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The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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Twenty Years Later 40 at Prostate Health
us, Planchet; we shall continue our
conversation to the end of the village."
They traversed the width of the village, talking of
indifferent things, then as they reached the last houses:
"Go, then, dear friend," said Aramis, "follow your own
career. Fortune lavishes her smiles upon you; do not let her
flee from your embrace. As for me, I remain in my humility
and indolence. Adieu!"
"Thus tis quite decided," said DArtagnan, "that what I
have to offer to you does not tempt you?"
"On the contrary, it would tempt me were I any other man,"
rejoined Aramis; "but I repeat, I am made up of
contradictions. What I hate to-day I adore to-morrow, and
vice versa. You see that I cannot, like you, for instance,
settle on any fixed plan."
"Thou liest, subtile one," said DArtagnan to himself. "Thou
alone, on the contrary, knowest how to choose thy object and
to gain it stealthily."
The friends embraced. They descended into the plain by the
ladder. Planchet met them hard by the shed. DArtagnan
jumped into the saddle, then the old companions in arms
again shook hands. DArtagnan and Planchet spurred their
steeds and took the road to Paris.
But after he had gone about two hundred steps DArtagnan
stopped short, alighted, threw the bridle of his horse over
the arm of Planchet and took the pistols from his saddle-bow
to fasten them to his girdle.
"Whats the matter?" asked Planchet.
"This is the matter: be he ever so cunning he shall never
say I was his dupe. Stand here, dont stir, turn your back
to the road and wait for me."
Having thus spoken, DArtagnan cleared the ditch by the
roadside and crossed the plain so as to wind around the
village. He had observed between the house that Madame de
Longueville inhabited and the convent of the Jesuits, an
open space surrounded by a hedge.
The moon had now risen and he could see well enough to
retrace his road.
He reached the hedge and hid himself behind it; in passing
by the house where the scene which we have related took
place, he remarked that the window was again lighted up and
he was convinced that Aramis had not yet returned to his own
apartment and that when he did it would not be alone.
In truth, in a few minutes he heard steps approaching and
low whispers.
Close to the hedge the steps stopped.
DArtagnan knelt down near the thickest part of the hedge.
Two men, to the astonishment of DArtagnan, appeared
shortly; soon, however, his surprise vanished, for he heard
the murmurs of a soft, harmonious voice; one of these two
men was a woman disguised as a cavalier.
"Calm yourself, dear Rene," said the soft voice, "the same
thing will never happen again. I have discovered a sort of
subterranean passage which runs beneath the street and we
shall only have to raise one of the marble slabs before the
door to open you an entrance and an outlet."
"Oh!" answered another voice, which DArtagnan instantly
recognized as that of Aramis. "I swear to you, princess,
that if your reputation did not depend on precautions and if
my life alone were jeopardized ---- "
"Yes, yes! I know you are as brave and venturesome as any
man in the world, but you do not belong to me alone; you
belong to all our party. Be prudent! sensible!"
"I always obey, madame, when I am commanded by so gentle a
voice."
He kissed her hand tenderly.
"Ah!" exclaimed the cavalier with a soft voice.
"Whats the matter?" asked Aramis.
"Do you not see that the wind has blown off my hat?"
Aramis rushed after the fugitive hat. DArtagnan took
advantage of the circumstance to find a place in the hedge
not so thick, where his glance could penetrate to the
supposed cavalier. At that instant, the moon, inquisitive,
perhaps, like DArtagnan, came from behind a cloud and by
her light DArtagnan recognized the large blue eyes, the
golden hair and the classic head of the Duchess de
Longueville.
Aramis returned, laughing, one hat on his head and the other
in his hand; and he and his companion resumed their walk
toward the convent.
"Good!" said DArtagnan, rising and brushing his knees; "now
I have thee -- thou art a Frondeur and the lover of Madame
de Longueville."
10
Monsieur Porthos du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds.
Thanks to what Aramis had told him, DArtagnan, who knew
already that Porthos called himself Du Vallon, was now aware
that he styled himself, from his estate, De Bracieux; and
that he was, on account of this estate, engaged in a lawsuit
with the Bishop of Noyon. It
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