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Chapter XLII
Chapter XLII
The Anjou Wine
After the most disheartening news of the king`s health, a report of his
convalescence began to prevail in the army; and as he was very anxious to be
in person at the siege, it was said that as soon as he could mount on
horseback he would set forward.
In the meantime, monsieur, who knew that, from one day to the other, he
might expect to be removed from his command by the Duke d`Angouleme,
Bassompierre, or Schomberg, who were all eager for his post, did but little,
lost his days in wavering, and did not dare to attempt any great enterprise
to drive the English from the Isle of Re, where they still besieged the
citadel St. Martin and the fort of La Pree, while, on their side, the French
were besieging La Rochelle.
D`Artagnan, as we have said, had become more tranquil, as always happens
after a past danger, particularly when that danger seems to have vanished;
he only felt one uneasiness, and that was at not hearing from his three
friends.
But one morning at the commencement of the month of November, everything
was explained to him by this letter, dated from Villeroi:
"Monsieur d`Artagnan: MM. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, after having had
an entertainment at my house, and enjoyed themselves very much, created such
a disturbance, that the provost of the castle, a very rigid man, has ordered
them to be confined for some days; but I accomplish the order they have given
me, by forwarding to you a dozen bottles of my Anjou wine, with which they
are much pleased: they are desirous that you should drink to their health
in their favorite wine. I have done accordingly, and am, monsieur, with
great respect.
"Your very humble and obedient servant,
"Godeau,
"Messman of the Musketeers."
"That`s all well!" cried D`Artagnan, "they think of me in their
pleasures, as I thought of them in my troubles. Well, I will certainly drink
to their health with all my heart, but I will not drink alone."
And D`Artagnan went among the guards, with whom he had formed greater
intimacy than with the others, to invite them to enjoy with him this present
of delicious Anjou wine which had been sent him from Villeroi.
One of the two guards was engaged that evening, and another the next:
so that the meeting was fixed for the day after that.
D`Artagnan, on his return, sent the twelve bottles of wine to the
buvette of the guards, with strict orders that great care should be taken of
it; and then, on the day appointed, as the dinner was fixed for twelve
o`clock, D`Artagnan sent Planchet, at nine in the morning, to assist in
preparing everything for the entertainment.
Planchet, very proud of being raised to the dignity of maitre d`hotel,
thought he would get all ready like an intelligent man, and with this view
called in the assistance of the lackey of one of his master`s guests, named
Fourreau, and the false soldier who had endeavored to kill D`Artagnan and
who, belonging to no corps, had entered into the service of D`Artagnan, or
rather of Planchet, since D`Artagnan had saved his life.
The hour of the banquet being come, the two guests arrived, took their
places, and the dishes were arranged upon the table. Planchet waited, towel
on arm; Fourreau uncorked the bottles, and Brisemont, which was the name of
the convalescent, poured the wine, which was a little shaken by its journey,
carefully into glass decanters. Of this wine, the first bottle being a
little thick at the bottom, Brisemont poured the lees into a glass, and
D`Artagnan desired him to drink it, for the poor devil had not half recovered
his strength.
The guests, after having eaten the soup, were about to lift the first
glass of wine to their lips, when all at once the cannon sounded from Fort
Louis and Fort Neuf; the guards, imagining this to be caused by some
unexpected attack, either of the besieged or the English, sprang to their
swords; D`Artagnan, not less forward than they, did so likewise, and all ran
out, in order to repair to their posts.
But scarcely were they out of the buvette, than they were made aware of
the cause of this noise: cries of "Vive le Roi! Vive Monsieur le Cardinal!"
resounded on every side, and the drums were beaten in all directions.
In short, the king, impatient as we have said he was, had come by forced
marches, and had arrived at that moment with all his household and a
reinforcement of ten thousand troops: his musketeers preceded and followed
him. D`Artagnan, placed in line with his company, saluted with an expressive
gesture his three friends, whose eyes soon discovered him, and M. de
Treville, who recognized him at once.
The ceremony of the arrival over, the four friends were soon together.
"Pardieu!" cried D`Artagnan, "you could not have arrived in better time;
the dinner cannot have had time to get cold! can it, gentlemen?" added the
young man turning to the two guards, whom he introduced to his friends.
"Ah! ah!" said Porthos, "it appears we are feasting, then!"
"I hope," said Aramis, "there are no women of your party."
