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Chapter XXI
Chapter XXI
The Countess De Winter
As they rode along, the duke endeavored to draw from D`Artagnan, not
what has passed, but what D`Artagnan himself knew. By adding all that he
heard from the mouth of the young man to his own remembrances, he was enabled
to form a pretty exact idea of a position of the seriousness of which, in
addition, the queen`s letter, however short and explicit, rendered him quite
aware. But that which astonished him most was, that the cardinal, so deeply
interested in preventing this young man from setting his foot on the soil of
England, had not succeeded in arresting him on the road. It was then, and
upon the manifestation of this astonishment, that D`Artagnan related to him
the precaution taken, and how, thanks to his three friends, whom he had left
scattered on the road, he had succeeded in coming off with a single
sword-thrust, which had pierced the queen`s letter, and for which he had
repaid M. de Wardes in such terrible coin. While he was listening to this
account, which was delivered with the greatest simplicity, the duke looked
from time to time at the young man with astonishment, as if he could not
comprehend how so much prudence, courage, and devotedness were allied with
a countenance evidently not more than twenty years of age.
The horses went like the wind, and in an incredibly short time they were
in London. D`Artagnan imagined that on arriving in the city the duke would
slacken his pace but it was not so: he kept on his way heedless of whom he
rode against. In fact, in crossing the city, two or three accidents of this
kind happened; but Buckingham did not even turn his head to see what became
of those he had knocked down. D`Artagnan followed him amid cries which very
much resembled curses.
On entering the court of his hotel, Buckingham sprang from his horse
and, without taking heed of the noble animal, threw the bridle on his neck,
and sprang toward the vestibule. D`Artagnan did the same, with a little more
concern, however, for the fine creatures, whose merits he fully appreciated;
but he had the satisfaction to see three or four grooms run from the stables,
and take charge of them.
The duke walked so fast that D`Artagnan had some trouble in keeping up
with him. He passed through several apartments of an elegance of which even
the greatest nobles of France had not even an idea, and arrived at length in
a bedchamber which was at once a miracle of taste and of splendor. In the
alcove of this chamber was a door practiced in the tapestry, which the duke
opened with a small gold key, which he wore suspended from his neck by a
chain of the same metal. From discretion, D`Artagnan remained behind; but
at the moment of Buckingham`s passing through the door, he turned round, and
seeing the hesitation of the young man:
"Come in! come in!" cried he, "and if you have the good fortune to be
admitted to her majesty`s presence, tell her what you have seen."
Encouraged by this invitation, D`Artagnan followed the duke, who closed
the door after them.
He found himself with the duke in a small chapel covered with a tapestry
of Persian silk worked with gold, and brilliantly lit with a vast number of
wax-lights. Over a species of altar, and beneath a canpoy of blue velvet,
surmounted by white and red plumes, was a full-length portrait of Anne of
Austria, so perfect in its resemblance that D`Artagnan uttered a cry of
surprise on beholding it: it might be believed that the queen was about to
speak.
Upon the altar and beneath the portrait, was the casket containing the
diamond studs.
The duke approached the altar, fell on his knees as a priest might have
done before a crucifix, and opened the casket.
"There," said he, drawing from the casket a large bow of blue ribbon all
sparkling with diamonds; "here," said he, "are the precious studs which I
have taken an oath should be buried with me. The queen gave them to me, the
queen requires them back again; her will be done, like that of God, in all
things."
Then he began to kiss, one after the other, those dear studs with which
he was about to part. All at once, he uttered a terrible cry.
"What is the matter?" exclaimed D`Artagnan anxiously, "what has happened
to you, milord?"
"All is lost! all is lost!" cried Buckingham, turning as pale as death;
"two of the studs are wanting! there are but ten of them!"
"Can you have lost them, milord, or do you think they have been stolen?"
"They have been stolen!" replied the duke, "and it is the cardinal who
has dealt me this blow. See, the ribbons which held them have been cut with
scissors."
"If milord suspects they have been stolen - perhaps the person who stole
them still has them."
"Let me reflect," said the duke. "The only time I wore these studs was
at a ball given by the king a week ago at Windsor. The Countess de Winter,
with whom I had had a quarrel, became reconciled to me at that ball. That
reconciliation was nothing but the vengeance of a jealous woman. I have
never seen her from that day. The woman is an agent of the cardinal`s."
