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Books
The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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Twenty Years Later 32 at Prostate Health
"let us ride onward."
At about half-past eight oclock they reached the first
houses in Noisy; every one was in bed and not a light was to
be seen in the village. The obscurity was broken only now
and then by the still darker lines of the roofs of houses.
Here and there a dog barked behind a door or an affrighted
cat fled precipitately from the midst of the pavement to
take refuge behind a pile of faggots, from which retreat her
eyes would shine like peridores. These were the only living
creatures that seemed to inhabit the village.
Toward the middle of the town, commanding the principal open
space, rose a dark mass, separated from the rest of the
world by two lanes and overshadowed in the front by enormous
lime-trees. DArtagnan looked attentively at the building.
"This," he said to Planchet, "must be the archbishops
chateau, the abode of the fair Madame de Longueville; but
the convent, where is that?"
"The convent, your honor, is at the other end of the
village; I know it well."
"Well, then, Planchet, gallop up to it whilst I tighten my
horses girth, and come back and tell me if there is a light
in any of the Jesuits windows."
In about five minutes Planchet returned.
"Sir," he said, "there is one window of the convent lighted
up."
"Hem! If I were a `Frondeur," said DArtagnan, "I should
knock here and should be sure of a good supper. If I were a
monk I should knock yonder and should have a good supper
there, too; whereas, tis very possible that between the
castle and the convent we shall sleep on hard beds, dying
with hunger and thirst."
"Yes," added Planchet, "like the famous ass of Buridan.
Shall I knock?"
"Hush!" replied DArtagnan; "the light no longer burns in
yonder window."
"Do you hear nothing?" whispered Planchet.
"What is that noise?"
There came a sound like a whirlwind, at the same time two
troops of horsemen, each composed of ten men, sallied forth
from each of the lanes which encompassed the house and
surrounded DArtagnan and Planchet.
"Heyday!" cried DArtagnan, drawing his sword and taking
refuge behind his horse; "are you not mistaken? is it really
for us that you mean your attack?"
"Here he is! we have him!" cried the horsemen, rushing on
DArtagnan with naked swords.
"Dont let him escape!" said a loud voice.
"No, my lord; be assured we shall not."
DArtagnan thought it was now time for him to join in the
conversation.
"Halloo, gentlemen!" he called out in his Gascon accent,
"what do you want? what do you demand?"
"That thou shalt soon know," shouted a chorus of horsemen.
"Stop, stop!" cried he whom they had addressed as "my lord;"
"tis not his voice."
"Ah! just so, gentlemen! pray, do people get into a passion
at random at Noisy? Take care, for I warn you that the first
man that comes within the length of my sword -- and my sword
is long -- I rip him up."
The chieftain of the party drew near.
"What are you doing here?" he asked in a lofty tone, as that
of one accustomed to command.
"And you -- what are you doing here?" replied DArtagnan.
"Be civil, or I shall beat you; for although one may not
choose to proclaim oneself, one insists on respect suitable
to ones rank."
"You dont choose to discover yourself, because you are the
leader of an ambuscade," returned DArtagnan; "but with
regard to myself, who am traveling quietly with my own
servant, I have not the same reasons as you have to conceal
my name."
"Enough! enough! what is your name?"
"I shall tell you my name in order that you may know where
to find me, my lord, or my prince, as it may suit you best
to be called," said our Gascon, who did not choose to seem
to yield to a threat. "Do you know Monsieur dArtagnan?"
"Lieutenant in the kings musketeers?" said the voice; "you
are Monsieur dArtagnan?"
"I am."
"Then you came here to defend him?"
"Him? whom?"
"The man we are seeking."
"It seems," said DArtagnan, "that whilst I thought I was
coming to Noisy I have entered, without suspecting it, into
the kingdom of mysteries."
"Come," replied the same lofty tone, "answer! Are you
waiting for him underneath these windows? Did you come to
Noisy to defend him?"
"I am waiting for no one," replied DArtagnan, who was
beginning to be angry. "I propose to defend no one but
myself, and I shall defend myself vigorously, I give you
warning."
"Very well," said the voice; "go away from here and leave
the place to us."
"Go away from here!" said
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