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The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Three Musketeers 83 at Prostate Health
you on your
birthday. That is my answer."
The answer was terrible. Anne of Austria believed that Louis
XIII knew all, and that the cardinal had persuaded him to employ
this long dissimulation of seven or eight days, which, likewise,
was characteristic. She became excessively pale, leaned her
beautiful hand upon a CONSOLE, which hand appeared then like one
of wax, and looking at the king with terror in her eyes, she was
unable to reply by a single syllable.
"You hear, madame," said the king, who enjoyed the embarrassment
to its full extent, but without guessing the cause. "You hear,
madame?"
"Yes, sire, I hear," stammered the queen.
"You will appear at this ball?"
"Yes."
"With those studs?"
"Yes."
The queens paleness, if possible, increased; the king perceived
it, and enjoyed it with that cold cruelty which was one of the
worst sides of his character.
"Then that is agreed," said the king, "and that is all I had to
say to you."
"But on what day will this ball take place?" asked Anne of
Austria.
Louis XIII felt instinctively that he ought not to reply to this
question, the queen having put it in an almost dying voice.
"Oh, very shortly, madame," said he; "but I do not precisely
recollect the date of the day. I will ask the cardinal."
"It was the cardinal, then, who informed you of this fete?"
"Yes, madame," replied the astonished king; "but why do you ask
that?"
"It was he who told you to invite me to appear with these studs?"
"That is to say, madame--"
"It was he, sire, it was he!"
"Well, and what does it signify whether it was he or I? Is there
any crime in this request?"
"No, sire."
"Then you will appear?"
"Yes, sire."
"That is well," said the king, retiring, "that is well; I count
upon it."
The queen made a curtsy, less from etiquette than because her
knees were sinking under her. The king went away enchanted.
"I am lost," murmured the queen, "lost!--for the cardinal knows
all, and it is he who urges on the king, who as yet knows nothing
but will soon know everything. I am lost! My God, my God, my
God!"
She knelt upon a cushion and prayed, with her head buried between
her palpitating arms.
In fact, her position was terrible. Buckingham had returned to
London; Mme. Chevreuse was at Tours. More closely watched than
ever, the queen felt certain, without knowing how to tell which,
that one of her women had betrayed her. Laporte could not leave
the Louvre; she had not a soul in the world in whom she could
confide. Thus, while contemplating the misfortune which
threatened her and the abandonment in which she was left, she
broke out into sobs and tears.
"Can I be of service to your Majesty?" said all at once a voice
full of sweetness and pity.
The queen turned sharply round, for there could be no deception
in the expression of that voice; it was a friend who spoke thus.
In fact, at one of the doors which opened into the queens
apartment appeared the pretty Mme. Bonacieux. She had been
engaged in arranging the dresses and linen in a closet when the
king entered; she could not get out and had heard all.
The queen uttered a piercing cry at finding herself surprised--
for in her trouble she did not at first recognize the young woman
who had been given to her by Laporte.
"Oh, fear nothing, madame!" said the young woman, clasping her
hands and weeping herself at the queens sorrows; "I am your
Majestys, body and soul, and however far I may be from you,
however inferior may be my position, I believe I have discovered
a means of extricating your Majesty from your trouble."
"You, oh, heaven, you!" cried the queen; "but look me in the
face. I am betrayed on all sides. Can I trust in you?"
"Oh, madame!" cried the young woman, falling on her knees; "upon
my soul, I am ready to die for your Majesty!"
This expression sprang from the very bottom of the heart, and,
like the first, there was no mistaking it.
"Yes," continued Mme. Bonacieux, "yes, there are traitors here;
but by the holy name of the Virgin, I swear that no one is more
devoted to your Majesty than I am. Those studs which the king
speaks of, you gave them to the Duke of Buckingham, did you not?
Those studs were enclosed in a little rosewood box which he held
under his arm?
The Three Musketeers page 82 The Three Musketeers page 84 |
