87. Thinking that Porthos will be at last a Baron, and D'Artagnan aCaptain.
At the expiration of ten minutes Aramis arrived, accompanied by Grimaudand eight or ten followers. He was excessively delighted and threwhimself into his friends' arms.
"You are free, my brothers! free without my aid! and I shall havesucceeded in doing nothing for you in spite of all my efforts."
"Do not be unhappy, dear friend, on that account; if you have donenothing as yet, you will do something soon," replied Athos.
"I had well concerted my plans," pursued Aramis; "the coadjutor gave mesixty men; twenty guard the walls of the park, twenty the road fromRueil to Saint Germain, twenty are dispersed in the woods. Thus I wasable, thanks to the strategic disposition of my forces, to intercept twocouriers from Mazarin to the queen."
Mazarin listened intently.
"But," said D'Artagnan, "I trust that you honorably sent them back tomonsieur le cardinal!"
"Ah, yes!" said Aramis, "toward him I should be very likely to practicesuch delicacy of sentiment! In one of the despatches the cardinaldeclares to the queen that the treasury is empty and that her majestyhas no more money. In the other he announces that he is about totransport his prisoners to Melun, since Rueil seemed to him notsufficiently secure. You can understand, dear friend, with what hope Iwas inspired by that last letter. I placed myself in ambuscade with mysixty men; I encircled the castle; the riding horses I entrusted toGrimaud and I awaited your coming out, which I did not expect tillto-morrow, and I didn't hope to free you without a skirmish. You arefree to-night, without fighting; so much the better! How did you manageto escape that scoundrel Mazarin? You must have much reason to complainof him."
"Not very much," said D'Artagnan.
"Really!"
"I might even say that we have some reason to praise him."
"Impossible!"
"Yes, really; it is owing to him that we are free."
"Owing to him?"
"Yes, he had us conducted into the orangery by Monsieur Bernouin, hisvalet-de-chambre, and from there we followed him to visit the Comte dela Fere. Then he offered us our liberty and we accepted it. He even wentso far as to show us the way out; he led us to the park wall, which weclimbed over without accident, and then we fell in with Grimaud."
"Well!" exclaimed Aramis, "this will reconcile me to him; but I wish hewere here that I might tell him that I did not believe him capable of sonoble an act."
"My lord," said D'Artagnan, no longer able to contain himself, "allow meto introduce to you the Chevalier d'Herblay, who wishes--as you may haveheard--to offer his congratulations to your eminence."
And he retired, discovering Mazarin, who was in great confusion, to theastonished gaze of Aramis.
"Ho! ho!" exclaimed the latter, "the cardinal! a glorious prize! Halloo!halloo! friends! to horse! to horse!"
Several horsemen ran quickly to him.
"Zounds!" cried Aramis, "I may have done some good; so, my lord, deignto receive my most respectful homage! I will lay a wager that 'twas thatSaint Christopher, Porthos, who performed this feat! Apropos! Iforgot----" and he gave some orders in a low voice to one of thehorsemen.
"I think it will be wise to set off," said D'Artagnan.
"Yes; but I am expecting some one, a friend of Athos."
"A friend!" exclaimed the count.
"And here he comes, by Jupiter! galloping through the bushes."
"The count! the count!" cried a young voice that made Athos start.
"Raoul! Raoul!" he ejaculated.
For one moment the young man forgot his habitual respect--he threwhimself on his father's neck.
"Look, my lord cardinal," said Aramis, "would it not have been a pity tohave separated men who love each other as we love? Gentlemen," hecontinued, addressing the cavaliers, who became more and more numerousevery instant; "gentlemen, encircle his eminence, that you may show himthe greater honor. He will, indeed give us the favor of his company; youwill, I hope, be grateful for it; Porthos, do not lose sight of hiseminence."
Aramis then joined Athos and D'Artagnan, who were consulting together.
"Come," said D'Artagnan, after a conference of five minutes' duration,"let us begin our journey."
"Where are we to go?" asked Porthos.
"To your house, dear Porthos, at Pierrefonds; your fine chateau isworthy of affording its princely hospitality to his eminence; it is,likewise, well situated--neither too near Paris, nor too far from it; wecan establish a communication between it and the capital with greatfacility. Come, my lord, you shall be treated like a prince, as youare."
"A fallen prince!" exclaimed Mazarin, piteously.
"The chances of war," said Athos, "are many, but be assured we shalltake no improper advantage of them."
"No, but we shall make use of them," said D'Artagnan.
The rest of the night was employed by these cavaliers in traveling withthe wonderful rapidity of former days. Mazarin, still sombre andpensive, permitted himself to be dragged along in this way; it looked arace of phantoms. At dawn twelve leagues had been passed without drawingrein; half the escort were exhausted and several horses fell down.
