Part 93 (2/2)
”Do you say,” asked the Gascon, tiive his compliments to Monsieur du Vallon and myself?”
”Yes, sir”
”Then you have seen him?”
”Certainly I have”
”Where? if I may ask without indiscretion”
”Near here,” replied De Co; ”so near that if the hich look on the orangery were not stopped up you could see hi about the environs of the castle,” thought D'Artagnan Then he said aloud: ”You , perhaps?”
”No; nearer, nearer still Look, behind this wall,” said De Coainst the wall
”Behind this wall? What is there, then, behind this wall? I was brought here by night, so devil take es, ”suppose one thing”
”I will suppose anything you please”
”Suppose there were ain this wall”
”Well?”
”From thatyou would see Monsieur de la Fere at his”
”The count, then, is in the chateau?”
”Yes”
”For what reason?”
”The same as yourself”
”Athos--a prisoner?”
”You knoell,” replied De Coes, ”that there are no prisoners at Rueil, because there is no prison”
”Don't let us play upon words, sir Athos has been arrested”
”Yesterday, at Saint Germain, as he came out fronan fell powerless by his side One ht have supposed him thunderstruck; a paleness ran like a cloud over his dark skin, but disappeared immediately
”A prisoner?” he reiterated
”A prisoner,” repeated Porthos, quite dejected
Suddenly D'Artagnan looked up and in his eyes there was a gleam which scarcely even Porthos observed; but it died away and he appeared es, who, since D'Artagnan, on the day of Broussel's arrest, had saved him from the hands of the Parisians, had entertained a real affection for hi you bad news Laugh at the chance which has brought your friend near to you and Monsieur du Vallon, instead of being in the depths of despair about it”
But D'Artagnan was still in a desponding mood
”And how did he look?” asked Porthos, who, perceiving that D'Artagnan had allowed the conversation to drop, profited by it to put in a word or two
”Very well, indeed, sir,” replied Coes; ”at first, like you, he see to pay hinan, ”the cardinal is about to visit the Comte de la Fere?”
”Yes; and the count desired e of this visit to plead for you and for hinan
”A fine thing, indeed!” grunted Porthos ”A great favor! Zounds! Monsieur the Comte de la Fere, whose family is allied to the Montmorency and the Rohan, is easily the equal of Monsieur de Mazarin”
”Notone ”On reflection, reat honor for the Coood reason to hope In fact, it seereat an honor for a prisoner that I think Monsieur de Coes must be mistaken”
”What? I am mistaken?”
”Monsieur de Mazarin will not come to visit the Comte de la Fere, but the Comte de la Fere will be sent for to visit hies, whothe facts appear exactly as they were, ”I clearly understood what the cardinal said to me He will conan tried to gather from the expression of his eyes whether Porthos understood the importance of that visit, but Porthos did not even look toward him
”It is, then, the cardinal's custonan
”Every evening he shuts himself in there That, it seems, is where he meditates on state affairs”
”In that case,” said D'Artagnan, ”I begin to believe that Monsieur de la Fere will receive the visit of his eminence; he will, of course, have an escort”
”Yes--two soldiers”
”And will he talk thus of affairs in presence of two strangers?”
”The soldiers are Swiss, who understand only Ger to all probability they ait at the door”
D'Artagnantoo expressive
”Let the cardinal take care of going alone to visit the Conan; ”for the count h ”Oh, oh! why, really, one would say that you four were anthropaphagi! The count is an affable man; besides, he is unarmed; at the first word from his eminence the two soldiers about him would run to his assistance”
”Two soldiers,” said D'Artagnan, see, ”two soldiers, yes; that, then, is why I hear twosometimes for half an hour, under my ”