The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [194]
“Sell it, then.”
“Sell a jewel that comes from my mother? I confess to you, I would regard that as a profanation.”
“Pawn it, in that case. They’ll lend you well over a thousand écus on it. With that sum you’ll be on top of your affairs, and with the first money that comes in, you can redeem it, and you’ll get it back cleansed of its old stains, because it will have passed through the hands of usurers.”
Athos smiled.
“My dear d’Artagnan, you are a charming companion,” he said. “With your eternal gaiety, you lift the spirits of the afflicted. Well, then, yes, let’s pawn the ring, but on one condition!”
“What is it?”
“That there will be five hundred écus for you and five hundred for me.”
“Are you dreaming, Athos? I don’t need a quarter of that amount, being in the guards, and I’ll get it by selling my saddle. What do I need? A horse for Planchet, that’s all. And you’re forgetting that I also have a ring.”
“To which you’re more attached, as it seems to me, than I am to mine. At least I believe I’ve noticed that.”
“Yes, for in extreme circumstances, it could get us not only out of some great difficulty, but also out of some great danger. It’s not only a precious diamond, but also a charmed talisman.”
“I don’t understand you, but I believe what you say. Getting back to my ring, then, or rather to yours: you will take half of the amount we get for it, or I’ll throw it into the Seine, and I doubt whether, as with Polycrates,142 any fish will be so obliging as to return it to us.”
“Well, then, I accept!” said d’Artagnan.
At that moment Grimaud came in, accompanied by Planchet. The latter, worried about his master and curious to know what had happened to him, had profited from the occasion and brought the clothes himself.
D’Artagnan got dressed; Athos did the same. Then, when they were both ready to go out, Athos made Grimaud the sign of a man taking aim. The latter took down his musketoon and prepared to accompany his master.
Athos and d’Artagnan, followed by their valets, reached the rue des Fossoyeurs without incident. Bonacieux was in the doorway. He gave d’Artagnan a mocking look.
“Ah, my dear tenant!” he said. “Hurry up, you have a beautiful young girl waiting for you, and you know women don’t like to be kept waiting!”
“It’s Kitty!” cried d’Artagnan.
And he raced down the alley.
In fact, he found the poor child on the landing outside his room, pressed up against the door, and trembling all over. As soon as she saw him, she said:
“You promised me your protection, you promised to save me from her anger, remember it’s you who have been my ruin!”
“Yes, of course,” said d’Artagnan, “don’t worry, Kitty. But what happened after I left?”
“How do I know?” said Kitty. “The lackeys came running at her cries. She was wild with anger. She vomited up every curse there is against you. Then I thought she’d remember that you got to her room through mine, and she’d think I was your accomplice. I took the little money I had, and my most precious rags, and ran away.”
“Poor child! But what am I to do with you? I’m leaving the day after tomorrow.”
“Anything you like, Monsieur le chevalier, get me out of Paris, get me out of France!”
“But I can’t take you with me to the siege of La Rochelle,” said d’Artagnan.
“No, but you can find me a place in the provinces, with some lady of your acquaintance—where you come from, for instance.”
“Ah, my dear friend, where I come from the ladies don’t have chambermaids. But wait, I know what to do. Planchet, go and find Aramis for me. He must come at once. We have something very important to tell him.”
“I understand,” said Athos. “But why not Porthos? It seems to me that his marquise…”
“Porthos’s marquise has herself dressed by her husband’s clerks,” said d’Artagnan, laughing. “Besides, Kitty wouldn’t want to live on the rue aux Ours, would you, Kitty?”
“I’ll live wherever you like,” said Kitty, “provided I’m well hidden and nobody knows where I am.”
“Now that we’re going to part, Kitty, and you are therefore no longer jealous over me