LITMIR.BIZ

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the Spaniards, who are her compatriots. As to your first reproach, I never heard that she loved the English, but an Englishman.”

      “And truly,” replied Athos, “one must confess, that that Englishman is well worthy of being loved. I never saw a man of a more noble air.”

      “Besides, you do not consider the perfect style in which he dresses,” said Porthos. “I was at the Louvre the day he scattered his pearls, and I picked up two which sold for twenty pistoles. Do you know him, Aramis?”

      “As well as you do, gentlemen; for I was one of those who arrested him in the garden at Amiens, where the queen’s equerry, M. de Putange, had introduced me. I was at the seminary at that time, and the adventure appeared to me to bear hard upon the king.”

      “Which would not hinder me,” said d’Artagnan, “from taking him by the hand, and conducting him to the queen; if it were only to enrage the cardinal. Our one eternal enemy is the cardinal; and if we could find the means of doing him some injury, I confess that I would willingly risk my life to employ them.”

      “And the mercer told you, d’Artagnan,” said Athos, “that the queen thought they had decoyed Buckingham into France by some false information?”

      “She fears so! And I am convinced,” added d’Artagnan, “that the abduction of this woman, one of the queen’s suite, has some connection with the circumstances of which we are speaking, and perhaps with the presence of his grace the Duke of Buckingham in Paris.”

      “The Gascon is full of imagination,” said Porthos.

      “I like to hear him talk,” said Athos; “his dialect amuses me.”

      “Gentlemen,” said Aramis, “listen!”

      “Let us attend to Aramis!” exclaimed the three friends.

      “Yesterday, I was at the house of a learned doctor of theology whom I sometimes consult on technical difficulties.”

      Athos smiled.

      “He lives in a retired spot, convenient to his tastes and his profession. Now, just as I was leaving his house———” Here Aramis hesitated.

      “Well!” said his auditors—“just as you were leaving his house?”

      Aramis appeared to make an effort, like a man who, in the full swing of making up a story, finds himself suddenly arrested by an unforeseen obstacle; but, as the eyes of his three friends were upon him, he could not by any means draw back.

      “This doctor has a niece,” continued Aramis.

      “Oh! he has a niece,” interrupted Porthos.

      “Yes, a lady of the highest morality,” said Aramis.

      The three friends began to laugh.

      “Ah! if you either laugh or make insinuations, you shall hear no more,” said Aramis.

      “We are credulous as the Mahometans, and dumb as catafalks!” said Athos.

      “Then I will continue,” said Aramis. “This niece comes sometimes to see her uncle, and as she was there by chance yesterday at the same time that I was, I was obliged to offer to conduct her to the carriage.”

      “Ah! the niece of this doctor has a carriage,” interrupted Porthos, whose chief fault consisted in having too long a tongue. “A desirable connection, my friend!”

      “Porthos,” said Aramis, “I have often intimated to you, that you are very indiscreet, and it does you no good in the eyes of gentlemen.”

      “Gentlemen,” said d’Artagnan, who saw how the adventure arose, “the thing is serious; let us endeavour to avoid joking. Go on, Aramis; go on.”

      “All of a sudden a tall, dark man, with the manners of a gentleman—like your man, d’Artagnan———”

      “The same, perhaps,” said the Gascon.

      “It is possible!” said Aramis; “however, he approached me, accompanied by six or seven men, who followed him at about ten paces’ distance, and then, in the most polite tone, said, ‘My lord duke, and you, madame,’ addressing the lady———”

      “What! the doctor’s niece?” said Porthos.

      “Silence, Porthos,” said Athos; “you are insupportable.”

      “‘Please to enter that carriage, without resistance, and in silence.’”

      “He took you for Buckingham?” said d’Artagnan.

      “Almost certainly,” said Aramis.

      “But this lady?” said Porthos.

      “He took her for the queen,” said d’Artagnan.

      “Precisely!” said Aramis.

      “The Gascon is the devil!” said Athos; “nothing escapes him!”

      “The fact is,” said Porthos, “that Aramis is about the height, and has something of the figure, of the handsome duke; and yet one would think that the uniform of a musketeer———”

      “I had on an enormous cloak.”

      “In the month of July! Excellent!” cried Porthos; “was the doctor afraid that you might be recognised?”

      “I can conceive,” said Athos, “that the spy might be deceived by the figure; but the countenance?”

      “I had a large hat,” replied Aramis.

      “Good heavens!” exclaimed Porthos, “what extraordinary precautions for studying theology?”

      “Gentlemen,” said d’Artagnan, “do not let us lose our time in badinage; let us rather make inquiries, and discover the mercer’s wife, who might prove a key to the intrigue.”

      “What! a woman of such an inferior condition! Do you think it likely, d’Artagnan?” asked Porthos, with a derisive pout.

      “Have I not told you, gentlemen,” said d’Artagnan, “that she is the god-daughter of la Porte, who is the confidential servant of the queen. Perhaps it is her majesty’s policy to seek assistance from a source so humble. Lofty heads are visible at a distance, and the cardinal has a good eye.”

      “Well, then,” said Porthos, “come to terms with the mercer immediately, and good terms.”

      “It is unnecessary,” said d’Artagnan; “if he should not pay us, we shall be well enough paid from another quarter.”

      At this moment a noise of hasty steps was heard upon the stairs; the door opened with a crash, and the unhappy mercer rushed into the room in which this council had taken place.

      “Oh, gentlemen!” he exclaimed, “save me, save me! in the name of heaven save me! There are four men come to arrest me!”

      Porthos and Aramis arose.

      “One moment,” cried d’Artagnan, making them a sign to sheath their swords, which they had half drawn—“wait one moment; it is not courage, but diplomacy, that is necessary here!”

      “Nevertheless,” said Porthos, “we will not permit———”

      “Give d’Artagnan a free hand,” said Athos; “he is the cleverest of the party, and, for my part, I declare that I will obey him. Do what you like, d’Artagnan.”

      As this speech was uttered, the four guards appeared at the door of the ante-room, but seeing four musketeers standing there, with swords by their sides, they hesitated to advance any farther.

      “Enter, gentlemen, enter,” said d’Artagnan; “you are in my apartment, and we are all the loyal subjects of the king and cardinal.”

      “Then, gentlemen, you will not oppose any obstacle to the execution of our orders?” demanded he who appeared to

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