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 THE SON OF PORTHOS 
 
 \ 
 
 * 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXANDER DUMAS. 
 
 Author of " The Count of Monte Cristo," " The Three 
 Guardsmen," " Twenty Years After," Etc. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 A. DONOHUE & COMPANY, 
 
 4*7-429 Dearborn Street.
 
 SRLE 
 URL 
 
 THE SON OF PORTHOS: 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON. 
 
 THE July sun was flooding with light the calm and radiant 
 landscape offered by the banks of the River Loire, neal 
 Saumur, in the middle of the Year of Grace, 1678. 
 
 The stage-coach running from Nantes to Paris was on tho 
 sandy unpleasant road, drawn by six stout horses, but when 
 the highway rose to cross a ridge, as now, they were none 
 too strong to overcome the difficulty, though lightened of 
 the passengers ; these had to walk up in tiie midst of the 
 keat and dust. 
 
 At least, the male passengers trudged on, while the lauy 
 inside slumbered. The five men were, a Nantes scrivener, 
 a ship-outfitter, two sardine merchants of Croisic, and a 
 young gallant, half-gentleman-farmer, half-squire of some 
 degree, who hailed from the parish of Locmaria, in Belle-Isle- 
 in-the-sea, of lasting memory from the . siege which we have 
 chronicled in our pages entitled " The Man in the Iro 
 Mask." 
 
 Of he country squire he boasted the free carriage, slightly 
 swaggering perhaps, the sunburnt complexion, the longhair 
 coming down upon the shoulders, and the characteristic ail 
 the rustics of that part of Brittany, namely, a medley of tht
 
 4 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 simple and the astute, the timid and the tenacious. He wore 
 the picturesque costume of these peasants, the white wool 
 breeches cut full, the leather leg-boots embroidered with silk, 
 the flower-patterned waistcoat, the braided vest, and the 
 wide-brimmed felt hat encircled by a velvet ribbon, and 
 plumed with a peacock's feather. Of the country nobility, 
 he ofttimes assumed the proud and haughty carriage of the 
 1 head, the curt and imperious voice, a sort of natural lofti- 
 ness in the gestures, courtesy in the speech and elegance in 
 the manners. Add likewise, as the nobleman's insignia, a 
 rapier at his side which would have appeared of exaggerated 
 size and length for a stripling, if he had not been gifted with 
 a stature above the common, with limbs which testified to 
 muscular strength and agility. 
 
 The view was splendid from the crest, from the bright 
 hamlets under the eye to the red roofs of Saumur and its 
 white citadel ; but the travelers had something else to do 
 than admire scenery. The petti-fogger perspired at every 
 pore, as he had wrung debtors into doing ; the Paimboeut 
 ship-outfitter panted and the sardine-merchants grumbled. 
 Still they gasped a few words about the market price of pro- 
 duce, the taxes, the good and the bad weather as they would 
 affect the crops, and the disgrace of the Financial Superin- 
 tendent Fouquet. Granted that the fall of this treasurer had 
 taken place some time back, you cannot be hard on -he 
 rustics for not being versed in the latest court news. The 
 young blade from Belle-Isle slily peeped at the lady-passen* 
 ger as she napped. 
 
 All of a sudden the jolting of the vehicle made her start 
 as to awaken, and in fear of being caught staring at her, the 
 gazer rapidly turned his eyes aloof, and mechanically began 
 to study the road. No sooner had he done so than he 
 stopped short and hailed the guard of the coach who wa* 
 also the driver, walking beside his horses r 
 
 "Ho, ho ! what do you call that lot, my Master ?" 
 
 He pointed to a squad or five or six horsemen, just looming 
 up on a peak of the road, their profiles detached on the 
 clear sky-line with the sharpness of shapes in a shadow- 
 pantomime. Four of these cavaliers carried their mus- 
 ketoons resting for immediate use on the knee. The fifth 
 in advance of the rest, appearing to be the leader, carried 
 no gun ; but the sun sparkled on the pistol pummels sticking
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM1S. 5 
 
 out of his holsters, and of the long sword slapping ag.iinst his 
 thigh. Altogether, this was a little troop far from encour 
 aging in a period when the main roads belonged to the 
 boldest highwaymen 
 
 Master Vincent Paquedru s the coach driver, had a flat 
 face, meaningless look and feeble smile ; his cunning was 
 masked under a thick coat of pretended innocence. These 
 rogues out-do any of their race elsewhere in knavery. 
 
