30 D'ARTAGNAN AND THE ENGLISHMAN
D'Artagnan followed Milady without being perceived by her. He saw herget into her carriage, and heard her order the coachman to drive to St.Germain.
It was useless to try to keep pace on foot with a carriage drawn by twopowerful horses. D'Artagnan therefore returned to the Rue Ferou.
In the Rue de Seine he met Planchet, who had stopped before the house ofa pastry cook, and was contemplating with ecstasy a cake of the mostappetizing appearance.
He ordered him to go and saddle two horses in M. de Treville'sstables--one for himself, d'Artagnan, and one for Planchet--and bringthem to Athos's place. Once for all, Treville had placed his stable atd'Artagnan's service.
Planchet proceeded toward the Rue du Colombier, and d'Artagnan towardthe Rue Ferou. Athos was at home, emptying sadly a bottle of the famousSpanish wine he had brought back with him from his journey into Picardy.He made a sign for Grimaud to bring a glass for d'Artagnan, and Grimaudobeyed as usual.
D'Artagnan related to Athos all that had passed at the church betweenPorthos and the procurator's wife, and how their comrade was probably bythat time in a fair way to be equipped.
"As for me," replied Athos to this recital, "I am quite at my ease; itwill not be women that will defray the expense of my outfit."
"Handsome, well-bred, noble lord as you are, my dear Athos, neitherprincesses nor queens would be secure from your amorous solicitations."
"How young this d'Artagnan is!" said Athos, shrugging his shoulders; andhe made a sign to Grimaud to bring another bottle.
At that moment Planchet put his head modestly in at the half-open door,and told his master that the horses were ready.
"What horses?" asked Athos.
"Two horses that Monsieur de Treville lends me at my pleasure, and withwhich I am now going to take a ride to St. Germain."
"Well, and what are you going to do at St. Germain?" then demandedAthos.
Then d'Artagnan described the meeting which he had at the church, andhow he had found that lady who, with the seigneur in the black cloak andwith the scar near his temple, filled his mind constantly.
"That is to say, you are in love with this lady as you were with MadameBonacieux," said Athos, shrugging his shoulders contemptuously, as if hepitied human weakness.
"I? not at all!" said d'Artagnan. "I am only curious to unravel themystery to which she is attached. I do not know why, but I imagine thatthis woman, wholly unknown to me as she is, and wholly unknown to her asI am, has an influence over my life."
"Well, perhaps you are right," said Athos. "I do not know a woman thatis worth the trouble of being sought for when she is once lost. MadameBonacieux is lost; so much the worse for her if she is found."
"No, Athos, no, you are mistaken," said d'Artagnan; "I love my poorConstance more than ever, and if I knew the place in which she is, wereit at the end of the world, I would go to free her from the hands of herenemies; but I am ignorant. All my researches have been useless. What isto be said? I must divert my attention!"
"Amuse yourself with Milady, my dear d'Artagnan; I wish you may with allmy heart, if that will amuse you."
"Hear me, Athos," said d'Artagnan. "Instead of shutting yourself up hereas if you were under arrest, get on horseback and come and take a ridewith me to St. Germain."
"My dear fellow," said Athos, "I ride horses when I have any; when Ihave none, I go afoot."
"Well," said d'Artagnan, smiling at the misanthropy of Athos, which fromany other person would have offended him, "I ride what I can get; I amnot so proud as you. So AU REVOIR, dear Athos."
"AU REVOIR," said the Musketeer, making a sign to Grimaud to uncork thebottle he had just brought.
D'Artagnan and Planchet mounted, and took the road to St. Germain.
All along the road, what Athos had said respecting Mme. Bonacieuxrecurred to the mind of the young man. Although d'Artagnan was not of avery sentimental character, the mercer's pretty wife had made a realimpression upon his heart. As he said, he was ready to go to the end ofthe world to seek her; but the world, being round, has many ends, sothat he did not know which way to turn. Meantime, he was going to try tofind out Milady. Milady had spoken to the man in the black cloak;therefore she knew him. Now, in the opinion of d'Artagnan, it wascertainly the man in the black cloak who had carried off Mme. Bonacieuxthe second time, as he had carried her off the first. D'Artagnan thenonly half-lied, which is lying but little, when he said that by going insearch of Milady he at the same time went in search of Constance.
