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Chapter XXXIII
Chapter XXXIII
Soubrette And Mistress
In the meantime, in spite of the cries of his conscience and the wise
counsels of Athos, D`Artagnan became hourly more in love with milady; thus
he never failed to pay his diurnal court to her, and the self-satisfied
Gascon was convinced that sooner or later, she could not fail to respond to
him.
One day when he arrived, with his head in the air, and as light at heart
as a man who is in expectation of a shower of gold, he found the soubrette
under the gateway of the hotel; but this time the pretty Kitty was not
contented with touching him as he passed; she took him gently by the hand.
"Good!" though D`Artagnan, "she is charged with some message for me from
her mistress; she is about to appoint some meeting which she had not courage
to speak of." And he looked down at the pretty girl with the most triumphant
air imaginable.
"I wish to say three words to you, Monsieur le Chevalier," stammered the
soubrette.
"Speak, my dear, speak," said D`Artagnan; "I am all attention."
"Here? That`s impossible; that which I have to say is too long, and
still more, too secret."
"Well, what is to be done?"
"If Monsieur le Chevalier would follow me?" said Kitty timidly.
"Where you please, my pretty little dear."
"Come, then."
And Kitty, who had not let go the hand of D`Artagnan, led him up a
little dark, winding staircase, and after ascending about fifteen steps,
opened a door.
"Come in here, Monsieur le Chevalier," said she; "here we shall be
alone, and can talk safely."
"And whose chamber is this, my pretty-faced friend?"
"It is mine, Monsieur le Chevalier; it communicates with my mistress`
by that door. But you need not fear; she will not hear what we say; she
never goes to bed before midnight."
D`Artagnan cast a glance around him. The little apartment was charming
for its taste and neatness; but, in spite of himself, his eyes were directed
to that door which Kitty said led to milady`s chamber.
Kitty guessed what was passing in the mind of the young man, and heaved
a deep sigh.
"You love my mistress, then, very dearly, Monsieur le Chevalier?" said
she.
"Oh, more than I can say, Kitty! I am mad for her!"
Kitty breathed a second sigh.
"Alas! monsieur," said she, "that is a great pity!"
"What the devil do you see so pitiable in it?" said D`Artagnan.
"Because, monsieur," replied Kitty, "my mistress does not love you at
all."
"Hein!" said D`Artagnan, "can she have charged her to tell me so?"
"Oh, no, monsieur; out of the regard I have for you, I have taken upon
myself to tell you so."
"I am much obliged, my dear Kitty, but for the intention only; for the
information, you must agree, is not likely to be very pleasant."
"That is to say, you don`t believe what I have told you, is it not?"
"We have always some difficulty in believing such things, my pretty
dear, were it only from self-love."
"Then you don`t believe me?"
"Why, I confess that, unless you give me some proof of what you advance
- "
"What do you think of this?"
And Kitty drew a little note from her bosom.
"For me?" said D`Artagnan, seizing the letter.
"No; for another."
"For another?"
"Yes."
"His name! his name!" cried D`Artagnan.
"Read the address."
"Monsieur le Comte de Wardes."
The remembrance of the scene at St. Germain presented itself to the mind
of the presumptuous Gascon; as quick as thought he tore open the letter, in
spite of the cry which Kitty uttered on seeing what he was going to do, or,
rather, what he was doing.
"Oh, good Lord! Monsieur le Chevalier," said she, "what are you doing?"
"Who - I?" said D`Artagnan; "nothing;" and he read:
"You have not answered my first note; are you indisposed, or have you
forgot the glances you favored me with at the ball of Madame de Guise? You
have an opportunity now, count; do not allow it to escape."
D`Artagnan became very pale: he was wounded in his self-love; he thought
that it was in his love.
"Poor, dear Monsieur D`Artagnan!" said Kitty, in a voice full of
compassion, and pressing the young man`s hand again.
"You pity me, my kind little creature?" said D`Artagnan.
"That I do, and with all my heart; for I know what it is to be in love."