 "That ? that is a patrol of the Royal Marauders,'' he an- 
 swered tranquilly to the question addressed him. 
 
 "Royal Marauders ?" repeated the questioner, frowning 
 "a singular title, but no doubt a nickname ; for I do not want 
 to think, Master Paquedru, that you intend to play tricks 
 on me ?" 
 
 While thus speaking the stalwart youth laid his hand on 
 the shrewd Norman's shoulder, only laid it, but its weight 
 was such that the knight of the whip cowered as though he 
 was overburdened. 
 
 " Heaven forbid, my gentleman," he replied, in haste, 
 with an obsequious and wary air ; "for it is the real truth 
 I never tell a lie, on my faith! that is how that regiment is 
 christened in these parts." 
 
 " A regiment in the King's service so misnamed ?" 
 
 "Forsooth, I am ignorant of that, my good sir," returned 
 the driver, taking his most stupid aspect; "but it is certain, 
 1 swear it with my hand on my heart, that it has been out on 
 the campaign, ever so long." 
 
 "Out on the campaign ? against whom, pray? as far as I 
 know, for the moment, the province of Anjou is not in arms 
 against the King's authority However, '* added the 
 young gallant, glancing at his traveling companions who had 
 drawn near during this colloquy and listened to it with vague 
 disquiet, " we have nought to fear, for they ate just our 
 number five and the game is even." 
 
 There rose general dissent, and the notary exclaimed: 
 "But we have no firearms!" 
 
 "Besides,'* said the sardine merchants, "it is not our trade 
 to bandy hard knocks!" To which his brother dealer added: 
 "We are respectable merchants who shun stripes and blow? 
 Kke the plague," 
 
 "For my part, " continued the ship-outfitter, " 1 wouH 
 not hesitate to send all m,v seamen and office-clerks into ba/
 
 6 THE SON Of PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 tie Jo be slain to the last man but, unluckily, they are 
 either on my ships at sea or in my offices in Paimboeuf." 
 
 " But, say, Master Paquedru," asked the notary, *'do 
 you know that martial cohort ?" 
 
 " I know them without pushing the acquaintance " 
 
 " Do you mean to say you have met them before ?" 
 "On, often, very often," was the Norman's reply, with a 
 smile of bad omen, " in fact, as often as I pulled through 
 this spot. 
 
 "In that case, how will they act towards us ?" 
 "Never mind," interrupted he young gentleman, "we 
 shall not be long learning, for here they come at a gallop." 
 Indeed, the little squadron had clapped spurs to their 
 horses, so that they came up rapidly. Wnen arrived within 
 gunshot, they reined in, so stopped by a sign of tneir com- 
 mander, who approached at a walking pace. His follower 
 drew up in a line across the way, to block it. Of these four, 
 not one owned a visage that did not have Robber branded 
 on it legibly. All the tanned cheeks wore rakisu moustaches, 
 and impudent gaze stared out under unkempt locks ; scar* 
 ornamented the whole. But what equipments, costumes and 
 steeds ! The last as meagre as the lean kine of Scripture; the 
 bats dented, tattered and worn; the bullhide breastplates rot- 
 ten and cracked, the breeches oddly patched, and the boots 
 showing the riders' toes. But, on the other hand, each car- 
 ried an arsenal of weapons. 
 
 The captain was a trifle less forlorn and threadbare. 
 Some threads had come out in his lace ruffles; only slightly 
 faded were his doublet's purple velvet and his flame-colored 
 shoulderknot of ribbon; and his Spanish boots were not 
 dilapidated all over. Still his plumed beaver was spruced 
 up with a new ribbon and was cocked properly over one ear; 
 his rapier hilt was polished enough to shine brightly ; and 
 his show of fashion had a touchy arrogance to impose up to 
 a degree upon the novice and the timid. He would have in- 
 spired but scant confidence jn the clear-sighted. His bird- 
 of-prey beak bent over a pair of braggadocio's moustache* 
 curled up into hooks at the ends, and turning grey ; under 
 them his lips wer2 enlivened by an expression of vulgar cyn- 
 icism. In his brown-encircled eyes, half-veiled by the bloated, 
 drooping lids, gleamed all the yellow reflections of the Sevei 
 Deadly Sins.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. J 
 
 As he accosted the coach passengers, this character took oft 
 his hat with a grand sweep, slow and measured, as he uttered 
 with an exaggerated affectation of politeness, "Gentlemen, 1 
 prithee to consider in me the most humble, obedient and de 
 voted o? your servants." 
 
