the diamond! M. d’Artagnan, my dear M. d’Artagnan,” he
called out in a coaxing voice, “will you answer for
everything?”
“I will answer for nothing. I will do my best.”
“Well, then, let us go — I must trust to you.”
“It is very fortunate,” said D’Artagnan to himself.
“You will be here at half-past nine.”
“And I shall find your eminence ready?”
“Certainly, quite ready.”
“Well, then, it is a settled thing; and now, my lord, will
you obtain for me an audience with the queen?”
“For what purpose?”
“I wish to receive her majesty’s commands from her own
lips.”
“She desired me to give them to you.”
Page 351
Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
“She may have forgotten something.”
“You really wish to see her?”
“It is indispensable, my lord.”
Mazarin hesitated for one instant, but D’Artagnan was firm.
“Come, then,” said the minister; “I will conduct you to her,
but remember, not one word of our conversation.”
“What has passed between us concerns ourselves alone. my
lord,” replied D’Artagnan.
“Swear to be mute.”
“I never swear, my lord, I say yes or no; and, as I am a
gentleman, I keep my word.”
“Come, then, I see that I must trust unreservedly to you.”
“Believe me, my lord, it will be your best plan.”
“Come,” said Mazarin, conducting D’Artagnan into the queen’s
oratory and desiring him to wait there. He did not wait
long, for in five minutes the queen entered in full gala
costume. Thus dressed she scarcely appeared thirty-five
years of age. She was still exceedingly handsome.
“It is you, Monsieur D’Artagnan,” she said, smiling
graciously; “I thank you for having insisted on seeing me.”
“I ought to ask your majesty’s pardon, but I wished to
receive your commands from your own mouth.”
“Do you accept the commission which I have intrusted to
you?”
“With gratitude.”
“Very well, be here at midnight.”
“I will not fail.”
“Monsieur d’Artagnan,” continued the queen, “I know your
disinterestedness too well to speak of my own gratitude at
such a moment, but I swear to you that I shall not forget
this second service as I forgot the first.”
“Your majesty is free to forget or to remember, as it
pleases you; and I know not what you mean,” said D’Artagnan,
bowing.
“Go, sir,” said the queen, with her most bewitching smile,
“go and return at midnight.”
And D’Artagnan retired, but as he passed out he glanced at
the curtain through which the queen had entered and at the
bottom of the tapestry he remarked the tip of a velvet
slipper.
“Good,” thought he; “Mazarin has been listening to discover
whether I betrayed him. In truth, that Italian puppet does
not deserve the services of an honest man.”
Page 352
Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
D’Artagnan was not less exact to his appointment and at
half-past nine o’clock he entered the ante-room.
He found the cardinal dressed as an officer, and he looked
very well in that costume, which, as we have already said,
he wore elegantly; only he was very pale and trembled
slightly.
“Quite alone?” he asked.
“Yes, my lord.”
“And that worthy Monsieur du Vallon, are we not to enjoy his
society?”
“Certainly, my lord; he is waiting in his carriage at the
gate of the garden of the Palais Royal.”
“And we start in his carriage, then?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“And with us no other escort but you two?”
“Is it not enough? One of us would suffice.”
“Really, my dear Monsieur d’Artagnan,” said the cardinal,
“your coolness startles me.”
“I should have thought, on the contrary, that it ought to
have inspired you with confidence.”
“And Bernouin — do I not take him with me?”
“There is no room for him, he will rejoin your eminence.”
“Let us go,” said Mazarin, “since everything must be done as
you wish.”
“My lord, there is time to draw back,” said D’Artagnan, “and
your eminence is perfectly free.”
“Not at all, not at all,” said Mazarin; “let us be off.”
And so they descended the private stair, Mazarin leaning on
the arm of D’Artagnan a hand the musketeer felt trembling.
At last, after crossing the courts of the Palais Royal,