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The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Three Musketeers 76 at Prostate Health
exempt a man from infamy and
persecution. The army, I will answer for it, will be but little
pleased at being exposed to rigorous treatment on account of
police affairs."
The expression was imprudent; but M. de Treville launched it with
knowledge of his cause. He was desirous of an explosion, because
in that case the mine throws forth fire, and fire enlightens.
"Police affairs!" cried the king, taking up Trevilles words,
"police affairs! And what do you know about them, Monsieur?
Meddle with your Musketeers, and do not annoy me in this way. It
appears, according to your account, that if by mischance a
Musketeer is arrested, France is in danger. What a noise about a
Musketeer! I would arrest ten of them, VENTREBLEU, a hundred,
even, all the company, and I would not allow a whisper."
"From the moment they are suspected by your Majesty," said
Treville, "the Musketeers are guilty; therefore, you see me
prepared to surrender my sword--for after having accused my
soldiers, there can be no doubt that Monsieur the Cardinal will
end by accusing me. It is best to constitute myself at once a
prisoner with Athos, who is already arrested, and with
dArtagnan, who most probably will be."
"Gascon-headed man, will you have done?" said the king.
"Sire," replied Treville, without lowering his voice in the
least, "either order my Musketeer to be restored to me, or let
him be tried."
"He shall be tried," said the cardinal.
"Well, so much the better; for in that case I shall demand of his
Majesty permission to plead for him."
The king feared an outbreak.
"If his Eminence," said he, "did not have personal motives--"
The cardinal saw what the king was about to say and interrupted
him:
"Pardon me," said he; "but the instant your Majesty considers me
a prejudiced judge, I withdraw."
"Come," said the king, "will you swear, by my father, that Athos
was at your residence during the event and that he took no part
in it?"
"By your glorious father, and by yourself, whom I love and
venerate above all the world, I swear it."
"Be so kind as to reflect, sire," said the cardinal. "If we
release the prisoner thus, we shall never know the truth."
"Athos may always be found," replied Treville, "ready to answer,
when it shall please the gownsmen to interrogate him. He will
not desert, Monsieur the Cardinal, be assured of that; I will
answer for him."
"No, he will not desert," said the king; "he can always be found,
as Treville says. Besides," added he, lowering his voice and
looking with a suppliant air at the cardinal, "let us give them
apparent security; that is policy."
This policy of Louis XIII made Richelieu smile.
"Order it as you please, sire; you possess the right of pardon."
"The right of pardoning only applies to the guilty," said
Treville, who was determined to have the last word, "and my
Musketeer is innocent. It is not mercy, then, that you are about
to accord, sire, it is justice."
"And he is in the Fort lEveque?" said the king.
"Yes, sire, in solitary confinement, in a dungeon, like the
lowest criminal."
"The devil!" murmured the king; "what must be done?"
"Sign an order for his release, and all will be said," replied
the cardinal. "I believe with your Majesty that Monsieur de
Trevilles guarantee is more than sufficient."
Treville bowed very respectfully, with a joy that was not unmixed
with fear; he would have preferred an obstinate resistance on the
part of the cardinal to this sudden yielding.
The king signed the order for release, and Treville carried it
away without delay. As he was about to leave the presence, the
cardinal gave him a friendly smile, and said, "A perfect harmony
reigns, sire, between the leaders and the soldiers of your
Musketeers, which must be profitable for the service and
honorable to all."
"He will play me some dogs trick or other, and that
immediately," said Treville. "One has never the last word with
such a man. But let us be quick--the king may change his mind in
an hour; and at all events it is more difficult to replace a man
in the Fort lEveque or the Bastille who has got out, than to
keep a prisoner there who is in."
M. de Treville made his entrance triumphantly into the Fort
lEveque, whence he delivered the Musketeer, whose peaceful
indifference had not for a moment abandoned him.
The first time he saw dArtagnan, "You have come off well," said
he to him;
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