The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [199]
Active as soldiers are and shrewd as connoisseurs, Athos and D’Artagnan assembled the musketeer’s full equipment in barely three hours. Besides, Athos was very easy in his ways and lordly to the tips of his fingers; whenever a thing suited him he paid the price sought, without dreaming of asking for a reduction. In vain D’Artagnan remonstrated; Athos merely put his hand on his shoulder and smiled, at which D’Artagnan understood that a little Gascon squirelet like himself might drive a bargain but not a man so princely in his behavior as Athos. The musketeer found a superb Andalusian horse—about six years old—with jet-black coat, slender and beautifully modeled legs and nostrils of fire. He examined the horse carefully; it was sound and flawless. The asking price was one thousand livres; perhaps Athos might have acquired his mount for less. But while D’Artagnan was bargaining with the dealer, Athos was counting out the money on the table.
For Grimaud, Athos purchased a stout, short, powerful cob from Picardy; it cost three hundred livres. But when the saddle and arms for Grimaud were purchased, Athos had not one sou left out of his hundred and fifty pistoles. D’Artagnan offered his friend a part of his own share of the proceeds; Athos could repay it at leisure. But Athos merely shrugged his shoulders.
“What did the pawnbroker say he would give us if we sold the sapphire?”
“Five hundred pistoles.”
“In other words, two hundred pistoles more; a hundred for you, a hundred for me. Why, it’s a fortune, my friend! Back to the usurer we go!”
“What? You intend to—”
“That ring would only remind me of very bitter things I prefer to forget,” Athos explained, “and anyhow we will never be able to raise three hundred pistoles to redeem it. Thus if we do not sell it, we stand to lose two hundred pistoles!”
“Please think it over carefully, Athos.”
“Ready money is at a premium these days,” Athos replied sententiously, “and we must all learn to make sacrifices. Go D’Artagnan, go see the pawnbroker and sell the ring; Mousqueton will accompany you with his musketoon.”
D’Artagnan returned safe and sound a half-hour later with the two thousand livres.
Thus Athos, by staying at home, discovered resources which he would have sought vainly abroad.
XXXIX
A VISION
At four o’clock the four friends were once more together, Athos playing the host. Their anxiety over their equipment had vanished; the face of each of them now preserved only its own secret worry, for behind all present happiness lurks a vague fear of the future.
Suddenly Planchet entered, bringing two letters addressed to D’Artagnan. The first was a small paper, neatly folded, once only, lengthwise. Obviously a private communication, it was prettily sealed by a blob of green wax, with a dove, olive branch and all, stamped upon it. The other was a large square sheet, resplendent with the fearsome arms of His Eminence Duke and Cardinal. At the sight of the little letter, D’Artagnan’s heart beat the faster, for he recognized a handwriting which he had seen only once before but which was indelibly stamped upon his memory. So he took it up first and opening it eagerly read the following:
If you happen to stroll along the road to Chaillot next Thursday evening at seven o’clock, be sure to look carefully into the carriages as they pass. But if you value your life and the lives of those who love you, do not utter a word or make the slightest gesture indicating that you have recognized the woman who is risking everything in order to see you for but an instant.
There was no signature.
“It is obviously a hoax!” said Athos. “Don’t go, D’Artagnan.”
“And yet the handwriting looks familiar.”
“That note could well be a forgery,” Athos countered. “At seven in the evening the Route de Chaillot is utterly deserted. You might just as well go for a canter through the forest of Bondy!”
“What if we all went?” D’Artagnan suggested. “Surely they cannot gobble up three musketeers, one guardsman, four lackeys, four horses, weapons, harness and the