Part 20

"Here," he said to him, drawing from the strongbox a large knot of blue ribbon all sparkling with diamonds; "here, these are the precious studs with which I had sworn to be buried. The queen gave them to me, the queen takes them back: her will, like that of God, be done in all things."

Then he began to kiss one after another those studs from which he had to part. Suddenly, he uttered a terrible cry.

"What is it?" asked d'Artagnan anxiously. "What has happened to you, my Lord?"

"It is that all is lost," cried Buckingham, turning as pale as a corpse; "two of these studs are missing, there are only ten left."

"Did my Lord lose them, or does he think they were stolen from him?"

"They were stolen from me," replied the duke, "and the cardinal is the one who did it. Here, look, the ribbons that held them have been cut with scissors."

"If my Lord could suspect who committed the theft... Perhaps the person still has them in their possession."

"Wait, wait!" cried the duke. "The only time I wore these studs was at the king's ball, a week ago, at Windsor. The Countess de Winter, with whom I had quarreled, came close to me at that ball. This reconciliation was the revenge of a jealous woman. I have not seen her since that day. That woman is an agent of the cardinal."

"But then he has agents all over the world!" cried d'Artagnan.

"Oh! yes, yes," said Buckingham, grinding his teeth with rage; "yes, he is a terrible fighter. But nonetheless, when is this ball to take place?"

"Next Monday."

"Next Monday! Five days still, that is more time than we need. Patrice!" cried the duke, opening the door of the chapel, "Patrice!"

His trusted valet appeared.

"My jeweler and my secretary!"

The valet left with a promptness and silence that proved his habit of blind and unquestioning obedience.

But, although it was the jeweler who had been called first, it was the secretary who appeared first. That was quite natural; he lived in the hotel. He found Buckingham seated at a table in his bedroom, writing some orders in his own hand.

"Mr. Jackson," he said to him, "you will go immediately to the Lord Chancellor and tell him that I charge him with the execution of these orders. I desire that they be promulgated instantly."

"But, my Lord, if the Lord Chancellor asks me what motives could have induced Your Grace to take such an extraordinary measure, what shall I answer?"

"That such was my good pleasure, and that I have no account to render to anyone of my will."

"Will that be the answer he must transmit to His Majesty," replied the secretary with a smile, "if by chance His Majesty had the curiosity to know why no vessel can leave the ports of Great Britain?"

"You are right, sir," replied Buckingham; "in that case he would tell the king that I have decided on war, and that this measure is my first act of hostility against France."

The secretary bowed and left.

"We are at ease on that side," said Buckingham, turning back to d'Artagnan. "If the studs have not already left for France, they will not arrive there until after you."

"How so?"

"I have just placed an embargo on all vessels that are at this moment in His Majesty's ports, and, unless by special permission, not a single one will dare to weigh anchor."

D'Artagnan looked with astonishment at this man who placed the unlimited power with which the confidence of a king had invested him at the service of his loves. Buckingham saw, from the expression of the young man's face, what was passing in his mind, and he smiled.

"Yes," he said, "yes, for Anne of Austria is my true queen; upon a word from her, I would betray my country, I would betray my king, I would betray my God. She asked me not to send the promised aid to the Protestants of La Rochelle, and I did so. I broke my word, but what matter! I obeyed her desire; was I not amply paid for my obedience, tell me? For it is to that obedience that I owe her portrait."

D'Artagnan admired by what fragile and unknown threads the destinies of a people and the lives of men are sometimes suspended.

He was at the deepest of his reflections when the jeweler entered: he was an Irishman, most skillful in his art, and he himself admitted that he earned a hundred thousand livres a year from the Duke of Buckingham.

"Mr. O'Reilly," said the duke, leading him to the chapel, "look at these diamond studs, and tell me what they are worth each."

The jeweler cast a single glance at the elegant manner in which they were set, calculated the average value of the diamonds, and without any hesitation:

"Fifteen hundred pistoles each, my Lord," he replied.

"How many days would it take to make two studs like these? You see two are missing."

"Eight days, my Lord."

"I will pay three thousand pistoles each for them; I must have them the day after tomorrow."

"My Lord shall have them."

"You are a valuable man, Mr. O'Reilly; but that is not all: these studs cannot be entrusted to anyone; they must be made in this palace."

"Impossible, my Lord; only I can execute them so that the difference between the new and the old cannot be seen."

"Therefore, my dear Mr. O'Reilly, you are my prisoner; and if you wished to leave my palace at this hour, you could not; so resign yourself. Name to me those of your workmen you will need, and designate the tools they must bring."

The jeweler knew the duke; he knew that any objection was useless, so he immediately resigned himself.

