Part 44 (1/2)
”Alas!” said De Winter, ”I am at this moment as poor as he is, if not poorer But to return to our subject”
”Well, then, you wish to know if I am of Mazarin's party? No Pardon ed to you, count, for this pleasing intelligence! You ain by it Ah! so you are not a Mazarinist? Delightful! Indeed, you could not belong to him But pardon me, are you free? I mean to ask if you are
”Because that young ant, so polished----”
”Is a child I have adopted and who does not even knoas his father”
”Very well; you are always the saenerous Are you still friends with Monsieur Porthos and Monsieur Aranan, my lord We still remain four friends devoted to each other; but when it beco hi Mazarinists or Frondists, then we are only two”
”Is Monsieur Aranan?” asked Lord de Winter
”No,” said Athos; ”Monsieur Aramis does me the honor to share my opinions”
”Could you put reeable friend? Is he ed?”
”He has become an abbe, that is all”
”You alarreat undertakings”
”On the contrary,” said Athos, s, ”he has never been so much a musketeer as since he became an abbe, and you will find hi hi at ten o'clock, on the Pont du Louvre?”
”Oh, oh!” exclai, ”you have a duel in prospect”
”Yes, count, and a splendid duel, too; a duel in which I hope you will take your part”
”Where are we to go, land, who has desired ma,” said Athos, ”but it matters not; since you know the solution of it I ask no further Will your lordshi+p do me the honor to sup with me?”
”Thanks, count, no,” replied De Winter ”I own to you that that young man's visit has subdued my appetite and probably will rob ht hinorant ofuinary predisposition”
”What occupies hiland?”
”He is one of Cromwell's most enthusiastic disciples”
”But what attached him to the cause? His father and mother were Catholics, I believe?”
”His hatred of the king, who deprived him of his estates and forbade him to bear the name of De Winter”
”And what name does he now bear?”
”Mordaunt”
”A Puritan, yet disguised as a monk he travels alone in France”
”Do you say as a monk?”
”It was thus, and by mere accident--may God pardon me if I blaspheme--that he heard the confession of the executioner of Bethune”
”Then I understand it all! he has been sent by Crohtly; we have been forestalled Everything is clear to ht is dark,” said Athos, perceiving that Lord de Winter seemed more uneasy than he wished to appear; ”and you have no servant”
”I have Tony, a safe if simple youth”
”Halloo, there, Grimaud, Olivain, and Blaisois! call the viscount and take the rooelonne, whom Athos had christened by the name of his province
”Viscount,” said Athos to Raoul, as he entered, ”you will conduct my lord as far as his hotel and permit no one to approach him”
”Oh! count,” said De Winter, ”for whoer who does not know Paris,” said Athos, ”and to whom the viscount will show the way”
De Winter shook him by the hand
”Grimaud,” said Athos, ”put yourself at the head of the troop and beware of the , awaited the departure, regarding the butt of his iven hi the torch in one hand and the musket in the other, until it reached De Winter's inn, when pounding on the portal with his fist, he bowed to my lord and faced about without a word
The sa, nor did Gri of a suspicious appearance, save a dark shadow, as it were, in aaud and of the Quai He fancied, also, that in going he had already observed the street watcher who had attracted his attention He pushed on toward him, but before he could reach it the shadow had disappeared into an alley, into which Grimaud deemed it scarcely prudent to pursue it
The next day, on awaking, the count perceived Raoul by his bedside The younga new book by M Chapelain
”Already up, Raoul?” exclaiht hesitation; ”I did not sleep well”
”You, Raoul, not sleep well! then youon your mind!” said Athos