The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [86]
“Monsieur, what do you wish? Pray what brings you here?”
“Madame, I am here in the name of the King. My purpose, in all honor and with all respect due to Your Majesty, is to make a thorough examination of Your Majesty’s papers.”
“What, Monsieur? A search? A search of my papers? This is an outrage!”
“I most humbly implore Your Majesty’s pardon. In this instance I am but the instrument of the King. His Majesty has just left you, having himself prepared you for my visit.”
“So, Monsieur, I am a criminal, it seems? Very well, then; pray search my effects. Estefana, give Monsieur the keys to my drawers and my desk.”
For form’s sake the Chancellor inspected these, but the Queen would not have entrusted so important a letter to drawer or desk. Having opened, closed and re-opened a variety of drawers and rummaged through a congeries of pigeonholes, he must now perforce bring matters to a head. For all his hesitation, it was his duty now to search the person of the Queen herself. He therefore stepped forward and with the most embarrassed and perplexed air imaginable, ventured:
“Now, Madame, I have come to the principal and most delicate point of my investigation.”
Either the Queen did not understand or preferred not to. She looked at Monsieur Séguier, Chancellor and Keeper of the Seals:
“Which is—?”
“Madame, His Majesty is convinced that Your Majesty has written a certain letter which has not been dispatched as yet. This letter is neither in your desk nor in your cabinets. But it must be somewhere.”
The Queen drew herself up to her full height and eyed Séguier almost threateningly:
“Do you dare lay hands upon your Queen?” she demanded.
“Madame, I am a faithful subject of the King. Whatever His Majesty commands, I am in duty bound to accomplish.”
“I see!” The Queen looked down scornfully at the Chancellor. “It is true I wrote a letter which has not been sent off. The letter in question is—here!” And she pressed a beautiful, tapering hand against her bosom.
“I must beg Your Majesty to give me that letter.”
“I shall give it to none but the King, Monsieur.”
“Madame, had His Majesty desired to receive the letter in person, he would himself have asked you for it. But, I repeat, it is I who am charged with requesting it of you and if you do not give it up—”
“Well?”
“Well, Madame, it is I, again, who am charged to take it from you.”
“What! I do not understand. What do you mean?”
“I mean, Madame, that my orders are far-reaching. In fact I am authorized to search for the suspicious paper even on Your Majesty’s person.”
“How shameful!”
“I therefore beg Your Majesty to comply with the King’s order.”
“Such conduct is infamous. Do you realize that, Monsieur?”
“His Majesty commands, Madame; I can but obey and beg you to excuse me.”
“I will not suffer it!” The Queen shuddered, at this offense to her dignity. Was she, a daughter of imperial blood, to submit to such humiliation? Angrily she cried: “I would rather die!”
Séguier made a deep bow. It was quite evident that he did not intend to draw back a single step; he had his mission to accomplish and accomplish it he would. Indeed, he stepped forward to do so, much as an attendant steps forward in a torture chamber to prepare the victim for the executioner. Tears of rage welled up in the Queen’s eyes.
The Queen was of course a woman of great beauty. The task might well be considered a delicate one; but the King was too desperately jealous of Buckingham to consider being jealous of anyone else.
At the moment, no doubt, Monsieur Séguier, Chancellor and Keeper of the Seals, looked all about him for the famous bellrope that might save him from temptation. Failing to find it, he determined to obey the King’s instructions and stretched out his hand toward the place where the Queen had admitted the paper lay. The Queen took a step backwards; she turned white as a sheet. Her left hand clutching the edge of a table for support, with her right she drew a paper from her breast and handed it to the Chancellor.