The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [235]
“Not a bad idea!” Athos conceded.
“Come now, you can’t kill a woman! Shame on you! I—but wait, listen to me, I have the right idea!”
“Let’s hear it, Aramis!” Athos replied eagerly, for he entertained a high regard for the young man’s intelligence.
“We must warn the Queen.”
“Right you are!” Porthos exclaimed, and “By Heaven,” D’Artagnan added, “I really think we are getting somewhere.”
“Warn the Queen? How? Have we connections at Court? Could we dispatch anyone to Paris without the whole camp knowing about it? One hundred and forty leagues separate us from Paris; our letter could not even reach Angers before we were clapped in jail.”
Aramis, blushing, suggested timidly: “If it is a question of getting a letter safely into Her Majesty’s hands, I know a very clever person in Tours,” and stopped as he saw Athos smile.
“Well, Athos, what about it?” D’Artagnan challenged.
“I do not altogether reject the idea,” Athos replied. “But I do wish to point out that Aramis cannot leave camp . . . that none save ourselves is to be trusted . . . that, two hours after the messenger left, every capuchin, every policeman and every bailiff of the Cardinal’s would know your letter by heart . . . and that you and your very clever person would be safe behind bars. . . .”
“Not to mention the fact,” Porthos concurred, “that the Queen would save Lord Buckingham but would certainly not bother about us.”
“What Porthos says makes excellent sense,” D’Artagnan agreed.
“Look, gentlemen!” Athos pointed toward La Rochelle. “What can be going on in the city?”
“It’s a general alarm!”
The four friends, listening, could distinguish the drums calling out the garrison for assembly.
“You watch,” said Athos. “They will send a whole regiment against us.”
“You don’t propose holding out against an entire regiment, do you?” Porthos asked.
“Why not?” Athos answered. “I feel in fine fettle and if we had only been intelligent enough to bring a dozen more bottles along, I could face a whole army.”
“The drums seem to be drawing near,” D’Artagnan said.
“Let them come with their drummers!” Athos flicked the dust off his sleeve. “It takes a quarter of an hour to go from here to town; ergo it takes a quarter of an hour to come from town out here. This allows us ample time to establish a plan of battle. If we leave this place we shall never find another one as suitable; besides, I’m getting rather attached to our bastion. What is more important, gentlemen, the right idea has suddenly occurred to me!”
“Let’s have it, Athos.”
“First, let us give Grimaud some indispensable instructions.”
Athos motioned his lackey to approach.
“Grimaud!” He pointed to the dead lying under the wall of the bastion. “Pick up these gentlemen, prop them against the wall, put their hats on their heads and their muskets in their hands.”
“Oh, Athos, what a genius you are!” D’Artagnan enthused. “Now I understand what you are planning.”
“You understand?” Porthos asked incredulously.
“Do you understand, Grimaud?” Aramis inquired. The lackey nodded affirmatively.
“So long as Grimaud understands, that is all we need,” Athos declared. “Now, back to my idea.”
“I still should like to know what you are driving at,” said Porthos.
“Never mind, Porthos, you will, in good time.”
“Come, Athos, your idea!” cried D’Artagnan, and “We are listening,” said Aramis.
“Here it is. This Milady, this woman, this creature, this demon has a brother-in-law, you said, eh, D’Artagnan?”
“Yes, I know him fairly well. I also know there is very little love lost between them.”
“Capital! The more he hates her, the better for us.”
“You can be sure he hates her, Athos.”
“I should still like to know what Grimaud is up to,” Porthos interrupted.
“Quiet, Porthos!” Aramis enjoined.
“What is her brother-in-law’s name?”
“Lord Winter.”
“Where is he now?”
“He went back to London at the first rumor of war.”
“He is just the man we want,” Athos said. “It is he we must warn. We will let him know that his sister-in-law is planning to assassinate someone and we will ask him to keep his eye on