you have it, use it,” replied Gondy.

(“Peste!” said D’Artagnan to Porthos. “There is a man after

my own heart. Oh! if he were minister and I were his

D’Artagnan, instead of belonging to that beast of a Mazarin,

mordieu! what fine things we would do together!”

“Yes,” said Porthos.)

The queen made a sign for every one, except Mazarin, to quit

the room; and Gondy bowed, as if to leave with the rest.

“Stay, sir,” said Anne to him.

“Good,” thought Gondy, “she is going to yield.”

(“She is going to have him killed,” said D’Artagnan to

Porthos, “but at all events it shall not be by me. I swear

to Heaven, on the contrary, that if they fall upon him I

will fall upon them.”

“And I, too,” said Porthos.)

“Good,” muttered Mazarin, sitting down, “we shall soon see

something startling.”

Page 331

Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After

The queen’s eyes followed the retreating figures and when

the last had closed the door she turned away. It was evident

that she was making unnatural efforts to subdue her anger;

she fanned herself, smelled at her vinaigrette and walked up

and down. Gondy, who began to feel uneasy, examined the

tapestry with his eyes, touched the coat of mail which he

wore under his long gown and felt from time to time to see

if the handle of a good Spanish dagger, which was hidden

under his cloak, was well within reach.

“And now,” at last said the queen, “now that we are alone,

repeat your counsel, monsieur le coadjuteur.”

“It is this, madame: that you should appear to have

reflected, and publicly acknowledge an error, which

constitutes the extra strength of a strong government;

release Broussel from prison and give him back to the

people.”

“Oh!” cried Anne, “to humble myself thus! Am I, or am I not,

the queen? This screaming mob, are they, or are they not, my

subjects? Have I friends? Have I guards? Ah! by Notre Dame!

as Queen Catherine used to say,” continued she, excited by

her own words, “rather than give up this infamous Broussel

to them I will strangle him with my own hands!”

And she sprang toward Gondy, whom assuredly at that moment

she hated more than Broussel, with outstretched arms. The

coadjutor remained immovable and not a muscle of his face

was discomposed; only his glance flashed like a sword in

returning the furious looks of the queen.

(“He were a dead man” said the Gascon, “if there were still

a Vitry at the court and if Vitry entered at this moment;

but for my part, before he could reach the good prelate I

would kill Vitry at once; the cardinal would be infinitely

pleased with me.”

“Hush!” said Porthos; “listen.”)

“Madame,” cried the cardinal, seizing hold of Anne and

drawing her back, “Madame, what are you about?”

Then he added in Spanish, “Anne, are you mad? You, a queen

to quarrel like a washerwoman! And do you not perceive that

in the person of this priest is represented the whole people

of Paris and that it is dangerous to insult him at this

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 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190

Leave a Reply 0

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