Ten Years Later

by Alexandre Dumas

  M. Colbert resided in the Rue Neuve des Petits-Champs in a house whichhad belonged to Beautru. D'Artagnan's legs cleared the distance in ashort quarter of an hour. When he arrived at the residence of thenew favorite, the court was full of archers and police, who came tocongratulate him, or to excuse themselves according to whether he shouldchoose to praise or blame. The sentiment of flattery is instinctivewith people of abject condition; they have the sense of it, as the wildanimal has that of hearing and smell. These people, or their leader,understood that there was a pleasure to offer to M. Colbert, inrendering him an account of the fashion in which his name had beenpronounced during the rash enterprise of the morning. D'Artagnan madehis appearance just as the chief of the watch was giving his report. Hestood close to the door, behind the archers. That officer took Colberton one side, in spite of his resistance and the contraction of his bushyeyebrows. "In case," said he, "you really desired, monsieur, that thepeople should do justice on the two traitors, it would have been wiseto warn us of it; for, indeed, monsieur, in spite of our regret atdispleasing you, or thwarting your views, we had our orders to execute."

  "Triple fool!" replied Colbert, furiously shaking his hair, thick andblack as a mane, "what are you telling me? What! that I could have hadan idea of a riot! Are you mad or drunk?"

  "But, monsieur, they cried, 'Vive Colbert!'" replied the tremblingwatch.

  "A handful of conspirators----"

  "No, no; a mass of people."

  "Ah! indeed," said Colbert, expanding. "A mass of people cried, 'ViveColbert!' Are you certain of what you say, monsieur?"

  "We had nothing to do but open our ears, or rather to close them, soterrible were the cries."

  "And this was from the people, the real people?"

  "Certainly, monsieur; only these real people beat us."

  "Oh! very well," continued Colbert, thoughtfully. "Then you suppose itwas the people alone who wished to burn the condemned?"

  "Oh! yes, monsieur."

  "That is quite another thing. You strongly resisted, then?"

  "We had three of our men crushed to death, monsieur!"

  "But you killed nobody yourselves?"

  "Monsieur, a few of the rioters were left upon the square, and one amongthem who was not a common man."

  "Who was he?"

  "A certain Menneville, upon whom the police have a long time had aneye."

  "Menneville!" cried Colbert, "what, he who killed Rue de la Huchette, aworthy man who wanted a fat fowl?"

  "Yes, monsieur; the same."

  "And did this Menneville also cry, 'Vive Colbert'?"

  "Louder than all the rest, like a madman."

  Colbert's brow grew dark and wrinkled. A kind of ambitious glory whichhad lighted his face was extinguished, like the light of glow-worms wecrush beneath the grass. "Then you say," resumed the deceived intendant,"that the initiative came from the people? Menneville was my enemy, Iwould have had him hung, and he knew it well. Menneville belonged tothe Abbe Fouquet--the affair originated with Fouquet; does not everybodyknow that the condemned were his friends from childhood?"

  "That is true," thought D'Artagnan, "and thus are all my doubts clearedup. I repeat it, Monsieur Fouquet many be called what they please, buthe is a very gentlemanly man."

  "And," continued Colbert, "are you quite sure Menneville is dead?"

  D'Artagnan thought the time was come for him to make his appearance."Perfectly, monsieur;" replied he, advancing suddenly.

  "Oh! is that you, monsieur?" said Colbert.

  "In person," replied the musketeer with his deliberate tone; "it appearsthat you had in Menneville a pretty enemy."

  "It was not I, monsieur, who had an enemy," replied Colbert; "it was theking."

  "Double brute!" thought D'Artagnan, "to think to play the great man andthe hypocrite with me. Well," continued he to Colbert, "I am very happyto have rendered so good a service to the king; will you take upon youto tell his majesty, monsieur l'intendant?"

  "What commission is this you give me, and what do you charge me to tellhis majesty, monsieur? Be precise, if you please," said Colbert, in asharp voice, tuned beforehand to hostility.

  "I give you no commission," replied D'Artagnan, with that calmness whichnever abandons the banterer; "I thought it would be easy for you toannounce to his majesty that it was I who, being there by chance, didjustice upon Menneville and restored things to order."

