Part 28

— "Not at all, I put it into execution immediately."

— "Oh, indeed!" cried d'Artagnan, alarmed.

— "I played, and I lost."

— "My horse?"

— "Your horse; seven to eight; by one point… you know the proverb."

— "Athos, you are not in your right mind, I swear!"

— "My dear fellow, it was yesterday, when I was telling you my foolish stories, that you should have said that, not this morning. So I lost it with all the trappings and harness possible."

— "But that's dreadful!"

— "Wait, you haven't got it yet; I would make an excellent gambler if I didn't get obstinate; but I got obstinate—it's just like when I drink—so I got obstinate…"

— "But what could you play? You had nothing left?"

— "Oh yes, yes, my friend; we still had that diamond which sparkles on your finger, and which I noticed yesterday."

— "That diamond!" cried d'Artagnan, quickly putting his hand to his ring.

— "And as I am a connoisseur, having had a few myself, I valued it at a thousand pistoles."

— "I hope," said d'Artagnan seriously, half dead with fright, "that you did not mention my diamond at all?"

— "On the contrary, dear friend; you understand, that diamond became our only resource; with it I could win back our harness and our horses, and also the money for the journey."

— "Athos, you make me shudder!" cried d'Artagnan.

— "So I spoke of your diamond to my partner, who had also noticed it. The devil, my dear fellow, you wear a star from heaven on your finger and you don't want anyone to notice it! Impossible!"

— "Finish, my dear fellow; finish!" said d'Artagnan, "for, upon my honor! with your calmness you are killing me!"

— "So we divided that diamond into ten parts of a hundred pistoles each."

— "Ah! You want to laugh and test me?" said d'Artagnan, whom anger began to seize by the hair, as Minerva seizes Achilles in the Iliad.

— "No, I am not joking, by God! I would have liked to see you in my place! It had been fifteen days since I had looked upon a human face, and I was there stupefying myself by consorting with bottles."

— "That's no reason to gamble my diamond, is it?" replied d'Artagnan, clenching his hand with a nervous spasm.

— "Then listen to the end; ten parts of a hundred pistoles each in ten throws, no revenge. In thirteen throws I lost everything. In thirteen throws! The number thirteen has always been fatal to me; it was on the thirteenth of July that…"

— "Ventrebleu!" cried d'Artagnan, getting up from the table, the story of the day making him forget that of the previous day.

— "Patience," said Athos, "I had a plan. The Englishman was an original; I had seen him that morning talking with Grimaud, and Grimaud had warned me that he had made him proposals to enter his service. I bet him Grimaud, the silent Grimaud, divided into ten parts."

— "Ah! For once!" said d'Artagnan, laughing in spite of himself.

— "Grimaud himself, do you hear that! And with the ten parts of Grimaud, who isn't worth a ducatoon in all, I win back the diamond. Now say that persistence is not a virtue."

— "My faith, it's very funny!" cried d'Artagnan, consoled and holding his sides with laughter.

— "You understand that, feeling lucky, I immediately began to play again on the diamond."

— "Ah! The devil," said d'Artagnan, darkening again.

— "I won back your harness, then your horse, then my harness, then my horse, then lost again. In short, I recovered your harness, then mine. That's where we are. It's a superb stroke; so I stopped there."

D'Artagnan breathed as if the whole inn had been lifted from his chest.

"Finally, the diamond remains to me?" he said timidly.

— "Intact, dear friend; plus the harness of your Bucephalus and of mine."

— "But what shall we do with our harness without horses?"

— "I have an idea about them."

— "Athos, you make me shudder."

— "Listen, you haven't played for a long time, have you, d'Artagnan?"

— "And I have no desire to play."

— "Never swear to anything. You haven't played for a long time, I was saying, so you must have a good hand."

— "Well, what then?"

— "Well, the Englishman and his companion are still here. I noticed they much regretted the harness. You, you seem attached to your horse. In your place, I would play your harness against your horse."

— "But he won't want just one harness."

— "Play both, by God! I am not an egotist like you."

— "Would you do that?" said d'Artagnan, undecided, so much did Athos's confidence begin to win him over without his knowing it.

