Louise de la Valliere

by Alexandre Dumas

  Chapter LXIII. Three Guests Astonished to Find Themselves at SupperTogether.

  The carriage arrived at the outside of the gate of the Bastile. Asoldier on guard stopped it, but D'Artagnan had only to utter a singleword to procure admittance, and the carriage passed on without furtherdifficulty. Whilst they were proceeding along the covered way which ledto the courtyard of the governor's residence, D'Artagnan, whose lynxeyes saw everything, even through the walls, suddenly cried out, "Whatis that out yonder?"

  "Well," said Athos, quietly; "what is it?"

  "Look yonder, Athos."

  "In the courtyard?"

  "Yes, yes; make haste!"

  "Well, a carriage; very likely conveying a prisoner like myself."

  "That would be too droll."

  "I do not understand you."

  "Make haste and look again, and look at the man who is just getting outof that carriage."

  At that very moment a second sentinel stopped D'Artagnan, and while theformalities were being gone through, Athos could see at a hundred pacesfrom him the man whom his friend had pointed out to him. He was, infact, getting out of the carriage at the door of the governor's house."Well," inquired D'Artagnan, "do you see him?"

  "Yes; he is a man in a gray suit."

  "What do you say of him?"

  "I cannot very well tell; he is, as I have just now told you, a man in agray suit, who is getting out of a carriage; that is all."

  "Athos, I will wager anything that it is he."

  "He, who?"

  "Aramis."

  "Aramis arrested? Impossible!"

  "I do not say he is arrested, since we see him alone in his carriage."

  "Well, then, what is he doing here?"

  "Oh! he knows Baisemeaux, the governor," replied the musketeer, slyly;"so we have arrived just in time."

  "What for?"

  "In order to see what we can see."

  "I regret this meeting exceedingly. When Aramis sees me, he will be verymuch annoyed, in the first place, at seeing me, and in the next at beingseen."

  "Very well reasoned."

  "Unfortunately, there is no remedy for it; whenever any one meetsanother in the Bastile, even if he wished to draw back to avoid him, itwould be impossible."

  "Athos, I have an idea; the question is, to spare Aramis the annoyanceyou were speaking of, is it not?"

  "What is to be done?"

  "I will tell you; or in order to explain myself in the best possibleway, let me relate the affair in my own manner; I will not recommend youto tell a falsehood, for that would be impossible for you to do; but Iwill tell falsehoods enough for both; it is easy to do that when one isborn to the nature and habits of a Gascon."

  Athos smiled. The carriage stopped where the one we have just nowpointed out had stopped; namely, at the door of the governor's house."It is understood, then?" said D'Artagnan, in a low voice to his friend.Athos consented by a gesture. They ascended the staircase. There willbe no occasion for surprise at the facility with which they had enteredinto the Bastile, if it be remembered that, before passing the firstgate, in fact, the most difficult of all, D'Artagnan had announced thathe had brought a prisoner of state. At the third gate, on the contrary,that is to say, when he had once fairly entered the prison, he merelysaid to the sentinel, "To M. Baisemeaux;" and they both passed on. In afew minutes they were in the governor's dining-room, and the first facewhich attracted D'Artagnan's observation was that of Aramis, who wasseated side by side with Baisemeaux, awaiting the announcement of ameal whose odor impregnated the whole apartment. If D'Artagnan pretendedsurprise, Aramis did not pretend at all; he started when he saw histwo friends, and his emotion was very apparent. Athos and D'Artagnan,however, complimented him as usual, and Baisemeaux, amazed, completelystupefied by the presence of his three guests, began to perform a fewevolutions around them.

  "By what lucky accident--"

  "We were just going to ask you," retorted D'Artagnan.

  "Are we going to give ourselves up as prisoners?" cried Aramis, with anaffection of hilarity.

  "Ah! ah!" said D'Artagnan; "it is true the walls smell deucedly like aprison. Monsieur de Baisemeaux, you know you invited me to sup with youthe other day."

  "I?" cried Baisemeaux.

  "Yes, of course you did, although you now seem so struck with amazement.Don't you remember it?"

  Baisemeaux turned pale and then red, looked at Aramis, who looked athim, and finished by stammering out, "Certainly--I am delighted--but,upon my honor--I have not the slightest--Ah! I have such a wretchedmemory."

  "Well! I am wrong, I see," said D'Artagnan, as if he were offended.

  "Wrong, what for?"

  "Wrong to remember anything about it, it seems."

  Baisemeaux hurried towards him. "Do not stand on ceremony, my dearcaptain," he said; "I have the worst memory in the world. I no soonerleave off thinking of my pigeons and their pigeon-house, than I am nobetter than the rawest recruit."

  "At all events, you remember it now," said D'Artagnan, boldly.

