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The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Vicomte De Bragelonne 29 at Prostate Health
I had forgotten that no one armed is permittedto enter the chamber of a king of France.""Your majesty will form an exception, if you wish it; butthen I shall avoid my responsibility by informing the kingsattendant.""Here is my sword, monsieur. Will you now please to announceme to his majesty?""Instantly, sire." And the officer immediately went andknocked at the door of communication, which the valet openedto him."His Majesty the King of England!" said the officer."His Majesty the King of England!" replied the valet dechambre.At these words a gentleman opened the folding-doors of thekings apartment, and Louis XIV. was seen, without hat orsword, and his pourpoint open, advancing with signs of thegreatest surprise."You, my brother -- you at Blois!" cried Louis XIV.,dismissing with a gesture both the gentleman and the valetde chambre, who passed out into the next apartment."Sire," replied Charles II., "I was going to Paris, in thehope of seeing your majesty, when report informed me of yourapproaching arrival in this city. I therefore prolonged myabode here, having something very particular to communicateto you.""Will this closet suit you, my brother?""Perfectly well, sire; for I think no one can hear us here.""I have dismissed my gentleman and my watcher; they are inthe next chamber. There, behind that partition, is asolitary closet, looking into the ante-chamber, and in thatante-chamber you found nobody but a solitary officer, didyou?""No, sire.""Well, then, speak, my brother; I listen to you.""Sire, I commence, and entreat your majesty to have pity onthe misfortunes of our house."The king of France colored, and drew his chair closer tothat of the king of England."Sire," said Charles II., "I have no need to ask if yourmajesty is acquainted with the details of my deplorablehistory."Louis XIV. blushed, this time more strongly than before;then, stretching forth his hand to that of the king ofEngland, "My brother," said he, "I am ashamed to say so, butthe cardinal scarcely ever speaks of political affairsbefore me. Still more, formerly I used to get Laporte, myvalet de chambre, to read historical subjects to me, but heput a stop to these readings, and took away Laporte from me.So that I beg my brother Charles to tell me all thosematters as to a man who knows nothing.""Well, sire, I think that by taking things from thebeginning I shall have a better chance of touching the heartof your majesty.""Speak on, my brother -- speak on.""You know, sire, that being called in 1650 to Edinburgh,during Cromwells expedition into Ireland, I was crowned atScone. A year after, wounded in one of the provinces he hadusurped, Cromwell returned upon us. To meet him was myobject; to leave Scotland was my wish.""And yet," interrupted the young king, "Scotland is almostyour native country, is it not, my brother?""Yes; but the Scots were cruel compatriots for me, sire;they had forced me to forsake the religion of my fathers;they had hung Lord Montrose, the most devoted of myservants, because he was not a Covenanter; and as the poormartyr, to whom they had offered a favor when dying, hadasked that his body might be cut into as many pieces asthere are cities in Scotland, in order that evidence of hisfidelity might be met with everywhere, I could not leave onecity, or go into another, without passing under somefragments of a body which had acted, fought, and breathedfor me."By a bold, almost desperate march, I passed throughCromwells army, and entered England. The Protector set outin pursuit of this strange flight, which had a crown for itsobject. If I had been able to reach London before him,without doubt the prize of the race would have been mine;but he overtook me at Worcester."The genius of England was no longer with us, but with him.On the 5th of September, 1651, sire, the anniversary of theother battle of Dunbar, so fatal to the Scots, I wasconquered. Two thousand men fell around me before I thoughtof retreating a step. At length I was obliged to fly."From that moment my history became a romance. Pursued withpersistent inveteracy, I cut off my hair, I disguised myselfas a woodman. One day spent amidst the branches of an oakgave to that tree the name of the royal oak, which it bearsto this day. My adventures in the county of Stafford,
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