 "Oh, sir, we are yours," said the scrivener, acting as spokes* 
 man for his companions, all trembling like the aspen leaf. 
 
 "Since nobody takes it upon him to present me, allow 
 e to do it myself " here he bowed. "You see the Chev- 
 alier Condor de Cordbuff, Colonel in his Majesty's service 
 when I say, Colonel, it is just a manner of speaking, for 
 the grade is of no consequence at present, and between our- 
 selves, the army is sp badly organized that I hardly know 
 whether I am captain or colonel, and my regiment ahem 1 
 company would sound better is composed for the time being 
 of the four paladins whom you see yonder behind me: namely, 
 Lock-breaker, my lieutenant, Plucker, my cornet, Pillager, 
 my orderly, and Pickpurse, my trumpeter " 
 
 These characteristic names caused the pettifogger to quiv- 
 er still more, the shipping-merchant to turn frightfully 
 pale, and the sardine-dealers to glance with despair on one 
 another, while the cavalier proceeded: 
 
 ''But I am going to fill up my muster-list, and I have the 
 recruits. Nothing but the equipments is lacking, which is 
 the reason that 1 have solicited and obtained from the Pro- 
 vost of Saumur the duty of escorting and guarding honest 
 gentry traveling through the country " 
 
 "What," exclaimed the ship-fitter ; " Do you mean that 
 you come only to " 
 
 "To see you safe into the town, and defend you at need 
 from all vexations, criminal exactions or guilty enterprises 
 aimed at your life or your money-bags " 
 
 A sigh of relief issued from every breast. 
 
 '"And ail for a pitiful remuneration/' continued the ora- 
 tor. 
 
 "Eh, eh ? what now ?" 
 
 ''The figure being left to your kind estimate -provided, 
 ince I must confine the generosity of my patrons within the 
 bounds of sound sense, that each offers according to his mien, 
 and his means " 
 
 "Alas !" 
 
 Astonishment, revulsion and terror had swiftly succeeded
 
 8 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 each other in the hearers' minds. One of the sardine* 
 dealers, however, tried to give a proof of heroism. 
 
 "Not so fast," said he, roughening his voice, "suppose we 
 do not want any escort and guard '* 
 
 "Right,'* continued his colleague, like his echo, "suppose 
 we do not yearn for the honor of buying your company ?'* 
 
 "In that case," replied Cordbuff, "I no longer.am respon- 
 sible for your precious persons, and that will be a bad look- 
 out, as there are any quantity of scamps in these parts," he 
 said with imperturbable gravity, and with emphasis, ''scamps 
 whose arms are longer than their scruples, and who, in so 
 lonesome a spot as this, would shoot me off-hand a pack of 
 traders of your kind as clean as a bevy of partridges - " 
 
 He made a sign to his gang, and their musketoons were 
 heard going clicketty clack ! on full cock. 
 
 The notary all but fainted ; the ship-merchant wiped the 
 abundant perspiration off his nose with his sleeve, and 
 the two sardine-dealers offered blessed tapers to their 
 patron saints if they should be extricated from this hornets' 
 nest. 
 
 The Colonel of the Royal Marauders turned to the coach- 
 driver, saying : "Look sharp ! Vincent, out with your way- 
 bill, and read me out the names and descriptions of your 
 passengers." 
 
