The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [296]
Out of the corner of her eye, Milady noticed gratefully that the Mother Superior appeared to listen more attentively, to grow more animated and here and there even to smile. Encouraged, Milady mused:
“Good, the woman is interested in what I am telling her. If she is a cardinalist, at least she is no fanatic!”
And she went on to describe the persecution His Eminence exercised upon his enemies, while, at each instance cited, the Mother Superior made a sign of the cross, registering neither approval nor disapproval. The nun’s attitude confirmed Milady’s suspicion that she was dealing with a royalist. Presently the Mother Superior ventured:
“I am little acquainted in all such matters. We are far removed from Court life, as you know. Yet remote as we are from the world and its turmoil, occasionally we find tragic examples of what you tell me.”
Milady glanced questioningly at the nun. “Yes,” the nun went on, “we happen to have a young woman staying here at this very moment who has had much to suffer from the vengeance and persecution of the Cardinal.”
“A guest of yours, here in this convent, Reverend Mother!” Milady exclaimed. “Poor woman, how I pity her!”
“You have good reason to do so, my daughter. She has suffered imprisonment, menaces, abuse, ill-treatment, in a word, everything. But after all,” the nun sighed, “perhaps the Cardinal has sound reasons for acting thus. Though this young woman looks like an angel, who can tell? Appearances are so often deceptive.”
Milady, suspecting she was in luck and might discover something of interest, assumed an expression of utmost candor.
“Alas!” she sighed. “I know! Some say that we are wrong to trust in appearances and that the most beautiful face may conceal the most evil of hearts. But how else should we judge? Surely the human countenance is the most beautiful work Our Lord created? I may well be mistaken all my life long, but I vow I shall always have faith in anyone whose looks please me.”
“You think this young woman innocent, then?
“The Cardinal does not pursue criminals exclusively,” Milady said. “He has been known to harass the most virtuous of women—”
“Your pardon, Madame, I do not follow you—”
“What do you mean, Reverend Mother?” Milady countered with extreme ingenuousness.
“I mean I do not understand your language—”
Milady smiled.
“What is so strange about my language?”
“Well, Madame, you are a friend of the Cardinal’s. It was he sent you here. And yet—”
“And yet I speak ill of him?”
“You say no good of him, my daughter.”
“That is because I am his victim,” said Milady, heaving a sigh, “his victim, Reverend Mother, and not his friend.”
“What of your letter of recommendation? It is signed by the Cardinal.”
“It is merely an order for my temporary confinement, Reverend Mother. I expect some satellite of His Eminence’s to arrive here at any moment and to spirit me away.”
“Why did you not run away?” the nun asked pertinently.
“Where to, Madame? Could I flee to any place on earth the Cardinal cannot reach? Were I a man, I might stand a chance; but what can a poor helpless woman do?” Milady paused dramatically. “What of your guest, Madame? Has she attempted to run away?”
“Her case is different, my child. I suspect she is staying in France because of some love affair.”
“Ah, if she is in love, then, she cannot be so utterly miserable!”
And as Milady sighed the nun looked at her with new interest.
“So you too are a hapless victim of persecution?” she asked.
“Alas, yes!”
The Mother Superior scrutinized Milady as though to solve a fresh problem:
“You are n-n-n-ot an en-n-nemy of our H-h-h-oly F-f-f-faith?”
“I, a Protestant!” Milady cried. “Reverend Mother, I call upon God Who hears