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Chapter XXXV
Chapter XXXV
A Gascon A Match For Cupid
On the morning following the evening so fondly anticipated by both
Porthos and D`Artagnan, Athos sat chewing the cud of recollections, in which
the bitter somewhat predominated over the sweet, when his meditations were
pleasingly interrupted by the appearance of D`Artagnan. We say pleasingly,
for two reasons: first, that Athos took particular pleasure in the society
of the frank, shrewd Gascon; and secondly, that though the circumstances of
his early life had cast a tinge of melancholy over his tone of mind, and
altered his habits of existence, there was still a spirit of comparative
youth and natural buoyancy of temperament, which made him hail, as a relief,
the society of a man he esteemed so greatly as he did D`Artagnan.
As to the Gascon, he was in exuberant spirits, but spirits which, to the
cool, observant eye of Athos, seemed rather feverish than natural; his eye
sparkled, his tongue was voluble, his laugh was loud, but there was
occasionally a nervous twitching of the muscles of the mouth, and,
altogether, an uneasiness which denoted that his spirits resembled rather the
excitement produced by opium or wine, than the overflowing cheerfulness of
youth and peace of mind.
"This seems to have been an auspicious night with you, D`Artagnan," said
Athos. "Did you visit your fascinating Englishwoman?"
"Oh, yes," replied D`Artagnan, rubbing his hands, "and my revenge is
complete."
"Ah?" said Athos gravely. "Beware! revenge is an awkward passion to
indulge in; they who employ it find it a double-edged weapon, which, in the
recoil, frequently wounds the hand that wields it."
"Mordieux! I must confess that I am not quite at ease. Milady has a
deal more of a Circe than a Venus in her, however beautiful I think her. Her
very love and its expression have something mysterious in them."
"Well, we know she was a spy of the cardinal`s," said Athos. "The
cardinal does not usually employ lovable people; few of us would like to take
either Le Pere Joseph or his ame damnee, Rochefort, to our bosoms as
confidential friends; and a woman must be still more to be dreaded. With
men, we can be on our guard; against women, never."
"Peste!" said D`Artagnan; "that is it. I almost trembled while I loved.
She has the strangest expression in her eyes I ever met with. Though merely
gray eyes, their brilliancy is astonishing; but that brilliancy is more of
the nature of the flash of a meteor, than of the moon-like luster we love in
women`s eyes. But I will tell you all, and then you may judge for yourself."
And with his usual readiness and fluency the Gascon related to his attentive
friend the adventures of the evening.
In the first place he recapitulated all that our readers know concerning
the lady`s warm letters to De Wardes, and D`Artagnan`s forged reply.
At this period Athos` brow became clouded. In general, the eye of Athos
seemed to turn toward D`Artagnan as the weary look of the town drudge seeks
a break between the line of houses where he can catch a glimpse of green
fields and golden sunshine; but now, it was serious to sternness.
"My dear friend, this is not like you. You are, naturally, no assassin;
though anxious to win the fight, you would never forget that honor should be
dearer to a combatant than victory. But look at the consequence of this
victory; for the sake of a momentary gratification, you secure yourself an
enemy, and no mean one, depend upon it."
"Oh," said D`Artagnan, "I have felt all that - but - but, Athos, you
know what it is to be under the influence of a beautiful, artful woman."
The brow of Athos again darkened.
"But proceed," added he, gravely.
"Well, at my usual time, about nine o`clock, I presented myself, and was
almost flattered into hope by my reception. I had never seen her look
handsomer; her spirits were good, her laugh was cheerful, and there was none
of that constrained, affected air of politeness of which I had before seen
so much. But then the devil of jealously did not fail to whisper to me that
all this arose from the anticipation of gratified love, and was not in any
way due to me or my presence. But passion is a bad reasoner; and I said to
myself, `Well, she may love De Wardes, but if she will take all this pains
to make herself agreeable to me, I must go for something, and she may not
take the deception very ill.` Besides, he was hard to be courted; I was a
willing slave."
"There, your usually acute philosophy was at fault, D`Artagnan. As a
soldier, you ought to know there is more honor from a contested victory, than
from a too easy surrender. But go on."
"Well, I perceived my billet had done its work. Kitty was ordered to
bring in sherbet. Her mistress` good-humor extended even to her; she spoke
more kindly to her than usual, but I could see poor Kitty was insensible to
it all - her heart seemed full of the idea of my purposed revenge. As I
witnessed the play of natural feeling in the countenance of one of these
women, and beheld the artful blandishments of that of the other, I was not
only tempted to think that fortune had made a mistake in their relative
positions, but even felt my heart waver, and turn, instinctively, from art
to nature. But I was committed, and had no means of honorable retreat before
victory.
