The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [247]
“Oh, you’re right,” said Milady, “and you do strike me as being cowardly enough to raise your hand against a woman.”
“Perhaps so. Besides, I will have my excuse: I don’t imagine that mine would be the first man’s hand to be laid upon you.”
And with a slow, accusatory gesture, the baron pointed to Milady’s left shoulder, which he almost touched with his finger.
Milady let out a low roar and backed away almost into the corner of the room, like a panther at bay and preparing to spring.
“Oh, roar as much as you like!” cried Lord de Winter. “But don’t try to bite, for, I warn you, it will turn to your disadvantage. There are no lawyers here to settle inheritances beforehand; there is no knight errant who will come to seek a quarrel with me over the fair lady I hold prisoner. But I have judges here who are ready to dispose of a woman shameless enough to slip bigamously between the sheets of Lord de Winter, my elder brother, and those judges, I warn you, will send you to an executioner who will make your two shoulders match.”
Milady’s eyes flashed such lightning that, though he was a man and armed facing an unarmed woman, he felt the chill of fear sink to the very bottom of his soul. Nevertheless, he went on, but with increasing fury:
“Yes, I understand, after having my brother’s inheritance, it would have been nice for you to have mine. But, know beforehand, you can kill me or have me killed, but my precautions have been taken; not a penny of what I possess will come into your hands. Are you not already rich enough, you who have nearly a million, and can you not stop yourself on your fatal path, if you do not do evil simply for the infinite and supreme enjoyment of doing it? Oh, I tell you, if my brother’s memory were not sacred to me, you would go to rot in some state prison or satisfy the curiosity of the sailors at Tyburn.176 I will keep silent; but you, bear your captivity calmly. In two or three weeks, I leave with the army for La Rochelle. But on the eve of my departure, a ship will come to take you, which I will see depart and which will bring you to our colonies in the South. And, rest assured, I will assign you a companion who will blow your brains out the first time you venture to return to England or the continent.”
Milady listened with an attention that dilated her burning eyes.
“Yes, but for now,” Lord de Winter continued, “you will remain in this castle. Its walls are thick, its doors are strong, its bars are solid; besides, your window opens on a sheer drop to the sea. The men of my crew, who are devoted to me in life and in death, will mount guard around this apartment, and keep watch on the passageways that lead to the courtyard. Then, once in the courtyard, you would still have three iron gates to get through. My orders are precise: one step, one gesture, one word that suggests escape, and they will open fire on you. If you are killed, English justice will, I hope, be somewhat obliged to me for having spared them the trouble. Ah, your features are recovering their calm, your face is resuming its assurance! Two or three weeks, you say—bah! I have an inventive mind, between now and then some idea will come to me; I have an infernal mind, and I will find some victim. Two weeks from now, you say to yourself, I will be out of here. Ah, just try it!”
Seeing herself found out, Milady dug her nails into her flesh to subdue any movement that might give her physiognomy some significance other than that of anguish.
Lord de Winter went on:
“The officer who has sole command here in my absence—you have seen him, so you are already acquainted with him—knows how to obey orders, as you see, for, knowing you, you did not come here from Portsmouth without trying to make him talk. What do you say? Could a marble statue be more impassive and mute? You have already tried your powers of seduction on many men, and unfortunately you have always succeeded; but try them on him, pardieu! If you get anywhere, I declare you are the devil himself!