Part 35

— Are you mad? he cried. Who tells you it is not a trap?

— From the other king? retorted Porthos with an air of mystery.

— A trap, in short! That says it all, my friend.

— That is possible; then what is to be done? If d’Artagnan calls us, however...

— Who tells you it is d’Artagnan?

— Ah! then... But his handwriting...

— A handwriting can be forged. This one is forged, shaky.

— You are always right; but, meanwhile, we know nothing.

Aramis fell silent.

— It is true, said the good Porthos, that we need know nothing.

— What shall I do, my lord? asked Jonathas.

— You will return to that captain.

— Yes, my lord.

— And you will tell him that we beg him to come himself to the island.

— I understand, said Porthos.

— Yes, my lord, replied Jonathas; but, if this captain refuses to come to Belle-Île?...

— If he refuses, since we have cannon, we shall make use of them.

— Against d’Artagnan?

— If it is d’Artagnan, Porthos, he will come. Go, Jonathas, go.

— Upon my word! I understand nothing at all anymore, murmured Porthos.

— I am going to make it all clear to you, dear friend, the moment has come. Sit down on that gun carriage, open your ears and listen well to me.

— Oh! I am listening, by God! do not doubt it.

— May I depart, my lord? cried Jonathas.

— Go, and return with an answer. Let the boat pass, you others!

The boat departed to rejoin the ship.

Aramis took Porthos’s hand and began his explanations.

Chapter CCXLIX — Aramis’s Explanations

— What I have to tell you, friend Porthos, will probably surprise you, but also instruct you.

— I like to be surprised, said Porthos with kindness; spare me nothing, I beg you. I am hardened against emotion; fear nothing, then, speak.

— It is difficult, Porthos, it is... difficult; for, in truth, I warn you a second time, I have strange things, very extraordinary things to tell you.

— Oh! you speak so well, dear friend, that I could listen to you for whole days. Speak then, I pray you, and, look, an idea comes to me: I am going, to make your task easier, I am going, to help you tell me these strange things, to question you.

— I am willing.

— Why are we going to fight, dear Aramis?

— If you ask me many questions like that, if that is how you mean to ease my task, my need to reveal, by questioning me thus, Porthos, you will ease me not at all. Quite the contrary, that is precisely the Gordian knot. See here, friend, with a good, generous, and devoted man such as you are, one must, for him and for oneself, begin the confession with bravery. I have deceived you, my worthy friend.

— You deceived me?

— My God, yes.

— Was it for my good, Aramis?

— I believed so, Porthos; I believed it sincerely, my friend.

— Then, said the honest lord of Bracieux, you did me a service, and I thank you for it; for, if you had not deceived me, I might have deceived myself. In what then did you deceive me? Tell me.

— It is that I was serving the usurper, against whom Louis XIV is at this moment directing all his efforts.

— The usurper, said Porthos scratching his forehead, is... I do not understand too well.

— It is one of the two kings who are disputing the crown of France.

— Very well!... Then, you were serving the one who is not Louis XIV?

— You have just spoken the true word, at the first try.

— It follows that...

— It follows that we are rebels, my poor friend.

— The devil! the devil!... cried Porthos disappointed.

— Oh! but, dear Porthos, be calm, we shall still find means to save ourselves, believe me.

— That is not what worries me, replied Porthos; what touches me only is that ugly word of rebels.

— Ah! there it is!...

— And, in this way, the duchy that was promised me...

— It was the usurper who was giving it.

— It is not the same thing, Aramis, said Porthos majestically.

— Friend, had it depended on me alone, you would have become a prince.

Porthos began to bite his nails with melancholy.

— That is, continued he, wherein you were wrong to deceive me; for that promised duchy, I counted on it. Oh! I counted on it seriously, knowing you to be a man of your word, my dear Aramis.

— Poor Porthos! Forgive me, I beg you.

— Thus then, insisted Porthos without answering the bishop of Vannes’s entreaty, thus then, I am quite at odds with King Louis XIV?

