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The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Three Musketeers 199 at Prostate Health
late, that
a confessor should be sent for.
"Oh, my friends," said dArtagnan, "you come once more to
save my life, not only mine but that of these gentlemen.
Gentlemen," continued he, addressing the Guardsmen, "I
request you will be silent with regard to this adventure.
Great personages may have had a hand in what you have seen,
and if talked about, the evil would only recoil upon us."
"Ah, monsieur!" stammered Planchet, more dead than alive,
"ah, monsieur, what an escape I have had!"
"How, sirrah! you were going to drink my wine?"
"To the health of the king, monsieur; I was going to drink a
small glass of it if Fourreau had not told me I was called."
"Alas!" said Fourreau, whose teeth chattered with terror,
"I wanted to get him out of the way that I might drink myself."
"Gentlemen," said dArtagnan, addressing the Guardsmen, "you
may easily comprehend that such a feast can only be very
dull after what has taken place; so accept my excuses, and
put off the party till another day, I beg of you."
The two Guardsmen courteously accepted dArtagnans excuses,
and perceiving that the four friends desired to be alone,
retired.
When the young Guardsman and the three Musketeers were
without witnesses, they looked at one another with an air
which plainly expressed that each of them perceived the
gravity of their situation.
"In the first place," said Athos, "let us leave this
chamber; the dead are not agreeable company, particularly
when they have died a violent death."
"Planchet," said dArtagnan, "I commit the corpse of this
poor devil to your care. Let him be interred in holy
ground. He committed a crime, it is true; but he repented
of it."
And the four friends quit the room, leaving to Planchet and
Fourreau the duty of paying mortuary honors to Brisemont.
The host gave them another chamber, and served them with
fresh eggs and some water, which Athos went himself to draw
at the fountain. In a few words, Porthos and Aramis were
posted as to the situation.
"Well," said dArtagnan to Athos, "you see, my dear friend,
that this is war to the death."
Athos shook his head.
"Yes, yes," replied he, "I perceive that plainly; but do you
really believe it is she?"
"I am sure of it."
"Nevertheless, I confess I still doubt."
"But the fleur-de-lis on her shoulder?"
"She is some Englishwoman who has committed a crime in
France, and has been branded in consequence."
"Athos, she is your wife, I tell you," repeated dArtagnan;
"only reflect how much the two descriptions resemble each
other."
"Yes; but I should think the other must be dead, I hanged
her so effectually."
It was dArtagnan who now shook his head in his turn.
"But in either case, what is to be done?" said the young
man.
"The fact is, one cannot remain thus, with a sword hanging
eternally over his head," said Athos. "We must extricate
ourselves from this position."
"But how?"
"Listen! You must try to see her, and have an explanation
with her. Say to her: Peace or war! My word as a
gentleman never to say anything of you, never to do anything
against you; on your side, a solemn oath to remain neutral
with respect to me. If not, I will apply to the chancellor,
I will apply to the king, I will apply to the hangman, I
will move the courts against you, I will denounce you as
branded, I will bring you to trial; and if you are
acquitted, well, by the faith of a gentleman, I will kill
you at the corner of some wall, as I would a mad dog."
"I like the means well enough," said dArtagnan, "but where
and how to meet with her?"
"Time, dear friend, time brings round opportunity;
opportunity is the martingale of man. The more we have
ventured the more we gain, when we know how to wait."
"Yes; but to wait surrounded by assassins and poisoners."
"Bah!" said Athos. "God has preserved us hitherto, God will
preserve us still."
"Yes, we. Besides, we are men; and everything considered,
it is our lot to risk our lives; but she," asked he, in an
undertone.
"What she?" asked Athos.
"Constance."
"Madame Bonacieux! Ah, thats true!" said Athos. "My poor
friend, I had forgotten you were in love."
"Well, but," said Aramis, "have you not learned by the
letter you found on the wretched corpse that she is in a
convent? One may be very comfortable in a convent; and as
soon as the siege of La Rochelle is terminated, I promise
you
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