Vingt ans après. English

by Alexandre Dumas

  80. The Gratitude of Anne of Austria.

  Athos found much less difficulty than he had expected in obtaining anaudience of Anne of Austria. It was granted, and was to take place afterher morning's "levee," at which, in accordance with his rights of birth,he was entitled to be present. A vast crowd filled the apartments ofSaint Germain. Anne had never at the Louvre had so large a court; butthis crowd represented chiefly the second class of nobility, while thePrince de Conti, the Duc de Beaufort and the coadjutor assembled aroundthem the first nobility of France.

  The greatest possible gayety prevailed at court. The particularcharacteristic of this was that more songs were made than cannons firedduring its continuance. The court made songs on the Parisians and theParisians on the court; and the casualties, though not mortal, werepainful, as are all wounds inflicted by the weapon of ridicule.

  In the midst of this seeming hilarity, nevertheless, people's minds wereuneasy. Was Mazarin to remain the favorite and minister of the queen?Was he to be carried back by the wind which had blown him there? Everyone hoped so, so that the minister felt that all around him, beneath thehomage of the courtiers, lay a fund of hatred, ill disguised by fear andinterest. He felt ill at ease and at a loss what to do.

  Conde himself, whilst fighting for him, lost no opportunity ofridiculing, of humbling him. The queen, on whom he threw himself as solesupport, seemed to him now not much to be relied upon.

  When the hour appointed for the audience arrived Athos was obliged tostay until the queen, who was waited upon by a new deputation fromParis, had consulted with her minister as to the propriety and manner ofreceiving them. All were fully engrossed with the affairs of the day;Athos could not therefore have chosen a more inauspicious moment tospeak of his friends--poor atoms, lost in that raging whirlwind.

  But Athos was a man of inflexible determination; he firmly adhered to apurpose once formed, when it seemed to him to spring from conscience andto be prompted by a sense of duty. He insisted on being introduced,saying that although he was not a deputy from Monsieur de Conti, orMonsieur de Beaufort, or Monsieur de Bouillon, or Monsieur d'Elbeuf, orthe coadjutor, or Madame de Longueville, or Broussel, or the Parliament,and although he had come on his own private account, he nevertheless hadthings to say to her majesty of the utmost importance.

  The conference being finished, the queen summoned him to her cabinet.

  Athos was introduced and announced by name. It was a name that too oftenresounded in her majesty's ears and too often vibrated in her heart forAnne of Austria not to recognize it; yet she remained impassive, lookingat him with that fixed stare which is tolerated only in women who arequeens, either by the power of beauty or by the right of birth.

  "It is then a service which you propose to render us, count?" asked Anneof Austria, after a moment's silence.

  "Yes, madame, another service," said Athos, shocked that the queen didnot seem to recognize him.

  Athos had a noble heart, and made, therefore, but a poor courtier.

  Anne frowned. Mazarin, who was sitting at a table folding up papers, asif he had only been a secretary of state, looked up.

  "Speak," said the queen.

  Mazarin turned again to his papers.

  "Madame," resumed Athos, "two of my friends, named D'Artagnan andMonsieur du Vallon, sent to England by the cardinal, suddenlydisappeared when they set foot on the shores of France; no one knowswhat has become of them."

  "Well?" said the queen.

  "I address myself, therefore, first to the benevolence of your majesty,that I may know what has become of my friends, reserving to myself, ifnecessary, the right of appealing hereafter to your justice."

  "Sir," replied Anne, with a degree of haughtiness which to certainpersons became impertinence, "this is the reason that you trouble me inthe midst of so many absorbing concerns! an affair for the police! Well,sir, you ought to know that we no longer have a police, since we are nolonger at Paris."

  "I think your majesty will have no need to apply to the police to knowwhere my friends are, but that if you will deign to interrogate thecardinal he can reply without any further inquiry than into his ownrecollections."

  "But, God forgive me!" cried Anne, with that disdainful curl of the lipspeculiar to her, "I believe that you are yourself interrogating."

