The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [83]
When, after a triumphant entry into Fort L’Evêque, he liberated Athos he found that the musketeer’s quiet indifference had not forsaken him.
Later as soon as Athos met D’Artagnan: “You have had a narrow escape,” he told him. “You bested De Jussac; I have just paid the price for your gallantry. But your account with Bernajoux remains to be settled and I advise you to be careful.”
Indeed, Monsieur de Tréville had good reason to mistrust the Cardinal and to sense that all was not finished yet. Scarcely had the Captain of Musketeers closed the door behind him than His Eminence said to the King:
“Now that we are alone again, Sire, let us converse seriously, if it please Your Majesty.” He paused a moment, then added significantly: “Sire, Buckingham has been in Paris five days; he left Paris this morning.”
XVI
WHEREIN MONSIEUR PIERRE SÉGUIER,
CHANCELLOR OF FRANCE AND KEEPER OF THE SEALS,
LOOKS MORE THAN ONCE FOR A BELL TO RING AS
LUSTILY AS HE WAS WONT TO DO OF YORE
To describe the impression these few words made upon Louis XIII is impossible. The King flushed, then paled; the Cardinal knew at once that his cause had recovered all the ground it had lost.
“My Lord Buckingham in Paris! What brought him here?”
“Doubtless he came to plot with Your Majesty’s Huguenots and Spanish enemies.”
“No, pardieu, no! He came to plot against my honor with Madame de Chevreuse, Madame de Longueville and the Condés.”
“Surely not, Sire. Her Majesty is far too discreet to risk such a scandal. And she loves Your Majesty too dearly.”
“Woman is a weak vessel, Monsieur le Cardinal. As for her loving me much, I have my own opinion on that score.”
“Nevertheless, Sire, I still maintain that the Duke of Buckingham came to Paris on a political errand.”
“And I, Monsieur le Cardinal, insist that he came for other reasons. If the Queen is guilty, she shall rue it.”
“As a matter of fact,” the Cardinal continued, “much as I hate to dwell upon such a betrayal, Your Majesty does remind me of an important point. In accordance with Your Majesty’s orders, I have questioned Madame de Lannoy several times. This morning she told me that two nights ago the Queen had sat up till a very late hour, that the following morning she had wept a great deal, and that she had spent most of that day writing.”
“Ah, she has been writing to him,” the King said angrily. “Monsieur le Cardinal,” he added, “I must have the papers of the Queen!”
“But how can we seize them, Sire? Obviously neither Your Majesty nor I can undertake to do so.”
“How did we go about it in the case of the wife of the Maréchal d’Ancre?” cried the King, now in a towering rage. “Eight years ago, I recall, she plotted against the State. Well, we searched her apartment first, then we searched her person, and we found enough to send her to the stake as a witch.”
“Madame la Maréchale d’Ancre was but a florentine adventuress, Sire, that is all; whereas the august spouse of Your Majesty is Anne of Austria, Queen of France, one of the mightiest princesses on earth.”
“She is all the more guilty for that very reason, Monseigneur; the more she has forgotten the exalted position she occupies, the lower she has fallen. Besides I have long since decided to put an end to all these petty political and amorous intrigues. There is a certain La Porte in her household, is there not?”
“Ay, Your Majesty, I confess I believe him to be the mainspring of all this business.”
“Then you agree with me that the Queen is betraying me?”
“I repeat, Sire, I believe that the Queen is plotting against the power of her King, but I do not say she is plotting against his honor.”
“And I tell you she is guilty on both counts. Her Majesty does not love me, she loves another, she loves the infamous Buckingham! Why did you not have him arrested while he was in Paris?”
“Arrest the Duke of Buckingham? Arrest the Prime Minister of King Charles the