  "Yes, yes," replied the governor, hesitating; "I think I do remember."

  "It was when you came to the palace to see me; you told me some story orother about your accounts with M. de Louviere and M. de Tremblay."

  "Oh, yes! perfectly."

  "And about M. d'Herblay's kindness towards you."

  "Ah!" exclaimed Aramis, looking at the unhappy governor full inthe face, "and yet you just now said you had no memory, Monsieur deBaisemeaux."

  Baisemeaux interrupted the musketeer in the middle of his revelations."Yes, yes; you're quite right; how could I have forgotten; I remember itnow as well as possible; I beg you a thousand pardons. But now, once forall, my dear M. d'Artagnan, be sure that at this present time, as at anyother, whether invited or not, you are perfectly at home here, you andM. d'Herblay, your friend," he said, turning towards Aramis; "and thisgentleman, too," he added, bowing to Athos.

  "Well, I thought it would be sure to turn out so," replied D'Artagnan,"and that is the reason I came. Having nothing to do this evening at thePalais Royal, I wished to judge for myself what your ordinary style ofliving was like; and as I was coming along, I met the Comte de la Fere."

  Athos bowed. "The comte, who had just left his majesty, handed me anorder which required immediate attention. We were close by here; Iwished to call in, even if it were for no other object than that ofshaking hands with you and of presenting the comte to you, of whom youspoke so highly that evening at the palace when--"

  "Certainly, certainly--M. le Comte de la Fere?"

  "Precisely."

  "The comte is welcome, I am sure."

  "And he will sup with you two, I suppose, whilst I, unfortunate dog thatI am, must run off on a matter of duty. Oh! what happy beings you are,compared to myself," he added, sighing as loud as Porthos might havedone.

  "And so you are going away, then?" said Aramis and Baisemeaux together,with the same expression of delighted surprise, the tone of which wasimmediately noticed by D'Artagnan.

  "I leave you in my place," he said, "a noble and excellent guest." Andhe touched Athos gently on the shoulder, who, astonished also, could nothelp exhibiting his surprise a little; which was noticed by Aramis only,for M. de Baisemeaux was not quite equal to the three friends in pointof intelligence.

  "What, are you going to leave us?" resumed the governor.

  "I shall only be about an hour, or an hour and a half. I will return intime for dessert."

  "Oh! we will wait for you," said Baisemeaux.

  "No, no; that would be really disobliging me."

  "You will be sure to return, though?" said Athos, with an expression ofdoubt.

  "Most certainly," he said, pressing his friend's hand confidently; andhe added, in a low voice, "Wait for me, Athos; be cheerful and livelyas possible, and above all, don't allude even to business affairs, forHeaven's sake."

  And with a renewed pressure of the hand, he seemed to warn the comte ofthe necessity of keeping perfectly dis
creet and impenetrable. Baisemeauxled D'Artagnan to the gate. Aramis, with many friendly protestationsof delight, sat down by Athos, determined to make him speak; but Athospossessed every virtue and quality to the very highest degree. Ifnecessity had required it, he would have been the finest orator in theworld, but on other occasions he would rather have died than have openedhis lips.

  Ten minutes after D'Artagnan's departure, the three gentlemen satdown to table, which was covered with the most substantial displayof gastronomic luxury. Large joints, exquisite dishes, preserves, thegreatest variety of wines, appeared successively upon the table, whichwas served at the king's expense, and of which expense M. Colbert wouldhave found no difficulty in saving two thirds, without any one in theBastile being the worse for it. Baisemeaux was the only one who ate anddrank with gastronomic resolution. Aramis allowed nothing to pass byhim, but merely touched everything he took; Athos, after the soup andthree _hors d'oeuvres_, ate nothing more. The style of conversation wassuch as might have been anticipated between three men so oppositein temper and ideas. Aramis was incessantly asking himself by whatextraordinary chance Athos was there at Baisemeaux's when D'Artagnan wasno longer there, and why D'Artagnan did not remain when Athos was there.Athos sounded all the depths of the mind of Aramis, who lived in themidst of subterfuge, evasion, and intrigue; he studied his man well andthoroughly, and felt convinced that he was engaged upon some importantproject. And then he too began to think of his own personal affair, andto lose himself in conjectures as to D'Artagnan's reason for having leftthe Bastile so abruptly, and for leaving behind him a prisoner so badlyintroduced and so badly looked after by the prison authorities. Butwe shall not pause to examine into the thoughts and feelings of thesepersonages, but will leave them to themselves, surrounded by the remainsof poultry, game, and fish, which Baisemeaux's generous knife andfork had so mutilated. We are going to follow D'Artagnan instead, who,getting into the carriage which had brought him, said to the coachman,"Return to the palace, as fast as the horses can gallop."