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Chapter XV
Chapter XV
Men Of The Robe And Men Of The Sword
On the day after these events had taken place, Athos not having
reappeared, M. de Treville was informed by D`Artagnan and Porthos of the
circumstance. As to Aramis, he had asked for leave of absence for five days,
and was gone, it was said, to Rouen, on family business.
M. de Treville was the father of his soldiers. The lowest or the most
unknown of them, as soon as he assumed the uniform of the company, was as
sure of his aid and support as his brother himself could have been.
He repaired then, instantly to the residence of the lieutenant-criminel.
The officer who commanded the post of the Croix-Rouge was sent for, and by
successive inquiries they found that Athos was at the time lodged in the Fort
l`Eveque.
Athos had passed through all the examinations we have seen Bonacieux
undergo.
We were present at the scene in which the two captives were confronted
with each other. Athos, had till that time said nothing for fear that
D`Artagnan, interrupted in his turn, should not have the time necessary; but
from this moment Athos declared that his name was Athos, and not D`Artagnan.
He added that he did not know either Monsieur or Madame Bonacieux; that he
had never spoken to the one or the other; that he had come, at about ten
o`clock in the evening, to pay a visit to his friend, M. d`Artagnan, but that
till that hour he had been at M. de Treville`s, where he had dined; "twenty
witnesses," added he, "could attest the fact," and he named several
distinguished gentlemen, and among them was M. the duke de la Tremouille.
The second commissary was as much bewildered as the first had been at
the simple but firm declaration of the musketeer, upon whom he was anxious
to take the revenge which men of the robe like at all times to gain over men
of the sword; but the name of M. de Treville, and that of M. de la
Tremouille, commanded a little reflection.
Athos was then sent to the cardinal, but unfortunately the cardinal was
at the Louvre with the king.
It was precisely at this moment, at which M. de Treville, on leaving the
residence of the lieutenant-criminel, and that of the governor of the Fort
l`Eveque, without being able to find Athos, arrived at the palace.
As the captain of the musketeers, M. de Treville had the right of entree
at all times.
It is well known how violent the king`s prejudices were against the
queen, and how carefully these prejudices were kept up by the cardinal, who,
in affairs of intrigue, mistrusted women much more than men. One of the
principal causes of this prejudice was the friendship of Anne of Austria for
Madame de Chevreuse. These two women gave him more uneasiness than the war
with Spain, the quarrel with England, or the embarrassment of the finances.
In his eyes, and to his perfect conviction, Madame de Chevreuse not only
served the queen in her political intrigues, but, which troubled him still
more, in her love affairs.
At the first word the cardinal spoke of Madame de Chevreuse, who, though
exiled to Tours, and who was believed to be in that city, had been at Paris,
had remained there five days, and had outwitted the police, the king flew
into a furious passion. Although capricious and unfaithful, the king wished
to be called Louis the Just and Louis the Chaste. Posterity will find a
difficulty in understanding this character, which history explains only by
facts and never by reasonings.
But when the cardinal added, that not only had Madame de Chevreuse been
in Paris, but, still further, that the queen had renewed with her, by the
means of one of those mysterious correspondences which at that time was named
a cabal; when he affirmed that he, the cardinal, was about to unravel the
most closely twisted thread of this intrigue; when at the moment of arresting
in the fact, with all the proofs about her, the queen`s emissary to the
exiled duchess, a musketeer, had dared to interrupt the course of justice
violently, by falling, sword in hand, upon the honest men of the law charged
with investigating impartially the whole affair, in order to place it before
the eyes of the king, Louis XIII. could not contain himself, and he made a
step toward the queen`s apartment, with that pale and mute indignation, which
when it broke out, led this prince to the commission of the coldest cruelty.
And yet, in all this, the cardinal had not yet said a word about the
Duke of Buckingham.
At this instant M. de Treville entered, cold, polite, and in
irreproachable costume.
Rendered aware of what had passed by the presence of the cardinal, and
the alteration in the king`s countenance, M. de Treville felt himself
something like Samson before the Philistines.
Louis XIII. had already placed his hand on the button of the door; at
the noise of M. de Treville`s entrance he turned round.
"You arrive in good time, monsieur," said the king, who, when his
passions were raised to a certain point, could not dissemble; "I have learned
some pretty things concerning your musketeers!"
"And I," said M. de Treville, coldly, "I have some pretty things to
inform your majesty of, concerning these men of the robe."
"What do you say?" said the king, with hauteur.
"I have the honor to inform your majesty," continued M. de Treville in
the same tone, "that a party of procureurs, commissaries, and the men of the
police, very estimable people but very inveterate, as it appears, against the
uniform, have taken upon themselves to arrest in a house, to lead away
through the open street, and throw into the Fort l`Eveque, all upon an order
which they have refused to show me, one of my, or rather your musketeers,
sire, of irreproachable conduct, of an almost illustrious reputation, and
whom your majesty knows favorably, M. Athos."
