the last month —that is, since Paris had been besieged —
he was ready to receive the Comte de la Fere and the
Chevalier d’Herblay.
He was in bed, but surrounded with all the paraphernalia of
war. Everywhere were swords, pistols, cuirasses, and
arquebuses, and it was plain that as soon as his gout was
better Monsieur de Bouillon would give a pretty tangle to
the enemies of the parliament to unravel. Meanwhile, to his
great regret, as he said, he was obliged to keep his bed.
“Ah, gentlemen,” he cried, as the two friends entered, “you
are very happy! you can ride, you can go and come and fight
for the cause of the people. But I, as you see, am nailed to
my bed — ah! this demon, gout — this demon, gout!”
Page 525
Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
“My lord,” said Athos, “we are just arrived from England and
our first concern is to inquire after your health.”
“Thanks, gentlemen, thanks! As you see, my health is but
indifferent. But you come from England. And King Charles is
well, as I have just heard?”
“He is dead, my lord!” said Aramis.
“Pooh!” said the duke, too much astonished to believe it
true.
“Dead on the scaffold; condemned by parliament.”
“Impossible!”
“And executed in our presence.”
“What, then, has Monsieur de Flamarens been telling me?”
“Monsieur de Flamarens?”
“Yes, he has just gone out.”
Athos smiled. “With two companions?” he said.
“With two companions, yes,” replied the duke. Then he added
with a certain uneasiness, “Did you meet them?”
“Why, yes, I think so — in the street,” said Athos; and he
looked smilingly at Aramis, who looked at him with an
expression of surprise.
“The devil take this gout!” cried Monsieur de Bouillon,
evidently ill at ease.
“My lord,” said Athos, “we admire your devotion to the cause
you have espoused, in remaining at the head of the army
whilst so ill, in so much pain.”
“One must,” replied Monsieur de Bouillon, “sacrifice one’s
comfort to the public good; but I confess to you I am now
almost exhausted. My spirit is willing, my head is clear,
but this demon, the gout, o’ercrows me. I confess, if the
court would do justice to my claims and give the head of my
house the title of prince, and if my brother De Turenne were
reinstated in his command I would return to my estates and
leave the court and parliament to settle things between
themselves as they might.”
“You are perfectly right, my lord.”
“You think so? At this very moment the court is making
overtures to me; hitherto I have repulsed them; but since
such men as you assure me that I am wrong in doing so, I’ve
a good mind to follow your advice and to accept a
proposition made to me by the Duc de Chatillon just now.”
“Accept it, my lord, accept it,” said Aramis.
“Faith! yes. I am even sorry that this evening I almost
repulsed — but there will be a conference to-morrow and we
shall see.”
Page 526
Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
The two friends saluted the duke.
“Go, gentlemen,” he said; “you must be much fatigued after
your voyage. Poor King Charles! But, after all, he was
somewhat to blame in all that business and we may console
ourselves with the reflection that France has no cause of
reproach in the matter and did all she could to serve him.”
“Oh! as to that,” said Aramis, “we are witnesses. Mazarin
especially —- ”
“Yes, do you know, I am very glad to hear you give that
testimony; the cardinal has some good in him, and if he were
not a foreigner — well, he would be more justly estimated.
Oh! the devil take this gout!”
Athos and Aramis took their leave, but even in the
ante-chamber they could still hear the duke’s cries; he was
evidently suffering the tortures of the damned.
When they reached the street, Aramis said:
“Well, Athos, what do you think?”
“Of whom?”
“Pardieu! of Monsieur de Bouillon.”
“My friend, I think that he is much troubled with gout.”
“You noticed that I didn’t breathe a word as to the purpose
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190