Thinking of all this, and from time to time giving a touch of the spurto his horse, d'Artagnan completed his short journey, and arrived at St.Germain. He had just passed by the pavilion in which ten years laterLouis XIV was born. He rode up a very quiet street, looking to the rightand the left to see if he could catch any vestige of his beautifulEnglishwoman, when from the ground floor of a pretty house, which,according to the fashion of the time, had no window toward the street,he saw a face peep out with which he thought he was acquainted. Thisperson walked along the terrace, which was ornamented with flowers.Planchet recognized him first.
"Eh, monsieur!" said he, addressing d'Artagnan, "don't you remember thatface which is blinking yonder?"
"No," said d'Artagnan, "and yet I am certain it is not the first time Ihave seen that visage."
"PARBLEU, I believe it is not," said Planchet. "Why, it is poor Lubin,the lackey of the Comte de Wardes--he whom you took such good care of amonth ago at Calais, on the road to the governor's country house!"
"So it is!" said d'Artagnan; "I know him now. Do you think he wouldrecollect you?"
"My faith, monsieur, he was in such trouble that I doubt if he can haveretained a very clear recollection of me."
"Well, go and talk with the boy," said d'Artagnan, "and make out if youcan from his conversation whether his master is dead."
Planchet dismounted and went straight up to Lubin, who did not at allremember him, and the two lackeys began to chat with the bestunderstanding possible; while d'Artagnan turned the two horses into alane, went round the house, and came back to watch the conference frombehind a hedge of filberts.
At the end of an instant's observation he heard the noise of a vehicle,and saw Milady's carriage stop opposite to him. He could not bemistaken; Milady was in it. D'Artagnan leaned upon the neck of hishorse, in order that he might see without being seen.
Milady put her charming blond head out at the window, and gave herorders to her maid.
The latter--a pretty girl of about twenty or twenty-two years, activeand lively, the true SOUBRETTE of a great lady--jumped from the stepupon which, according to the custom of the time, she was seated, andtook her way toward the terrace upon which d'Artagnan had perceivedLubin.
D'Artagnan followed the soubrette with his eyes, and saw her go towardthe terrace; but it happened that someone in the house called Lubin, sothat Planchet remained alone, looking in all directions for the roadwhere d'Artagnan had disappeared.
The maid approached Planchet, whom she took for Lubin, and holding out alittle billet to him said, "For your master."
"For my master?" replied Planchet, astonished.
"Yes, and important. Take it quickly."
Thereupon she ran toward the carriage, which had turned round toward theway it came, jumped upon the step, and the carriage drove off.
Planchet turned and returned the billet. Then, accustomed to passiveobedience, he jumped down from the terrace, ran toward the lane, and atthe end of twenty paces met d'Artagnan, who, having seen all, was comingto him.
"For you, monsieur," said Planchet, presenting the billet to the youngman.
"For me?" said d'Artagnan; "are you sure of that?"
"PARDIEU, monsieur, I can't be more sure. The SOUBRETTE said, 'For yourmaster.' I have no other master but you; so--a pretty little lass, myfaith, is that SOUBRETTE!"
D'Artagnan opened the letter, and read these words:
"A person who takes more interest in
you than she is willing to confesswishes to know on what day it will suit you to walk in the forest?Tomorrow, at the Hotel Field of the Cloth of Gold, a lackey in black andred will wait for your reply."
"Oh!" said d'Artagnan, "this is rather warm; it appears that Milady andI are anxious about the health of the same person. Well, Planchet, howis the good Monsieur de Wardes? He is not dead, then?"
"No, monsieur, he is as well as a man can be with four sword wounds inhis body; for you, without question, inflicted four upon the deargentleman, and he is still very weak, having lost almost all his blood.As I said, monsieur, Lubin did not know me, and told me our adventurefrom one end to the other."
"Well done, Planchet! you are the king of lackeys. Now jump onto yourhorse, and let us overtake the carriage."
This did not take long. At the end of five minutes they perceived thecarriage drawn up by the roadside; a cavalier, richly dressed, was closeto the door.
The conversation between Milady and the cavalier was so animated thatd'Artagnan stopped on the other side of the carriage without anyone butthe pretty SOUBRETTE perceiving his presence.
The conversation took place in English--a language which d'Artagnancould not understand; but by the accent the young man plainly saw thatthe beautiful Englishwoman was in a great rage. She terminated it by anaction which left no doubt as to the nature of this conversation; thiswas a blow with her fan, applied with such force that the littlefeminine weapon flew into a thousand pieces.