"Why then, he has agents throughout the whole world!" cried D`Artagnan.
"Yes, yes," said Buckingham, gnashing his teeth with rage, "he is a
terrible antagonist! But when is this ball to take place?"
"On Monday next."
"On Monday next! Still five days before us; that`s more time than we
want. Patrick!" cried the duke, opening the door of the chapel, "Patrick!"
His confidential valet, who had that moment returned appeared at his
call.
"My jeweler and my secretary."
The valet de chambre went out with a mute promptitude that showed he was
accustomed to obey implicity and without reply.
But although the jeweler had been mentioned first, it was the secretary
that first made his appearance, simply because he lived in the hotel. He
found Buckingham seated at a table in his bedchamber, writing orders with his
own hand.
"Master Jackson," said he, "go instantly to the lord chancellor and tell
him that I desire him to execute these orders. I wish them to be promulgated
immediately."
"But, my lord, if the lord chancellor interrogates me upon the motives
which may have led your grace to adopt such an extraordinary measure, what
reply shall I make?"
"That such is my pleasure, and that I answer for my will to no man."
"Will that be the answer," replied the secretary, smiling, "which he
must transmit to his majesty, if, by chance, his majesty should have the
curiosity to know why no vessel is to leave any of the ports of Great
Britain?"
"You are right, Master Jackson," replied Buckingham. "He will say, in
that case, to the king, that I am determined on war, and that this measure
is my first act of hostility against France."
The secretary bowed and retired.
"We are safe on that side," said Buckingham, turning toward D`Artagnan.
"If the studs are not yet gone to Paris, they will not arrive till after
you."
"How so, milord?"
"I have just placed an embargo on all vessels at present in his
majesty`s ports, and, without particular permission, not one can lift an
anchor."
D`Artagnan looked with stupefaction at a man who thus employed the
unlimited power with which he was clothed by the confidence of a king, in the
prosecution of his amours. Buckingham saw by the expression of the young
man`s face what was passing in his mind, and he smiled.
"Yes," said he, "yes, Anne of Austria is my true queen; upon a word from
her, I would betray my country, I would betray my king. I would betray my
God. She asked me not to send the Protestants of La Rochelle the assistance,
I promised them: I have not done so. I broke my word, it is true; but what
signifies that? I obeyed my love; and have I not been richly paid for that
obedience? It was to that obedience I owe her portrait!"
D`Artagnan admired by what fragile and unknown threads the destinies of
nations and the lives of men are sometimes suspended.
He was lost in these reflections when the goldsmith entered. He was an
Irishman, one of the most skillful of his craft, and who himself confessed
that he gained a hundred thousand livres a year by the Duke of Buckingham.
"Master O`Reilly," said the duke to him, leading him into the chapel,
"look at these diamond studs, and tell me what they are worth apiece."
The goldsmith cast a glance at the elegant manner in which they were
set, calculated, one with another, what the diamonds were worth, and without
hesitation:
"Fifteen hundred pistoles each, my lord," replied he.
"How many days would it require to make two studs exactly like them?
You see there are two wanting."
"A week, my lord."
"I will give you three thousand pistoles each for two, if I can have
them by the day after to-morrow."
"My lord, you shall have them."
"You are a jewel of a man, Master O`Reilly; but that is not all; these
studs cannot be trusted to anybody: it must be effected in the palace."
"Impossible, my lord; there is no one but myself can execute them so
that the new may not be distinguished from the old."
"Therefore, my dear Master O`Reilly, you are my prisoner; and if you
wish ever to leave my palace, you cannot; so make the best of it. Name to
me such of your workmen as you stand in need of, and point out the tools they
must bring."
The goldsmith knew the duke; he knew all objection would be useless, and
instantly determined how to act.
"May I be permitted to inform my wife?" said he.
"Oh! you may even see her if you like, my dear Master O`Reilly; your
captivity shall be mild, be assured; and as every inconvenience deserves its
indemnification, here is, in addition to the price of the studs, an order for
a thousand pistoles, to make you forget the annoyance I cause you."