— "Upon my honor, in a single throw."

— "But since I lost the horses, I was extremely keen to keep the harness."

— "Then play your diamond."

— "Oh! That's another matter; never, never."

— "Devil!" said Athos, "I would gladly propose you play Planchet; but since that has already been done, the Englishman might not want to again."

— "Decidedly, my dear Athos," said d'Artagnan, "I prefer to risk nothing."

— "It's a pity," said Athos coldly, "the Englishman is sewn with pistoles. Eh, my God! Try a throw; a throw is soon played."

— "And if I lose?"

— "You will win."

— "But if I lose?"

— "Well, you will give up the harness."

— "Let it be for one throw," said d'Artagnan.

Athos went in search of the Englishman and found him in the stable, where he was examining the harness with a covetous eye. The opportunity was good. He made his conditions: the two harnesses against a horse or a hundred pistoles, to choose. The Englishman calculated quickly: the two harnesses together were worth three hundred pistoles; he agreed.

D'Artagnan threw the dice trembling and threw a three; his pallor frightened Athos, who contented himself with saying:

"That's a sad throw, comrade; you will have the horses fully harnessed, monsieur."

The Englishman, triumphant, did not even take the trouble to roll the dice; he threw them on the table without looking, so sure was he of victory; d'Artagnan had turned away to hide his ill humor.

"Look, look, look," said Athos in his calm voice, "this throw of the dice is extraordinary, and I have seen it only four times in my life: two aces!"

The Englishman looked and was seized with astonishment; d'Artagnan looked and was seized with pleasure.

"Yes," continued Athos, "only four times: once at M. de Créquy's; another time at my home in the country, in my château de… when I had a château; a third time at M. de Tréville's, where it surprised us all; finally a fourth time at a tavern, where it fell to me and I lost on it a hundred louis and a supper."

"Then monsieur takes back his horse," said the Englishman.

"Certainly," said d'Artagnan.

"Then there is no revenge?"

"Our conditions said: no revenge, you remember?"

"That's true; the horse shall be returned to your servant, monsieur."

"One moment," said Athos; "with your permission, monsieur, I ask to say a word to my friend."

"Say it."

Athos drew d'Artagnan aside.

"Well," said d'Artagnan to him, "what do you want from me again, tempter? You want me to play, don't you?"

"No, I want you to think."

"About what?"

"You are going to take back the horse, aren't you?"

"Doubtless."

"You are wrong; I would take the hundred pistoles; you know you played the harness against the horse or a hundred pistoles, at your choice."

"Yes."

"I would take the hundred pistoles."

"Well, I take the horse."

"And you are wrong, I repeat; what shall we do with a horse for both of us? I cannot ride pillion; we would look like the two sons of Aymon who have lost their brothers; you cannot humiliate me by riding beside me on that magnificent steed. For myself, without hesitating an instant, I would take the hundred pistoles; we need money to return to Paris."

"I am attached to this horse, Athos."

"And you are wrong, my friend; a horse shies, a horse stumbles and gets a broken knee, a horse eats at a manger where a glandered horse has eaten: there goes a horse, or rather a hundred pistoles lost; the master must feed his horse, whereas on the contrary a hundred pistoles feed their master."

"But how shall we return?"

"On our lackeys' horses, by God! People will still see from our bearing that we are men of quality."

"What a fine figure we shall cut on hacks while Aramis and Porthos prance on their horses!"

"Aramis! Porthos!" cried Athos, and he began to laugh.

"What?" asked d'Artagnan, who understood nothing of his friend's hilarity.

"Very well, very well, let us continue," said Athos.

"So your advice…"

"Is to take the hundred pistoles, d'Artagnan; with the hundred pistoles we shall feast until the end of the month; we have endured hardships, you see, and it will be good to rest a little."

"Rest! Oh! No, Athos, as soon as I am in Paris I shall set out in search of that poor woman."

"Well, do you think your horse will be as useful to you for that as good gold louis? Take the hundred pistoles, my friend, take the hundred pistoles."

