Les trois mousquetaires. English

by Alexandre Dumas

  58 ESCAPE

  As Lord de Winter had thought, Milady's wound was not dangerous. So soonas she was left alone with the woman whom the baron had summoned to herassistance she opened her eyes.

  It was, however, necessary to affect weakness and pain--not a verydifficult task for so finished an actress as Milady. Thus the poor womanwas completely the dupe of the prisoner, whom, notwithstanding herhints, she persisted in watching all night.

  But the presence of this woman did not prevent Milady from thinking.

  There was no longer a doubt that Felton was convinced; Felton was hers.If an angel appeared to that young man as an accuser of Milady, he wouldtake him, in the mental disposition in which he now found himself, for amessenger sent by the devil.

  Milady smiled at this thought, for Felton was now her only hope--heronly means of safety.

  But Lord de Winter might suspect him; Felton himself might now bewatched!

  Toward four o'clock in the morning the doctor arrived; but since thetime Milady stabbed herself, however short, the wound had closed. Thedoctor could therefore measure neither the direction nor the depth ofit; he only satisfied himself by Milady's pulse that the case was notserious.

  In the morning Milady, under the pretext that she had not slept well inthe night and wanted rest, sent away the woman who attended her.

  She had one hope, which was that Felton would appear at the breakfasthour; but Felton did not come.

  Were her fears realized? Was Felton, suspected by the baron, about tofail her at the decisive moment? She had only one day left. Lord deWinter had announced her embarkation for the twenty-third, and it wasnow the morning of the twenty-second.

  Nevertheless she still waited patiently till the hour for dinner.

  Although she had eaten nothing in the morning, the dinner was brought inat its usual time. Milady then perceived, with terror, that the uniformof the soldiers who guarded her was changed.

  Then she ventured to ask what had become of Felton.

  She was told that he had left the castle an hour before on horseback.She inquired if the baron was still at the castle. The soldier repliedthat he was, and that he had given orders to be informed if the prisonerwished to speak to him.

  Milady replied that she was too weak at present, and that her onlydesire was to be left alone.

  The soldier went out, leaving the dinner served.

  Felton was sent away. The marines were removed. Felton was thenmistrusted.

  This was the last blow to the prisoner.

  Left alone, she arose. The bed, which she had kept from prudence andthat they might believe her seriously wounded, burned her like a bed offire. She cast a glance at the door; the baron had had a plank nailedover the grating. He no doubt feared that by this opening she mightstill by some diabolical means corrupt her guards.

  Milady smiled with joy. She was free now to give way to her transportswithout being observed. She traversed her chamber with the excitement ofa furious maniac or of a tigress shut up in an iron cage. CERTES, if theknife had been left in her power, she would now have thought, not ofkilling herself, but of killing the baron.

  At six o'clock Lord de Winter came in. He was armed at all points. Thisman, in whom Milady till that time had only seen a very simplegentleman, had become an admirable jailer. He appeared to foresee all,to divine all, to anticipate all.

  A single look at Milady apprised him of all that was passing in hermind.

  "Ay!" said he, "I see; but you shall not kill me today. You have nolonger a weapon; and besides, I am on my guard. You had begun to pervertmy poor Felton. He was yielding to your infernal influence; but I willsave him. He will never see you again; all is over. Get your clothestogether. Tomorrow you will go. I had fixed the embarkation for thetwenty-fourth; but I have reflected that the more promptly the affairtakes place the more sure it will be. Tomorrow, by twelve o'clock, Ishall have the order for your exile, signed, BUCKINGHAM. If you speak asingle word to anyone before going aboard ship, my sergeant will blowyour brains out. He has orders to do so. If when on the ship you speak asingle word to anyone before the captain permits you, the captain willhave you thrown into the sea. That is agreed upon.

  "AU REVOIR; then; that is all I have to say today. Tomorrow I will seeyou again, to take my leave." With these words the baron went out.Milady had listened to all this menacing tirade with a smile of disdainon her lips, but rage in her heart.

  Supper was served. Milady felt that she stood in need of all herstrength. She did not know what might take place during this night whichapproached so menacingly--for large masses of cloud rolled over the faceof the sky, and distant lightning announced a storm.

  The storm broke about ten o'clock. Milady felt a consolation in seeingnature partake of the disorder of her heart. The thunder growled in theair like the passion and anger in her thoughts. It appeared to her thatthe blast as it swept along disheveled her brow, as it bowed thebranches of the trees and bore away their leaves. She howled as thehurricane howled; and her voice was lost in the great voice of nature,which also seemed to groan with despair.

