85. The Oubliettes of Cardinal Mazarin.
At first, on arriving at the door through which Mazarin had passed,D'Artagnan tried in vain to open it, but on the powerful shoulder ofPorthos being applied to one of the panels, which gave way, D'Artagnanintroduced the point of his sword between the bolt and the staple of thelock. The bolt gave way and the door opened.
"As I told you, everything can be attained, Porthos, women and doors, byproceeding with gentleness."
"You're a great moralist, and that's the fact," said Porthos.
They entered; behind a glass window, by the light of the cardinal'slantern, which had been placed on the floor in the midst of the gallery,they saw the orange and pomegranate trees of the Castle of Rueil, inlong lines, forming one great alley and two smaller side alleys.
"No cardinal!" said D'Artagnan, "but only his lantern; where the devil,then, is he?"
Exploring, however, one of the side wings of the gallery, after making asign to Porthos to explore the other, he saw, all at once, at his left,a tub containing an orange tree, which had been pushed out of its placeand in its place an open aperture.
Ten men would have found difficulty in moving that tub, but by somemechanical contrivance it had turned with the flagstone on which itrested.
D'Artagnan, as we have said, perceived a hole in that place and in thishole the steps of a winding staircase.
He called Porthos to look at it.
"Were our object money only," he said, "we should be rich directly."
"How's that?"
"Don't you understand, Porthos? At the bottom of that staircase lies,probably, the cardinal's treasury of which folk tell such wonders, andwe should only have to descend, empty a chest, shut the cardinal up init, double lock it, go away, carrying off as much gold as we could, putback this orange-tree over the place, and no one in the world would everask us where our fortune came from--not even the cardinal."
"It would be a happy hit for clowns to make, but as it seems to beunworthy of two gentlemen----" said Porthos.
"So I think; and therefore I said, 'Were our object money only;' but wewant something else," replied the Gascon.
At the same moment, whilst D'Artagnan was leaning over the aperture tolisten, a metallic sound, as if some one was moving a bag of gold,struck on his ear; he started; instantly afterward a door opened and alight played upon the staircase.
Mazarin had left his lamp in the gallery to make people believe that hewas walking about, but he had with him a waxlight, to help him toexplore his mysterious strong box.
"Faith," he said, in Italian, as he was reascending the steps andlooking at a bag of reals, "faith, there's enough to pay fivecouncillors of parliament, and two generals in Paris. I am a greatcaptain--that I am! but I make war in my own way."
The two friends were crouching down, meantime, behind a tub in the sidealley.
Mazarin came within three steps of D'Artagnan and pushed a spring in thewall; the slab turned and the orange tree resumed its place.
Then the cardinal put out the waxlight, slipped it into his pocket, andtaking up the lantern: "Now," he said, "for Monsieur de la Fere."
"Very good," thought D'Artagnan, "'tis our road likewise; we will gotogether."
All three set off on their walk, Mazarin taking the middle alley and thefriends the side ones.
The cardinal reached a second door without perceiving he was beingfollowed; the sand with which the alleys were covered deadened the soundof footsteps.
He then turned to the left, down a corridor which had escaped theattention of the two friends, but as he opened the door he paused, as ifin thought.
"Ah! Diavolo!" he exclaimed, "I forgot the recommendation of DeComminges, who advised me to take a guard and place it at this door, inorder not to put myself at the mercy of that four-headed combination ofdevils." And with a movement of impatience he turned to retrace hissteps.
"Do not give yourself the trouble, my lord," said D'Artagnan, with hisright foot forward, his beaver in his hand, a smile on his face, "wehave followed your eminence step by step and here we are."
"Yes--here we are," said Porthos.
And he made the same friendly salute as D'Artagnan.
Mazarin gazed at each of them with an affrighted stare, recognized them,and let drop his lantern, uttering a cry of terror.
D'Artagnan picked it up; by good luck it had not been extinguished.
"Oh, what imprudence, my lord," said D'Artagnan; "'tis not good to beabout just here without a light. Your eminence might knock againstsomething, or fall into a hole."
"Monsieur d'Artagnan!" muttered Mazarin, unable to recover from hisastonishment.
"Yes, my lord, it is I. I have the honor to present to you Monsieur duVallon, that excellent friend of mine, in whom your eminence had thekindness to interest yourself formerly."
And D'Artagnan held the lamp before the merry face of Porthos, who nowbegan to comprehend the affair and be very proud of the wholeundertaking.
"You were going to visit Monsieur de la Fere?" said D'Artagnan. "Don'tlet us disarrange your eminence. Be so good as to show us the way and wewill follow you."
Mazarin was by degrees recovering his senses.
"Have you been long in the orangery?" he asked in a trembling voice,remembering the visits he had been paying to his treasury.
Porthos opened his mouth to reply; D'Artagnan made him a sign, and hismouth, remaining silent, gradually closed.
"This moment come, my lord," said D'Artagnan.
Mazarin breathed again. His fears were now no longer for his hoard, butfor himself. A sort of smile played on his lips.
"Come," he said, "you have me in a snare, gentlemen. I confess myselfconquered. You wish to ask for liberty, and--I give it you."
"Oh, my lord!" answered D'Artagnan, "you are too good; as to ourliberty, we have that; we want to ask something else of you."
"You have your liberty?" repeated Mazarin, in terror.
"Certainly; and on the other hand, my lord, you have lost it, and now,in accordance with the law of war, sir, you must buy it back again."
Mazarin felt a shiver run through him--a chill even to his heart's core.His piercing look was fixed in vain on the satirical face of the Gasconand the unchanging countenance of Porthos. Both were in shadow and theSybil of Cuma herself could not have read them.
"To purchase back my liberty?" said the cardinal.
"Yes, my lord."
"And how much will that cost me, Monsieur d'Artagnan?"
"Zounds, my lord, I don't know yet. We must ask the Comte de la Fere thequestion. Will your eminence deign to open the door which leads to thecount's room, and in ten minutes all will be settled."
Mazarin started.
"My lord," said D'Artagnan, "your eminence sees that we wish to act withall formality and due respect; but I must warn you that we have no timeto lose; open the door then, my lord, and be so good as to remember,once for all, that on the slightest attempt to escape or the faintestcry for help, our position being very critical indeed, you must not beangry with us if we go to extremities."
"Be assured," answered Mazarin, "that I shall attempt nothing; I giveyou my word of honor."
D'Artagnan made a sign to Porthos to redouble his watchfulness; thenturning to Mazarin:
"Now, my lord, let us enter, if you please."