— I shall arrange that, my very good friend, I shall arrange that. I shall take everything upon myself alone.

— Aramis!

— No, no, Porthos, I conjure you, let me do it. No false generosity! no untimely devotion! You knew nothing of my plans. You did nothing on your own. I, it is different. I alone am the author of the plot. I had need of my inseparable companion; I called you and you came to me, remembering our old motto: “All for one, one for all.” My crime, dear Porthos, was to have been selfish.

— That is a word I like, said Porthos, and since you acted solely for yourself, it would be impossible for me to bear you any grudge. It is so natural!

And, upon this sublime word, Porthos cordially pressed his friend’s hand.

Aramis, in the presence of this naive greatness of soul, found himself small. It was the second time he had seen himself constrained to bow before the real superiority of the heart, far more powerful than the splendor of the mind.

He replied with a mute and energetic pressure to the generous caress of his friend.

— Now, said Porthos, that we are perfectly explained, now that I have perfectly taken account of our situation with respect to King Louis, I believe, dear friend, that it is time to make me understand the political intrigue of which we are the victims; for I see well that there is a political intrigue underneath.

— D’Artagnan, my good Porthos, d’Artagnan is going to come, and he will detail it to you in all its circumstances: but, excuse me: I am sick with grief, overwhelmed by sorrow, and I need all my presence of mind, all my reflection, to get you out of the bad pass into which I so imprudently led you; but nothing clearer henceforth, nothing neater than the position. King Louis XIV now has but a single enemy: that enemy is me, me alone. I made you prisoner, you followed me, I free you today, you fly back to your prince. You see it, Porthos, there is not a single difficulty in all this.

— Do you think so? said Porthos.

— I am quite sure of it.

— Then why, said the admirable good sense of Porthos, then why, if we are in so easy a position, why, my good friend, do we prepare cannon, muskets, and engines of all sorts? Simpler, it seems to me, is to say to Captain d’Artagnan: “Dear friend, we were mistaken, it is to be done over; open the door for us, let us pass, and good day!”

— Ah! there it is! said Aramis shaking his head.

— How, there it is? Do you not approve this plan, dear friend?

— I see a difficulty in it.

— Which?

— The hypothesis wherein d’Artagnan should come with such orders that we are obliged to defend ourselves.

— Come now! defend ourselves against d’Artagnan? Madness! That good d’Artagnan!...

Aramis shook his head once more.

— Porthos, said he, if I have had the matches lit and the cannon aimed, if I have had the alarm signal sound, if I have called everyone to his post on the ramparts, those good ramparts of Belle-Île that you fortified so well, it is for something. Wait before judging, or rather, no, do not wait...

— What to do?

— If I knew, friend, I should have said so.

— But there is something much simpler than defending oneself: a boat, and off to France, where...

— Dear friend, said Aramis with a sort of sad smile, let us not reason like children; let us be men for counsel and for execution. See, here someone hails some craft from the port. Attention, Porthos, serious attention!

— It is d’Artagnan, no doubt, said Porthos in a voice of thunder approaching the parapet.

— Yes, it is I; replied the captain of the musketeers lightly leaping the steps of the mole.

And he rapidly mounted to the little esplanade where his two friends awaited him.

Once on the way Porthos and Aramis distinguished an officer who followed d’Artagnan, falling into step with every step of the captain.

The captain stopped on the steps of the mole, halfway up. His companion imitated him.

— Have your men withdraw, cried d’Artagnan to Porthos and Aramis; have them withdraw out of earshot.

The order, given by Porthos, was executed instantly.

Then d’Artagnan, turning toward him who followed:

— Sir, said he to him, we are no longer here on the king’s fleet, where, by virtue of your orders, you spoke to me so arrogantly a while ago.

— Sir, replied the officer, I was not speaking arrogantly; I was simply, but rigorously, obeying what was commanded me. I was told to follow you, I follow you. I was told not to let you communicate with anyone without taking cognizance of what you did: I mix in your communications.

D’Artagnan trembled with anger, and Porthos and Aramis who heard this dialogue trembled too, but with uneasiness and fear.

