“’tis not his voice.”
“Ah! just so, gentlemen! pray, do people get into a passion
at random at Noisy? Take care, for I warn you that the first
man that comes within the length of my sword — and my sword
is long — I rip him up.”
The chieftain of the party drew near.
“What are you doing here?” he asked in a lofty tone, as that
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of one accustomed to command.
“And you — what are you doing here?” replied D’Artagnan.
“Be civil, or I shall beat you; for although one may not
choose to proclaim oneself, one insists on respect suitable
to one’s rank.”
“You don’t choose to discover yourself, because you are the
leader of an ambuscade,” returned D’Artagnan; “but with
regard to myself, who am traveling quietly with my own
servant, I have not the same reasons as you have to conceal
my name.”
“Enough! enough! what is your name?”
“I shall tell you my name in order that you may know where
to find me, my lord, or my prince, as it may suit you best
to be called,” said our Gascon, who did not choose to seem
to yield to a threat. “Do you know Monsieur d’Artagnan?”
“Lieutenant in the king’s musketeers?” said the voice; “you
are Monsieur d’Artagnan?”
“I am.”
“Then you came here to defend him?”
“Him? whom?”
“The man we are seeking.”
“It seems,” said D’Artagnan, “that whilst I thought I was
coming to Noisy I have entered, without suspecting it, into
the kingdom of mysteries.”
“Come,” replied the same lofty tone, “answer! Are you
waiting for him underneath these windows? Did you come to
Noisy to defend him?”
“I am waiting for no one,” replied D’Artagnan, who was
beginning to be angry. “I propose to defend no one but
myself, and I shall defend myself vigorously, I give you
warning.”
“Very well,” said the voice; “go away from here and leave
the place to us.”
“Go away from here!” said D’Artagnan, whose purposes were in
conflict with that order, “that is not so easy, since I am
on the point of falling, and my horse, too, through fatigue;
unless, indeed, you are disposed to offer me a supper and a
bed in the neighborhood.”
“Rascal!”
“Eh! monsieur!” said D’Artagnan, “I beg you will have a care
what you say; for if you utter another word like that, be
you marquis, duke, prince or king, I will thrust it down
your throat! do you hear?”
“Well, well,” rejoined the leader, “there’s no doubt ’tis a
Gascon who is speaking, and therefore not the man we are
looking for. Our blow has failed for to-night; let us
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withdraw. We shall meet again, Master d’Artagnan,” continued
the leader, raising his voice.
“Yes, but never with the same advantages,” said D’Artagnan,
in a tone of raillery; “for when you meet me again you will
perhaps be alone and there will be daylight.”
“Very good, very good,” said the voice. “En route,
gentlemen.”
And the troop, grumbling angrily, disappeared in the
darkness and took the road to Paris. D’Artagnan and Planchet
remained for some moments still on the defensive; then, as
the noise of the horsemen became more and more distant, they
sheathed their swords.
“Thou seest, simpleton,” said D’Artagnan to his servant,
“that they wished no harm to us.”
“But to whom, then?”
“I’faith! I neither know nor care. What I do care for now,
is to make my way into the Jesuits’ convent; so to horse and
let us knock at their door. Happen what will, the devil take
them, they can’t eat us.”
And he mounted his horse. Planchet had just done the same
when an unexpected weight fell upon the back of the horse,
which sank down.
“Hey! your honor!” cried Planchet, “I’ve a man behind me.”
D’Artagnan turned around and plainly saw two human forms on
Planchet’s horse.
“‘Tis then the devil that pursues!” he cried; drawing his
sword and preparing to attack the new foe.
“No, no, dear D’Artagnan,” said the figure, “’tis not the
devil, ’tis Aramis; gallop fast, Planchet, and when you come