"Horses, nowadays, are not what they were formerly," observed Porthos;"everything degenerates."
"I have sent Grimaud to Dammartin," said Aramis. "He is to bring us fivefresh horses--one for his eminence, four for us. We, at least, must keepclose to monseigneur; the rest of the start will rejoin us later. Oncebeyond Saint Denis we shall have nothing to fear."
Grimaud, in fact, brought back five horses. The nobleman to whom heapplied, being a friend of Porthos, was very ready, not to sell them, aswas proposed, but to lend them. Ten minutes later the escort stopped atErmenonville, but the four friends went on with well sustained ardor,guarding Mazarin carefully. At noon they rode into the avenue ofPierrefonds.
"Ah!" said Mousqueton, who had ridden by the side of D'Artagnan withoutspeaking a word on the journey, "you may think what you will, sir, but Ican breathe now for the first time since my departure from Pierrefonds;"and he put his horse to a gallop to announce to the other servants thearrival of Monsieur du Vallon and his friends.
"We are four of us," said D'Artagnan; "we must relieve each other inmounting guard over my lord and each of us must watch three hours at atime. Athos is going to examine the castle, which it will be necessaryto render impregnable in case of siege; Porthos will see to theprovisions and Aramis to the troops of the garrison. That is to say,Athos will be chief engineer, Porthos purveyor-in-general, and Aramisgovernor of the fortress."
Meanwhile, they gave up to Mazarin the handsomest room in the chateau.
"Gentlemen," he said, when he was in his room, "you do not expect, Ipresume, to keep me here a long time incognito?"
"No, my lord," replied the Gascon; "on the contrary, we think ofannouncing very soon that we have you here."
"Then you will be besieged."
"We expect it."
"And what shall you do?"
"Defend ourselves. Were the late Cardinal Richelieu alive he would tellyou a certain story of the Bastion Saint Gervais, which we four, withour four lackeys and twelve dead men, held out against a whole army."
"Such feats, sir, are done once--and never repeated."
"However, nowadays there's no need of so much heroism. To-morrow thearmy of Paris will be summoned, the day after it will be here! The fieldof battle, instead, therefore, of being at Saint Denis or at Charenton,will be near Compiegne or Villars-Cotterets."
"The prince will vanquish you, as he has always done."
"'Tis possible; my lord; but before an engagement ensues we shall moveyour eminence to another castle belonging to our friend Du Vallon, whohas three. We will not expose your eminence to the chances of war."
"Come," answered Mazarin, "I see it will be necessary for me tocapitulate."
"Before a siege?"
"Yes; the conditions will be better than afterward."
"Ah, my lord! as to condition
s, you would soon see how moderate andreasonable we are!"
"Come, now, what are your conditions?"
"Rest yourself first, my lord, and we--we will reflect."
"I do not need rest, gentlemen; I need to know whether I am amongenemies or friends."
"Friends, my lord! friends!"
"Well, then, tell me at once what you want, that I may see if anyarrangement be possible. Speak, Comte de la Fere!"
"My lord," replied Athos, "for myself I have nothing to demand. ForFrance, were I to specify my wishes, I should have too much. I beg youto excuse me and propose to the chevalier."
And Athos, bowing, retired and remained leaning against the mantelpiece,a spectator of the scene.
"Speak, then, chevalier!" said the cardinal. "What do you want? Nothingambiguous, if you please. Be clear, short and precise."
"As for me," replied Aramis, "I have in my pocket the very programme ofthe conditions which the deputation--of which I formed one--wentyesterday to Saint Germain to impose on you. Let us consider first theancient rights. The demands in that programme must be granted."
"We were almost agreed on those," replied Mazarin; "let us pass on toprivate and personal stipulations."
"You suppose, then, that there are some?" said Aramis, smiling.
"I do not suppose that you will all be quite so disinterested asMonsieur de la Fere," replied the cardinal, bowing to Athos.
"My lord, you are right, and I am glad to see that you do justice to thecount at last. The count has a mind above vulgar desires and earthlypassions. He is a proud soul--he is a man by himself! You are right--heis worth us all, and we avow it to you!"
"Aramis," said Athos, "are you jesting?"
"No, no, dear friend; I state only what we all know. You are right; itis not you alone this matter concerns, but my lord and his unworthyservant, myself."
"Well, then, what do you require besides the general conditions beforerecited?"
"I require, my lord, that Normandy should be given to Madame deLongueville, with five hundred thousand francs and full absolution. Irequire that his majesty should deign to be godfather to the child shehas just borne; and that my lord, after having been present at thechristening, should go to proffer his homage to our Holy Father thePope."
"That is, you wish me to lay aside my ministerial functions, to quitFrance and be an exile."