D’Artagnan, chewing his mustache with that vivacity which betrayed in him the state of an exasperation nearest to a terrible outburst, drew near the officer.

— Sir, said he in a lower voice, and all the more emphatic for that, which affected a profound calm and swelled with storm, sir, when I sent a boat here, you wished to know what I was writing to the defenders of Belle-Île. You showed me an order; at once, in my turn, I showed you the note I was writing. When the patron of the boat sent by me had returned, when I had received the answer of these two gentlemen—and he pointed with his hand at Aramis and Porthos—you heard the messenger’s speech to the end. All that was well within your orders; all that is well followed, well executed, well punctual, is it not?

— Yes, sir, stammered the officer; yes, no doubt, sir... but...

— Sir, continued d’Artagnan warming up, sir, when I manifested the intention of leaving my ship to cross to Belle-Île, you required to accompany me; I did not hesitate: I took you along. You are well at Belle-Île, are you not?

— Yes, sir; but...

— But... it is no longer a question of M. Colbert, who had you given this order, or of anyone in the world whose instructions you follow: it is a question here of a man who hinders M. d’Artagnan, and who finds himself with M. d’Artagnan alone, on the steps of a stairway, washed by thirty feet of salt water; a bad position for that man, a bad position, sir! I warn you.

— But, sir, if I hinder you, said the officer timidly and almost fearfully, it is my service which...

— Sir, you have had the misfortune, you or those who send you, to do me an insult. It is done. I cannot take it up with those who stand surety for you; they are unknown to me, or too far away. But you are under my hand, and I swear by God that, if you take a step behind me, when I am about to lift my foot to go up to those gentlemen... I swear upon my name that I will split your head with a sword stroke, and that I will throw you into the water. Oh! come what may. I have never been angry but six times in my life, sir, and the five times preceding this one, I killed my man.

The officer did not move; he paled under this terrible threat, and answered simply:

— Sir, you are wrong to go against my instructions.

Porthos and Aramis, mute and shivering atop the parapet, cried to the musketeer:

— Dear d’Artagnan, take care!

D’Artagnan silenced them with a gesture, lifted his foot with a frightful calm to climb a step, and turned back, sword in hand, to see if the officer would follow him.

The officer made the sign of the cross and marched.

Porthos and Aramis, who knew their d’Artagnan, uttered a cry and rushed to stop the blow they thought they already heard.

But d’Artagnan, passing the sword into his left hand:

— Sir, said he to the officer in an moved voice, you are a brave man. You must understand better what I am about to tell you now, than what I told you a while ago.

— Speak, M. d’Artagnan, speak, replied the brave officer.

— These gentlemen whom we come to see, and against whom you have orders, are my friends.

— I know it, sir.

— You understand if I must act with them as your instructions prescribe to you.

— I understand your reservations.

— Well! permit me to talk with them without a witness.

— M. d’Artagnan, if I yielded to your request, if I did what you ask of me, I should break my word; but, if I do not do it, I shall displease you. I prefer the one to the other. Talk with your friends, and do not despise me, sir, for doing out of love for you, whom I esteem and honor, do not despise me for doing for you, for you alone, a base action.

D’Artagnan, moved, rapidly threw his arms around the neck of this young man, and mounted to his friends.

The officer, wrapped in his cloak, sat down on the steps, covered with damp seaweed.

— Well! said d’Artagnan to his friends, there is the position; judge.

They all three embraced. All three held tight in one another’s arms, as in the fair days of youth.

— What do all these severities mean? asked Porthos.

— You must suspect something of it, dear friend, replied d’Artagnan.

— Not too much, I assure you, my dear captain; for, after all, I have done nothing, nor Aramis either, hastened to add the excellent man.

D’Artagnan cast at the prelate a glance of reproach, which pierced that hardened heart.

— Dear Porthos! cried the bishop of Vannes.

— You see what has been done, said d’Artagnan: interception of all that comes from Belle-Île, of all that goes there. Your boats are all seized. If you had tried to flee, you would have fallen into the hands of the cruisers who plow the sea and lie in wait for you. The king wants you and will take you.