"Will I be permitted to inform my wife?" he asked.

"Oh! you will even be permitted to see her, my dear Mr. O'Reilly: your captivity will be gentle, be assured; and as every inconvenience deserves compensation, here, over and above the price of the two studs, is a note for a thousand pistoles to make you forget the trouble I cause you."

D'Artagnan could not recover from the surprise caused by this minister, who moved men and millions with full hands.

As for the jeweler, he wrote to his wife, sending her the note for a thousand pistoles, and charging her to send him in exchange his most skillful apprentice, an assortment of diamonds of which he gave the weight and quality, and a list of the tools he needed.

Buckingham led the jeweler to the room intended for him, which, at the end of half an hour, was transformed into a workshop. Then he placed a sentry at every door, with orders to let no one enter, except his valet Patrice. It is unnecessary to add that it was absolutely forbidden for the jeweler O'Reilly and his assistant to go out under any pretext whatsoever. That point settled, the duke returned to d'Artagnan.

"Now, my young friend," he said, "England belongs to us two; what do you want, what do you desire?"

"A bed," replied d'Artagnan; "that is, for the moment, I confess, the thing I most need."

Buckingham gave d'Artagnan a room adjoining his own. He wished to keep the young man under his hand, not that he distrusted him, but to have someone to talk to constantly about the queen.

An hour later, the ordinance was promulgated in London forbidding any vessel laden for France to leave the ports, not even the mail packet. In everyone's eyes, it was a declaration of war between the two kingdoms.

The day after the next, at eleven o'clock, the two diamond studs were finished; but so exactly imitated, so perfectly alike, that Buckingham could not distinguish the new from the old, and the most expert in such matter would have been deceived like him.

Immediately he sent for d'Artagnan.

"Here," he said to him, "are the diamond studs you came to fetch; and be my witness that all that human power could do, I have done."

"Be easy, my Lord: I will tell what I have seen; but does Your Grace give me the studs without the box?"

"The box would embarrass you. Besides, the box is all the more precious to me because it remains alone with me. You will say that I keep it."

"I will deliver your message word for word, my Lord."

"And now," resumed Buckingham, looking fixedly at the young man, "how shall I ever repay you?"

D'Artagnan blushed to the whites of his eyes. He saw that the duke was seeking a means of making him accept something, and the idea that his companions' blood and his own were going to be paid for with English gold was strangely repugnant to him.

"Let us understand each other, my Lord," replied d'Artagnan, "and let us weigh the facts well beforehand, so that there may be no mistake. I am in the service of the king and queen of France, and belong to the company of guards of M. des Essarts, who, like his brother-in-law M. de Tréville, is particularly attached to Their Majesties. I have therefore done everything for the queen and nothing for Your Grace. Moreover, perhaps I would have done none of this if it were not a matter of giving pleasure to someone who is my lady, just as the queen is yours."

"Yes," said the duke, smiling, "and I believe I even know that other person; it is—"

"My Lord, I have not named her," interrupted the young man quickly.

"That is true," said the duke; "it is therefore to that person that I must be grateful for your devotion."

"You have said it, my Lord; for just now, when war is in question, I confess that I see in Your Grace only an Englishman, and consequently an enemy whom I would be even more delighted to meet on the battlefield than in Windsor Park or the corridors of the Louvre; which, however, will not prevent me from executing my mission point by point and from getting myself killed, if necessary, to accomplish it; but, I repeat to Your Grace, without your having personally to thank me any more for what I do for myself in this second interview than for what I have already done for you in the first."

"We say, we Scots: 'Proud as a Scot,'" murmured Buckingham.

"And we say, we Gascons: 'Proud as a Gascon,'" replied d'Artagnan. "The Gascons are the Scots of France."

D'Artagnan bowed to the duke and prepared to leave.

"Well, you are going away like that? Which way? How?"

"That is true."

"God damn me! The French doubt nothing!"

"I had forgotten that England is an island, and that you are its king."

"Go to the port, ask for the brig _Le Sund_, give this letter to the captain; he will take you to a small port where certainly you are not expected, and where ordinarily only fishing vessels put in."

"What is this port called?"

"Saint-Valery; but wait: once there, you will enter a wretched inn without name or sign, a regular sailors' dive; you cannot mistake it, there is only one."

"Afterwards?"

"You will ask for the host, and say to him: _Forward_."

"Which means?"

"Onward: that is the password. He will give you a saddled horse and show you the road you must follow; thus you will find four relays on your route. If you wish, at each of them, leave your address in Paris, the four horses will follow you there; you already know two, and you seemed to me to appreciate them as a connoisseur: those are the ones we rode; trust me, the others are in no way inferior. These four horses are equipped for the campaign. Proud as you are, you will not refuse to accept one and to make your companions accept the other three: it is to make war on us, besides. The end justifies the means, as you French say, does it not?"

