Part 67 (1/2)
”Monseigneur is ate hiiven Toby some commission, for he has been to the stables and taken your lordshi+p's swiftest horse, and saddled it hione off”
”Gone!” exclaimed Fouquet ”Let him be pursued, let hi him by the hand, ”be calm, the evil is done”
The valet quietly went out
”The evil is done, you say?”
”No doubt; I was sure of it And now, let us give no cause for suspicion; we must calculate the result of the blow, and ward it off, if possible”
”After all,” said Fouquet, ”the evil is not great”
”You think so?” said Aramis
”Of course Surely a man is allowed to write a love-letter to a woman”
”A man, certainly; a subject, no; especially, too, when the wo is in love”
”But the king was not in love with La Valliere a week ago! he was not in love with her yesterday, and the letter is dated yesterday; I could not guess the king was in love, when the king's affection was not even yet in existence”
”As you please,” replied Aramis; ”but unfortunately the letter is not dated, and it is that circumstance particularly which annoys me If it had only been dated yesterday, I should not have the slightest shadow of uneasiness on your account”
Fouquet shrugged his shoulders
”A of ht,” replied Arareater importance to matters than is necessary; and besides Well! if we are menaced, we have means of defense”
”Oh! nat bite, as it were, a the number of menaces which may coet, Monsieur Fouquet, that the bit of an insect can kill a giant, if the insect be veno of, already vanished?”
”I am all-powerful, it is true, but I a ain, I suppose Is not that your opinion?”
”Oh! as for that, you will not find hireat value to you, you ive him up for lost”
”At all events he is somewhere or another in the world,” said Fouquet
”You're right, let me act,” replied Aramis
Chapter LXIV Mada queen to pay her a visit For so both her youth and beauty with that rapidity which signalizes the decline of wo contest, Anne of Austria had, in addition to her physical sufferings, to experience the bitterness of being no longer held in any estee remembrance of the past, amidst the youthful beauties, wits, and influential forces of her court Her physician's opinions, her s which the society of the courtiers afforded, who, like rats in a shi+p, abandon the hold into which on the very next voyage the water will infallibly penetrate, owing to the ravages of decay Anne of Austria did not feel satisfied with the tiood son, more from affectation than fro an hour in thewith his mother; but, since he had himself undertaken the conduct of state affairs, the duration of the 's visit had been reduced by one half; and then, by degrees, the ether They , either at the king's asseh, out of regard to her two sons
The result of this was, that Madaradually acquired an immense influence over the court, whichThis, Anne of Austria perceived; knowing herself to be very ill, and condes to frequent retirereater part of her future days and evenings would pass away solitary, useless, and in despondency She recalled with terror the isolation in which Cardinal Richelieu had fors, during which, however, she had both youth and beauty, which are ever accompanied by hope, to console her She next for the court to her own apart Madaloo of France, and theof France, was reduced to console, in her artificial hood, the weeping wife of a king of France
Anne began to reflect She had intrigued a good deal in her life In the good times past, when her youthful mind nursed projects that were, ultimately, invariably successful, she had by her side, to stimulate her aer, more ambitious than herself,-a friend who had loved her, a rare circumstance at courts, and whom some petty considerations had removed from her forever But for many years past-except Madame de Motteville, and La Molena, her Spanish nurse, a confidante in her character of countrywoood advice to the queen? Who, too, a all the youthful heads there, could recall the past for her,-that past in which alone she lived? Anne of Austria remembered Madame de Chevreuse, in the first place exiled rather by her wish than the king's, and then dying in exile, the wife of a gentleman of obscure birth and position She asked herself what Madame de Chevreuse would have advised her to do in si froues; and after serious reflection, it seemed as if the clever, subtle ment, answered her in the well-re people are poor and greedy of gain They require gold and incomes to supply ain them over” And Anne of Austria adopted this plan Her purse ell filled, and she had at her disposal a considerable sum of ed in a place of safety She possessed the nificent jewels in France, and especially pearls of a size so large that they h every time he saw them, because the pearls of his croere like millet seed compared to theer at her disposal She gave out, therefore, that her wealth was great, and as an inducement for others to visit her apartold crowns to be won at play, or that handsome presents were likely to be made on days when all ith her; or windfalls, in the shape of annuities which she had wrung fro by entreaty, and thus she determined to maintain her credit In the first place, she tried these ain her consent was ofthe bold confidence which her wit and beauty inspired her, blindly ran head foremost into the net thus stretched out to catch her Enriched by degrees by these presents and transfers of property, she took a fancy to inheritances by anticipation Anne of Austria adopted the sa himself She instituted lotteries in her apartments The day on which the present chapter opens, invitations had been issued for a late supper in the queen-mother's apartments, as she intended that two beautiful diamond bracelets of exquisite workmanshi+p should be put into a lottery The reatest value; the diamonds, in point of intrinsic value, did not represent a very considerable ainality and rarity of the workmanshi+p were such, that every one at court not only wished to possess the bracelets, but even to see the queen herself wear them; for, on the days she wore them, it was considered as a favor to be ad her hands The courtiers had, even with regard to this subject, adopted various expressions of gallantry to establish the aphorism, that the bracelets would have been priceless in value if they had not been unfortunate enough to be placed in contact with arms as beautiful as the queen's This couages of Europe, and numerous verses in Latin and French had been circulated on the subject The day that Anne of Austria had selected for the lottery was a decisivehad not been near his reat scene of the Dryads and Naiads, was sulking by herself It is true, the king's fit of resently occupied by a circuiddy pleasures of the court
Anne of Austria effected a diversion by the announcement of the fa evening With this object in view, she saw the young queen, whom, as we have already seen, she had invited to pay her a visit in the ood news to tell you,” she said to her; ”the king has been saying the , you know, and easily draay; but so long as you keep near me, he will not venture to keep away from you, to whom, besides, he is most warmly and affectionately attached I intend to have a lottery this evening and shall expect to see you”
”I have heard,” said the young queen, with a sort of timid reproach, ”that your majesty intends to put in the lottery those lovely bracelets whose rarity is so great that we ought not to allow them to pass out of the custody of the crown, even were there no other reason than that they had once belonged to you”
”My daughter,” said Anne of Austria, who read the young queen's thoughts, and wished to console her for not having received the bracelets as a present, ”it is positively necessary that I should induce Madame to pass her ti queen, blushi+ng
”Of course: would you not prefer to have a rival near you, who is with her, always as ready to flirt as to be flirted with by her? The lottery I have proposed is my means of attraction for that purpose; do you bla her hands with a childlike expression of delight
”And you no longer regret, then, that I did not give you these bracelets, as I at first intended to do?”
”Oh, no, no!”
”Very well; make yourself look as beautiful as possible that our supperyou appear, and you will eclipse all the ladies present as much by your brilliancy as by your rank”
Maria Theresa left full of delight An hour afterwards, Anne of Austria received a visit fro, ”Excellent news! the king is charmed with reatly charmed: to see such beautiful bracelets on any one's arms but yours or mine, is what I cannot reconcile myself to”
”Well, well,” said Anne of Austria, concealing by a s she had just experienced, ”do not look at things in the worst light immediately”
”Ah, Madame, Fortune is blind, and I am told there are two hundred tickets”
”Quite as et that there can only be one winner”
”No doubt But ill that be? Can you tell?” said Madame, in despair
”You reood,-I sleep so little”
”What was your drea?”