The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [200]
“It will give us a chance to parade our equipment,” Porthos offered in support of D’Artagnan’s suggestion. Aramis, disagreeing, pointed out that if a woman had actually written the note, and if that woman wished to remain unseen, the presence of the three musketeers would compromise her.
“And that, my dear D’Artagnan,” he concluded, “is not the part of a gentleman!”
“We can lag in the background,” Porthos argued, “and D’Artagnan can go forward alone.”
“A pistol shot is easily fired from a carriage traveling at full speed,” Aramis declared sententiously.
“Pooh, they’ll probably miss me,” D’Artagnan scoffed. “Then we’ll overtake the carriage and exterminate its occupants! A good job and good riddance! So many enemies the fewer!”
“Right!” Porthos chimed in. “Let us go into action. Here is a splendid chance to try out our battle arms.”
“I am with you,” Aramis said in his usual silken and nonchalant manner.
“As you please,” was all Athos said.
“It is now half-past four, gentlemen,” D’Artagnan announced. “We have scarcely time to be on the road to Chaillot by six.”
“Besides,” Porthos observed, “if we do not set out immediately, no one will see us. That would be a pity, don’t you think? Come, gentlemen, let us be off.”
Athos reminded D’Artagnan of the second letter.
“What about that?” he challenged. “The seal it bears seems to me to warrant some attention. Or am I wrong? For my part, D’Artagnan, I dare say you might find it worthwhile to open it. I fancy that it is more significant than the note you have just slipped so cunningly over your heart.”
D’Artagnan, blushing, said:
“Come, lads, let us see what His Eminence wants of me!”
And he opened the second letter. It read:
Monsieur d’Artagnan, of the Royal Guards, Des Essarts, Company Commander, is expected at the Palais-Cardinal this evening at eight o’clock.
La Houdinière
Captain of Guards
“By God,” said Athos, “this appointment is far more serious than the other!”
“I shall attend to these appointments in turn,” D’Artagnan answered, “the first at seven, the second at eight; there is plenty of time for both.”
“Were I you, I should not go at all,” Aramis admonished. “A gallant knight should never decline a rendezvous with a lady. But a prudent gentleman can excuse himself from waiting upon His Eminence, especially when he has reason to believe that he is not invited merely to pay his compliments.”
“I agree with Aramis,” Porthos declared.
“But gentlemen,” D’Artagnan remonstrated. “Once before I received such an invitation, through Monsieur de Cavois, I neglected it and next day I suffered a serious misfortune: Constance disappeared! Whatever may come of it, I shall call on the Cardinal!”
“If your mind is made up,” Athos advised, “go ahead!”
“And the Bastille?” Aramis queried.
“Bah! if they lock me up, you will get me out,” D’Artagnan said confidently.
“Of course we will,” said Aramis, and “Certainly!” cried Porthos with such admirable assurance that to rescue a captive from the Bastille seemed like child’s play. Naturally they would get him out of prison, but meanwhile, since they were all to set out for the front two days later, D’Artagnan would be wiser not to risk lodgings in a dungeon.
“I have a better plan,” Athos proposed. “Let us stick close to D’Artagnan throughout the evening. Each of us can wait at a gate of the palace with three musketeers behind him; if anyone sees a suspiciously darkened carriage drive out, we and our nine fellow-musketeers can fall upon it. It is a long time since we musketeers have had a skirmish with the Cardinal’s guards; Monsieur de Tréville must think us dead of inertia.”
“Bravo, Athos!” Aramis applauded. “You were born to be a General of the Army! What about the plan Athos has outlined, gentlemen?”
His listeners registered unanimous approval.
“Good!” Porthos added. “I’m off to the Hôtel de Tréville to warn our friends to stand by at eight o’clock. We will meet at the Place du Palais-Cardinal. Meantime, you can arrange to have our lackeys saddle our horses.”
“I have no horse,” D’Artagnan observed, “but