"Yes, my Lord, I accept," said d'Artagnan; "and if it please God, we will make good use of your gifts."

"Now, your hand, young man; perhaps we shall soon meet again on the battlefield; but, until then, we will part good friends, I hope."

"Yes, my Lord, but with the hope of soon becoming enemies."

"Be easy, I promise you."

"I count on your word, my Lord."

D'Artagnan bowed to the duke and walked briskly towards the port.

Opposite the Tower of London, he found the designated vessel, gave his letter to the captain, who had it countersigned by the port governor, and immediately set sail.

Fifty vessels were ready to depart and were waiting.

Passing alongside one of them, d'Artagnan thought he recognized the woman from Meung, the same one the unknown gentleman had called "Milady," and whom he, d'Artagnan, had found so beautiful; but thanks to the river current and the favorable wind blowing, his ship was going so fast that in an instant they were out of sight.

The next day, about nine o'clock in the morning, they put in at Saint-Valery.

D'Artagnan immediately directed himself to the indicated inn, and recognized it by the shouts that came from it: war between England and France was spoken of as a near and certain thing, and the joyful sailors were carousing.

D'Artagnan parted the crowd, advanced towards the host, and pronounced the word _Forward_. Instantly, the host made a sign for him to follow, went out with him through a door leading to the courtyard, took him to the stable where a saddled horse awaited him, and asked if he needed anything else.

"I need to know the road I must follow," said d'Artagnan.

"Go from here to Blangy, and from Blangy to Neufchâtel. At Neufchâtel, enter the inn of the _Herse d'Or_, give the password to the innkeeper, and you will find, as here, a saddled horse."

"Am I to pay anything?" asked d'Artagnan.

"Everything is paid," said the host, "and generously. Go then, and God guide you!"

"Amen!" replied the young man, setting off at a gallop.

Four hours later, he was at Neufchâtel.

He strictly followed the instructions received; at Neufchâtel, as at Saint-Valery, he found a mount all saddled and waiting; he wanted to transfer the pistols from the saddle he had just left to the saddle he was about to take: the holsters were furnished with similar pistols.

"Your address in Paris?"

"Hôtel des Gardes, compagnie des Essarts."

"Good," replied the man.

"What road must I take?" asked d'Artagnan in turn.

"The road to Rouen; but you will leave the city on your right. At the little village of Écouis, you will stop; there is only one inn, the _Écu de France_. Do not judge it by its appearance; it will have in its stables a horse worth this one."

"Same password?"

"Exactly."

"Goodbye, master!"

"Good journey, gentleman! Do you need anything?"

D'Artagnan shook his head to signify no, and set off again at full speed. At Écouis, the same scene repeated itself: he found a host as obliging, a fresh and rested horse; he left his address as he had done, and set off again at the same pace for Pontoise. At Pontoise, he changed mounts for the last time, and at nine o'clock he entered at a full gallop the courtyard of M. de Tréville's hotel.

He had covered nearly sixty leagues in twelve hours.

M. de Tréville received him as if he had seen him that very morning; only, in shaking his hand a little more warmly than usual, he informed him that M. des Essarts' company was on guard at the Louvre and that he could report to his post.

CHAPTER XXII. THE BALLET OF THE MERLAISON

The next day, all Paris was talking of nothing but the ball that the aldermen of the city were giving to the king and queen, and at which Their Majesties were to dance the famous Ballet of the Merlaison, which was the king's favorite ballet.

For a week, indeed, they had been preparing everything at the Hôtel de Ville for this solemn evening. The city carpenter had erected scaffolds on which the invited ladies were to stand; the city grocer had furnished the rooms with two hundred white wax torches, which was an unheard-of luxury for that time; finally, twenty violins had been notified, and the price granted them had been fixed at double the usual rate, because, said the report, they were to play all night.

At ten o'clock in the morning, Sieur de La Coste, ensign of the king's guards, followed by two exempts and several archers of the bodyguard, came to ask the city clerk, named Clément, for all the keys of the doors, rooms, and offices of the Hôtel. These keys were handed over to him immediately; each bore a ticket that was to serve to identify it, and from that moment Sieur de La Coste was charged with guarding all the doors and all the avenues.

At eleven o'clock came in turn Duhallier, captain of the guards, bringing with him fifty archers who were immediately distributed throughout the Hôtel de Ville, at the doors assigned to them.

At three o'clock arrived two companies of guards, one French, the other Swiss. The company of French guards was composed half of M. Duhallier's men, half of M. des Essarts' men.