"I wish his eminence to become pope on the first opportunity, allowingme then the right of demanding full indulgences for myself and myfriends."
Mazarin made a grimace which was quite indescribable, and then turned toD'Artagnan.
"And you, sir?" he said.
"I, my lord," answered the Gascon, "I differ from Monsieur d'Herblayentirely as to the last point, though I agree with him on the first. Farfrom wishing my lord to quit Paris, I hope he will stay there andcontinue to be prime minister, as he is a great statesman. I shall tryalso to help him to down the Fronde, but on one condition--that hesometimes remembers the king's faithful servants and gives the firstvacant company of musketeers to a man that I could name. And you,Monsieur du Vallon----"
"Yes, you, sir! Speak, if you please," said Mazarin.
"As for me," answered Porthos, "I wish my lord cardinal, in order to dohonor to my house, which gives him an asylum, would in remembrance ofthis adventure erect my estate into a barony, with a promise to conferthat order on one of my particular friends, whenever his majesty nextcreates peers."
"You know, sir, that before receiving the order one must submit proofs."
"My friends will submit them. Besides, should it be necessary,monseigneur will show him how that formality may be avoided."
Mazarin bit his lips; the blow was direct and he replied rather dryly:
"All this appears to me to be ill conceived, disjointed, gentlemen; forif I satisfy some I shall displease others. If I stay in Paris I cannotgo to Rome; if I became pope I could not continue to be prime minister;and it is only by continuing prime minister that I can make Monsieurd'Artagnan a captain and Monsieur du Vallon a baron."
"True," said Aramis, "so, as I am in a minority, I withdraw myproposition, so far as it relates to the voyage to Rome andmonseigneur's resignation."
"I am to remain minister, then?" said Mazarin.
"You remain minister; that is understood," said D'Artagnan; "Franceneeds you."
"And I desist from my pretensions," said Aramis. "His eminence willcontinue to be prime minister and her majesty's favorite, if he willgrant to me and my friends what we demand for France and for ourselves."
"Occupy yourselves with your own affairs, gentlemen, and let Francesettle matters as she will with me," resumed Mazarin.
"Ho! ho!" replied Aramis. "The Frondeurs will have a treaty and youreminence must sign it before us, promising at the same time to obtainthe queen's consent to it."
"I can answer only for myself," said Mazarin. "I cannot answer for thequeen. Suppose her majesty refuses?"
"Oh!" said D'Artagnan, "monseigneur knows very well that her majestyrefuses him nothing."
"Here, monseigneur," said Aramis, "is the treaty proposed by thedeputation of Frondeurs. Will your eminence please read and examine?"
"I am acquainted with it."
"Sign it, then."
"Reflect, gentlemen, that a signature given under circumstances like thepresent might be regarded as extorted by violence."
"Monseigneur will be at hand to testify that it was freely given."
"Suppose I refuse?"
"Then," said D'Artagnan, "your eminence must expect the consequences ofa refusal."
"Would you dare to touch a cardinal?"
"You have dared, my lord, to imprison her majesty's musketeers."
"The queen will revenge me, gentlemen."
"I do not think so, although inclination might lead her to do so, but weshall take your eminence to Paris, and the Parisians will defend us."
"How uneasy they must be at this moment at Rueil and Saint Germain,"said Aramis. "How they must be asking, 'Where is the cardinal?' 'Whathas become of the minister?' 'Where has the favorite gone?' How theymust be looking for monseigneur in all corners! What comments must bemade; and if the Fronde knows that monseigneur has disappeared, how theFronde must triumph!"
"It is frightful," murmured Mazarin.
"Sign the treaty, then, monseigneur," said Aramis.
"Suppose the queen should refuse to ratify it?"
"Ah! nonsense!" cried D'Artagnan, "I can manage so that her majesty willreceive me well; I know an excellent method."
"What?"
"I shall take her majesty the letter in which you tell her that thefinances are exhausted."
"And then?" asked Mazarin, turning pale.
"When I see her majesty embarrassed, I shall conduct her to Rueil, makeher enter the orangery and show her a certain spring which turns a box."
"Enough, sir," muttered the cardinal, "you have said enough; where isthe treaty?"
"Here it is," replied Aramis. "Sign, my lord," and he gave him a pen.
Mazarin arose, walked some moments, thoughtful, but not dejected.
"And when I have signed," he said, "what is to be my guarantee?"
"My word of honor, sir," said Athos.
Mazarin started, turned toward the Comte de la Fere, and looking for aninstant at that grand and honest countenance, took the pen.
"It is sufficient, count," he said, and signed the treaty.
"And now, Monsieur d'Artagnan," he said, "prepare to set off for SaintGermain and take a letter from me to the queen."