"You know what it is to be in love?" said D`Artagnan, looking at her for
the first time with much attention.
"Alas! yes."
"Well, then, instead of pitying me, you would do much better to assist
me in revenging myself of your mistress."
"And what sort of revenge would you take?"
"I would triumph over her, and supplant my rival."
"I will never help you in that, Monsieur le Chevalier," said Kitty
warmly.
"Why not?"
"For two reasons."
"What are they?"
"The first is, that my mistress will never love you."
"How do you know that?"
"You have offended her to the very heart."
"I? in what can have offended her?" I, who, ever since I have known
her, have lived at her feet like a slave! Speak, I beg of you!"
"I will never confess that but to the man - who should read to the
bottom of my soul!"
D`Artagnan looked at Kitty for the second time. The young girl was of
a freshness and beauty which many duchesses would have purchased with their
coronets.
"Kitty," said he, "I will read to the bottom of your soul whenever you
like; don`t let that disturb you;" and he gave her a kiss, at which the poor
girl became as red as a cherry.
"Oh, no," said Kitty, "it is not me you love - it is my mistress you
love; you told me so only just now."
"And does that hinder you from telling me the second reason?"
"The second reason, Monsieur le Chevalier," replied Kitty, emboldened
by the kiss in the first place, and still further by the expression of the
eyes of the young man, "is - that in love, every one for herself!"
Then only D`Artagnan remembered the languishing glances of Kitty, her
constantly meeting him in the antechamber, the corridor, or on the stairs,
those touches of the hand every time she did meet him, and her deep sighs;
but, absorbed by his desire to please the great lady, he had disdained the
soubrette: he whose game is the eagle, takes no heed of the sparrow.
But this time our Gascon saw at a glance all the advantage that might
be derived from the love which Kitty had just confessed so innocently - or
so boldly: the interception of letters addressed to the Count de Wardes,
intelligences on the spot, entrance at all hours into Kitty`s chamber, which
was contiguous to her mistress`. The perfidious deceiver was, as may plainly
be perceived, already sacrificing in idea the poor girl to obtain milady,
whether she would or not.
"Well," said he to the young girl, "are you willing, my dear Kitty, that
I should give you a proof of that love of which you doubt?"
"What love?" asked the girl.
"Of that which I am ready to feel for you."
"And what is that proof?"
"Are you willing that I should this evening pass with you the time I
generally spend with your mistress?"
"Oh, yes!" said Kitty, clapping her hands, "very willing."
"Well, then, come here, my dear," said D`Artagnan, establishing himself
in a fauteuil, "come, and let me tell you that you are the prettiest
soubrette I ever saw!"
And he did tell her so much, and so well, that the poor girl, who asked
nothing better than to believe him, did believe him. Nevertheless, to
D`Artagnan`s great astonishment the pretty Kitty defended herself with
resolution.
In such conversation time passes very rapidly. Twelve o`clock struck,
and almost at the same time the bell was rung in milady`s chamber.
"Good God!" cried Kitty, "there is my mistress calling me! Go, go
directly!"
D`Artagnan rose, took his hat as if it had been his intention to obey;
then, opening quickly the door of a large closet, instead of that of the
staircase, he plunged into the midst of robes and lady`s dressing-gowns.
"What are you doing?" cried Kitty.
D`Artagnan, who had secured the key, shut himself up in the closet
without any reply.
"Well," cried milady, in a sharp voice, "are you asleep, that you don`t
answer when I ring?"
And D`Artagnan heard the door of communication opened violently.
Here am I, milady! here am I!" cried Kitty, springing forward to meet
her mistress.
Both went into the bedroom, and, as the door of communication remained
open, D`Artagnan could hear milady for some time scolding her maid. She was
at length, however, appeased, and the convwrsation turned upon him while
Kitty was assisting her mistress to undress.
"Well," said milady, "I have not seen our Gascon this evening."
"What, milady! has he not come?" said Kitty. "Can he be inconstant
before being happy?"