D'Artagnan needed only one reason to give in. This one seemed excellent to him. Besides, by resisting longer, he feared appearing selfish in Athos's eyes; so he acquiesced and chose the hundred pistoles, which the Englishman counted out to him on the spot.

Then nothing more was thought of but departure. The peace signed with the innkeeper, besides Athos's old horse, cost six pistoles; d'Artagnan and Athos took the horses of Planchet and Grimaud, the two servants set out on foot, carrying the saddles on their heads.

However poorly mounted the two friends were, they soon took the lead over their servants and arrived at Crèvecoeur. From a distance they saw Aramis leaning melancholily on his window and looking, like Sister Anne, at the dust rising on the horizon.

"Ho, there! Aramis! What the devil are you doing there?" cried the two friends.

"Ah! It's you, d'Artagnan; it's you, Athos," said the young man; "I was thinking how quickly the goods of this world pass away, and my English horse, which was moving away and has just disappeared in a whirlwind of dust, was a living image of the fragility of earthly things. Life itself can be summed up in three words: *Erat, est, fuit*."

"That means, in substance?" asked d'Artagnan, who began to suspect the truth.

"It means that I have just made a fool's bargain: sixty louis, a horse which, by the way it goes, can trot five leagues an hour."

D'Artagnan and Athos burst out laughing.

"My dear d'Artagnan," said Aramis, "do not be too angry with me, I beg you; necessity has no law; besides, I am the first punished, since that infamous horse dealer has robbed me of at least fifty louis. Ah! You are good managers, you others! You come on your lackeys' horses and have your fine horses led by hand, gently and by short stages."

At the same moment a wagon, which had appeared a few moments before on the Amiens road, stopped, and they saw Grimaud and Planchet emerge with their saddles on their heads. The wagon was returning empty towards Paris, and the two lackeys had engaged themselves, for their transport, to quench the carter's thirst all along the road.

"What is that?" said Aramis, seeing what was happening; "only the saddles?"

"Do you understand now?" said Athos.

"My friends, it is exactly the same with me. I kept the harness, by instinct. Ho there, Bazin! Bring my new harness next to that of these gentlemen."

"And what did you do with your priests?" asked d'Artagnan.

"My dear fellow, I invited them to dinner the next day," said Aramis; "there is exquisite wine here, by the way; I got them as drunk as I could; then the curate forbade me to leave the cassock, and the Jesuit begged me to have him received as a musketeer."

"Without the thesis!" cried d'Artagnan, "without the thesis! I demand the suppression of the thesis!"

"Since then," continued Aramis, "I have lived agreeably. I have begun a poem in verses of one syllable; it is rather difficult, but the merit in all things is in the difficulty. The subject is gallant; I shall read you the first canto; it has four hundred verses and lasts a minute."

"My faith, my dear Aramis," said d'Artagnan, who hated verses almost as much as Latin, "add to the merit of difficulty that of brevity, and you are sure at least that your poem will have two merits."

"Then," continued Aramis, "it breathes honest passions, you shall see. Ah now, my friends, are we returning to Paris, then? Bravo, I am ready; we are going to see that good Porthos again, so much the better. You don't think I missed him, that big ninny? It is not he who would have sold his horse, even for a kingdom. I should like to see him already on his beast and on his saddle. He will have, I am sure, the air of the Great Mogul."

They halted for an hour to let the horses breathe; Aramis settled his account, placed Bazin in the wagon with his comrades, and they set out to rejoin Porthos.

They found him standing, less pale than d'Artagnan had seen him on his first visit, and seated at a table where, although he was alone, a dinner for four persons was spread; this dinner consisted of meat daintily trussed, choice wines, and superb fruits.

"Ah! By God!" said he, rising, "you arrive most opportunely, gentlemen; I was just at the soup, and you shall dine with me."

"Oh! Oh!" said d'Artagnan, "it is not Mousqueton who has caught such bottles with a lasso, and here is a larded fricandeau and a fillet of beef…"

"I am recovering," said Porthos, "I am recovering; nothing weakens one like those devilish sprains; have you ever had sprains, Athos?"