D`Artagnan could not get over the surprise created in him by this
minister, who thus, open-handed, sported with men and millions.
As to the goldsmith, he wrote to his wife, sending her the order for the
thousand pistoles, and charging her to send him, in exchange, his most
skillful apprentice, an assortment of diamonds, of which he gave the names
and the weight, and the necessary tools.
Buckingham led the goldsmith to the chamber destined for him, and which,
at the end of half an hour, was transformed into a workshop. Then he placed
a sentinel at each door, with an order to admit nobody, upon any pretense,
but his valet de chambre, Patrick. We need not add that the goldsmith,
O`Reilly, and his assistant, were prohibited from going out on any account.
All this being regulated, the duke turned to D`Artagnan.
"Now, my young friend," said he, "England is all our own. What do you
wish for? What do you desire?"
"A bed, milord," replied D`Artagnan. "At present, I confess, that is
the thing I stand most in need of."
Buckingham assigned D`Artagnan a chamber adjoining his own. He wished
to have the young man at hand, not that he at all mistrusted him, but for the
sake of having some one to whom he could constantly talk about the queen.
In one hour after, the ordinance was published in London that no vessel
bound for France should leave the ports - not even the packet-boat with
letters, in the eyes of everybody this was a declaration of war between the
two kingdoms.
On the day after the morrow, by eleven o`clock, the two diamond studs
were finished, and they were so completely imitated, so perfectly alike, that
Buckingham could not tell the new ones from the old ones, and the most
practiced in such matters would have been deceived as he was.
He immediately called D`Artagnan.
"Here," said he to him, "are the diamond studs that you came to fetch,
and be my witness that I have done all that human power could do."
"Be satisfied, milord; I will tell all that I have seen. But does your
grace mean to give me the studs without the casket?"
"The casket would only encumber you. Besides, the casket is the more
precious from being all that is left to me. You will say that I keep it."
"I will perform your commission, word for word, milord."
"And now," resumed Buckingham, looking earnestly at the young man, "how
shall I ever acquit myself of the debt I owe you?"
D`Artagnan colored up to the eyes. He saw that the duke was searching
for a means of making him accept something, and the idea that the blood of
himself and his friends was about to be paid for with English gold was
strangely repugnant to him.
"Let us understand each other, milord," replied D`Artagnan, "and let us
make things clear, in order that there may be no mistake. I am in the
services of the king and queen of France, and form part of the company of M.
Dessessarts, who, as well as his brother-in-law, M. de Treville, is
particularly attached to their majesties. What have I done, then, has been
for the queen, and not at all for your grace. And, still further, it is very
probable I should not have done anything of this, if it had not been to make
myself agreeable to some one who is my lady, as the queen is yours."
"I understand," said the duke smiling, "and I even believe that I know
that other person; it is - "
"Milord! I have not named her!" interrupted the young man warmly.
"That is true," said the duke, "and it is to this person I am bound to
discharge my debt of gratitude."
"You have said, milord; for truly, at this moment, when there is
question of war, I confess to you that I can see nothing in your grace but
an Englishman, and, consequently, an enemy, whom I should have much greater
pleasure in meeting on the field of battle than in the park at Windsor or the
chambers of the Louvre; all which, however, will not prevent me from
executing, to the very point, my commission, or from laying down my life, if
there be need of it, to accomplish it; but I repeat it to your grace, without
your having personally on that account more to thank me for in this second
interview than that which I did for you in the first."
"We say, `proud as a Scotchman,`" murmured the Duke of Buckingham.
"And we say, `proud as a Gascon,`" replied D`Artagnan; "the Gascons are
the Scots of France."
D`Artagnan bowed to the duke, and was retiring.
"Well! you are going away in that manner? But where? and how?"
"That`s true!"
"`Fore Gad, these Frenchmen have no consideration!"
"I had forgotten that England was an island, and that you were the king
of it."
"Go to the port, ask for the brig Sund, and give this letter to the
captain; he will convey you to a little port, where certainly you are not
expected, and which is ordinarily only frequented by fishermen."
"What is the name of that port?"
"Saint-Valery; but listen. When you have arrived there, you will go to
a mean auberge, without a name and without a sign, a mere fisherman`s hut.