"Oh, no; he must have been prevented by M. de Treville or M.
Dessessarts. I understand my game, Kitty; I have him safe!"
"What will you do with him, madame?"
"What will I do with him? Oh, Kitty, there is something between that
man and me that he is quite ignorant of; he was very near making me lose my
credit with his eminence. Oh, I will be revenged for that!"
"I thought madame loved him?"
"I love him? I detest him! A simple fool, who held the life of Lord
de Winter in his hands and did not kill him, by which I missed three hundred
thousand livres a year!"
"That`s true," said Kitty; "your son was the only heir of his uncle, and
until his coming of age you would have had the enjoyment of his fortune."
D`Artagnan shuddered to his very marrow at hearing this apparently sweet
creature reproach him with that sharp voice, which she took such pains to
conceal in conversation, for not having killed a man whom he had seen load
her with kindness.
"For all this," continued milady, "I should long ago have revenged
myself on him, if, and I don`t know why, the cardinal had not requested me
to conciliate him."
"Oh, yes; but madame has not favored the little woman he was so fond
of?"
"What! the mercer`s wife of the Rue des Fossoyeurs? Has he not already
forgotten she ever existed? Fine vengeance that, ma foi!"
A cold sweat broke from D`Artagnan brow. Why, this woman was a monster!
He resumed his listening, but unfortunately the toilet was ended.
"That will do," said milady; "go into your own room, and to-morrow
endeavor again to obtain me an answer to the letter I gave you."
"For M. de Wardes?" said Kitty.
"To be sure; for M. de Wardes."
"Now, there is one," said Kitty, "who appears to me to be quite a
different sort of man to that poor M. d`Artagnan."
"Go to bed, mademoiselle," said milady; "I don`t like comments."
D`Artagnan heard the door close, then the noise of two bolts by which
milady fastened herself in; on her side, but as softly as possible, Kitty
turned the key of the lock, and then D`Artagnan opened the closet-door.
"Oh, good Lord!" said Kitty, in a low voice, "what is the matter with
you? How pale you are!"
"The abominable creature!" murmured D`Artagnan.
"Silence, silence! begone!" said Kitty; "there is nothing but a
wainscot between my chamber and milady`s; every word that is uttered in one
can be heard in the other."
"That`s exactly the reason I won`t go," said D`Artagnan.
"What!" said Kitty, blushing.
"Or, at least, I will go - later;" and he put his arm round her waist.
D`Artagnan`s love for Kitty was little more than an idea of vengeance upon
milady. With a little more heart, he might have been contented with this new
conquest; but the principal features of his character were ambition and pride
It must, however, be confessed, in his justification, that the first use he
made of the influence he had obtained over Kitty was, to endeavor to find
out what had become of Madame Bonacieux; but the poor girl swore upon the
crucifix to D`Artagnan, that she was entirely ignorant on that head, her
mistress never admitting her into half her secrets, only she believed she was
able to say she was not dead.
As to the cause which was near making milady lose the confidence of the
cardinal, Kitty knew nothing about it; but this time D`Artagnan was better
informed than she was: as he had seen milady on board a vessel at the moment
he was leaving England, he suspected that it was, almost without a doubt, on
account of the diamond studs.
But what was clearest in all this was, that the true hatred, the
profound hatred, the inveterate hatred of milady, was increased by his not
having killed her brother-in-law.
D`Artagnan came the next day to milady`s, and finding her in a very
ill-humor, had no doubt that it was having no answer from M. de Wardes that
provoked her thus. Kitty came in, but milady was very cross with her. The
poor girl ventured a glance at D`Artagnan, which said "See how I suffer on
your account!"
Toward the end of the evening, however, the beautiful lioness became
milder, she smilingly listened to the soft speeches of D`Artagnan, and even
gave him her hand to kiss.
D`Artagnan, at parting, scarcely knew what to think; but as he was a
youth not easily imposed upon, while continuing to pay his court to milady,
he determined to carry out the little plan he had framed in his mind.