"Never; only I remember that in our skirmish in the Rue Férou I received a sword wound which, after fifteen or eighteen days, produced exactly the same effect."

"But this dinner was not for yourself alone, my dear Porthos?" said Aramis.

"No," said Porthos; "I was expecting some gentlemen from the neighborhood who have just sent me word that they would not come; you will replace them, and I shall not lose by the change. Ho, Mousqueton! Chairs, and let the bottles be doubled!"

"Do you know what we are eating here?" said Athos after ten minutes.

"By God!" replied d'Artagnan, "I am eating veal larded with cardoons and marrow."

"And I, lamb fillets," said Porthos.

"And I, a breast of chicken," said Aramis.

"You are all mistaken, gentlemen," replied Athos; "you are eating horse."

"Come now!" said d'Artagnan.

"Horse!" said Aramis with a grimace of disgust.

Porthos alone did not reply.

"Yes, horse; isn't it, Porthos, that we are eating horse? Perhaps even the trappings with it!"

"No, gentlemen, I kept the harness," said Porthos.

"My faith, we are all alike," said Aramis; "one would say we had given each other the word."

"What would you have?" said Porthos; "this horse made my visitors ashamed, and I did not wish to humiliate them!"

"Then your duchess is still at the waters, isn't she?" resumed d'Artagnan.

"Still," replied Porthos. "So, my faith, the governor of the province, one of the gentlemen I was expecting today for dinner, seemed to desire it so much that I gave it to him."

"Gave it!" cried d'Artagnan.

"Oh, my God! Yes, gave it! That's the word," said Porthos; "for it was certainly worth a hundred and fifty louis, and the miserly fellow would only pay me eighty for it."

"Without the saddle?" said Aramis.

"Yes, without the saddle."

"You will notice, gentlemen," said Athos, "that it is still Porthos who has made the best bargain of us all."

Then there was a burst of laughter at which poor Porthos was quite bewildered; but they soon explained to him the reason for this hilarity, which he shared noisily according to his custom.

"So we are all in funds?" said d'Artagnan.

"But not for my part," said Athos; "I found Aramis's Spanish wine so good that I had about sixty bottles loaded into the lackeys' wagon; which has left me very short of money."

"And I," said Aramis, "just imagine that I had given even my last sou to the church of Montdidier and to the Jesuits of Amiens; that I had also taken engagements which I had to keep, masses ordered for me and for you, gentlemen, which shall be said, and of which I have no doubt that we shall find ourselves wonderfully benefited."

"And I," said Porthos, "do you think my sprain cost me nothing? Besides Mousqueton's wound, for which I was obliged to send for the surgeon twice a day, who made me pay double for his visits on the pretext that that idiot Mousqueton had got himself shot in a place that is ordinarily shown only to apothecaries; so I strongly recommended him not to get wounded there again."

"Come, come," said Athos, exchanging a smile with d'Artagnan and Aramis, "I see you have behaved grandly towards the poor fellow; that is like a good master."

"In short," continued Porthos, "my expenses paid, I shall have well about thirty crowns left."

"And I about ten pistoles," said Aramis.

"Come, come," said Athos, "it appears we are the Crœsuses of the society. How much have you left of your hundred pistoles, d'Artagnan?"

"Of my hundred pistoles? First, I gave you fifty."

"You think so?"

"By God! — Ah! That's true, I remember."

"Then I paid six to the host."

"What an animal that host is! Why did you give him six pistoles?"

"It was you who told me to give them to him."

"That's true, I am too good. In short, the remainder?"

"Twenty-five pistoles," said d'Artagnan.

"And I," said Athos, taking some small change from his pocket, "I…"

"You, nothing."

"My faith, or so little that it is not worth adding to the heap."

"Now, let us calculate what we all possess in all. Porthos?"

"Thirty crowns."

"Aramis?"

"Ten pistoles."

"And you, d'Artagnan?"

"Twenty-five."

"That makes in all?" said Athos.

"Four hundred and seventy-five livres!" said d'Artagnan, who counted like Archimedes.

"Once in Paris, we shall still have four hundred," said Porthos, "plus the harness."