"At ten o`clock milady began to be uneasy. I could plainly see what was
the matter. She arose, walked about, sat down again, her eyes seeming
constantly to reproach the sluggish progress of the pendulum. At length, as
the time drew near, there was no mistaking her; her looks said, distinctly
as words, You have been very agreeable, but it is quite time you were gone.
I arose, took my hat, bowed upon her hand, even ventured to kiss it, all
which she not only allowed, but I was astonished to find her beautiful
fingers return the respectful pressure of mine. And yet, though the
fascination still continued, I was not for a moment deceived; there was no
partiality for me, not even coquetry in it.
"`She must love him devilishly,` thought I, as I descended the stairs.
"But my poor little Kitty could not find it in her heart to come down
to meet me; I was obliged to grope my way up the back staircase alone.
"On reaching the soubrette`s little apartment, I found her seated with
her head leaning on her hands, weeping bitterly. She did not notice my
entrance, but when I went, in a kindly manner, to take her hand, she broke
into an agony of sobbing. I soon found, from her reproaches, that milady,
in the delirium of her joy, had revealed to her the contents of the supposed
De Wardes` billet, and, as a reward for the manner in which she had performed
her commission, had given her a purse of money.
"Kitty, on regaining her chamber, had thrown this purse contemptuously
into a corner, where it lay, disgorging three or four pieces of gold upon the
carpet.
"My heart smote me more than I like to own, but my plan lay too much at
my heart; the only honest thing I could do toward Kitty was to give her
clearly to understand that I could not draw back, that I must go on; only
adding, as a sedative, that I was now actuated solely by revenge.
"From some little remains of modesty, milady had ordered all the lights
to be extinguished, even in her own chamber, and M. de Wardes was to depart
before day, in darkness.
"I had not been many minutes with Kitty before we heard milady enter her
own chamber, and I quickly ensconced myself in my closet; indeed, Kitty had
scarcely pushed me in, when her mistress` little bell rang. Kitty replied
to the summons, taking care to shut the door after her; but the wainscot was
so thin I could hear almost all both the women said.
"Milady appeared intoxicated with joy. She made Kitty repeat the
minutest details of her pretended interview with De Wardes; to which poor
Kitty returned but broken answers, and I really expected, from her tone, she
would begin to cry. And yet, so selfish is happiness, milady was too much
engrossed by her own joy to mark the distress of her poor attendant.
"A few minutes before the appointed hour, milady had all the lights put
out in her chamber, and dismissed Kitty to hers, with an injunction to
introduce the count the moment he arrived.
"You may suppose I did not keep Kitty waiting long.
"Seeing through a chink of my hiding-place that all was darkness, I was
at the door of milady`s chamber before Kitty had closed it.
"`What is that noise? said milady.
"`It is I, De Wardes,`"Shaking off poor Kitty, with as much kindness as
I could, I made my way into milady`s chamber. And here, dear Athos, I must
confess that I scarcely knew which predominated, love or jealousy. I had no
idea what a man`s feelings would be when he has passionate protestations of
love poured into his ears, and knows that they are addressed to a rival.
Oh, what a keen, remorseless tooth has jealousy! Her love for De Wardes
seems boundless."
"Call it not love, D`Artagnan," said Athos, "it is a desecration of the
word; such natures as hers may be susceptible of coarse passion, but know
nothing of love."
"Well, call it what you will, she is intensely in earnest, as you may
judge. At parting, she forced this ring upon my finger, with a request that
I would return her a token of responding affection to-day; and people don`t
give such jewels as this away lightly. My heart smote me, and I wished to
refuse it. She, however, would not hear of that, but replied, `No, no; keep
that ring for my sake; you will render me likewise a greater service than you
are aware of by doing so,` and her voice was agitated as she spoke. What the
latter part of her speech meant, I don`t know; but she is full of mysteries.
I remember the ring; it is, as you see, a magnificent sapphire, surrounded
by brilliants. At that moment I felt ready to reveal everything, but, very
strangely, she added:
"`Poor dear angel! whom the monster of a Gascon was so near killing.`
"Comfortable, this! to know I was the monster.
"`Do you suffer much from your wounds?` continued she.
"`Yes, a great deal,` said I, scarcely knowing what to answer.
"`Be satisfied,` murmured she; `I will avenge you, and cruelly.`
"`Peste!` thought I to myself; `the time for confidence has not yet
come. At our parting, which was a passionate one, another interview was
agreed upon for next week."
"Your milady is doubtless an infamous creature. But since you mentioned
it, my attention has been engrossed by your ring," said Athos.
