The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [311]
“Because I don’t want to die!” Milady cried, struggling. “Because I’m too young to die!”
“The woman you poisoned in Béthune was even younger than you, Madame, and yet she is dead,” said d’Artagnan.
“I’ll enter a convent, I’ll become a nun,” said Milady.
“You were in a convent,” said the executioner, “and you left it to ruin my brother.”
Milady uttered a terror-stricken cry and fell to her knees.
The executioner picked her up in his arms and was about to carry her to the boat.
“Oh, my God!” she cried, “my God! are you going to drown me?”
There was something so heartrending in these cries that d’Artagnan, who at first had been the most relentless in his pursuit of Milady, sank down on a stump and hung his head, stopping his ears with the palms of his hands. And yet, despite that, he still heard her threatening and crying out.
D’Artagnan was the youngest of all these men, and his heart failed him.
“Oh, I can’t bear to see this frightful spectacle! I can’t consent that the woman should die like this!”
Milady heard these few words and recovered a glimmer of hope.
“D’Artagnan! d’Artagnan!” she cried, “remember that I loved you!”
The young man got up and took a step towards her.
But Athos suddenly drew his sword and barred his way.
“If you take one more step, d’Artagnan,” he said, “we will cross swords.”
D’Artagnan fell to his knees and prayed.
“Come, executioner,” Athos continued, “do your duty.”
“Gladly, Monseigneur,” said the executioner, “for as truly as I am a good Catholic, I firmly believe I am being just in carrying out my function on this woman.”
“Very well.”
Athos took a step towards Milady.
“I forgive you,” he said, “the evil you have done me; I forgive you my future shattered, my honor lost, my love tainted, and my salvation forever compromised by the despair into which you have thrown me. Die in peace.”
Lord de Winter came forward in his turn.
“I forgive you,” he said, “the poisoning of my brother, the assassination of His Grace the duke of Buckingham; I forgive you the death of poor Felton, and I forgive you your attempts on my person. Die in peace.”
“And I,” said d’Artagnan, “ask you to forgive me, Madame, for having provoked your anger by a deception unworthy of a gentleman; and, in return, I forgive you the murder of my poor love and your cruel vengeance upon me. I forgive you and I weep for you. Die in peace.”
“I am lost!” Milady murmured in English. “I must die.”
Then she stood up by herself and cast around her one of those bright glances that seemed to spring from a blazing eye.
She saw nothing.
She listened and heard nothing.
She had only enemies around her.
“Where am I to die?” she asked.
“On the other bank,” replied the executioner.
Then he put her in the boat, and, as he was about to step into it, Athos handed him a sum of money.
“Here,” he said, “this is the price of the execution. Let it be plainly seen that we are acting as judges.”
“Very well,” said the executioner. “And now let this woman know, in her turn, that I am not carrying out my profession, but my duty.”
And he threw the money into the river.
The boat moved off towards the left bank of the Lys, bearing the guilty woman and the executioner. The others all stayed on the right bank, where they had fallen to their knees.
The boat glided slowly along the rope of the ferry, under the reflection of a pale cloud that hung over the water at that moment.
They saw it land on the other bank. The figures stood out black against the reddish horizon.
During the crossing, Milady had managed to untie the rope that bound her feet. On reaching the shore, she jumped out lightly and started running.
But the ground was wet; on reaching the top of the embankment, she slipped and fell to her knees.
A superstitious idea must have struck her. She understood that heaven was refusing her its aid, and she remained in the attitude in which she found herself, her head bowed and her hands joined.
Then, from the other bank, they saw the executioner slowly raise both arms, a ray of moonlight gleamed on the blade