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The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Three Musketeers 43 at Prostate Health
and Aramis had procured him. He
fancied himself a burden to the society, forgetting in his
perfectly juvenile good faith that he had fed this society for a
month; and he set his mind actively to work. He reflected that
this coalition of four young, brave, enterprising, and active men
ought to have some other object than swaggering walks, fencing
lessons, and practical jokes, more or less witty.
In fact, four men such as they were--four men devoted to one
another, from their purses to their lives; four men always
supporting one another, never yielding, executing singly or
together the resolutions formed in common; four arms threatening
the four cardinal points, or turning toward a single point--must
inevitably, either subterraneously, in open day, by mining, in
the trench, by cunning, or by force, open themselves a way toward
the object they wished to attain, however well it might be
defended, or however distant it may seem. The only thing that
astonished dArtagnan was that his friends had never thought of
this.
He was thinking by himself, and even seriously racking his brain
to find a direction for this single force four times multiplied,
with which he did not doubt, as with the lever for which
Archimedes sought, they should succeed in moving the world, when
someone tapped gently at his door. DArtagnan awakened Planchet
and ordered him to open it.
From this phrase, "dArtagnan awakened Planchet," the reader must
not suppose it was night, or that day was hardly come. No, it
had just struck four. Planchet, two hours before, had asked his
master for some dinner, and he had answered him with the proverb,
"He who sleeps, dines." And Planchet dined by sleeping.
A man was introduced of simple mien, who had the appearance of a
tradesman. Planchet, by way of dessert, would have liked to hear
the conversation; but the citizen declared to dArtagnan that
what he had to say being important and confidential, he desired
to be left alone with him.
DArtagnan dismissed Planchet, and requested his visitor to be
seated. There was a moment of silence, during which the two men
looked at each other, as if to make a preliminary acquaintance,
after which dArtagnan bowed, as a sign that he listened.
"I have heard Monsieur dArtagnan spoken of as a very brave young
man," said the citizen; "and this reputation which he justly
enjoys had decided me to confide a secret to him."
"Speak, monsieur, speak," said dArtagnan, who instinctively
scented something advantageous.
The citizen made a fresh pause and continued, "I have a wife who
is seamstress to the queen, monsieur, and who is not deficient in
either virtue or beauty. I was induced to marry her about three
years ago, although she had but very little dowry, because
Monsieur Laporte, the queens cloak bearer, is her godfather, and
befriends her."
"Well, monsieur?" asked dArtagnan.
"Well!" resumed the citizen, "well, monsieur, my wife was
abducted yesterday morning, as she was coming out of her
workroom."
"And by whom was your wife abducted?"
"I know nothing surely, monsieur, but I suspect someone."
"And who is the person whom you suspect?"
"A man who has pursued her a long time."
"The devil!"
"But allow me to tell you, monsieur," continued the citizen,
"that I am convinced that there is less love than politics in all
this."
"Less love than politics," replied dArtagnan, with a reflective
air; "and what do you suspect?"
"I do not know whether I ought to tell you what I suspect."
"Monsieur, I beg you to observe that I ask you absolutely
nothing. It is you who have come to me. It is you who have told
me that you had a secret to confide in me. Act, then, as you
think proper; there is still time to withdraw."
"No, monsieur, no; you appear to be an honest young man, and I
will have confidence in you. I believe, then, that it is not on
account of any intrigues of her own that my wife has been
arrested, but because of those of a lady much greater than
herself."
"Ah, ah! Can it be on account of the amours of Madame de
Bois-Tracy?" said dArtagnan, wishing to have the air, in the
eyes of the citizen, of being posted as to court affairs.
"Higher, monsieur, higher."
"Of Madame dAiguillon?"
"Still higher."
"Of Madame de Chevreuse?"
"Of the--" dArtagnan checked himself.
"Yes, monsieur," replied the terrified citizen, in a tone so low
that he was scarcely audible.
"And with whom?"
"With whom can it be, if not the Duke of--"
"The Duke of--"
"Yes, monsieur,"
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