where I slept soundly, being very sure that on the next day
I should go forth free. The next day came and passed, the
day after, a week; I then wrote to the cardinal. The same
day they came for me and took me to the Bastile. That was
five years ago. Do you believe it was because I committed
the sacrilege of mounting en croupe behind Henry IV.?”
“No; you are right, my dear Rochefort, it couldn’t be for
that; but you will probably learn the reason soon.”
“Ah, indeed! I forgot to ask you — where are you taking
me?”
“To the cardinal.”
“What does he want with me?”
“I do not know. I did not even know that you were the person
I was sent to fetch.”
“Impossible — you — a favorite of the minister!”
“A favorite! no, indeed!” cried D’Artagnan. “Ah, my poor
friend! I am just as poor a Gascon as when I saw you at
Meung, twenty-two years ago, you know; alas!” and he
concluded his speech with a deep sigh.
“Nevertheless, you come as one in authority.”
“Because I happened to be in the ante-chamber when the
cardinal called me, by the merest chance. I am still a
lieutenant in the musketeers and have been so these twenty
years.”
“Then no misfortune has happened to you?”
“And what misfortune could happen to me? To quote some Latin
verses I have forgotten, or rather, never knew well, `the
thunderbolt never falls on the valleys,’ and I am a valley,
dear Rochefort, — one of the lowliest of the low.”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
“Then Mazarin is still Mazarin?”
“The same as ever, my friend; it is said that he is married
to the queen.”
“Married?”
“If not her husband, he is unquestionably her lover.”
“You surprise me. Rebuff Buckingham and consent to Mazarin!”
“Just like the women,” replied D’Artagnan, coolly.
“Like women, not like queens.”
“Egad! queens are the weakest of their sex, when it comes to
such things as these.”
“And M. de Beaufort — is he still in prison?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Oh, nothing, but that he might get me out of this, if he
were favorably inclined to me.”
“You are probably nearer freedom than he is, so it will be
your business to get him out.”
“And,” said the prisoner, “what talk is there of war with
Spain?”
“With Spain, no,” answered D’Artagnan; “but Paris.”
“What do you mean?” cried Rochefort.
“Do you hear the guns, pray? The citizens are amusing
themselves in the meantime.”
“And you — do you really think that anything could be done
with these bourgeois?”
“Yes, they might do well if they had any leader to unite
them in one body.”
“How miserable not to be free!”
“Don’t be downcast. Since Mazarin has sent for you, it is
because he wants you. I congratulate you! Many a long year
has passed since any one has wanted to employ me; so you see
in what a situation I am.”
“Make your complaints known; that’s my advice.”
“Listen, Rochefort; let us make a compact. We are friends,
are we not?”
“Egad! I bear the traces of our friendship — three slits or
slashes from your sword.”
“Well, if you should be restored to favor, don’t forget me.”
“On the honor of a Rochefort; but you must do the like for
me.”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
“There’s my hand, — I promise.”
“Therefore, whenever you find any opportunity of saying
something in my behalf —- ”
“I shall say it, and you?”
“I shall do the same.”
“Apropos, are we to speak of your friends also, Athos,
Porthos, and Aramis? or have you forgotten them?”
“Almost.”
“What has become of them?”
“I don’t know; we separated, as you know. They are alive,
that’s all that I can say about them; from time to time I
hear of them indirectly, but in what part of the world they
are, devil take me if I know, No, on my honor, I have not a
friend in the world but you, Rochefort.”
“And the illustrious — what’s the name of the lad whom I