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The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Three Musketeers 47 at Prostate Health
love the English, but an
Englishman."
"Well, and by my faith," said Athos, "it must be acknowledged
that this Englishman is worthy of being loved. I never saw a man
with a nobler air than his."
"Without reckoning that he dresses as nobody else can," said
Porthos. "I was at the Louvre on the day when he scattered his
pearls; and, PARDIEU, I picked up two that I sold for ten
pistoles each. Do you know him, Aramis?"
"As well as you do, gentlemen; for I was among those who seized
him in the garden at Amiens, into which Monsieur Putange, the
queens equerry, introduced me. I was at school at the time, and
the adventure appeared to me to be cruel for the king."
"Which would not prevent me," said dArtagnan, "if I knew where
the Duke of Buckingham was, from taking him by the hand and
conducting him to the queen, were it only to enrage the cardinal,
and if we could find means to play him a sharp turn, I vow that I
would voluntarily risk my head in doing it."
"And did the mercer*," rejoined Athos, "tell you, dArtagnan,
that the queen thought that Buckingham had been brought over by a
forged letter?"
*Haberdasher
"She is afraid so."
"Wait a minute, then," said Aramis.
"What for?" demanded Porthos.
"Go on, while I endeavor to recall circumstances."
"And now I am convinced," said dArtagnan, "that this abduction
of the queens woman is connected with the events of which we are
speaking, and perhaps with the presence of Buckingham in Paris."
"The Gascon is full of ideas," said Porthos, with admiration.
"I like to hear him talk," said Athos; "his dialect amuses me."
"Gentlemen," cried Aramis, "listen to this."
"Listen to Aramis," said his three friends.
"Yesterday I was at the house of a doctor of theology, whom I
sometimes consult about my studies."
Athos smiled.
"He resides in a quiet quarter," continued Aramis; "his tastes
and his profession require it. Now, at the moment when I left
his house--"
Here Aramis paused.
"Well," cried his auditors; "at the moment you left his house?"
Aramis appeared to make a strong inward effort, like a man who,
in the full relation of a falsehood, finds himself stopped by
some unforeseen obstacle; but the eyes of his three companions
were fixed upon him, their ears were wide open, and there were no
means of retreat.
"This doctor has a niece," continued Aramis.
"Ah, he has a niece!" interrupted Porthos.
"A very respectable lady," said Aramis.
The three friends burst into laughter.
"Ah, if you laugh, if you doubt me," replied Aramis, "you shall
know nothing."
"We believe like Mohammedans, and are as mute as tombstones,"
said Athos.
"I will continue, then," resumed Aramis. "This niece comes
sometimes to see her uncle; and by chance was there yesterday at
the same time that I was, and it was my duty to offer to conduct
her to her carriage."
"Ah! She has a carriage, then, this niece of the doctor?"
interrupted Porthos, one of whose faults was a great looseness of
tongue. "A nice acquaintance, my friend!"
"Porthos," replied Aramis, "I have had the occasion to observe to
you more than once that you are very indiscreet; and that is
injurious to you among the women."
"Gentlemen, gentlemen," cried dArtagnan, who began to get a
glimpse of the result of the adventure, "the thing is serious.
Let us try not to jest, if we can. Go on Aramis, go on."
"All at once, a tall, dark gentleman--just like yours,
dArtagnan."
"The same, perhaps," said he.
"Possibly," continued Aramis, "came toward me, accompanied by
five or six men who followed about ten paces behind him; and in
the politest tone, Monsieur Duke, said he to me, and you
madame, continued he, addressing the lady on my arm--"
"The doctors niece?"
"Hold your tongue, Porthos," said Athos; "you are insupportable."
"--will you enter this carriage, and that without offering the
least resistance, without making the least noise?"
"He took you for Buckingham!" cried dArtagnan.
"I believe so," replied Aramis.
"But the lady?" asked Porthos.
"He took her for the queen!" said dArtagnan.
"Just so," replied Aramis.
"The Gascon is the devil!" cried Athos; "nothing escapes him."
"The fact is," said Porthos, "Aramis is of the same height, and
something of the shape of the duke; but it nevertheless appears
to me that the dress of a Musketeer--"
"I wore an enormous cloak," said Aramis.
"In the month of July? The devil!" said Porthos. "Is the doctor
afraid that you may be recognized?"
"I can comprehend that the spy may have been deceived by
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