At six o'clock in the evening the guests began to enter. As they entered, they were placed in the great hall, on the prepared scaffolds.

At nine o'clock arrived Madame la Première Présidente. As she was, after the queen, the most considerable person at the fête, she was received by the gentlemen of the city and placed in the box opposite that which the queen was to occupy.

At ten o'clock the collation of preserves for the king was prepared in the small room on the side of the church of Saint-Jean, and this opposite the city's silver buffet, which was guarded by four archers.

At midnight, great cries and numerous acclamations were heard: it was the king advancing through the streets that lead from the Louvre to the Hôtel de Ville, which were all illuminated with colored lanterns.

Immediately the aldermen, dressed in their cloth robes and preceded by six sergeants each holding a torch, went to meet the king, whom they met on the steps, where the provost of the merchants complimented him on his welcome, a compliment to which His Majesty replied by excusing himself for having come so late, but throwing the blame on M. le Cardinal, who had detained him until eleven o'clock to speak of state affairs.

His Majesty, in ceremonial dress, was accompanied by His Royal Highness Monsieur, the Count of Soissons, the Grand Prior, the Duke of Longueville, the Duke of Elbeuf, the Count of Harcourt, the Count of La Roche-Guyon, M. de Liancourt, M. de Baradas, the Count of Cramail, and the Chevalier de Souveray.

Everyone noticed that the king looked sad and preoccupied.

A cabinet had been prepared for the king, and another for Monsieur. In each of these cabinets were deposited masquerade costumes. The same had been done for the queen and for Madame la Présidente. The lords and ladies of Their Majesties' suite were to dress two by two in rooms prepared for that purpose.

Before entering his cabinet, the king recommended that he be notified as soon as the cardinal should appear.

Half an hour after the king's entry, new acclamations resounded: these announced the arrival of the queen; the aldermen did as they had already done and, preceded by the sergeants, advanced to meet their illustrious guest.

The queen entered the hall: it was noticed that, like the king, she looked sad and especially tired.

At the moment she entered, the curtain of a small gallery that had until then remained closed opened, and the pale head of the cardinal, dressed as a Spanish cavalier, was seen to appear. His eyes fixed on those of the queen, and a smile of terrible joy passed over his lips: the queen did not have her diamond studs.

The queen remained for some time receiving the compliments of the gentlemen of the city and answering the greetings of the ladies.

Suddenly, the king appeared with the cardinal at one of the doors of the hall. The cardinal was speaking to him in a low voice, and the king was very pale.

The king parted the crowd and, without a mask, the ribbons of his doublet barely tied, he approached the queen, and in an altered voice:

"Madame," he said to her, "why, if you please, do you not have your diamond studs, when you know that it would have been agreeable to me to see them?"

The queen cast her gaze around her, and saw behind the king the cardinal smiling a diabolical smile.

"Sire," replied the queen in an altered voice, "because in the midst of this great crowd I feared some mishap might befall them."

"And you were wrong, madame! If I made you this gift, it was that you might wear it. I tell you that you were wrong."

And the king's voice was trembling with anger; everyone looked and listened with astonishment, understanding nothing of what was happening.

"Sire," said the queen, "I can send to fetch them at the Louvre, where they are, and thus the wishes of Your Majesty will be fulfilled."

"Do so, madame, do so, and that as soon as possible; for in an hour the ballet is to begin."

The queen bowed in token of submission and followed the ladies who were to conduct her to her cabinet.

For his part, the king returned to his own.

There was a moment of trouble and confusion in the hall.

Everyone had been able to remark that something had passed between the king and queen; but both had spoken so low, that, each out of respect having withdrawn a few steps, no one had heard anything. The violins played with all their might, but no one listened.

The king came out of his cabinet first; he was in a most elegant hunting costume, and Monsieur and the other lords were dressed like him. It was the costume that best became the king, and dressed thus he seemed truly the first gentleman of his realm.

The cardinal approached the king and handed him a box. The king opened it and found two diamond studs.

"What does this mean?" he asked the cardinal.

"Nothing," replied the latter; "only, if the queen has the studs, which I doubt, count them, Sire, and if you find only ten, ask Her Majesty who can have stolen from her the two studs that are here."

The king looked at the cardinal as if to question him; but he had no time to address any question to him: a cry of admiration escaped from every mouth. If the king seemed the first gentleman of his realm, the queen was certainly the most beautiful woman in France.

It is true that her hunting costume suited her marvelously; she had a felt hat with blue feathers, a surtout of pearl-gray velvet fastened with diamond clasps, and a skirt of blue satin all embroidered with silver. On her left shoulder sparkled the studs, held by a knot of the same color as the feathers and the skirt.

“Stories of the world, in your language.”