“Before a siege?”
“Yes; the conditions will be better than afterward.”
“Ah, my lord! as to conditions, you would soon see how moderate and reasonable we are!”
“Come, now, what are your conditions?”
“Rest yourself first, my lord, and we—we will reflect.”
“I do not need rest, gentlemen; I need to know whether I am among enemies or friends.”
“Friends, my lord! friends!”
“Well, then, tell me at once what you want, that I may see if any arrangement be possible. Speak, Comte de la Fère!”
“My lord,” replied Athos, “for myself I have nothing to demand. For France, were I to specify my wishes, I should have too much. I beg you to excuse me and propose to the chevalier.”
And Athos, bowing, retired and remained leaning against the mantelpiece, a spectator of the scene.
“Speak, then, chevalier!” said the cardinal. “What do you want? Nothing ambiguous, if you please. Be clear, short and precise.”
“As for me,” replied Aramis, “I have in my pocket the very programme of the conditions which the deputation—of which I formed one—went yesterday to Saint Germain to impose on you. Let us consider first the ancient rights. The demands in that programme must be granted.”
“We were almost agreed on those,” replied Mazarin; “let us pass on to private and personal stipulations.”
“You suppose, then, that there are some?” said Aramis, smiling.
“I do not suppose that you will all be quite so disinterested as Monsieur de la Fère,” replied the cardinal, bowing to Athos.
“My lord, you are right, and I am glad to see that you do justice to the count at last. The count has a mind above vulgar desires and earthly passions. He is a proud soul—he is a man by himself! You are right—he is worth us all, and we avow it to you!”
“Aramis,” said Athos, “are you jesting?”
“No, no, dear friend; I state only what we all know. You are right; it is not you alone this matter concerns, but my lord and his unworthy servant, myself.”
“Well, then, what do you require besides the general conditions before recited?”
“I require, my lord, that Normandy should be given to Madame de Longueville, with five hundred thousand francs and full absolution. I require that His Majesty should deign to be godfather to the child she has just borne; and that my lord, after having been present at the christening, should go to proffer his homage to our Holy Father the Pope.”
“That is, you wish me to lay aside my ministerial functions, to quit France and be an exile.”
“I wish his Eminence to become pope on the first opportunity, allowing me then the right of demanding full indulgences for myself and my friends.”
Mazarin made a grimace which was quite indescribable, and then turned to d’Artagnan.
“And you, sir?” he said.
“I, my lord,” answered the Gascon, “I differ from Monsieur d’Herblay entirely as to the last point, though I agree with him on the first. Far from wishing my lord to quit Paris, I hope he will stay there and continue to be prime minister, as he is a great statesman. I shall try also to help him to down the Fronde, but on one condition—that he sometimes remembers the king’s faithful servants and gives the first vacant company of Musketeers to a man that I could name. And you, Monsieur du Vallon—”
“Yes, you, sir! Speak, if you please,” said Mazarin.
“As for me,” answered Porthos, “I wish my lord cardinal, in order to do honor to my house, which gives him an asylum, would in remembrance of this adventure erect my estate into a barony, with a promise to confer that order on one of my particular friends, whenever His Majesty next creates peers.”
“You know, sir, that before receiving the order one must submit proofs.”
“My friends will submit them. Besides, should it be necessary, Monseigneur will show him how that formality may be avoided.”
Mazarin bit his lips; the blow was direct and he replied rather dryly:
“All this appears to me to be ill conceived, disjointed, gentlemen; for if I satisfy some I shall displease others. If I stay in Paris I cannot go to Rome; if I became pope I could not continue to be prime minister; and it is only by continuing prime minister that I can make Monsieur d’Artagnan a captain and Monsieur du Vallon a baron.”
“True,” said Aramis, “so, as I am in a minority, I withdraw my proposition, so far as it relates to the voyage to Rome and Monseigneur’s resignation.”
“I am to remain minister, then?” said Mazarin.
“You remain minister; that is understood,” said d’Artagnan; “France needs you.”
“And I desist from my pretensions,” said Aramis. “His Eminence will continue to be prime minister and Her Majesty’s favorite, if he will grant to me and my friends what we demand for France and for ourselves.”
“Occupy yourselves with your own affairs, gentlemen, and let France settle matters as she will with me,” resumed Mazarin.
“Ho! ho!” replied Aramis. “The Frondeurs will have a treaty and your Eminence must sign it before us, promising at the same time to obtain the queen’s consent to it.”
“I can answer only for myself,” said Mazarin. “I cannot answer for the queen. Suppose Her Majesty refuses?”
“Oh!” said d’Artagnan, “Monseigneur knows very well that Her Majesty refuses him nothing.”
“Here, Monseigneur,” said Aramis, “is the treaty proposed by the deputation of Frondeurs. Will your Eminence please read and examine?”
“I am acquainted with it.”
“Sign it, then.”
“Reflect, gentlemen, that a signature given under circumstances like the present might be regarded as extorted by violence.”
“Monseigneur will be at hand to testify that it was freely given.”
“Suppose I refuse?”
“Then,” said d’Artagnan, “your Eminence must expect the consequences of a refusal.”
“Would you dare to touch a cardinal?”
“You have dared, my lord, to imprison Her Majesty’s Musketeers.”
“The queen will revenge me, gentlemen.”
“I do not think so, although inclination might lead her to do so, but we shall take your Eminence to Paris, and the Parisians will defend us.”
“How uneasy they must be at this moment at Rueil and Saint Germain,” said Aramis.