And d’Artagnan furiously tore out a few hairs of his gray mustache.

— My idea was this, continued d’Artagnan: to bring you both aboard my ship, to have you near me, and then to set you free. But, now, who tells me that in returning to my vessel I shall not meet a superior, that I shall not find secret orders which strip me of my command to give it to someone other than me, and which will dispose of me and of you without any hope of help?

— We must remain at Belle-Île, said Aramis resolutely, and I answer for it, I, that I shall surrender only with good reason.

Porthos said nothing. D’Artagnan noted his friend’s silence.

— I have yet to try this officer, this brave man who accompanies me, and whose courageous resistance makes me very happy; for it betokens an honest man, who, though our enemy, is worth a thousand times better than a cowardly complaisant. Let us try, and learn from him what he has the right to do, what his instructions permit or forbid him.

— Let us try, said Aramis.

D’Artagnan came to the parapet, leaned toward the steps of the mole, and called the officer, who at once mounted.

— Sir, said d’Artagnan to him, after the exchange of the most cordial courtesies, natural between gentlemen who know and duly appreciate one another; sir, if I wished to take these gentlemen from here, what would you do?

— I should not oppose it, sir; but, having direct order, formal order, to take them into my custody, I should keep them.

— Ah! said d’Artagnan.

— It is finished! said Aramis under his breath.

Porthos did not move.

— Take Porthos away at least, said the bishop of Vannes; he will know how to prove to the king, I shall help him, and you too, M. d’Artagnan, that he has no part in this affair.

— Hum! said d’Artagnan. Will you come? will you follow me, Porthos? the king is merciful.

— I ask to reflect, said Porthos nobly.

— You remain here, then?

— Until further orders! cried Aramis with vivacity.

— Until we have had an idea, resumed d’Artagnan, and I think now it will not be long, for I already have one.

— We say farewell then, resumed Aramis; but, in truth, dear Porthos, you should depart.

— No! said the latter laconically.

— As you please, resumed Aramis, a little wounded in his nervous susceptibility by his companion’s morose tone. Only, I am reassured by the promise of an idea from d’Artagnan; an idea which I believe I have guessed.

— Let us see, said the musketeer bringing his ear near Aramis’s mouth.

The latter said several rapid words to the captain, to which d’Artagnan replied:

— Precisely that.

— Unfailing then, cried Aramis joyfully.

— During the first emotion that this resolution will cause, arrange yourselves, Aramis.

— Oh! have no fear.

— Now, sir, said d’Artagnan to the officer, a thousand thanks! You have just made yourself three friends for life, for death.

— Yes, replied Aramis.

Porthos alone said nothing and assented with his head.

D’Artagnan, having tenderly embraced his two old friends, left Belle-Île, with the inseparable companion M. Colbert had given him.

Thus, apart from the sort of explanation with which the worthy Porthos had well pleased to content himself, nothing was apparently changed in the fate of the ones and the others.

— Only, said Aramis, there is d’Artagnan’s idea.

D’Artagnan did not return to his ship without deeply probing the idea he had just discovered.

Now, it is known that, when d’Artagnan probed, usually he pierced to the bottom.

As for the officer, become mute again, he respectfully left him leisure to meditate.

So, upon setting foot on his vessel, moored at a cannon shot from Belle-Île, the captain of the musketeers had already gathered all his offensive and defensive means.

He immediately assembled his council.

This council was composed of the officers who served under his orders.

These officers numbered eight:

A chief of naval forces, A major commanding the artillery, An engineer, The officer we know, And four lieutenants.

Having assembled them therefore in the stern cabin, d’Artagnan rose, removed his hat, and began in these terms:

— Gentlemen, I have gone to reconnoiter Belle-Île-en-Mer and there found a good and solid garrison; moreover, preparations all made for a defense which may become troublesome. I have therefore the intention of sending for two of the principal officers of the place so that we may talk with them. Having separated them from their troops and their cannon, we shall have better dealings with them, especially with good reasoning. Is that your opinion, gentlemen?

