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The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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Twenty Years Later 69 at Prostate Health
beaten a prince of the
blood.
The duke went indoors and retired to bed, where he spent,
indeed, the greater part of every day, as they had taken his
books away. La Ramee carried off all his clothes, in order
to be certain that the duke would not stir. However, the
duke contrived to hide the ball under his bolster and as
soon as the door was closed he tore off the cover of the
ball with his teeth and found underneath the following
letter:
My Lord, -- Your friends are watching over you and the hour
of your deliverance is at hand. Ask day after to-morrow to
have a pie supplied you by the new confectioner opposite the
castle, and who is no other than Noirmont, your former
maitre dhotel. Do not open the pie till you are alone. I
hope you will be satisfied with its contents.
"Your highnesss most devoted servant,
"In the Bastile, as elsewhere,
"Comte de Rochefort.
The duke, who had latterly been allowed a fire, burned the
letter, but kept the ball, and went to bed, hiding the ball
under his bolster. La Ramee entered; he smiled kindly on the
prisoner, for he was an excellent man and had taken a great
liking for the captive prince. He endeavored to cheer him up
in his solitude.
"Ah, my friend!" cried the duke, "you are so good; if I
could but do as you do, and eat pates and drink Burgundy at
the house of Father Marteaus successor."
"Tis true, my lord," answered La Ramee, "that his pates are
famous and his wine magnificent."
"In any case," said the duke, "his cellar and kitchen might
easily excel those of Monsieur de Chavigny."
"Well, my lord," said La Ramee, falling into the trap, "what
is there to prevent your trying them? Besides, I have
promised him your patronage."
"You are right," said the duke. "If I am to remain here
permanently, as Monsieur Mazarin has kindly given me to
understand, I must provide myself with a diversion for my
old age, I must turn gourmand."
"My lord," said La Ramee, "if you will take a bit of good
advice, dont put that off till you are old."
"Good!" said the Duc de Beaufort to himself, "every man in
order that he may lose his heart and soul, must receive from
celestial bounty one of the seven capital sins, perhaps two;
it seems that Master La Ramees is gluttony. Let us then
take advantage of it." Then, aloud:
"Well, my dear La Ramee! the day after to-morrow is a
holiday."
"Yes, my lord -- Pentecost."
"Will you give me a lesson the day after to-morrow?"
"In what?"
"In gastronomy?"
"Willingly, my lord."
"But tete-a-tete. Send the guards to take their meal in the
canteen of Monsieur de Chavigny; well have a supper here
under your direction."
"Hum!" said La Ramee.
The proposal was seductive, but La Ramee was an old stager,
acquainted with all the traps a prisoner was likely to set.
Monsieur de Beaufort had said that he had forty ways of
getting out of prison. Did this proposed breakfast cover
some stratagem? He reflected, but he remembered that he
himself would have charge of the food and the wine and
therefore that no powder could be mixed with the food, no
drug with the wine. As to getting him drunk, the duke
couldnt hope to do that, and he laughed at the mere thought
of it. Then an idea came to him which harmonized everything.
The duke had followed with anxiety La Ramees unspoken
soliloquy, reading it from point to point upon his face. But
presently the exempts face suddenly brightened.
"Well," he asked, "that will do, will it not?"
"Yes, my lord, on one condition."
"What?"
"That Grimaud shall wait on us at table."
Nothing could be more agreeable to the duke, however, he had
presence of mind enough to exclaim:
"To the devil with your Grimaud! He will spoil the feast."
"I will direct him to stand behind your chair, and since he
doesnt speak, your highness will neither see nor hear him
and with a little effort can imagine him a hundred miles
away."
"Do you know, my friend, I find one thing very evident in
all this, you distrust me."
"My lord, the day after to-morrow is Pentecost."
"Well, what is Pentecost to me? Are you afraid that the Holy
Spirit will come as a tongue of fire to open the doors of my
prison?"
"No, my lord; but I have already told you what that damned
magician predicted."
"And what was it?"
"That the day of Pentecost would not pass without your
highness being out of Vincennes."
"You believe in sorcerers, then,
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