place, he remarked that the window was again lighted up and
he was convinced that Aramis had not yet returned to his own
apartment and that when he did it would not be alone.
In truth, in a few minutes he heard steps approaching and
low whispers.
Close to the hedge the steps stopped.
D’Artagnan knelt down near the thickest part of the hedge.
Two men, to the astonishment of D’Artagnan, appeared
shortly; soon, however, his surprise vanished, for he heard
the murmurs of a soft, harmonious voice; one of these two
men was a woman disguised as a cavalier.
“Calm yourself, dear Rene,” said the soft voice, “the same
thing will never happen again. I have discovered a sort of
subterranean passage which runs beneath the street and we
shall only have to raise one of the marble slabs before the
door to open you an entrance and an outlet.”
“Oh!” answered another voice, which D’Artagnan instantly
recognized as that of Aramis. “I swear to you, princess,
that if your reputation did not depend on precautions and if
my life alone were jeopardized —- ”
“Yes, yes! I know you are as brave and venturesome as any
man in the world, but you do not belong to me alone; you
belong to all our party. Be prudent! sensible!”
“I always obey, madame, when I am commanded by so gentle a
voice.”
He kissed her hand tenderly.
“Ah!” exclaimed the cavalier with a soft voice.
“What’s the matter?” asked Aramis.
“Do you not see that the wind has blown off my hat?”
Aramis rushed after the fugitive hat. D’Artagnan took
advantage of the circumstance to find a place in the hedge
not so thick, where his glance could penetrate to the
supposed cavalier. At that instant, the moon, inquisitive,
perhaps, like D’Artagnan, came from behind a cloud and by
her light D’Artagnan recognized the large blue eyes, the
golden hair and the classic head of the Duchess de
Longueville.
Aramis returned, laughing, one hat on his head and the other
in his hand; and he and his companion resumed their walk
toward the convent.
“Good!” said D’Artagnan, rising and brushing his knees; “now
Page 80
Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
I have thee — thou art a Frondeur and the lover of Madame
de Longueville.”
10
Monsieur Porthos du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds.
Thanks to what Aramis had told him, D’Artagnan, who knew
already that Porthos called himself Du Vallon, was now aware
that he styled himself, from his estate, De Bracieux; and
that he was, on account of this estate, engaged in a lawsuit
with the Bishop of Noyon. It was, then, in the neighborhood
of Noyon that he must seek that estate. His itinerary was
promptly determined: he would go to Dammartin, from which
place two roads diverge, one toward Soissons, the other
toward Compiegne; there he would inquire concerning the
Bracieux estate and go to the right or to the left according
to the information obtained.
Planchet, who was still a little concerned for his safety
after his recent escapade, declared that he would follow
D’Artagnan even to the end of the world, either by the road
to the right or by that to the left; only he begged his
former master to set out in the evening, for greater
security to himself. D’Artagnan suggested that he should
send word to his wife, so that she might not be anxious
about him, but Planchet replied with much sagacity that he
was very sure his wife would not die of anxiety through not
knowing where he was, while he, Planchet, remembering her
incontinence of tongue, would die of anxiety if she did
know.
This reasoning seemed to D’Artagnan so satisfactory that he
no further insisted; and about eight o’clock in the evening,
the time when the vapors of night begin to thicken in the
streets, he left the Hotel de la Chevrette, and followed by
Planchet set forth from the capital by way of the Saint
Denis gate.
At midnight the two travelers were at Dammartin, but it was
then too late to make inquiries — the host of the Cygne de
la Croix had gone to bed.