You cannot be mistaken; there is but one."
"And then?"
"You will ask for the host, and will repeat to him the word - Forward!"
"Which means?"
"In Franch, en avant; that is the password. He will give you a
ready-saddled horse, and will point out to you the road you are to take. You
will find, in this manner, four relays on your route. If you will give, at
each of these relays, your address in Paris, the four horses will follow you
thither. You already know two of them, and you appeared to appreciate them
like a judge. They were those we rode on, and you may rely upon me for the
others not being inferior to them. These horses are equipped for the field.
However proud you may be, you will not refuse to accept one of them, and
request your three companions to accept the others: that is in order to make
war against us, besides. The end excuses the means, as you Frenchmen say,
does it not?"
"Yes, milord, I accept them," said D`Artagnan, "and, if it please God,
we will make a good use of your presents."
"Well, now, your hand, young man; perhaps we shall soon meet on the
field of battle; but, in the meantime, we shall part good friends, I hope?"
"Yes, milord; but with the hope of soon becoming enemies?"
"Be satisfied on that head; I promise you."
"I depend upon your parole, milord."
D`Artagnan bowed to the duke, and made his way as quickly as possible
to the port. Opposite the Tower he found the vessel that had been named to
him, delivered his letter to the captain, who, after having it examined by
the governor of the port, made immediate preparation to sail.
Fifty vessels were waiting to set out, in momentary expectation of the
removal of the prohibition. When passing alongside of one of them,
D`Artagnan fancied her perceived on board of it the lady of Meung, the same
whom the unknown gentleman had styled milady, and whom D`Artagnan had thought
so handsome; but thanks to the tide of the river and a fair wind, his vessel
passed so quickly that he had little more than a glimpse of her.
The next day, about nine o`clock in the morning, he landed as St.
Valery. D`Artagnan went instantly in search of the auberge, and easily
discovered it by the riotous noise which resounded from it; war between
England and France was then confidently talked of, and the sailors were
carousing in the hopes of it.
D`Artagnan made his way through the crowd, advanced toward the host, and
pronounced the word, "Forward!" The host instantly made him a sign to follow
him, went out with him by a door which opened into a yard, led him to the
stable, where a ready saddled horse awaited him, and asked him if he stood
in need of anything else.
"I want to know the route I am to follow," said D`Artagnan.
"Go from hence to Blangy, and from Blangy to Neufchatel. At Neufchatel,
go to the auberge of the `Herse d`Or`, give the password to the host, and you
will find, as you have done here, a horse ready saddled."
"Have I anything to pay?" demanded D`Artagnan.
"Everything is paid," replied the host, "and liberally. Begone then,
and may God conduct you safely."
"Amen!" cried the young man, and set off at full gallop.
In four hours from starting he was in Neufchatel. He strictly followed
the instructions he had received; at Neufchatel, as St. Valery, he found a
horse quite ready awaiting him; he was about to remove the pistols from the
saddle he had vacated to the one he was about to occupy, but he found the
holsters furnished with similar pistols.
"Your address at Paris?"
"Hotel of the Guards, company of Dessessarts."
"Enough," replied the interrogator.
"Which route must I take?" demanded D`Artagnan, in his turn.
"That of Rouen; but you will leave the city on your right. You must
stop at the little village of Eccuis, in which there is but one auberge,
`l`Ecu de France.` Don`t condemn it from appearances, you will find a horse
in the stables quite as good as this."
"The same password?"
"Exactly."
"Adieu, master!"
"A good journey, gentleman! Do you want anything?"
D`Artagnan shook his head in reply, and set off at full speed. At
Eccuis, the same scene was repeated; he found as provident a host and a fresh
horse. He left his address as he had done before, and set off again, at the
same pace, for Pontoise. At Pontoise he changed his horse for the last time,
and at nine o`clock galloped into the yard of M. de Treville`s hotel. He had
performed nearly sixty leagues in little more than twelve hours.
M. de Treville received him as if he had seen him that same morning;
only, when pressing his hand a little more warmly than usual, he informed him
that the company of M. Dessessarts was on duty at the Louvre, and that he
might repair at once to his post.
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