Prostate Health
Prostate Articles
Antioxidant levels key for prostate cancer risk
Obesity and prostate health
Tomatoes for prostate health
Green tea and prostate health
Screening tests for prostate
Books
The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
|
|
The Vicomte De Bragelonne 27 at Prostate Health
empty, notwithstanding the king had retired.The ten others were posted by their officer, who himselfexplored, in five minutes, all the localities, with thatcold and certain glance which not even habit gives unlessthat glance belongs to genius.Then, when all were placed, he chose as his headquarters theante-chamber, in which he found a large fauteuil, a lamp,some wine, some water: and some dry bread.He refreshed his lamp, drank half a glass of wine, curledhis lip with a smile full of expression, installed himselfin his large armchair, and made preparations for sleeping.CHAPTER 9In which the Unknown of the Hostelryof Les Medici loses his Incognito.This officer, who was sleeping, or preparing to sleep, was,notwithstanding his careless air, charged with a seriousresponsibility.Lieutenant of the kings musketeers, he commanded all thecompany which came from Paris, and that company consisted ofa hundred and twenty men; but, with the exception of thetwenty of whom we have spoken, the other hundred wereengaged in guarding the queen-mother, and more particularlythe cardinal.Monsignor Giulio Mazarini economized the traveling expensesof his guards; he consequently used the kings, and thatlargely, since he took fifty of them for himself -- apeculiarity which would not have failed to strike any oneunacquainted with the usages of that court.That which would still further have appeared, if notinconvenient, at least extraordinary, to a stranger, was,that the side of the castle destined for monsieur lecardinal was brilliant, light and cheerful. The musketeersthere mounted guard before every door, and allowed no one toenter, except the couriers, who, even while he wastraveling, followed the cardinal for the carrying on of hiscorrespondence.Twenty men were on duty with the queen-mother; thirtyrested, in order to relieve their companions the next day.On the kings side, on the contrary, were darkness, silence,and solitude. When once the doors were closed, there was nolonger an appearance of royalty. All the servitors had bydegrees retired. Monsieur le Prince had sent to know if hismajesty required his attendance; and on the customary "No"of the lieutenant of musketeers, who was habituated to thequestion and the reply, all appeared to sink into the armsof sleep, as if in the dwelling of a good citizen.And yet it was possible to hear from the side of the houseoccupied by the young king the music of the banquet, and tosee the windows of the great hall richly illuminated.Ten minutes after his installation in his apartment, LouisXIV. had been able to learn, by movement much moredistinguished than marked his own leaving, the departure ofthe cardinal, who, in his turn, sought his bedroom,accompanied by a large escort of ladies and gentlemen.Besides, to perceive this movement, he had nothing to do butto look out at his window, the shutters of which had notbeen closed.His eminence crossed the court, conducted by Monsieur, whohimself held a flambeau, then followed the queen-mother, towhom Madame familiarly gave her arm; and both walkedchatting away, like two old friends.Behind these two couples filed nobles, ladies, pages andofficers; the flambeaux gleamed over the whole court, likethe moving reflections of a conflagration. Then the noise ofsteps and voices became lost in the upper floors of thecastle.No one was then thinking of the king, who, leaning on hiselbow at his window, had sadly seen pass away all thatlight, and heard that noise die off -- no, not one, if itwas not that unknown of the hostelry des Medici, whom wehave seen go out, enveloped in his cloak.He had come straight up to the castle, and had, with hismelancholy countenance, wandered round and round the palace,from which the people had not yet departed; and finding thatno one guarded the great entrance, or the porch, seeing thatthe soldiers of Monsieur were fraternizing with the royalsoldiers -- that is to say swallowing Beaugency atdiscretion, or rather indiscretion -- the unknown penetratedthrough the crowd, then ascended to the court, and came tothe landing of the staircase leading to the cardinalsapartment.What, according to all probability, induced him to directhis steps that way, was the splendor of the flambeaux, andthe busy air of the pages and domestics. But he was stoppedshort by a presented musket and the cry of the sentinel."Where are you going, my friend?" asked the soldier."I am going to the kings apartment," replied the unknown,haughtily, but tranquilly.The soldier called one of
The Vicomte De Bragelonne page 26 The Vicomte De Bragelonne page 28 |
