“And suppose you cannot pass through them?”
“So much the worse for them; I shall pass over them.”
“And you will place the king and queen in safety also, at Saint Germain?”
“Yes.”
“On your life?”
“On my life.”
“You are a hero, my friend,” said Mazarin, gazing at the musketeer with admiration.
D’Artagnan smiled.
“And I?” asked Mazarin, after a moment’s silence.
“How? and you, my lord?”
“If I wish to leave?”
“That would be much more difficult.”
“Why so?”
“Your Eminence might be recognized.”
“Even under this disguise?” asked Mazarin, raising a cloak which covered an armchair, upon which lay a complete dress for an officer, of pearl-gray and red, entirely embroidered with silver.
“If your Eminence is disguised it will be almost easy.”
“Ah!” said Mazarin, breathing more freely.
“But it will be necessary for your Eminence to do what the other day you declared you should have done in our place—cry, ‘Down with Mazarin!’ ”
“I will: ‘Down with Mazarin’ ”
“In French, in good French, my lord, take care of your accent; they killed six thousand Angevins in Sicily because they pronounced Italian badly. Take care that the French do not take their revenge on you for the Sicilian vespers.”
“I will do my best.”
“The streets are full of armed men,” continued d’Artagnan. “Are you sure that no one is aware of the queen’s project?”
Mazarin reflected.
“This affair would give a fine opportunity for a traitor, my lord; the chance of being attacked would be an excuse for everything.”
Mazarin shuddered, but he reflected that a man who had the least intention to betray would not warn first.
“And therefore,” added he, quietly, “I have not confidence in everyone; the proof of which is, that I have fixed upon you to escort me.”
“Shall you not go with the queen?”
“No,” replied Mazarin.
“Then you will start after the queen?”
“No,” said Mazarin again.
“Ah!” said d’Artagnan, who began to understand.
“Yes,” continued the cardinal. “I have my plan. With the queen I double her risk; after the queen her departure would double mine; then, the court once safe, I might be forgotten. The great are often ungrateful.”
“Very true,” said d’Artagnan, fixing his eyes, in spite of himself, on the queen’s diamond, which Mazarin wore on his finger. Mazarin followed the direction of his eyes and gently turned the hoop of the ring inside.
“I wish,” he said, with his cunning smile, “to prevent them from being ungrateful to me.”
“It is but Christian charity,” replied d’Artagnan, “not to lead one’s neighbors into temptation.”
“It is exactly for that reason,” said Mazarin, “that I wish to start before them.”
D’Artagnan smiled—he was just the man to understand the astute Italian. Mazarin saw the smile and profited by the moment.
“You will begin, therefore, by taking me first out of Paris, will you not, my dear M. d’Artagnan?”
“A difficult commission, my lord,” replied d’Artagnan, resuming his serious manner.
“But,” said Mazarin, “you did not make so many difficulties with regard to the king and queen.”
“The king and the queen are my king and queen,” replied the musketeer, “my life is theirs and I must give it for them. If they ask it what have I to say?”
“That is true,” murmured Mazarin, in a low tone, “but as thy life is not mine I suppose I must buy it, must I not?” and sighing deeply he began to turn the hoop of his ring outside again. D’Artagnan smiled. These two men met at one point, and that was, cunning; had they been actuated equally by courage, the one would have done great things for the other.
“But, also,” said Mazarin, “you must understand that if I ask this service from you it is with the intention of being grateful.”
“Is it still only an intention, your Eminence?” asked d’Artagnan.
“Stay,” said Mazarin, drawing the ring from his finger, “my dear d’Artagnan, there is a diamond which belonged to you formerly, it is but just it should return to you; take it, I pray.”
D’Artagnan spared Mazarin the trouble of insisting, and after looking to see if the stone was the same and assuring himself of the purity of its water, he took it and passed it on his finger with indescribable pleasure.
“I valued it much,” said Mazarin, giving a last look at it; “nevertheless, I give it to you with great pleasure.”
“And I, my lord,” said d’Artagnan, “accept it as it is given. Come, let us speak of your little affairs. You wish to leave before everybody and at what hour?”
“At ten o’clock.”
“And the queen, at what time is it her wish to start?”
“At midnight.”
“Then it is possible. I can get you out of Paris and leave you beyond the barrière, and can return for her.”
“Capital; but how will you get me out of Paris?”
“Oh! as to that, you must leave it to me.”
“I give you absolute power, therefore, take as large an escort as you like.”
D’Artagnan shook his head.
“It seems to me, however,” said Mazarin, “the safest method.”
“Yes, for you, my lord, but not for the queen; you must leave it to me and give me the entire direction of the undertaking.”
“Nevertheless—”
“Or find someone else,” continued d’Artagnan, turning his back.
“Oh!” muttered Mazarin, “I do believe he is going off with the diamond! M. d’Artagnan, my dear M. d’Artagnan,” he called out in a coaxing voice, “will you answer for everything?”
“I will answer for nothing. I will do my best.”
“Well, then, let us go—I must trust to you.”
It is very fortunate, said d’Artagnan to himself.
“You will be here at half-past nine.”
“And I shall find your Eminence ready?”
“Certainly, quite ready.”
“Well, then, it is a settled thing; and now, my lord, will you obtain for me an audience with the queen?”
“For what purpose?”
“I wish to receive Her Majesty’s commands from her own lips.”
“She desired me to give them to you.”
“She may have forgotten something.”
“You really wish to see her?”
“It is indispensable, my lord.”
Mazarin hesitated for one instant, but d’Artagnan was firm.
“Come, then,” said the minister; “I will conduct you to her, but remember, not one word of our conversation.”
“What has passed between us concerns ourselves alone, my lord,” replied d’Artagnan.
“Swear to be mute.”
“I never swear, my