  "Yes, madame, here I have a right to do so, for it concerns Monsieurd'Artagnan---d'Artagnan," he repeated, in such a manner as to bow theregal brow with recollections of the weak and erring woman.

  The cardinal saw that it was now high time to come to the assistance ofAnne.

  "Sir," he said, "I can tell you what is at present unknown to hermajesty. These individuals are under arrest. They disobeyed orders."

  "I beg of your majesty, then," said Athos, calmly and not replying toMazarin, "to quash these arrests of Messieurs d'Artagnan and du Vallon."

  "What you ask is merely an affair of discipline and does not concernme," said the queen.

  "Monsieur d'Artagnan never made such an answer as that when the serviceof your majesty was concerned," said Athos, bowing with great dignity.He was going toward the door when Mazarin stopped him.

  "You, too, have been in England, sir?" he said, making a sign to thequeen, who was evidently going to issue a severe order.

  "I was a witness of the last hours of Charles I. Poor king! culpable, atthe most, of weakness, how cruelly punished by his subjects! Thrones areat this time shaken and it is to little purpose for devoted hearts toserve the interests of princes. This is the second time that Monsieurd'Artagnan has been in England. He went the first time to save the honorof a great queen; the second, to avert the death of a great king."

  "Sir," said Anne to Mazarin, with an accent from which daily habits ofdissimulation could not entirely chase the real expression, "see if wecan do something for these gentlemen."

  "I wish to do, madame, all that your majesty pleases."

  "Do what Monsieur de la Fere requests; that is your name, is it not,sir?"

  "I have another name, madame--I am called Athos."

  "Madame," said Mazarin, with a smile, "you may rest easy; your wishesshall be fulfilled."

  "You hear, sir?" said the queen.

  "Yes, madame, I expected nothing less from the justice of your majesty.May I not go and see my friends?"

  "Yes, sir, you shall see them. But, apropos, you belong to the Fronde,do you not?"

  "Madame, I serve the king."

  "Yes, in your own way."

  "My way is the way of all gentlemen, and I know only one way," answeredAthos, haughtily.

  "Go, sir, then," said the queen; "you have obtained what you wish and weknow all we desire to know."

  Scarcely, however, had the tapestry closed behind Athos when she said toMazarin:

  "Cardinal, desire them to arrest that insolent fellow before he leavesthe court."

  "Your majesty," answered Mazarin, "desires me to do only what I wasgoing to ask you to let me do. These bravoes who resuscitate in ourepoch the traditions of another reign are troublesome; since there aretwo of them already there, let us add a third."

  Athos was not altogether the queen's dupe, but he was not a man to runaway on suspicion--above all, when distinctly told that he should seehis friends again. He waited, then, in the ante-chamber with impatience,till he should be conducted to them.

  He walked to the window and looked into the court. He saw the deputationfrom the Parisians enter it; they were coming to assign the definitiveplace for the conference and to make their bow to the queen. A veryimposing escort awaited them without the gates.

  Athos was looking on attentively, when some one touched him softly onthe shoulder.

  "Ah! Monsieur de Comminges," he said.

  "Yes, count, and charged with a commission for which I beg of you toaccept my excuses."

  "What is it?"

  "Be so good as to give me up your sword, count."

  Athos smiled and opened the window.

  "Aramis!" he cried.

  A
gentleman turned around. Athos fancied he had seen him among thecrowd. It was Aramis. He bowed with great friendship to the count.

  "Aramis," cried Athos, "I am arrested."

  "Good," replied Aramis, calmly.

  "Sir," said Athos, turning to Comminges and giving him politely hissword by the hilt, "here is my sword; have the kindness to keep itsafely for me until I quit my prison. I prize it--it was given to myancestor by King Francis I. In his time they armed gentlemen, notdisarmed them. Now, whither do you conduct me?"

  "Into my room first," replied Comminges; "the queen will ultimatelydecide your place of domicile."

  Athos followed Comminges without saying a single word.