"Is there any drinkable wine in your tavern?" asked Athos.
"Well, pardieu! there is your own, my dear friend," replied D`Artagnan.
"Our wine!" said Athos, astonished.
"Yes, that you sent me."
"We send you wine?"
"Yes; nonsense, you know what I mean; the wine from the hills of Anjou."
"Yes, I know what wine you mean."
"The wine you prefer."
"Doubtless, when I can get neither champagne nor chambertin."
"Well! in the absence of champagne and chambertin, you must content
yourselves with that."
"And so, connoisseurs in wine as we are, we have sent you some Anjou
wine, eh! have we?" said Porthos.
"Not exactly, it is the wine that was sent me on your account."
"On our account?" said the three musketeers.
"Did you send this wine, Aramis?" said Athos.
"No; and you, Porthos?"
"No; and you, Athos?"
"Well, but if it was not you, it was your messman," said D`Artagnan.
"Our messman!"
"Yes, your messman, Godeau, the messman of the musketeers."
"Ma foi! never mind where it comes from," said Porthos, "let us taste
it, and if it is good, let us drink it."
"No," said Athos, "don`t let us drink wine which comes from an unknown
source."
"You are right, Athos," said D`Artagnan. "Did none of you order Godeau
to send me some wine?"
"No! and yet you say he has sent you some as from us?"
"Here is his letter," said D`Artagnan, and he presented the note to his
comrade.
"That is not his writing!" said Athos, "I know it; before we left
Villeroi, I settled the accounts of the regiment."
"It is a false letter altogether," said Porthos, "we have not been
confined."
"D`Artagnan," said Aramis, in a reproachful tone, "how could you believe
that we had made a disturbance?"
D`Artagnan grew pale, and a convulsive trembling shook all his limbs.
"Thou alarmest me!" said Athos, who never used thee and thou but upon
very particular occasions, "what has happened?"
"Hasten! hasten! my friend!" cried D`Artagnan, "a horrible suspicion
crosses my mind! can this be another vengeance on the part of that woman?"
It was now Athos` turn to become pale.
D`Artagnan rushed toward the buvette, the three musketeers and the two
guards following him.
The first object that met the eyes of D`Artagnan, on entering the
buvette, was Brisemont, stretched upon the ground and rolling in horrible
convulsions.
Planchet and Fourreau, as pale as death, were endeavoring to render him
assistance; but it was plain that all assistance was useless: all the
features of the dying man were distorted with agony.
"Ah!" cried he, on perceiving D`Artagnan, "ah! this is frightful! you
pretend to pardon me, and you poison me!"
"I!" cried D`Artagnan, "I, wretched man! what can you mean by that?"
"I say that it was you who gave me the wine, I say that it was you who
desired me to drink it, I say you wished to avenge yourself on me, and I say
that it is horrible!"
"Do not think so, Brisemont," said D`Artagnan; "do not think so; I swear
to you, I protest - "
"Oh! but God is above! God will punish you! My God! grant that he
may one day suffer what I suffer!"
"Upon the Gospel," said D`Artagnan, throwing himself down by the dying
man, "I swear to you that the wine was poisoned and that I was going to drink
of it as you did."
"I do not believe you," cried the soldier, and he expired amid horrible
tortures.
"Frightful! frightful!" murmured Athos, while Porthos broke the bottles
and Aramis gave orders, a little too late, that a confessor should be sent
for.
"Oh! my friends," said D`Artagnan, "you come once more to save my life,
not only mine, but that of these gentlemen. Gentlemen," continued he,
addressing the guards, "I request you will be silent with regard to this
adventure; great personages may have had a hand in what you have seen, and,
if talked about, the evil would only recoil upon us."
"Ah! monsieur!" stammered Planchet, more dead than alive, "ah!
monsieur! what an escape I have had!"
"How, sirrah! you were going to drink my wine, were you!"
"To the health of the king, monsieur; I was going to drink a small glass
of it, if Fourreau had not told me I was called."
"Alas!" said Fourreau, whose teeth chattered with terror, "I wanted to
get him out of the way that I might drink by myself!"
"Gentlemen" said D`Artagnan, addressing the guards, "you may easily
comprehend that such a feast can but be very dull, after what has taken
place; so accept my excuses, and put off the party till another day, I beg
of you."
The two guards courteously accepted D`Artagnan`s excuses, and perceiving
that the four friends desired to be alone, retired.
