but debts.”
Mazarin remained some moments in deep thought, as if he were
fighting with himself; then, going to a large cupboard
closed with a triple lock, he took from it a bag of silver,
and weighing it twice in his hands before he gave it to
D’Artagnan:
“Take this,” he said with a sigh, “’tis merely for your
journey.”
“If these are Spanish doubloons, or even gold crowns,”
thought D’Artagnan, “we shall yet be able to do business
together.” He saluted the cardinal and plunged the bag into
the depths of an immense pocket.
“Well, then, all is settled; you are to set off,” said the
cardinal.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Apropos, what are the names of your friends?”
“The Count de la Fere, formerly styled Athos; Monsieur du
Vallon, whom we used to call Porthos; the Chevalier
d’Herblay, now the Abbe d’Herblay, whom we styled Aramis
—- ”
The cardinal smiled.
“Younger sons,” he said, “who enlisted in the musketeers
under feigned names in order not to lower their family
names. Long swords but light purses. Was that it?”
“If, God willing, these swords should be devoted to the
service of your eminence,” said D’Artagnan, “I shall venture
to express a wish, which is, that in its turn the purse of
your eminence may become light and theirs heavy — for with
these three men your eminence may rouse all Europe if you
like.”
“These Gascons,” said the cardinal, laughing, “almost beat
the Italians in effrontery.”
“At all events,” answered D’Artagnan, with a smile almost as
Page 43
Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
crafty as the cardinal’s, “they beat them when they draw
their swords.”
He then withdrew, and as he passed into the courtyard he
stopped near a lamp and dived eagerly into the bag of money.
“Crown pieces only — silver pieces! I suspected it. Ah!
Mazarin! Mazarin! thou hast no confidence in me! so much the
worse for thee, for harm may come of it!”
Meanwhile the cardinal was rubbing his hands in great
satisfaction.
“A hundred pistoles! a hundred pistoles! for a hundred
pistoles I have discovered a secret for which Richelieu
would have paid twenty thousand crowns; without reckoning
the value of that diamond” — he cast a complacent look at
the ring, which he had kept, instead of restoring to
D’Artagnan — “which is worth, at least, ten thousand
francs.”
He returned to his room, and after depositing the ring in a
casket filled with brilliants of every sort, for the
cardinal was a connoisseur in precious stones, he called to
Bernouin to undress him, regardless of the noises of
gun-fire that, though it was now near midnight, continued to
resound through Paris.
In the meantime D’Artagnan took his way toward the Rue
Tiquetonne, where he lived at the Hotel de la Chevrette.
We will explain in a few words how D’Artagnan had been led
to choose that place of residence.
6
D’Artagnan in his Fortieth Year.
Years have elapsed, many events have happened, alas! since,
in our romance of “The Three Musketeers,” we took leave of
D’Artagnan at No. 12 Rue des Fossoyeurs. D’Artagnan had not
failed in his career, but circumstances had been adverse to
him. So long as he was surrounded by his friends he retained
his youth and the poetry of his character. He was one of
those fine, ingenuous natures which assimilate themselves
easily to the dispositions of others. Athos imparted to him
his greatness of soul, Porthos his enthusiasm, Aramis his
elegance. Had D’Artagnan continued his intimacy with these
three men he would have become a superior character. Athos
was the first to leave him, in order that he might retire to
a little property he had inherited near Blois; Porthos, the
second, to marry an attorney’s wife; and lastly, Aramis, the
third, to take orders and become an abbe. From that day
D’Artagnan felt lonely and powerless, without courage to
pursue a career in which he could only distinguish himself
on condition that each of his three companions should endow
him with one of the gifts each had received from Heaven.
Notwithstanding his commission in the musketeers, D’Artagnan
felt completely solitary. For a time the delightful