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The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Vicomte De Bragelonne 429 at Prostate Health
to
prevent the king arranging his love affairs as he pleases."
"You will intercede, however, in M. de Guiches favor?"
"You are mad, monsieur," said the princess, in a haughty tone of voice.
"On the contrary, I am in the most perfect possession of my senses; and
I repeat, you will defend M. de Guiche before the king."
"Why should I?"
"Because the cause of M. de Guiche is your own, madame," said Manicamp,
with all the ardor with which his eyes were kindled.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, madame, that, with respect to the defense which Monsieur de
Guiche undertook in M. de Bragelonnes absence, I am surprised that your
highness has not detected a pretext in La Vallieres name having been
brought forward."
"A pretext? But a pretext for what?" repeated the princess,
hesitatingly, for Manicamps steady look had just revealed something of
the truth to her.
"I trust, madame," said the young man, "I have said sufficient to induce
your highness not to overwhelm before his majesty my poor friend, De
Guiche, against whom all the malevolence of a party bitterly opposed to
your own will now be directed."
"You mean, on the contrary, I suppose, that all those who have no great
affection for Mademoiselle de la Valliere, and even, perhaps, a few of
those who have some regard for her, will be angry with the comte?"
"Oh, madame! why will you push your obstinacy to such an extent, and
refuse to open your ears and listen to the counsel of one whose devotion
to you is unbounded? Must I expose myself to the risk of your
displeasure--am I really to be called upon to name, contrary to my own
wish, the person who was the real cause of this quarrel?"
"The person?" said Madame blushing.
"Must I," continued Manicamp, "tell you how poor De Guiche became
irritated, furious, exasperated beyond all control, at the different
rumors which are circulating about this person? Must I, if you persist
in this willful blindness, and if respect should continue to prevent me
naming her--must I, I repeat, recall to your recollection the various
scenes which Monsieur had with the Duke of Buckingham, and the
insinuations which were reported respecting the dukes exile? Must I
remind you of the anxious care the comte always took in his efforts to
please, to watch, to protect that person for whom alone he lives--for
whom alone he breathes? Well! I will do so; and when I shall have made
you recall all the particulars I refer to, you will perhaps understand
how it happened that the comte, having lost all control over himself,
and having been for some time past almost harassed to death by De
Wardes, became, at the first disrespectful expression which the latter
pronounced respecting the person in question, inflamed with passion, and
panted only for an opportunity of revenging the affront."
The princess concealed her face in her hands. "Monsieur, monsieur!" she
exclaimed; "do you know what you are saying, and to whom you are
speaking?"
"Therefore, madame," pursued Manicamp, as if he had not heard the
exclamations of the princess, "nothing will astonish you any
longer--neither the comtes ardor in seeking the quarrel, nor his
wonderful address in transferring it to a quarter foreign to your own
personal interests. That latter circumstance was, indeed, a marvelous
instance of tact and perfect coolness, and if the person in whose behalf
the comte so fought and shed his blood does, in reality, owe some
gratitude to the poor wounded sufferer, it is not on account of the
blood he has shed, or for the agony he has suffered, but for the steps
he has taken to preserve from comment or reflection an honor which is
more precious to him than his own."
"Oh!" cried Madame, as if she had been alone, "is it possible the
quarrel was on my account!"
Manicamp felt he could now breathe for a moment--and gallantly had he
won the right to do so. Madame, on her side, remained for some time
plunged in a painful reverie. Her agitation could be seen by her quick
respiration, by her languishing looks, by the frequency with which she
pressed her hand upon her heart. But, in her, coquetry was not so much a
passive quality, as, on the contrary, a fire which sought for fuel to
maintain itself, and which found what it required.
"If it be as you assert," she said, "the comte will have obliged two
persons at the same time; for Monsieur de Bragelonne also owes a deep
debt of gratitude to
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