When the young guardsman and the three musketeers were without
witnesses, they looked at each other with an air which plainly expressed that
every one of them perceived the seriousness of their situation.
"In the first place," said Athos, "let us leave this chamber; the dead
are not agreeable company, particularly when they have died a violent death."
"Planchet," said D`Artagnan, "I commit the body of this poor devil to
your care. Let him be interred in holy ground. He committed a crime, it is
true; but he repented of it."
And the four friends quitted the room, leaving Planchet and Fourreau the
charge of paying the mortuary honors to Brisemont.
The host gave them another chamber, and served them with fresh eggs and
some water, which Athos went himself to draw at the fountain. In a few
words, Porthos and Aramis were informed of past events.
"Well!" said D`Artagnan to Athos, "you see, my dear friend, that this
is war to the death!"
Athos shook his head.
"Yes, yes," replied he, "I perceive that plainly; but do you really
believe it is she?"
"I am sure of it."
"Nevertheless, I confess I still doubt."
"But the fleur-de-lis on her shoulder?"
"She is some Englishwoman who has committed a crime in France, and has
been branded in consequence."
"Athos, she is your wife, I tell you," repeated D`Artagnan; "only
reflect how much your description agrees with mine."
"Yes, but I should think the other must be dead, I hanged her so
effectually."
It was D`Artagnan who now shook his head in his turn.
"But, in either case, what is to be done?" said the young man.
"It is impossible to remain thus, with a sword hanging eternally over
one`s head," said Athos; "we must emancipate ourselves from this position."
"Well, but how?"
"Listen; you must try to have an interview with her, and enter into an
explanation with her; say to her: `Peace or war, my word of honor of a
gentleman never to say anything of you, never to do anything against you -
on your side, a solemn oath to remain neuter with respect to me if not, I
will applyeto the chancellor, I will apply to the king, I will apply to the
hangman, I will move the courts against you, I will denounce you as branded,
I will bring you to trial, and if you are acquitted - well - by the honor of
a gentleman I will kill you, at the corner of some wall, as I would a mad
dog.`"
"I like the means well enough," said D`Artagnan, "but where and how to
meet with her?"
"Time, dear friend, time brings round opportunity, opportunity is the
martingal of man: the more we have ventured, the more we gain when we know
how to wait."
"Yes, but to wait surrounded by assassins and poisoners."
"Bah!" said Athos, "God has preserved us hitherto, God will preserve us
still."
"Yes, we; we, besides, are men; and everything considered, it is our lot
to risk our lives; but she," added he in an undertone.
"What she?" asked Athos.
"Constance?"
"Madame Bonacieux! ah! that`s true," said Athos, "my poor friend, I
had forgotten you were in love."
"Well, but," said Aramis, "have you not learned by the letter you found
on the assassin, that she is in a convent? She may be very comfortable in
a convent; and as soon as the siege of Rochelle is terminated, I promise you,
on my part - "
"Good!" cried Athos, "good! yes, Aramis, we all know that your views
have a religious tendency."
"I am only a musketeer for the time," said Aramis humbly.
"Ay, it is some time since he heard from his mistress," said Athos, in
a low voice; "but take no notice, we know all about that."
"Well!" said Porthos, "it appears to me that the means are very simple."
"What are they?" said D`Artagnan.
"Don`t you say she is in a convent?" replied Porthos.
"Yes."
"Well, as soon as the siege is over, we`ll carry her off from that
convent."
"But we must first learn what convent she is in."
"That`s true," said Porthos.
"But, I think I have it," said Athos. "Don`t you say, D`Artagnan, that
it is the queen who has made choice of the convent for her?"
"I believe so, at least."
"In that case, Porthos will assist us."
"How, I pray you?"
"Why, by your marquise, your duchess, your princess; she must have a
long arm."
"Hush!" said Porthos, placing a finger on his lips, "I believe her to
be a cardinalist; she must know nothing of the matter."
"Then," said Aramis, "I take upon myself to obtain intelligence of her."
"You, Aramis!" cried the three friends, "how?"
"By the queen`s almoner, with whom I am very intimately acquainted,"
said Aramis, coloring.
And upon this assurance, the four friends, who had finished their modest
repast, separated, with the promise of meeting again that evening; D`Artagnan
returned to the Minimes, and the three musketeers repaired to the king`s
quarters, where they had to prepare their lodging.
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