"I saw you were looking at it; it is handsome, is it not?" said
D`Artagnan.
"Yes," said Athos, "magnificent. It reminds me of a family jewel; I did
not think two sapphires of such a fine water existed. And she gave you that
ring, do you say."
"Yes, my beautiful Englishwoman, or rather Frenchwoman, for I am sure
she was born in France, took it from her own finger and forced it onto mine."
"Let me look at it," said Athos; and, as he took it and examined it, he
became very pale. He tried it on his little finger, which it fitted as if
made for it.
A shade of anger and vengeance passed across his usually calm brow.
"It is impossible it can be she," said he. "How could this ring come
into the possession of Lady Clarik? And yet it is difficult to suppose such
a resemblance should exist between two jewels."
"Do you know this ring?" said D`Artagnan.
"I thought I did," replied Athos; "but, no doubt, was mistaken."
And he returned D`Artagnan the ring, without, however, ceasing to look
at it.
"Pray," said Athos, after a minute, "either take off that ring, or turn
the collet inside; it recalls such recollections that I cannot keep my head
cool enough to converse with you. But stop, let me look at that ring again;
the one I mentioned to you had one of its faces scratched."
D`Artagnan took off the ring, giving it again to Athos.
Athos started. "Look?" said he, "is it not strange?" and he pointed out
to D`Artagnan the scratch he had remembered.
"But from whom did this ring come to you, Athos?"
"From my mother, who inherited it from her mother."
"And you - sold it?" asked D`Artagnan, hesitatingly.
"No," replied Athos, with a singular smile; "I gave it away in a love
affair, as it has been given to you."
D`Artagnan became pensive in his turn. He took back the ring, but put
it into his pocket, and not on his finger.
"D`Artagnan," said Athos, taking his hand, "you know I love you; if I
had a son, I could not love him better. Take my advice, renounce this
woman."
"You are right," said D`Artagnan. "I have done with her; she terrifies
me."
"Shall you have the courage?" said Athos.
"I shall," replied D`Artagnan; "and instantly."
"In truth, my young friend, you will act rightly, and God grant that
this woman, who has scarcely entered into your life, may not leave a terrible
trace in it!"
And Athos bowed to D`Artagnan, like a man who wishes to be left alone
with his thoughts.
On reaching home, D`Artagnan found Kitty waiting for him.
She was sent by her mistress to the false De Wardes. Her mistress was
mad with love; she wished to know when her lover would meet her again. And
poor Kitty, pale and trembling, awaited D`Artagnan`s reply. The counsels of
his friend, joined to the cries of his own heart, made him determine, now his
pride was saved and his vengeance satisfied, not to see milady again. As a
reply, he wrote the following letter:
"Do not depend upon me, madame, for the next meeting; since my
convalescence I have so many affairs of this kind on my hands, that I am
forced to regulate them a little. When your turn comes, I shall have the
honor to inform you of it. I kiss your hands. De Wardes."
Not a word about the ring. Was the Gascon determined to keep it as a
weapon against milady; or else, let us be frank, did he not reserve the jewel
as a last resource for the equipment? We should be wrong to judge of the
actions of one period from the point of view of another. That which would
now be considered as disgraceful to a gentleman, was at that time quite a
simple and natural affair, and the cadets of the best families were
frequently kept by their mistresses. D`Artagnan gave the open letter to
Kitty, who at first was unable to comprehend it, but who became almost wild
with joy on reading it a second time. She could scarcely believe in her
happiness; and whatever might be, considering the violent character of
milady, the danger which the poor girl incurred in giving this billet to her
mistress, she ran back to the Place Royale as fast as her legs could carry
her.
Milady opened the letter with eagerness: but at the first words she read
she became livid; she crushed the paper in her hand, and turning with
flashing eyes upon Kitty:
"What is this letter?" cried she.
"The answer to madame`s,a replied Kitty, all in a tremble.
"Impossible!" cried milady; "it is impossible a gentleman could have
written such a letter to a woman." Then all at once, starting:
"My God!" cried she, "can he have - " and she stopped. She ground her
teeth; she was of the color of ashes. She endeavored to go toward the window
for air, but she could only stretch forth her arms, her legs failed her, and
she sank into a fauteuil. Kitty, fearing she was going to faint, hastened
toward her, and was beginning to open her dress; but milady started up,
pushing her away.
"What do you want with me?" said she; "and why do you place your hand
on me?"
"I thought you were going to faint, milady," answered the terrified
girl.
"I faint! I! I! do you take me for a weak, silly woman, then? When
I am insulted I do not faint, I avenge myself!"
And she made a sign for Kitty to leave the room.
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