The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [279]
Her persecutor was by nature a master of callousness and self-control, yet he could not wholly disguise his anger. Milady could not see the expression on his face but her hand was on his arm and she felt he was trembling. Curtly he announced that if such were the case he would not allow her to leave.
“As you will,” she countered, “my torture chamber will be my grave. I shall die here, granted. But you will see whether a phantom accusing is not a more terrible thing than a human being who but threatens.”
“You shall be left no weapon—”
“I need none save that which despair supplies to any creature brave enough to use it. I shall starve myself to death.”
He had then assured her that peace was much better than so uneven a war. Why did she not accept her freedom at once and he would proclaim her virtue, naming her the Lucretia of England? To which she replied that she would name him the Sextus of England, prosecuting him before men as she had prosecuted him before God. And if, like Lucretia, she must sign his accusation in her blood, she would so sign it.
“Tut, tut,” he jeered, “that is quite another matter. Meanwhile, after all, you are comfortable here, you shall want for nothing and if you care to starve to death, that is your own concern.”
“With these words, he retired, Felton,” Milady continued. “I listened to the door as it opened and closed. Oh, Felton, I was not so much wracked by my sorrow, I confess, as by my shame at failing to avenge myself.
“My seducer kept his word. All that day and the following night he left me unmolested; but I too kept my word and night and day I neither ate nor drank. I had warned him I was resolved to starve; so I passed all those long hours in fervent prayer, trusting that God would forgive me for taking my own life.
“The second night the door opened; I was lying on the floor, my strength ebbing fast. At the sound I raised myself on one hand and I heard that hateful voice challenging me:
“‘Well, now, are we a whit meeker? And will we not pay for our liberty with a promise of silence? Come, my dear, I am a cheerful fair-minded sort of fellow. Though I frankly dislike men of the Puritan faith I do them justice exactly as I do justice to Puritan women when they are pretty. Come now, a very short oath upon the Cross, that is all I ask of you.’”
Felton craned his neck forward, his eyes bulging:
“He asked you to swear upon the Cross, My Lady?”
“Yes, Felton, this idolater and adulterer did exactly that! Suddenly all my strength returned. I rose to my feet. I said:
“‘I swear upon the Cross that never promise nor threat nor torture will seal my lips. I swear upon the Cross that I shall expose you everywhere as a murderer, a despoiler of honor and a dastard. I swear upon the Cross that if ever I escape from here I shall beseech all mankind to visit upon you the vengeance you deserve!’
“‘Have a care!’ He spoke more threateningly than I had ever heard him speak. ‘I still have a supreme means of making you hold your tongue. I do not wish to employ it save as a last resort. It is a dire one. It may not seal your lips completely but it will prevent anyone from believing a word you utter.’
“I rallied all my spent strength to laugh defiantly. He understood that thenceforth it was war to the death between us.
“‘Listen carefully,’ he told me. ‘I will give you the rest of this night and all day tomorrow to reflect. Think carefully, pledge silence and riches, consideration and honors are yours; breathe but a word of this, and I will condemn you to infamy.’
“‘You? To infamy?’
“‘Ay, to irremediable and everlasting infamy.’”
Milady concluded:
“I told him that unless he withdrew from my presence, I would bash my brains out against the wall of the room. He repeated I had until the next evening to make up my mind. As he left I fell to the floor and gnawed the carpet for very ignominy and pain! I—I—”
And she sobbed softly, her head on her shoulder. But this position did not prevent