  All at once she heard a tap at her window, and by the help of a flash oflightning she saw the face of a man appear behind the bars.

  She ran to the window and opened it.

  "Felton!" cried she. "I am saved."

  "Yes," said Felton; "but silence, silence! I must have time to filethrough these bars. Only take care that I am not seen through thewicket."

  "Oh, it is a proof that the Lord is on our side, Felton," repliedMilady. "They have closed up the grating with a board."

  "That is well; God has made them senseless," said Felton.

  "But what must I do?" asked Milady.

  "Nothing, nothing, only shut the window. Go to bed, or at least lie downin your clothes. As soon as I have done I will knock on one of the panesof glass. But will you be able to follow me?"

  "Oh, yes!"

  "Your wound?"

  "Gives me pain, but will not prevent my walking."

  "Be ready, then, at the first signal."

  Milady shut the window, extinguished the lamp, and went, as Felton haddesired her, to lie down on the bed. Amid the moaning of the storm sheheard the grinding of the file upon the bars, and by the light of everyflash she perceived the shadow of Felton through the panes.

  She passed an hour without breathing, panting, with a cold sweat uponher brow, and her heart oppressed by frightful agony at every movementshe heard in the corridor.

  There are hours which last a year.

  At the expiration of an hour, Felton tapped again.

  Milady sprang out of bed and opened the window. Two bars removed formedan opening for a man to pass through.

  "Are you ready?" asked Felton.

  "Yes. Must I take anything with me?"

  "Money, if you have any."

  "Yes; fortunately they have left me all I had."

  "So much the better, for I have expended all mine in chartering avessel."

  "Here!" said Milady, placing a bag full of louis in Felton's hands.

  Felton took the bag and threw it to the foot of the wall.

  "Now," said he, "will you come?"

  "I am ready."

  Milady mounted upon a chair and passed the upper part of her bodythrough the window. She saw the young officer suspended over the abyssby a ladder of ropes. For the first time an emotion of terror remindedher that she was a woman.

  The dark space frightened her.

  "I expected this," said Felton.

  "It's nothing, it's nothing!" said Milady. "I will descend with my eyesshut."

  "Have you confidence in me?" said Felton.

  "You ask that?"

  "Put your two hands together. Cross them; that's right!"

  Felton tied her two wrists together with his handkerchief, and then witha cord over the handkerchief.

  "What are you doing?" asked Milady, with surprise.

  "Pass your arms around my neck, and fear nothing."

  "
But I shall make you lose your balance, and we shall both be dashed topieces."

  "Don't be afraid. I am a sailor."

  Not a second was to be lost. Milady passed her two arms round Felton'sneck, and let herself slip out of the window. Felton began to descendthe ladder slowly, step by step. Despite the weight of two bodies, theblast of the hurricane shook them in the air.

  All at once Felton stopped.

  "What is the matter?" asked Milady.

  "Silence," said Felton, "I hear footsteps."

  "We are discovered!"

  There was a silence of several seconds.

  "No," said Felton, "it is nothing."

  "But what, then, is the noise?"

  "That of the patrol going their rounds."

  "Where is their road?"

  "Just under us."

  "They will discover us!"

  "No, if it does not lighten."

  "But they will run against the bottom of the ladder."

  "Fortunately it is too short by six feet."

  "Here they are! My God!"

  "Silence!"

  Both remained suspended, motionless and breathless, within twenty pacesof the ground, while the patrol passed beneath them laughing andtalking. This was a terrible moment for the fugitives.

  The patrol passed. The noise of their retreating footsteps and themurmur of their voices soon died away.

  "Now," said Felton, "we are safe."

  Milady breathed a deep sigh and fainted.

  Felton continued to descend. Near the bottom of the ladder, when hefound no more support for his feet, he clung with his hands; at length,arrived at the last step, he let himself hang by the strength of hiswrists, and touched the ground. He stooped down, picked up the bag ofmoney, and placed it between his teeth. Then he took Milady in his arms,and set off briskly in the direction opposite to that which the patrolhad taken. He soon left the pathway of the patrol, descended across therocks, and when arrived on the edge of the sea, whistled.

  A similar signal replied to him; and five minutes after, a boatappeared, rowed by four men.

  The boat approached as near as it could to the shore; but there was notdepth enough of water for it to touch land. Felton walked into the seaup to his middle, being unwilling to trust his precious burden toanybody.

  Fortunately the storm began to subside, but still the sea was disturbed.The little boat bounded over the waves like a nut-shell.

  "To the sloop," said Felton, "and row quickly."