"Athos!" said the king mechanically; "yes, indeed, I know that name."
"Let your majesty remember," said M. de Treville, "that M. Athos is the
musketeer who, in the annoying duel which you are acquainted with, had the
misfortune to wound M. de Cahusac so seriously. Apropos, monseigneur,"
continued De Treville, addressing the cardinal, "M. de Cahusac is quite
recovered, is he not?"
"Thank you!" said the cardinal, biting his lips with anger.
"M. Athos, then, went to pay a visit to one of his friends, at the time
absent," continued M. de Treville, "to a young Bearnais, a cadet in his
majesty`s guards, the company of M. Dessessarts, but scarcely had he arrived
at his friend`s, and taken up a book, while waiting his return, when a crowd
of bailiffs and soldiers mixed, came and laid siege to the house, and broke
open several doors - "
The cardinal made the king a sign, which signified, "That was on account
of the affair about which I spoke to you."
"Oh! we all know that," interrupted the king; "for all that was done
for our service."
"Then," said Treville, "it was also for your majesty`s service, that one
of my musketeers, who was innocent, has been seized; that he has been placed
between two guards, like a malefactor; and that this gallant man, who has ten
times shed his blood in your majesty`s service, and is ready to shed it
again, has been paraded through the midst of an insolent populace!"
"Bah!" said the king, who began to be shaken, "was it managed so?"
"M. de Treville," said the cardinal, with the greatest phlegm, "does not
tell your majesty that this innocent musketeer, this gallant man, had only
an hour before attacked, sword in hand four commissaires of inquiry, who were
delegated by me to examine into an affair of the highest importance."
"I defy your eminence to prove it," cried M. de Treville, with his
Gascon freedom and military roughness; "for one hour before, M. Athos, who,
I will confide it to your majesty, is really a man of the highest quality,
did me the honor, after having dined with me, to be conversing in the salon
of my hotel, with M. the Duke de la Tremouille and M. le Comte de Chalus, who
happened to be there."
The king looked at the cardinal.
"A proces-verbal attests it," said the cardinal, replying aloud to the
mute interrogation of his majesty; "and the ill-treated people have drawn up
the following, which I have the honor to present to your majesty."
"And is the proces-verbel of men of the robe to be placed in comparison
with the word of honor of a man of the sword?" replied Treville haughtily.
"Come, come, Treville, hold your tongue," said the king.
"If his eminence entertains any suspicion against one of my musketeers,"
said Treville, "the justice of M. the Cardinal is sufficiently well known to
induce me, myself, to demand an inquiry."
"In the house in which this judicial inquiry was made," continued the
impassable cardinal, "there lodges, I believe, a young Bearnais, a friend of
the musketeer`s."
"Your eminence means M. d`Artagnan."
"I mean a young man whom you patronize, Monsieur de Treville."
"Yes, your eminence, it is the same."
"Do you not suspect this young man of having given bad advice - "
"To M. Athos! to a man double his age?" interrupted M. de Treville.
"No, monseigneur. Besides, M. d`Artagnan passed the evening at my hotel."
"Well," said the cardinal, "everybody seems to have passed the evening
at your hotel!"
"Does your eminence doubt my word?" said De Treville, with a brow
flushed with anger.
"No, God forbid!" said the cardinal; "but only let me inquire at what
hour he was with you?"
"Oh, that I can speak to positively, your eminence; for as he came in
I remarked that it was half-past nine by the clock, although I had believed
it to be later."
"And at what hour did he leave your hotel?"
"At half-past ten; an hour after the event."
"Well, but," replied the cardinal, who could not for an instant suspect
the loyalty of De Treville, and who felt that the victory was escaping from
his hands - "well, but Athos, was taken in the house of the Rue des
Fossoyeurs."
"Is one friend forbidden to visit another? or a musketeer of my company
to fraternize with a guard of M. Dessessart`s company?"
"Yes, when the house in which he fraternizes is suspected."
"That house is suspected, Treville," said the king; "perhaps you were
not aware of that?"
"Indeed, sire, I knew nothing of the circumstances. The house may be
suspected, but I deny that it is in the part of it inhabitated by M.
d`Artagnan; for I can affirm, sire, if I can believe what he says, that there
does not exist a more devoted servant of your majesty, or a more profound
admirer of Monsieur the Cardinal."
"Was it not this D`Artagnan who wounded, one day, Jussac, in that
unfortunate encounter, which took place near the convent of the Carmes
Dechausses?" asked the king, looking at the cardinal, who colored with
vexation.
"And the next day Bernajoux. Yes, sire, yes, it is the same. Your
majesty has an excellent memory."
"Come, how shall we determine?" said the king.
