Louise de la Valliere. Dumas Alexandre
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he had squeezed all the juice out of this enormous lemon, he threw the peel aside. He turned towards his friend D’Artagnan, and clapping him on the shoulder, when Saint-Aignan had left him, the king’s supper having been announced, said, “D’Artagnan.”
“Yes, my dear fellow,” he replied.
“We do not sup with his majesty, I believe?”
“Well? —we do.”
“Can you give me ten minutes’ conversation?”
“Twenty, if you like. His majesty will take quite that time to get properly seated at table.”
“Where shall we talk, then?”
“Here, upon these seats if you like; the king has left, we can sit down, and the apartment is empty.”
“Let us sit down, then.”
They sat down, and Aramis took one of D’Artagnan’s hands in his.
“Tell me, candidly, my dear friend, whether you have not counseled Porthos to distrust me a little?”
“I admit, I have, but not as you understand it. I saw that Porthos was bored to death, and I wished, by presenting him to the king, to do for him, and for you, what you would never do for yourselves.”
“What is that?”
“Speak in your own praise.”
“And you have done it most nobly; I thank you.”
“And I brought the cardinal’s hat a little nearer, just as it seemed to be retreating from you.”
“Ah! I admit that,” said Aramis, with a singular smile, “you are, indeed, not to be matched for making your friends’ fortunes for them.”
“You see, then, that I only acted with the view of making Porthos’s fortune for him.”
“I meant to have done that myself; but your arm reaches farther than ours.”
It was now D’Artagnan’s turn to smile.
“Come,” said Aramis, “we ought to deal truthfully with each other. Do you still love me, D’Artagnan?”
“The same as I used to do,” replied D’Artagnan, without compromising himself too much by this reply.
“In that case, thanks; and now, for the most perfect frankness,” said Aramis; “you visited Belle-Isle on behalf of the king?”
“Pardieu!”
“You wished to deprive us of the pleasure of offering Bell-Isle completely fortified to the king.”
“But before I could deprive you of that pleasure, I ought to have been made acquainted with your intention of doing so.”
“You came to Belle-Isle without knowing anything?”
“Of you! yes. How the devil could I imagine that Aramis had become so clever an engineer as to be able to fortify like Polybius, or Archimedes?”
“True. And yet you smelt me out over yonder?”
“Oh! yes.”
“And Porthos, too?”
“I did not divine that Aramis was an engineer. I was only able to guess that Porthos might have become one. There is a saying, one becomes an orator, one is born a poet; but it has never been said, one is born Porthos, and one becomes an engineer.”
“Your wit is always amusing,” said Aramis, coldly.
“Well, I will go on.”
“Do. When you found out our secret, you made all the haste you could to communicate it to the king.”
“I certainly made as much haste as I could, since I saw that you were making still more. When a man weighing two hundred and fifty pounds, as Porthos does, rides post; when a gouty prelate – I beg your pardon, but you yourself told me you were so – when a prelate scours the highway – I naturally suppose that my two friends, who did not wish to be communicative with me, had certain matters of the highest importance to conceal from me, and so I made as much haste as my leanness and the absence of gout would allow.”
“Did it not occur to you, my dear friend, that you might be rendering Porthos and myself a very sad service?”
“Yes, I thought it not unlikely; but you and Porthos made me play a very ridiculous part at Belle-Isle.”
“I beg your pardon,” said Aramis.
“Excuse me,” said D’Artagnan.
“So that,” pursued Aramis, “you now know everything?”
“No, indeed.”
“You know I was obliged to inform M. Fouquet of what had happened, in order that he would be able to anticipate what you might have to tell the king?”
“That is rather obscure.”
“Not at all: M. Fouquet has his enemies – you will admit that, I suppose.”
“Certainly.”
“And one in particular.”
“A dangerous one?”
“A mortal enemy. Well, in order to counteract that man’s influence, it was necessary that M. Fouquet should give the king a proof of his great devotion to him, and of his readiness to make the greatest sacrifices. He surprised his majesty by offering him Belle-Isle. If you had been the first to reach Paris, the surprise would have been destroyed, it would have looked as if we had yielded to fear.”
“I understand.”
“That is the whole mystery,” said Aramis, satisfied that he had at last quite convinced the musketeer.
“Only,” said the latter, “it would have been more simple to have taken me aside, and said to me, ‘My dear D’Artagnan, we are fortifying Belle-Isle, and intend to offer it to the king. Tell us frankly, for whom you are acting. Are you a friend of M. Colbert, or of M. Fouquet?’ Perhaps I should not have answered you, but you would have added, – ‘Are you my friend?’ I should have said ‘Yes.’” Aramis hung down his head. “In this way,” continued D’Artagnan, “you would have paralyzed my movements, and I should have gone to the king, and said, ‘Sire, M. Fouquet is fortifying Belle-Isle, and exceedingly well, too; but here is a note, which the governor of Belle-Isle gave me for your majesty;’ or, ‘M. Fouquet is about to wait upon your majesty to explain his intentions with regard to it.’ I should not have been placed in an absurd position; you would have enjoyed the surprise so long planned, and we should not have had any occasion to look askant at each other when we met.”
“While, on the contrary,” replied Aramis, “you have acted altogether as one friendly to M. Colbert. And you really are a friend of his, I suppose?”
“Certainly not, indeed!” exclaimed the captain. “M. Colbert is a mean fellow, and I hate him as I used to hate Mazarin, but without fearing him.”
“Well, then,” said Aramis, “I love M. Fouquet, and his interests are mine. You know my position. I have no property or means whatever. M. Fouquet gave me several livings, a bishopric as well; M. Fouquet has served and obliged me like the generous-hearted man he is, and I know the world sufficiently well to appreciate a kindness when I meet with one. M. Fouquet has won my regard, and I have devoted myself to his service.”
“You could not possibly do better. You will find him a very liberal master.”
Aramis bit his lips; and then said, “The best a man could possibly have.” He then paused for a minute, D’Artagnan taking good care not to interrupt him.
“I suppose you know how Porthos got mixed up in all this?”
“No,” said D’Artagnan; “I am curious, of course, but I never question a friend when he wishes to keep a secret from me.”
“Well, then, I will tell you.”
“It is hardly worth the trouble, if the confidence is to bind me in any