The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [296]
“And what have you done since yesterday?”
“I haven’t wasted my time.”
“Oh, I’m quite sure of that!”
“Do you know who I’ve met here?”
“No.”
“Guess.”
“How can I?”
“That young woman the queen took from prison.”
“Little d’Artagnan’s mistress?”
“Yes, Mme Bonacieux, whose hiding place the cardinal didn’t know.”
“Well, now,” said Rochefort, “there’s another chance that makes a good pair with the first. M. le cardinal is truly a privileged man!”
“Can you understand my astonishment,” Milady went on, “when I found myself face to face with that woman?”
“Does she know you?”
“No.”
“So she looks upon you as a stranger?”
Milady smiled.
“I’m her best friend.”
“On my honor,” said Rochefort, “only you, my dear countess, can perform such miracles!”
“And much good it does me, chevalier,” said Milady, “for do you know what’s happening?”
“No.”
“They’re coming to fetch her tomorrow or the day after with an order from the queen.”
“Really? And who is coming?”
“D’Artagnan and his friends.”
“Truly, they’ll go so far that we’ll be obliged to send them to the Bastille.”
“Why hasn’t it been done already?”
“What do you want! Because M. le cardinal has a weakness for these men that I cannot understand.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, tell him this, Rochefort: tell him that our conversation in the inn of the Red Dovecote was overheard by these four men; tell him that after he left, one of them came upstairs and tore from me by violence the safe conduct he had given me; tell him that they warned Lord de Winter of my crossing to England; that, this time again, they almost caused the failure of my mission, as they caused the failure of the one with the pendants; tell him that, of these four men, only two are to be feared—d’Artagnan and Athos; tell him that the third, Aramis, is Mme de Chevreuse’s lover: he must be left alive, we know his secret, he may be useful; as for the fourth, Porthos, he’s a fool, a fop, and a ninny, and not even worth bothering with.”
“But these four men should be at the siege of La Rochelle right now.”
“I thought the same as you, but a letter which Mme Bonacieux received from Mme de Chevreuse, and which she had the imprudence to communicate to me, leads me to believe that these four men, on the contrary, are on their way here to abduct her.”
“Devil take it! What are we to do?”
“What did the cardinal say to you about me?”
“To take your written or verbal dispatches, to return by post, and, when he knows what you have done, he will see about what you should do.”
“I must remain here, then?” asked Milady.
“Here or hereabouts.”
“You can’t take me with you?”
“No, the order is explicit: in the neighborhood of the camp, you might be recognized, and you understand that your presence would compromise His Eminence, above all after what has just happened over there. Only tell me beforehand where you will await news from the cardinal, so that I always know where to find you.”
“Listen, I probably won’t be able to stay here.”
“Why?”
“You forget that my enemies may arrive at any moment.”
“That’s true. But is this little woman then going to escape His Eminence?”
“Bah!” said Milady, with a smile that belonged only to her, “you forget that I’m her best friend.”
“Ah, that’s true! So, then, with regard to this woman, I can tell the cardinal…”
“That he can rest easy.”
“That’s all?”
“He’ll know what it means.”
“He’ll guess it. Now, what must I do?”
“Leave again this very moment. It seems to me that the news you’re bringing is worth the trouble of making haste.”
“My post chaise broke down on entering Lillers.”
“Perfect!”
“Perfect, you say?”
“Yes, I happen to have need of your post chaise,” said the countess.
“And how will I go, then?”
“On a fast horse.”
“That’s easy for you to say—it’s a hundred and eighty leagues.”
“What’s that to you?”
“Nothing. What else?”
“On passing through Lillers, you will send me your post chaise with orders for your servant to put himself at my disposal.”
“Very well.”
“You no doubt have some order from the cardinal?”
“I have my full authorization.”
“You will show it to