  Colbert opened his eyes and interrogated the chief of the watch with alook--"Ah! it is very true," said the latter, "that this gentleman savedus."

  "Why did you not tell me monsieur, that you came to relate me this?"said Colbert with envy, "everything is explained, and more favorably foryou than for anybody else."

  "You are in error, monsieur l'intendant, I did not at all come for thepurpose of relating that to you."

  "It is an exploit, nevertheless."

  "Oh!" said the musketeer carelessly, "constant habit blunts the mind."

  "To what do I owe the honor of your visit, then?"

  "Simply to this: the king ordered me to come to you."

  "Ah!" said Colbert, recovering himself when he saw D'Artagnan draw apaper from his pocket; "it is to demand some money of me?"

  "Precisely, monsieur.'

  "Have the goodness to wait, if you please, monsieur, till I havedispatched the report of the watch."

  D'Artagnan turned upon his heel, insolently enough, and finding himselfface to face with Colbert, after his first turn, he bowed to him as aharlequin would have done; then, after a second evolution, he directedhis steps towards the door in quick time. Colbert was struck with thispointed rudeness, to which he was not accustomed. In general, men ofthe sword, when they came to his office, had such a want of money, thatthough their feet seemed to take root in the marble, they hardly losttheir patience. Was D'Artagnan going straight to the king? Would he goand describe his rough reception, or recount his exploit? This was amatter for grave consideration. At all events, the moment was badlychosen to send D'Artagnan away, whether he came from the king, or on hisown account. The musketeer had rendered too great a service, and thattoo recently, for it to be already forgotten. Therefore Colbert thoughtit would be better to shake off his arrogance and call D'Artagnan back."Ho! Monsieur d'Artagnan," cried Colbert, "what! are you leaving methus?"

  D'Artagnan turned round: "Why not?" said he, quietly, "we have no moreto say to each other, have we?"

  "You have, at least, money to receive, as you have an order?"

  "Who, I? Oh! not at all, my dear Monsieur Colbert."

  "But, monsieur, you have an order. And, in the same manner as you give asword-thrust, when you are required, I, on my part, pay when an order ispresented to me. Present yours."

  "It is useless, my dear Monsieur Colbert," said D'Artagnan, who inwardlyenjoyed this confusion in the ideas of Colbert; "my order is paid."

  "Paid, by whom?"

  "By monsieur le surintendant."

  Colbert grew pale.

  "Explain yourself," said he, in a stifled voice--"if you are paid why doyou show me that paper?"

  "In consequence of the word of order of which you spoke to me soingeniously just now, dear M. Colbert; the king told me to take aquarter of the pension he is pleased to make me."

  "Of me?" said Colbert.

  "Not exactly. The king said to me: 'Go to M. Fouquet; the superintendentwill, perhaps, have no money, then you will go and draw it of M.Colbert.'"

  The countenance of M. Colbert brightened for a moment; but it was withhis unfortunate physiognomy as with a stormy sky, sometimes radiant,sometimes dark as night, according as the lightning gleams or the cloudpasses. "Eh! and was there any money in the superintendent's coffers?"asked he.

  "Why, yes, he could not be badly off for money," replied D'Artagnan--"itmay be believed, since M. Fouquet, instead of paying me a quarter orfive thousand livres----"

  "A quarter or five thousand livres!" cried Colbert, struck, as Fouquethad been, with the generosity of the sum for a
soldier's pension, "why,that would be a pension of twenty thousand livres?"

  "Exactly, M. Colbert. Peste! you reckon like old Pythagoras; yes, twentythousand livres."

  "Ten times the appointment of an intendant of the finances. I beg tooffer you my compliments," said Colbert, with a vicious smile.

  "Oh!" said D'Artagnan, "the king apologized for giving me so little;but he promised to make it more hereafter, when he should be rich; but Imust be gone, having much to do----"

  "So, then, notwithstanding the expectation of the king, thesuperintendent paid you, did he?"

  "In the same manner as, in opposition to the king's expectation, yourefused to pay me."

  "I did not refuse, monsieur, I only begged you to wait. And you say thatM. Fouquet paid you your five thousand livres?"

  "Yes, as you might have done; but he did even better than that, M.Colbert."

  "And what did he do?"

  "He politely counted me down the sum-total, saying, that for the king,his coffers were always full."