"But our squadron horses?" said Aramis.

"Well, from the four lackeys' horses we will make two masters' horses, which we will draw lots for; with the four hundred livres we will make half a one for one of the dismounted, and then we will give the sweepings of our pockets to d'Artagnan, who has a good hand, and will go and gamble them in the first gaming house we find, that's it."

"Let us dine, then," said Porthos; "it is getting cold."

The four friends, more tranquil henceforth about their future, did honor to the repast, the remains of which were abandoned to Messrs. Mousqueton, Bazin, Planchet, and Grimaud.

On arriving in Paris, d'Artagnan found a letter from M. de Tréville which informed him that, at his request, the king had just granted him the favor of entering the musketeers.

As this was all that d'Artagnan coveted in the world, apart, of course, from the desire to find Madame Bonacieux again, he ran joyfully to his comrades, whom he had left half an hour before, and found them very sad and very preoccupied. They were assembled in council at Athos's; this always indicated circumstances of a certain gravity.

M. de Tréville had just informed them that His Majesty's firm intention being to open the campaign on the first of May, they were to prepare their equipment immediately.

The four philosophers looked at each other quite bewildered; M. de Tréville was not one to joke about discipline.

"And at how much do you estimate this equipment?" said d'Artagnan.

"Oh! There is no denying it," resumed Aramis; "we have just made our calculations with Spartan stinginess, and we need fifteen hundred livres each."

"Four times fifteen make sixty, that is six thousand livres," said Athos.

"I," said d'Artagnan, "it seems to me that with a thousand livres each, it is true that I do not speak as a Spartan, but as a procureur…"

This word procureur awakened Porthos.

"Listen, I have an idea!" said he.

"That is already something; as for me, I have not even the shadow of one," said Athos coldly; "but as for d'Artagnan, gentlemen, the happiness of being henceforth one of us has made him mad; a thousand livres! I declare that for myself alone I need two thousand."

"Four times two make eight," said Aramis then; "so it is eight thousand livres we need for our equipment, upon which equipment, it is true, we already have the saddles."

"More," said Athos, while d'Artagnan, who was going to thank M. de Tréville, closed the door, "more that beautiful diamond which sparkles on our friend's finger. The devil! D'Artagnan is too good a comrade to leave brothers in distress when he wears a king's ransom on his middle finger."

Chapter 29: The Hunt for Equipment

The most preoccupied of the four friends was certainly d'Artagnan, although d'Artagnan, being a guard, was much easier to equip than the gentlemen musketeers, who were lords; but our Gascon cadet was, as has been seen, of a provident and almost miserly character, and with that (explain the contraries) almost as vain as to give points to Porthos. To this preoccupation of his vanity, d'Artagnan at that moment added a less selfish anxiety. Whatever information he had been able to obtain about Madame Bonacieux, no news of her had come. M. de Tréville had spoken of her to the queen; the queen did not know where the young mercer's wife was and had promised to have her sought.

But this promise was very vague and hardly reassured d'Artagnan.

Athos did not leave his room; he was resolved not to risk a single step to equip himself.

"We have fifteen days left," he said to his friends; "well, if at the end of these fifteen days I have found nothing, or rather if nothing has come to find me, as I am too good a Catholic to blow my brains out with a pistol, I will pick a good quarrel with four of His Eminence's guards or with eight Englishmen, and I will fight until one of them kills me, which, given the number, cannot fail to happen. Then they will say that I died for the king, so I shall have done my service without needing to equip myself."

Porthos continued to walk about, his hands behind his back, nodding his head up and down and saying:

"I will follow up my idea."

Aramis, anxious and with his hair out of curl, said nothing.

One can see by these disastrous details that desolation reigned in the community.

The lackeys, on their side, like Hippolytus's coursers, shared the sad trouble of their masters. Mousqueton was storing up crusts; Bazin, who had always been inclined to devotion, no longer left the churches; Planchet watched the flies flying; and Grimaud, whom the general distress could not determine to break the silence imposed by his master, heaved sighs that would have softened stones.

“Stories of the world, in your language.”