"That concerns your majesty more than me," said the cardinal. "I should
affirm the culpability."
"And I deny it," said De Treville. "But his majesty has judges, and
these judges will decide."
"That is best," said the king. "Send the case before the judges; it is
their business to judge, and they will judge."
"Only," replied Treville, "it is a sad thing that, in the unfortunate
times in which we live, the purest life, the most incontestable virtue,
cannot exempt a man from infamy and persecution. The army, I will answer for
it, will be but little pleased at being exposed to rigorous treatment on
account of affairs of police."
The expression was imprudent; but M. de Treville launched it with a full
knowledge of his cause. He was desirous of an explosion, because in that
case the mine throws forth fire, and fire enlightens.
"Affairs of police!" cried the king, taking up De Treville`s words;
"affairs of police! And what do you know about them, monsieur? Meddle with
your musketeers, and do not annoy me in this way. It appears, according to
your account, that if, unfortunately, a musketeer is arrested, France is in
danger! Here`s a piece of work about a musketeer! Why, I would arrest ten
of them, ventrebleu! a hundred, even - all the company! and I would not
allow a murmur!"
"From the moment they are suspected by your majesty," said Treville,
"the musketeers are guilty; therefore, you see me prepared to surrender my
sword; for, after having accused my soldiers, there can be no doubt that M.
the Cardinal will end by accusing me. It is best to constitute myself at
once a prisoner with M. Athos, who is already arrested, and with M.
d`Artagnan, who most probably will be arrested."
"Gascon-headed man! will you have done?" said the king.
"Sire," replied Treville, without lowering his voice in the least,
"either order my musketeer to be restored to me, or let him be tried."
"He shall be tried," said the cardinal.
"Well, so much the better; for in that case I shall demand of his
majesty permission to plead for him."
The king became afraid of an outbreak.
"If his eminence," said he, "had not personal motives - "
The cardinal saw what the king was about to say, and interrupted him:
"Pardon me," said he; "but the instant your majesty considers me a
prejudiced judge, I withdraw."
"Come," said the king, "will you swear by my father that M. Athos was
at your residence during the event, and that he took no part in it?"
"By your glorious father, and by yourself - who are that which I love
and venerate the most in the world - I swear it!"
"Be so kind as to reflect, sire," said the cardinal. "If we release the
prisoner thus, we shall never be able to know the truth."
"M. Athos will always be to be found," replied Treville - "always ready
to answer, when it shall please the men of the long robe to interrogate him.
He will not desert, Monsieur le Cardinal, be assured of that; I will answer
for him."
"No, he will not desert," said the king; "he can always be found, as M.
de Treville says. Besides," added he, lowering his voice, and looking with
a suppliant air at the cardinal, "let us give them apparent security: there
is policy in that."
This policy of Louis XIII.`s made Richelieu smile.
"Order it as you please, sire; you possess the right of pardoning."
"The right of pardoning only applies to the guilty," said Treville, who
was determined to have the last word, "and my musketeer is innocent. It is
not mercy, then, that you are about to accord, sire; it is justice."
"And he is in the Fort l`Eveque?" said the king.
"Yes, sire, in solitary confinement, in a dungeon, like the lowest
criminal."
"The devil! the devil!" murmured the king - "what must be done?"
"Sign the order for his release, and all will be said," replied the
cardinal. "I believe, with your majesty, that M. de Treville`s guarantee is
more than sufficient."
Treville bowed very respectfully, with a joy that was not unmixed with
fear; he would have preferred an obstinate resistance on the part of the
cardinal, to this sudden yielding.
The king signed the order for enlargement, and Treville carried it away
without delay.
At the moment he was about to leave the presence, the cardinal gave him
a friendly smile, and said:
"A perfect harmony seems to prevail in your musketeers, sire, between
the leader and the soldiers, which must be good for the service, and
advantageous to all."
"Now he will play me some dog`s trick or other, and that immediately,"
said Treville; "there is no possibility of getting the last word with such
a man. But let us be quick - the king may change his mind presently; and,
at all events, it is more difficult to replace a man in the Fort l`Eveque,
or the Bastille, who has got out, than to keep a prisoner there who is in."
M. de Treville made his entrance triumphantly into the Fort l`Eveque,
whence he delivered the musketeer, whose peaceful indifference had not for
a moment abandoned him.
The first time he saw D`Artagnan, "You have come off well," said he to
him; "there is your Jussac thrust paid for. There still remains that of
Bernajoux, but you must not be too confident."
As to the rest, M. de Treville had good reason to mistrust the cardinal,
and to think that all was not over, for scarcely had the captain of the
musketeers closed the door after him, than his eminence said to the king:
"Now that we are at length by ourselves, we will, if your majesty
pleases, converse seriously. Sire, Monsieur de Buckingham has been in Paris
five days, and only left it this morning."
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