The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [248]
“None at all, I swear.”
There was so much serenity, coolness and gentleness, even, in the young man’s voice that Milady felt reassured.
At length, after about an hour’s journey, the carriage stopped before an iron gate at the entrance to a narrow road which led to a castle, severe in form, massive and isolated. As the wheels rolled over a fine gravel, Milady heard a vast roaring which she immediately recognized as the surge of surf breaking over a rocky coast.
The carriage passed under two arched gateways and at last drew up in a square, gloomy court. Almost immediately the door of the carriage swung open, the young man sprang lightly out and offered his hand to Milady, who leaned upon it and in turn alighted with tolerable calm.
“So I am a prisoner!” she commented, glancing about her and then back at the young officer with a gracious smile. “But surely it will not be for long. My conscience and your politeness are guarantees of that.”
Flattering though the compliment was, the officer made no reply. From his belt he drew a small silver whistle such as boatswains use on battleships and he whistled three times in three different keys. Immediately several men appeared, unharnessed the steaming horses and pushed the carriage into a coach house.
The officer, still with the same calm politeness, invited his fair prisoner to enter the house. With the same gracious smile, Milady took his arm and together they passed under a low arched door which, by a vaulted passageway lighted only at the farther end, led to a stone staircase, winding around a heavy stone pillar. They then came to a massive door; the young man produced a key from his pocket, turned the lock and the door swung heavily upon its hinges, revealing the chamber Milady was to occupy.
With one glance the prisoner took in the apartment in its minutest details. The furniture was appropriate for either a prisoner or a free man; but the bars at the windows and the outside bolts on the door smacked of the prison rather than the guest room.
For an instant all this woman’s strength of mind, though drawn from the most vigorous sources, seemed to abandon her. She sank into a large easy-chair, arms crossed, head bowed, expecting every moment to see a judge enter to interrogate her. But no one entered except some marines who brought in her trunks and bags, set them down in one corner and retired without speaking.
The officer presided over all these details with the same tranquillity as before; he too spoke no word but enforced his orders by a gesture of his hand or a note of his whistle. It was as if spoken language did not exist or had become useless between this man and his inferiors. Unable to hold out any longer, Milady broke the silence:
“In the name of Heaven, sir, what does all this mean? Pray put an end to my doubts: I have courage enough for any peril I can foresee or any misfortune I can grasp. Where am I and why am I here? If I am free, why all these bars and bolts? If I am a prisoner, what crime have I committed?”
“You are here in the apartment that has been prepared for you, Madame. I received orders to meet you on shipboard and to conduct you to this castle. I believe I have fulfilled these orders with the firmness of a soldier, but also with the courtesy of a gentleman. Thus for the present, so far as you are concerned, my mission is at an end. The rest concerns another person.”
“And who is that other person?” Milady asked impatiently. “Can you not tell me his name?”
As she spoke a loud jingling of spurs echoed through the corridor, voices passed by and died out in the distance, then the sound of a single footstep approached the door.
“That person is here, Madame,” the officer said stepping aside to leave the entrance clear and assuming an attitude of great respect.
The door opened, a man appeared on the threshold. He was hatless, he wore his sword by his side and his fingers toyed with a handkerchief.
Milady thought she recognized this shadow in the gloom; with one hand she leaned heavily on the armchair and craned