The cavalier laughed aloud, which appeared to exasperate Milady stillmore.
D'Artagnan thought this was the moment to interfere. He approached theother door, and taking off his hat respectfully, said, "Madame, will youpermit me to offer you my services? It appears to me that this cavalierhas made you very angry. Speak one word, madame, and I take upon myselfto punish him for his want of courtesy."
At the first word Milady turned, looking at the young man withastonishment; and when he had finished, she said in very good French,"Monsieur, I should with great confidence place myself under yourprotection if the person with whom I quarrel were not my brother."
"Ah, excuse me, then," said d'Artagnan. "You must be aware that I wasignorant of that, madame."
"What is that stupid fellow troubling himself about?" cried the cavalierwhom Milady had designated as her brother, stooping down to the heightof the coach window. "Why does not he go about his business?"
"Stupid fellow yourself!" said d'Artagnan, stooping in his turn on theneck of his horse, and answering on his side through the carriagewindow. "I do not go on because it pleases me to stop here."
The cavalier addressed some words in English to his sister.
"I speak to you in French," said d'Artagnan; "be kind enough, then, toreply to me in the same language. You are Madame's brother, I learn--beit so; but fortunately you are not mine."
It might be thought that Milady, timid as women are in general, wouldhave interposed in this commencement of mutual provocations in order toprevent the quarrel from going too far; but on the contrary, she threwherself back in her carriage, and called out coolly to the coachman, "Goon--home!"
The pretty SOUBRETTE cast an anxious glance at d'Artagnan, whose goodlooks seemed to have made an impression on her.
The carriage went on, and left the two men facing each other; nomaterial obstacle separated them.
The cavalier made a movement as if to follow the carriage; butd'Artagnan, whose anger, already excited, was much increased byrecognizing in him the Englishman of Amiens who had won his horse andhad been very near winning his diamond of Athos, caught at his bridleand stopped him.
"Well, monsieur," said he, "you appear to be more stupid than I am, foryou forget there is a little quarrel to arrange between us two."
"Ah," said the Englishman, "is it you, my master? It seems you mustalways be playing some game or other."
"Yes; and that reminds me that I have a revenge to take. We will see, mydear monsieur, if you can handle a sword as skillfully as you can a dicebox."
"You see plainly that I have no sword," said the Englishman. "Do youwish to play the braggart with an unarmed man?"
"I hope you have a sword at home; but at all events, I have two, and ifyou like, I will throw with you for one of them."
"Needless," said the Englishman; "I am well furnished with suchplaythings."
"Very well, my worthy gentleman," replied d'Artagnan, "pick out thelongest, and come and show it to me this evening."
"Where, if you please?"
"Behind the Luxembourg; that's a charming spot for such amusements asthe one I propose to you."
"That will do; I will be there."
"Your hour?"
"Six o'clock."
"A PROPOS, you have probably one or two friends?"
"I have three, who would be honored by joining in the sport with me."
"Three? Marvelous! That falls out oddly! Three is just my number!"
"Now, then, who are you?" asked the Englishman.
"I am Monsieur d'Artagnan, a Gascon gentleman, serving in the king'sMusketeers. And you?"
"I am Lord de Winter, Baron Sheffield."
"Well, then, I am your servant, Monsieur Baron," said d'Artagnan,"though you have names rather difficult to recollect." And touching hishorse with the spur, he cantered back to Paris. As he was accustomed todo in all cases of any consequence, d'Artagnan went straight to theresidence of Athos.
He found Athos reclining upon a large sofa, where he was waiting, as hesaid, for his outfit to come and find him. He related to Athos all thathad passed, except the letter to M. de Wardes.
Athos was delighted to find he was going to fight an Englishman. Wemight say that was his dream.
They immediately sent their lackeys for Porthos and Aramis, and on theirarrival made them acquainted with the situation.
Porthos drew his sword from the scabbard, and made passes at the wall,springing back from time to time, and making contortions like a dancer.
Aramis, who was constantly at work at his poem, shut himself up inAthos's closet, and begged not to be disturbed before the moment ofdrawing swords.
Athos, by signs, desired Grimaud to bring another bottle of wine.
D'Artagnan employed himself in arranging a little plan, of which weshall hereafter see the execution, and which promised him some agreeableadventure, as might be seen by the smiles which from time to time passedover his countenance, whose thoughtfulness they animated.
Les trois mousquetaires. English Page 31