The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [42]
D’Artagnan related the adventure of the day before in full detail: how he had been unable to sleep for joy at his approaching audience with His Majesty . . . how he had called at his friends’ three hours before the appointment . . . how they had gone to the tennis court together . . . how, afraid of being struck in the face by a ball, he had been ridiculed by Bernajoux . . . how Bernajoux had very nearly paid for his jeers with his life . . . and finally how Monsieur de La Trémouille, who had had nothing to do with the matter, almost lost his mansion because of it. . . .
“That is what I fancied,” the King murmured. “Your account agrees in every particular with Trémouille’s. Poor Cardinal! Seven men in two days, and his very best men, too! But, that will do, gentlemen, you hear, that will do. You have taken your revenge for the affair of the Rue Férou and even exceeded it; you ought to be satisfied.”
“If Your Majesty is, then so are we,” said Monsieur de Tréville.
“Yes, I am quite satisfied.” Taking a handful of gold from La Chesnaye and putting it into D’Artagnan’s hand: “Here you are!” the King said. “Here is a proof of my satisfaction.”
The notions of pride which are universally observed today did not prevail in the seventeenth century. Gentlemen received gifts of money from the King’s hand without feeling in any way humiliated. D’Artagnan pocketed his forty pistoles without scruple; on the contrary, he thanked His Majesty heartily.
“There,” said the King looking at the clock, “there, now that it’s half-past eight, you may withdraw. (I told you I was expecting a caller at nine.) Thank you for your devotedness, gentlemen; I can continue to rely upon it, can I not?”
The four assured His Majesty that nothing was too much to do in his service, that their loyalty was boundless and that, for his sake, they would allow themselves to be cut to pieces.
“Good, good, but keep whole; that will be better and you will be more useful to me.” As they retired, he turned to Tréville, and added, in a low voice: “I know you have no room in the musketeers, and besides we decided that a trial period elsewhere is necessary before entering that corps. So I beg you to place this young man in the company of guards commanded by Monsieur des Essarts, your brother-in-law.”
The Captain of Musketeers nodded affirmatively.
“Ah, Tréville, I rejoice at the face His Eminence will make when he finds this out. He will be furious; but I don’t care, I am doing what is right.”
The King waved good-bye to Tréville who, joining the four companions, found D’Artagnan dividing his forty pistoles among them.
As His Majesty had foreseen, the Cardinal was really furious, so furious, indeed, that for a week he kept away from the King’s gaming-table. This did not prevent the King from being as affable to him as possible whenever they met or from asking him in the most kindly tone:
“Well, Monsieur le Cardinal, how fares it with that poor Bernajoux and that poor Jussac of yours?”
VII
HOME LIFE OF THE MUSKETEERS
When the four young men were outside the Louvre, D’Artagnan consulted his friends on what use he might best make of his share of the forty pistoles. Athos suggested he order a good meal at The Sign of the Fir Cone, an excellent tavern. Porthos urged him to engage a lackey. Aramis proposed that D’Artagnan provide himself with a suitable mistress.
The banquet took place that very day, with the lackey serving them at table, for Athos had ordered the meal and Porthos had furnished the lackey. D’Artagnan’s domestic was called Planchet; he hailed from Picardy. Porthos had picked him up by the bridge at the Quai de la Tournelle, having found him leaning over the parapet and watching the rings that formed as he spat into the water.
Porthos vowed that this occupation