The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [85]
“To M. Athos, a man twice his age?” M. de Tréville interrupted. “No, Monseigneur. Besides, M. d’Artagnan spent the night with me.”
“Ah, well!” said the cardinal, “did everybody spend the night with you?”
“Does His Eminence doubt my word?” asked Tréville, his brow flushed with anger.
“No, heaven forbid!” said the cardinal. “But, anyhow, at what hour was he with you?”
“Oh, that I can certainly tell Your Eminence, for I noticed as he came in that the clock read half-past nine, though I would have thought it was later.”
“And at what hour did he leave your hôtel?”
“At half-past ten—an hour after the event.”
“But, finally,” replied the cardinal, who did not suspect Tréville’s loyalty for a moment, and who felt that victory was slipping from his grasp, “but, finally, Athos was taken in that house on the rue des Fossoyeurs.”
“Is it forbidden for a friend to visit a friend? for a musketeer of my company to fraternize with a guard from the company of M. des Essarts?”
“Yes, when the house where he fraternizes with that friend is suspect.”
“The thing is that the house is suspect, Tréville,” said the king. “Maybe you didn’t know that?”
“Indeed, Sire, I was unaware of it. In any case, it may be suspect anywhere but in the part inhabited by M. d’Artagnan; for I can assure you, Sire, that, if I can believe what he has said, there exists no more devoted servant of Your Majesty and no more profound admirer of M. le cardinal.”
“Wasn’t it this d’Artagnan who wounded Jussac one day in that unfortunate encounter which took place near the Carmes-Déchaussés?” the king asked, looking at the cardinal, who flushed with spite.
“And Bernajoux the next day. Yes, Sire, yes, that’s right. Your Majesty has a good memory.”
“Come, what shall we resolve on?” said the king.
“That concerns Your Majesty more than me,” said the cardinal. “I say he is guilty.”
“And I deny it,” said Tréville. “But His Majesty has judges, and his judges will decide.”
“That’s right,” said the king, “let’s put the case before the judges: it’s their business to judge, and they will judge.”
“Only,” Tréville picked up, “it’s quite sad that in these unfortunate times of ours, the purest life, the most incontestable virtue, do not exempt a man from infamy and persecution. The army will also not be very content, I guarantee you, to be the butt of harsh treatment over police matters.”
The word was imprudent, but M. de Tréville threw it out deliberately. He wanted an explosion, because powder makes fire, and fire makes light.
“Police matters!” cried the king, picking up M. de Tréville’s words. “Police matters! And what do you know, Monsieur? Mix with your musketeers, and don’t go cudgeling my brains. It seems, to hear you, that if one is so unfortunate as to arrest a musketeer, France is in danger. Eh! such ado over a musketeer! I’ll have ten of them arrested, ventrebleu! a hundred, even; the whole company! And I won’t have anyone breathe a word about it.”
“From the moment Your Majesty finds them suspect,” said Tréville, “the musketeers are guilty; and so, here you see me, Sire, prepared to surrender my sword. For, after accusing my soldiers, I do not doubt that M. le cardinal will end by accusing me myself. It will thus be better for me if I make myself a prisoner with M. Athos, who is arrested already, and M. d’Artagnan, who no doubt will be.”
“Stubborn Gascon, will you have done?” said the king.
“Sire,” replied Tréville, without lowering his voice in the least, “order them to give me back my musketeer, or else to try him.”
“He will be tried,” said the cardinal.
“Well, then, so much the better! For in that case I will ask His Majesty’s permission to plead his cause.”
The king feared a scandal.
“If His Eminence,” he said, “has no personal motives…”
The cardinal saw where the king was going and headed him off:
“Pardon me,” he said, “but the moment Your Majesty sees in me a prejudiced judge, I withdraw.”
“Come,” said the king, “will you swear to me by my father that M. Athos was with you during the event, and that he took no part in it?”
“By