Part 1 (2/2)
”And why should your majesty suspect me of dissimulation, I ask?”
”Because I have known you well,drawn your sword for reatly; yes, I do repent of having drawn my sword on account of the results that action produced; the poor , sire, were neither your enemies norpreserved silence for a nan, does he partake of your repentance?”
”My companion?”
”Yes, you were not alone, I have been told”
”Alone, where?”
”At the Place de Greve”
”No, sire, no,” said D'Artagnan, blushi+ng at the idea that the king ross to hied to Raoul; ”no, ood co man Oh! your majesty s out of doors as things within It is M Colbert who ”
”M Colbert has said nothing but good of you, M d'Artagnan, and he would haveelse”
”That is fortunate!”
”But he also saidman”
”And with justice,” said theman is a fire-eater,” said Louis, in order to sharpen the sentiment which he mistook for envy
”A fire-eater! Yes, sire,” repeated D'Artagnan, delighted on his part to direct the king's attention to Raoul
”Do you not know his name?”
”Well, I think-”
”You know him then?”
”I have known him nearly five-and-twenty years, sire”
”Why, he is scarcely twenty-five years old!” cried the king
”Well, sire! I have known him ever since he was born, that is all”
”Do you affirnan, ”your nize another character than your own M Colbert, who has so well infor man is the son of elonne?”
”Certainly, sire The father of the Vicoelonne is M le Comte de la Fere, who so powerfully assisted in the restoration of King Charles II Bragelonne comes of a valiant race, sire”
”Then he is the son of that nobleman who ca Charles II, to offer me his alliance?”
”Exactly, sire”
”And the Coreat soldier, say you?”
”Sire, he is a , your father, than there are, at present, months in the happy life of your majesty”
It was Louis XIV who now bit his lip
”That is well, M d'Artagnan, very well! And M le Comte de la Fere is your friend, say you?”
”For about forty years; yes, sire Your majesty may see that I do not speak to you of yesterday”
”Should you be glad to see this youngtouched his bell, and an usher appeared ”Call M de Bragelonne,” said the king
”Ah! ah! he is here?” said D'Artagnan
”He is on guard to-day, at the Louvre, with the co had scarcely ceased speaking, when Raoul presented hinan, s smile which is only found upon the lips of youth
”Co will allow you to embrace me; only tell his racefully, that Louis, to who when they did not overshadow his own, adth, andRaoul, ”I have asked ive you up toto ood e”
”Yes, yes, Raoul, be satisfied; the king has sonan, who had fathomed the character of Louis, and who played with his self-love, within certain li, be it understood, the proprieties and flattering, even when he appeared to be bantering
”Sire,” said Bragelonne, with voice soft and musical, and with the natural and easy elocution he inherited fro to your , ”you mean your enterprise of the Greve That day, you were truly mine, monsieur”
”Sire, it is not of that day I would speak; it would not become me to refer to so paltry a service in the presence of such a nan I would speak of a circumstance which created an epoch in e of sixteen, to the devoted service of your , ”as that circumstance? Tellout on n, that is to say, to join the army of monsieur le prince, M le Comte de la Fere came to conductLouis XIII wait, upon the lowest steps of the funeral basilique, a successor, whom God will not send him, I hope, for many years Then he made me swear upon the ashes of our masters, to serve royalty, represented by you-incarnate in you, sire-to serve it in word, in thought, and in action I swore, and God and the dead itnesses toten years, sire, I have not so often as I desired had occasion to keep it I a e arrison”