The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [87]
“Here is the letter, Monsieur,” she said in a tremulous, choking voice. “Pray take it and deliver me of your odious presence.”
The Chancellor, who was trembling with a totally different emotion, took the letter, bowed to the ground, and withdrew. The door had scarcely closed upon him when the Queen fell half-fainting in the arms of her ladies-in-waiting.
Without pausing to examine the letter, Séguier bore it forthwith to the King who took it with anxious hand, looked for the address which was missing, turned very pale and opened it slowly. Then, seeing by the first words that it was addressed to the King of Spain, he read it rapidly.
The letter contained a complete plan of attack against the Cardinal. The Queen invited her brother and the Emperor of Austria (offended as they were by Richelieu’s eternal policy of attempting to humble the House of Austria) to threaten war against France unless the Cardinal was dismissed. Of Love, there was not a single word from beginning to end.
Highly elated, the King inquired whether the Cardinal were still in the Louvre, and, learning that His Eminence awaited His Majesty’s orders in the royal sanctum, rejoined him immediately.
“You were right, Monsieur le Cardinal, and I was wrong,” he admitted. “The intrigue is wholly political; there is no question whatever of love in this letter. On the other hand, there is a great deal about you.”
The Cardinal took the letter, read it attentively once, then reread it: “This should convince Your Majesty to what lengths my enemies will go,” he opined. “They threaten you with two wars, Sire, unless you dismiss me. Frankly, were I in Your Majesty’s place, I should yield to such powerful pressure. For my own part I admit I would be genuinely pleased to retire from public affairs.”
“What, Monseigneur? What?”
“I mean, Sire, that my health is sinking under this burden of unceasing labor and endless strife. I doubt very much whether I can possibly undergo the fatigues of the Siege of La Rochelle. I honestly think Your Majesty would do well to appoint either Monsieur de Condé or Monsieur de Bassompierre or some other professional soldier to conduct the campaign rather than myself who am a Churchman, constantly diverted from my vocation to undertake matters for which I have scant aptitude. Undoubtedly you will be the better off for it, Sire, both at home and abroad.”
“Monsieur le Cardinal, I understand you perfectly. You have my promise that I shall punish all those mentioned in this letter, including the Queen herself.”
“Ah, Sire, God forbid! Her Majesty must not suffer the slightest annoyance, nay inconvenience, on my account! Her Majesty has always imagined me to be her worst enemy; but you, Sire, can readily attest that I have always warmly espoused her cause even against yourself.”
“True.”
“Were the Queen to betray Your Majesty’s honor, it would be quite another matter and I would be the first to urge you to vouchsafe the guilty no mercy. Here, happily, that is not the question, for Your Majesty has just acquired fresh proof of the Queen’s innocence.”
“True again, Monseigneur, you were right on that score as usual. Nevertheless the Queen has incurred my displeasure and more.”
“It is you, Sire, who have now incurred hers. In all honesty were the Queen to be seriously offended I could well understand it. I must say Your Majesty treated her with considerable severity. . . .”
“So shall I always treat my enemies and yours, Monseigneur, however exalted their positions and whatever perils befall me in so doing.”
“I am the victim of the Queen’s enmity, not you, Sire. To Your Majesty, she is a devoted, submissive and irreproachable wife. Pray allow me then, Sire, to intercede with Your Majesty on her behalf.”
“Let her humble herself then and come to me first.”
“On the contrary, Sire, deign to set the example. Were you not wrong in the first place to suspect Her Majesty?”
“What? I am to make advances? Impossible.”
“Not wholly impossible, Sire, if you condescend. I beg you—”
“But how? How am I to—?”
“Your Majesty might do well to find some means