The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [272]
“During that time, night was falling quickly, and with night my terrors increased. I did not know whether I should stay where I was sitting; it seemed to me that I was surrounded by unknown dangers into which I was going to fall at every step. Though I had eaten nothing since the day before, my fears kept me from feeling hungry.
“No noise from outside reached me, enabling me to measure time; I merely presumed that it might be seven or eight o’clock in the evening, for it was October and pitch dark.
“All at once the creak of a door swinging on its hinges made me start. A globe of fire appeared above the glass opening in the ceiling, casting a bright light into my room, and I perceived with terror that a man was standing a few steps away from me.
“A table set for two, holding a supper all prepared, was standing as if by magic in the middle of the room.
“This man was he who had been pursuing me for a year, who had sworn to dishonor me, and who, at the first words that came from his mouth, made me understand that he had done so the previous night.”
“Infamous creature!” murmured Felton.
“Oh, yes, infamous!” cried Milady, seeing the interest that the young officer, whose soul seemed to be hanging on his lips, took in this strange story. “Oh, yes, infamous! He had thought it was enough if he triumphed over me in my sleep for all to be said and done; he came hoping I would accept my shame, since my shame was consummated; he came to offer me his fortune in exchange for my love.
“All that a woman’s heart could contain of proud scorn and disdainful words I poured out on this man. No doubt he was used to such reproaches, for he listened to me calmly, smiling, his arms crossed; then, when he thought I had said everything, he came towards me. I leaped for the table, seized a knife, and held it to my breast.
“‘Take one more step,’ I said to him, ‘and besides my honor, you will have my death to reproach yourself with.’
“No doubt there was in my look, in my voice, in my whole person, that truthfulness of gesture, of pose and accent, which carries conviction even for the most perverse hearts, for he stopped.
“‘Your death?’ he said to me. ‘Oh, no, you are too charming a mistress for me to consent to losing you like that, after having had the happiness of possessing you only once. Good-bye, my all-beautiful! I shall wait to visit you until you are in better spirits.’
“With those words, he blew a whistle. The flaming globe that lit up my room rose up and disappeared; I found myself in the dark again. The same noise of a door opening and closing came a moment later, the flaming globe descended again, and I was alone.
“It was a dreadful moment. If I had still had some doubts about my misfortune, those doubts had vanished into a hopeless reality: I was in the power of a man I not only detested, but despised; of a man capable of anything, and who had already given me a fatal proof of how far he might venture to go.”
“But who, then, was this man?” asked Felton.
“I spent the night on a chair, jumping at the least sound; for at around midnight the lamp went out, and I found myself in the dark again. But the night passed without any new attempt from my persecutor. Daylight came. The table had disappeared, but I still had the knife in my hand.
“That knife was all my hope.
“I was overwhelmed with weariness; my eyes burned from sleeplessness; I hadn’t dared to sleep a single moment. The daylight reassured me. I went to throw myself on my bed, without letting go of the liberating knife, which I hid under my pillow.
“When I woke up, a new table had been served.
“This time, despite my terrors, despite my anguish, a gnawing hunger made itself felt. I hadn’t taken any nourishment for forty-eight hours. I ate bread and some fruit; then, recalling the narcotic mixed into the water I had drunk, I did not touch the water on the table, but went to fill my glass at a marble fountain fixed in the wall above my washstand.
“However, despite that