  The four men bent to their oars, but the sea was too high to let themget much hold of it.

  However, they left the castle behind; that was the principal thing. Thenight was extremely dark. It was almost impossible to see the shore fromthe boat; they would therefore be less likely to see the boat from theshore.

  A black point floated on the sea. That was the sloop. While the boat wasadvancing with all the speed its four rowers could give it, Feltonuntied the cord and then the handkerchief which bound Milady's handstogether. When her hands were loosed he took some sea water andsprinkled it over her face.

  Milady breathed a sigh, and opened her eyes.

  "Where am I?" said she.

  "Saved!" replied the young officer.

  "Oh, saved, saved!" cried she. "Yes, there is the sky; here is the sea!The air I breathe is the air of liberty! Ah, thanks, Felton, thanks!"

  The young man pressed her to his heart.

  "But what is the matter with my hands!" asked Milady; "it seems as if mywrists had been crushed in a vice."

  Milady held out her arms; her wrists were bruised.

  "Alas!" said Felton, looking at those beautiful hands, and shaking hishead sorrowfully.

  "Oh, it's nothing, nothing!" cried Milady. "I remember now."

  Milady looked around her, as if in search of something.

  "It is there," said Felton, touching the bag of money with his foot.

  They drew near to the sloop. A sailor on watch hailed the boat; the boatreplied.

  "What vessel is that?" asked Milady.

  "The one I have hired for you."

  "Where will it take me?"

  "Where you please, after you have put me on shore at Portsmouth."

  "What are you going to do at Portsmouth?" asked Milady.

  "Accomplish the orders of Lord de Winter," said Felton, with a gloomysmile.

  "What orders?" asked Milady.

  "You do not understand?" asked Felton.

  "No; explain yourself, I beg."

  "As he mistrusted me, he determined to guard you himself, and sent me inhis place to get Buckingham to sign the order for your transportation."

  "But if he mistrusted you, how could he confide such an order to you?"

  "How could I know what I was the bearer of?"

  "That's true! And you are going to Portsmouth?"

  "I have no time to lose. Tomorrow is the twenty-third, and Buckinghamsets sail tomorrow with his fleet."

  "He sets sail tomorrow! Where for?"

  "For La Rochelle."

  "He need not sail!" cried Milady, forgetting her usual presence of mind.

  "Be satisfied," replied Felton; "he will not sail."

  Milady started with joy. She could read to the depths of the heart ofthis young man; the death of Buckingham was written there at fulllength.

  "Felton," cried she, "you are as great as Judas Maccabeus! If you die, Iwill die with you; that is all I can say to you."

  "Silence!" cried Felton; "we are here."

  In fact, they touched the sloop.

  Felton mounted the ladder first, and gave his hand to Milady, while thesailors supported her, for the sea was still much agitated.

  An instant after they were on the deck.

  "Captain," said Felton, "this is the person of whom I spoke to you, andwhom you must convey safe and sound to France."

  "For a thousand pistoles," said the captain.

  "I have paid you five hundred of them."

  "That's correct," said the captain.

  "And here are the other five hundred," replied Milady, placing her handupon the bag of gold.

  "No," said the captain, "I make but one bargain; and I have agreed withthis young man that the other five hundred shall not be due to me tillwe arrive at Boulogne."

  "And shall we arrive there?"

  "Safe and sound, as true as my name's Jack Butler."

  "Well," said Milady, "if you keep your word, instead of five hundred, Iwill give you a thousand pistoles."

  "Hurrah for you, then, my beautiful lady," cried the captain; "and mayGod often send me such passengers as your Ladyship!"

  "Meanwhile," said Felton, "convey me to the little bay of--; you know itwas agreed you should put in there."

  The captain replied by ordering the necessary maneuvers, and towardseven o'clock in the morning the little vessel cast anchor in the baythat had been named.

  During this passage, Felton related everything to Milady--how, insteadof going to London, he had chartered the little vessel; how he hadreturned; how he had scaled the wall by fastening cramps in theinterstices of the stones, as he ascended, to give him foothold; andhow, when he had reached the bars, he fastened his ladder. Milady knewthe rest.

  On her side, Milady tried to encourage Felton in his project; but at thefirst words which issued from her mouth, she plainly saw that the youngfanatic stood more in need of being moderated than urged.

  It was agreed that Milady should wait for Felton till ten o'clock; if hedid not return by ten o'clock she was to sail.

  In that case, and supposing he was at liberty, he was to rejoin her inFrance, at the convent of the Carmelites at Bethune.