The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [69]
And he headed for the rue du Vieux-Colombier as fast as his legs would carry him, slightly wearied as they were by all the running around that day.
M. de Tréville was not at his hôtel; his company was on guard at the Louvre; he was at the Louvre with his company.
He had to get to M. de Tréville; it was important that he be informed of what was happening. D’Artagnan decided to try entering the Louvre. His uniform as a guard in M. des Essarts’s company would serve as his passport.
So he went down the rue des Petits-Augustins, and went back up the quai to cross the Pont Neuf. For a moment he had thought of taking the ferry, but on reaching the riverside, he had mechanically put his hand into his pocket and discovered that he had nothing with which to pay the ferryman.
As he came to the top of the rue Guénégaud, he saw emerging from the rue Dauphine a group composed of two figures whose look struck him.
The two persons who composed the group were: one, a man; the other, a woman.
The woman had the shape of Mme Bonacieux, and the man looked exactly like Aramis.
Furthermore, the woman was wearing the black mantle that d’Artagnan could still see outlined against the shutter on the rue de Vaugirard and the door on the rue de la Harpe.
What’s more, the man was wearing the uniform of the musketeers.
The woman’s hood was pulled down, the man held his handkerchief to his face; they both, as this double precaution indicated, they both thus had an interest in not being recognized.
They took the bridge. This was d’Artagnan’s route, since he was going to the Louvre. D’Artagnan followed them.
D’Artagnan had not gone twenty steps before he was convinced that the woman was Mme Bonacieux and the man was Aramis.
He felt in the same instant all the jealous suspicions that were stirring in his heart.
He had been doubly betrayed, by his friend and by her whom he already loved like a mistress. Mme Bonacieux had sworn to him by all the gods in heaven that she did not know Aramis, and a quarter of an hour after making that oath, he finds her on Aramis’s arm.
D’Artagnan did not even reflect that he had known the pretty mercer’s wife for only three hours, that she owed him nothing but a bit of thanks for having delivered her from the men in black who wanted to abduct her, and that she had promised him nothing. He saw himself as an offended, betrayed, flouted lover. The blood and wrath mounted to his face; he resolved to clarify everything.
The young woman and the young man had noticed that they were being followed and quickened their pace. D’Artagnan started to run, passed them, then turned on them just as they found themselves in front of the Samaritaine, lit by a street lamp that cast its light on that whole part of the street.
D’Artagnan stood facing them, and they stood facing him.
“What do you want, Monsieur?” asked the musketeer, stepping back and speaking with a foreign accent which proved to d’Artagnan that he had been mistaken in one part of his conjectures.
“It’s not Aramis!” he cried.
“No, Monsieur, it is not Aramis, and by your exclamation I see that you have taken me for someone else, and I excuse you.”
“You excuse me!” cried d’Artagnan.
“Yes,” replied the unknown man. “Let me pass, then, since your business is not with me.”
“You’re right, Monsieur,” said d’Artagnan, “my business is not with you, but with Madame.”
“With Madame! You do not know her,” said the stranger.
“You are mistaken, Monsieur, I do know her.”
“Ah!” cried Mme Bonacieux in a tone of reproach. “Ah, Monsieur! I had your word as a soldier and your oath as a gentleman; I hoped I could count on them.”
“And I, Madame,” said d’Artagnan, embarrassed, “I had your promise…”
“Take my arm, Madame,” said the stranger, “and let us continue on our way.”
However, d’Artagnan, stunned, astounded, overwhelmed by all that had happened to him, remained standing with crossed arms in front of the musketeer and Mme Bonacieux.
The musketeer took two steps forward and moved d’Artagnan out of the way with his hand.
D’Artagnan