He found Kitty at the gate, and, as on the preceding evening, went up
to her chamber. Kitty had been accused of negligence, and consequently
severely scolded. Milady could not at all comprehend the silence of the
Count de Wardes, and she ordered Kitty to come at nine o`clock in the morning
to take a third letter.
D`Artagnan made Kitty promise to bring him that letter on the following
morning; the poor girl promised all her lover desired; she was mad.
Things passed as they had done the night before: D`Artagnan concealed
himself in his closet, milady called, undressed, sent away Kitty, and shut
the door. As before, likewise, D`Artagnan returned home at five o`clock in
the morning.
At eleven o`clock Kitty came to him: she held in her hand a fresh billet
from milady. This time the poor girl did not even hesitate at giving up the
note to D`Artagnan! she belonged, body and soul, to her handsome soldier.
D`Artagnan opened the letter, and read as follows:
"This is the third time I have written to you, to tell you that I love
you. Beware that I do not write to you a fourth time, to tell you that I
detest you.
"If you repent of the manner in which you have acted toward me, the
young girl who brings you this will tell you how a man of spirit may obtain
his pardon."
D`Artagnan colored and grew pale several times while reading this
billet.
"Oh! you love her still," said Kitty, who had not taken her eyes off
the young man`s countenance for an instant.
"No, Kitty, you are mistaken: I do not love her; but I will revenge
myself for her contempt of me."
"Oh! yes, I know what sort of vengeance! you told me that!"
"Of what consequence can it be to you. Kitty; you know it is you alone
I love."
"How can I be sure of that?"
"By the scorn I will throw upon her."
D`Artagnan took a pen and wrote:
"Madame - Until the present moment, I could not believe that it was to
me your two first letters were addressed, so unworthy did I feel myself of
such an honor; besides, I was so seriously indisposed, that I could not, in
any case, have replied to them.
"But now I am forced to believe in the excess of your kindness, since
not only your letter, but your servant, assures me that I have the good
fortune to be beloved by you.
"She has no occasion to teach me the way in which a man of spirit may
obtain his pardon; I will come and ask mine at eleven o`clock this evening.
"To delay it a single day would be, in my eyes, now, to commit a fresh
offense - He whom you have rendered the happiest of men,
"Comte de Wardes."
This note was in the first place a forgery; it was likewise an
indelicacy; it was even, according to our present manners, something like an
infamous action; but at that period, people were not so scrupulous. Besides,
D`Artagnan, from her own admission, knew milady to be treacherous in matters
of more importance, and could entertain no respect for her. And yet,
notwithstanding this want of respect, he felt an uncontrollable passion for
this woman boiling in his veins. Passion drunk with contempt; but passion
or thirst, as the reader pleases.
D`Artagnan`s plan was very simple; by Kitty`s chamber he gained that of
his mistress; he would take advantage of the first moment of surprise, shame
and terror; he might fail, but something must be left to chance. In eight
days the campaign was to open, and he would be compelled to leave Paris:
D`Artagnan had no time for a prolonged love siege.
"There," said the young man, handing Kitty the letter, sealed and
addressed, "give that to milady; it is the Count de Wardes` reply."
Poor Kitty became as pale as death; she suspected what the letter
contained.
"I listen, my dear girl," said D`Artagnan, "you cannot but perceive that
all this must end, some way or other; milady may discover that you gave the
first billet to my lackey instead of to De Wardes; that it is I who have
opened the others which ought to have been opened by him; milady will then
turn you out of doors, and you know she is not the woman to let her vengeance
stop there."
"Alas!" said Kitty, "for whom have I exposed myself to all that?"
"For me, I well know, my sweet girl," said D`Artagnan. "But I am
grateful."
"But what does this note contain?"
"Milady will tell you."
"Ah! you do not love me," cried Kitty, "and I am very wretched!"
In spite of the caresses with which D`Artagnan endeavored to console
her, Kitty wept for some time before she could be persuaded to give her
mistress the note; but she yielded at last.
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