  "The sum-total! M. Fouquet has given you twenty thousand livres insteadof five thousand?"

  "Yes, monsieur."

  "And what for?"

  "In order to spare me three visits to the money-chest of thesuperintendent, so that I have the twenty thousand livres in my pocketin good new coin. You see, then, that I am able to go away withoutstanding in need of you, having come here only for form's sake."And D'Artagnan slapped his hand upon his pocket, with a laugh whichdisclosed to Colbert thirty-two magnificent teeth, as white as teeth oftwenty-five years old and which seemed to say in their language: "Serveup to us thirty-two little Colberts, and we will chew them willingly."The serpent is as brave as the lion, the hawk as courageous as theeagle, that cannot be contested. It can only be said of animals that aredecidedly cowardly, and are so called, that they will be brave onlywhen they have to defend themselves. Colbert was not frightened at thethirty-two teeth of D'Artagnan. He recovered, and suddenly,--"Monsieur,"said he, "monsieur le surintendant has done what he had no right to do."

  "What do you mean by that?" replied D'Artagnan.

  "I mean that your note--will you let me see your note, if you please?"

  "Very willingly; here it is."

  Colbert seized the paper with an eagerness which the musketeer did notremark without uneasiness, and particularly without a certain degree ofregret at having trusted him with it. "Well, monsieur, the royal ordersays this:--'At sight, I command that there be paid to M. d'Artagnanthe sum of five thousand livres, forming a quarter of the pension I havemade him.'"

  "So, in fact, it is written," said D'Artagnan, affecting calmness.

  "Very well; the king only owed you five thousand livres; why has morebeen given to you?"

  "Because there was more; and M. Fouquet was willing to give me more;that does not concern anybody."

  "It is natural," said Colbert, with a proud ease, "that you should beignorant of the usages of state-finance; but, monsieur, when you have athousand livres to pay, what do you do?"

  "I never have a thousand livres to pay," replied D'Artagnan.

  "Once more," said Colbert, irritated--"once more, if you had any sum topay, would you not pay what you ought?"

  "That only proves one thing," said D'Artagnan; "and that is, that youhave your particular customs in finance, and M. Fouquet has his own."

  "Mine, monsieur, are the correct ones."

  "I do not say they are not."

  "And you have accepted what was not due to you."

  D'Artagnan's eyes flashed. "What is not due to me yet, you meant tosay, M. Colbert; for if I had received what was not due to me at all, Ishould have committed a theft."

  Colbert made no reply to this subtlety. "You then owe fifteen thousandlivres to the public chest," said he, carried away by his jealous ardor.

  "Then you must give me credit for them," replied D'Artagnan, with hisimperceptible irony.

  "Not at all, monsieur."

  "Well! what will you do, then? You will not take my rouleaux from me,will you?"

  "You must return them to my chest."

  "I! Oh! Monsieur Colbert, don't reckon upon that."

  "The king wants his money, monsieur."

  "And I, monsieur, I want the king's money."

  "That may be but you must return this."

  "Not a sou. I have always understood that in matters of comptabilite, asyou call it, a good cashier never gives back or takes back."

  "Then, monsieur, we shall see what the king will say about it. I willshow him this note, which proves that M. Fouquet not only pays what hedoes not owe, but that he does not even take care of vouchers for thesums that he has paid."

  "Ah! now I understand why you have taken that paper, M. Colbert!"

  Colbert did not perceive all that there was of a threatening characterin his name pronounced in a certain manner. "You shall see hereafterwhat use I will make of it," said he, holding up the paper in hisfingers.

  "Oh!" said D'Artagnan, snatching the paper from him with a rapidmovement; "I understand it perfectly well, M. Colbert; I have nooccasion to wait for that." And he crumpled up in his pocket the paperhe had so cleverly seized.

  "Monsieur, monsieur!" cried Colbert, "this is violence!"

  "Nonsense! You must not be particular about a soldier's manners!"replied D'Artagnan. "I kiss your hands, my dear M. Colbert." And he wentout, laughing in the face of the future minister.

  "That man, now," muttered he, "was about to grow quite friendly; it is agreat pity I was obliged to cut his company so soon."

  CHAPTER 65. Philosophy of the Heart and Mind