The major of the artillery rose.

— Sir, said he with respect, but with firmness; I have just heard you say that the place prepares a troublesome defense. The place is then, as you know, determined upon rebellion?

D’Artagnan was visibly displeased by this reply, but he was not a man to be cast down for so little, and resumed speech:

— Sir, said he, your reply is just. But you are not unaware that Belle-Île-en-Mer is a fief of M. Fouquet, and the ancient kings have given the lords of Belle-Île the right to arm themselves at home.

The major made a movement.

— Oh! do not interrupt me, continued d’Artagnan. You are going to tell me that this right to arm against the English is not the right to arm against one’s king. But it is not M. Fouquet, I suppose, who holds Belle-Île at this moment, since, the day before yesterday, I arrested M. Fouquet. Now, the inhabitants and defenders of Belle-Île know nothing of this arrest. You would announce it to them in vain. It is a thing so unheard of, so extraordinary, so unexpected, that they would not believe you. A Breton serves his master and not his masters; he serves his master until he has seen him dead. Now, the Bretons, as far as I know, have not seen the corpse of M. Fouquet. It is therefore not surprising that they hold against all that is not M. Fouquet or his signature.

The major bowed in sign of assent.

— That is why, continued d’Artagnan, that is why I propose to have come here, aboard my ship, two of the principal officers of the garrison. They will see you, gentlemen; they will see the forces at our disposal; they will therefore know what to expect of the fate awaiting them in case of rebellion. We shall affirm to them upon our honor that M. Fouquet is a prisoner, and that any resistance can only be prejudicial to him. We shall tell them that, at the first cannon shot fired, there is no mercy to be expected from the king. Then, I hope at least, they will resist no more. They will surrender without combat, and we shall have amicably a place which might well cost us dear to conquer.

The officer who had followed d’Artagnan to Belle-Île was about to speak, but d’Artagnan interrupted him.

— Yes, I know what you are going to tell me, sir; I know there is an order from the king to prevent all secret communication with the defenders of Belle-Île, and that is precisely why I offer to communicate only in the presence of all my staff.

And d’Artagnan gave his officers a nod of the head which aimed to make this condescension valued.

The officers looked at one another as if to read their opinion in each other’s eyes, with the intention evidently, after they should have agreed, to follow the wish of d’Artagnan. And already he saw with joy that the result of their consent would be the sending of a boat to Porthos and Aramis, when the king’s officer drew from his breast a sealed paper which he handed to d’Artagnan.

This paper bore upon its address the No. 1.

— What is this now? murmured the captain surprised.

— Read, sir, said the officer with a courtesy not exempt from sadness.

D’Artagnan, full of distrust, unfolded the paper and read:

“Forbidden to M. d’Artagnan to assemble any council whatsoever, or to deliberate in any fashion before Belle-Île is surrendered, and the prisoners put to the sword.

_Signed_: Louis.”

D’Artagnan repressed the movement of impatience which ran through all his body; and with a gracious smile.

— Very well, sir, said he, we shall conform to the king’s orders.

Chapter CCL — Continuation of the King’s Ideas and of M. d’Artagnan’s Ideas

The blow was direct, it was harsh, mortal. D’Artagnan, furious at having been anticipated by an idea of the king, did not however despair, and, thinking of that idea which he too had brought back from Belle-Île, he augured thence a new means of salvation for his friends.

— Gentlemen, said he suddenly, since the king has charged another than me with his secret orders, it is that I no longer have his confidence, and I should be truly unworthy of it if I had the courage to keep a command subject to so many injurious suspicions. I am going therefore at once to carry my resignation to the king. I give it before you all, enjoining you to fall back with me upon the coast of France, so as to compromise nothing of the forces His Majesty has entrusted to me. That is why, return all to your posts, and command the return; within an hour, we have the tide. To your posts, gentlemen! I suppose, added he seeing that all obeyed, except the supervising officer, that you will have no orders to object this time?

“Stories of the world, in your language.”