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Books
The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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Twenty Years Later 219 at Prostate Health
in honor of old England
you see how we snapped up the proposition."
"Yes, I know that you charged by the side of Mordaunt."
"On his right and left, sir. Ah! theres another brave and
excellent young man."
"Do you know him?" asked the officer.
"Yes, very well. Monsieur du Vallon and myself came from
France with him."
"It appears, too, you kept him waiting a long time at
Boulogne."
"What would you have? I was like you, and had a king in
keeping."
"Aha!" said Groslow; "what king?"
"Our own, to be sure, the little one -- Louis XIV."
"And how long had you to take care of him?"
"Three nights; and, by my troth, I shall always remember
those three nights with a certain pleasure."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean that my friends, officers in the guards and
mousquetaires, came to keep me company and we passed the
night in feasting, drinking, dicing."
"Ah true," said the Englishman, with a sigh; "you Frenchmen
are born boon companions."
"And dont you play, too, when you are on guard?"
"Never," said the Englishman.
"In that case you must be horribly bored, and have my
sympathy."
"The fact is, I look to my turn for keeping guard with
horror. Its tiresome work to keep awake a whole night."
"Yes, but with a jovial partner and dice, and guineas
clinking on the cloth, the night passes like a dream. You
dont like playing, then?"
"On the contrary, I do."
"Lansquenet, for instance?"
"Devoted to it. I used to play almost every night in
France."
"And since your return to England?"
"I have not handled a card or dice-box."
"I sincerely pity you," said DArtagnan, with an air of
profound compassion.
"Look here," said the Englishman.
"Well?"
"To-morrow I am on guard."
"In Stuarts room?"
"Yes; come and pass the night with me."
"Impossible!"
"Impossible! why so?"
"I play with Monsieur du Vallon every night. Sometimes we
dont go to bed at all!"
"Well, what of that?"
"Why, he would be annoyed if I did not play with him."
"Does he play well?"
"I have seen him lose as much as two thousand pistoles,
laughing all the while till the tears rolled down."
"Bring him with you, then."
"But how about our prisoners?"
"Let your servants guard them."
"Yes, and give them a chance of escaping," said DArtagnan.
"Why, one of them is a rich lord from Touraine and the other
a knight of Malta, of noble family. We have arranged the
ransom of each of them -- 2,000 on arriving in France. We
are reluctant to leave for a single moment men whom our
lackeys know to be millionaires. It is true we plundered
them a little when we took them, and I will even confess
that it is their purse that Monsieur du Vallon and I draw on
in our nightly play. Still, they may have concealed some
precious stone, some valuable diamond; so that we are like
those misers who are unable to absent themselves from their
treasures. We have made ourselves the constant guardians of
our men, and while I sleep Monsieur du Vallon watches."
"Ah! ah!" said Groslow.
"You see, then, why I must decline your polite invitation,
which is especially attractive to me, because nothing is so
wearisome as to play night after night with the same person;
the chances always balance and at the months end nothing is
gained or lost."
"Ah!" said Groslow, sighing; "there is something still more
wearisome, and that is not to play at all."
"I can understand that," said DArtagnan.
"But, come," resumed the Englishman, "are these men of yours
dangerous?"
"In what respect?"
"Are they capable of attempting violence?"
DArtagnan burst out laughing at the idea.
"Jesus Dieu!" he cried; "one of them is trembling with
fever, having failed to adapt himself to this charming
country of yours, and the other is a knight of Malta, as
timid as a young girl; and for greater security we have
taken from them even their penknives and pocket scissors."
"Well, then," said Groslow, "bring them with you."
"But really ---- " said DArtagnan.
"I have eight men on guard, you know. Four of them can guard
the king and the other four your prisoners. Ill manage it
somehow, you will see."
"But," said DArtagnan, "now I think of it -- what is to
prevent our beginning to-night?"
"Nothing at all," said Groslow.
"Just so. Come to us this evening and to-morrow well return
your visit."
"Capital! This evening with you, to-morrow at Stuarts, the
next day with me."
"You see, that with a little forethought one can lead a
merry life anywhere and everywhere," said DArtagnan.
"Yes, with Frenchmen, and Frenchmen like you."
"And Monsieur du Vallon," added the other. "You will see
what a fellow
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