 The driver had the paper already in his hand and he at 
 once began to read : 
 
 "Master Libiniou, notary royal, of Nantes " 
 
 "Good !" said Condor, with an amiable smirk, "men of 
 the gown and men of the sword are both specially kingV 
 men. I wager that you are only too happy for the chance 
 to contribute a hundred pistoles for the harness of my heroes. 
 Besides, as a keepsake of this happy meeting, I will make no 
 bones over accepting that watch which I see rounding out 
 your fob. Mine was stolen lately, in the parlors of the 
 Comptroller-general, in Paris M. Colbert receives sadly 
 mixed company, as I have had the favor to tell him plumply.** 
 
 He tossed his hat, crown down, into the road, and con- 
 cluded : 
 
 "There you see the cashier's till ? Walk up, gentlemen, 
 and settle. My dear notary, have the honor to lead the 
 
 With manv a moan the scrivener did as he was expected.
 
 THE DEATH OF A R AMIS. g 
 
 *'Simon Prieur, ship-outfitter, of Paimboeuf," continued 
 the driver. 
 
 "One hundred pistoles likewise. I am not going to in- 
 suit a respectable trader by valueing him under a knight of 
 the quill. To which sum, my honored Prieur will please add 
 the pair of silver buckles shining so bravely on his shoes. 
 My noble father, Hilarion de Cordbuff, always longed to see 
 his dear boy in silver buckles, and the wish of a father is 
 law to a son " 
 
 "Yves Guerinec and Pierre Trogoff, sardine-merchants, 
 of Croisic " 
 
 "Fifty pistoles each, the catch of fish being first-rate this 
 season not forgetting the gold earrings which you flash, and 
 which I shall offer to my sisters. I hope the gentlemen will 
 not cpmpel me to take them out myself, as I am rather heavy 
 handed and I am really afraid that I should clip a bit of the 
 ear along with the trinkets." As he spoke he toyed with a 
 dagger at his girdle. 
 
 "The two merchants and the naval outfitter hastened to 
 imitate the notary, but with all kinds of grumblings r com- 
 plaining and curses, while the Jehu pursued : 
 
 "Squire Joel, of Locmaria " 
 
 "A squire ? which is he ?" inquired the robber, from the 
 height of his saddle. 
 
 " I am he," responded the youth who wore the Breton cos- 
 tume. 
 
 We have already stated that Joel was a promising scion, 
 having limbs admirably proportioned to his exceptional 
 stature in their supple and muscular robustness. Imagine 
 Hercules or Samson as a boy. Still his countenance did not 
 yet reveal the budding athlete, capable of strangling hydras or 
 carrying away town gates. The abundant curls enframed 
 fine and regular features, a little browned by the sun and the 
 gale ; his large blue eyes, inclined to deep grey, had a kind- 
 ly gaze, where frankness and just dealing were to be read as 
 in an open book, and around his lips, over which darkened 
 a coming moustache as light in hue as his plentiful locks, a 
 boyish smile now was sparkling with mirth, then shaded with 
 thoughtfulness. 
 
 During the preceding scene, he had leaned against one of 
 the wheels, motionless but attentive and astonished the 
 coach having come to a rest, of course, since the highway- 
 nan's intervention*
 
 io THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 "By the pride of Lucifer," exclaimed the latter, after hav 
 ing examined him, where we have a young chanticleer, 
 haughtily set on his spurs ! and if the whim takes him to 
 swell the ranks of my company, deuce seize me but I would 
 make a cornet aide-de-camp of him. What do you say to 
 that, comrade ? t)o you not understand me, eh ?" he added 
 as the hearer remained silent. 
 
 "Yes, I do." 
 
 "And vou accept ?" 
 
 "I refuse, because I have no wish to die in the hangman':, 
 halter." 
 
 "The lad has a turn for wit," growled Cordbuff, gnawing 
 his moustaches, "and I doat on merry fellows. So I allow 
 you fire minutes to make up your mind " 
 
 "To what, pray ?" asked the other tranquilly. 
 
 "To take service under my colors, or to count me down 
 'smart money' as recompense for losing a recruit so stout 
 in make and so jolly in spirit. Well, have you any more on 
 your bill ?" he went on to the driver. 
 
 "Colonel, we have the Lady Aurore du Tremblay." 
 
 "Humph, some old dowager, I suppose. She must be 
 rather old if she belongs to the family that once supplied a 
 governor to the Bastille Prison. And where is the respected 
 Demoiselle du Tremblay ?" 
 
 "Am I wanted ?" returned a sweet and yet ringing voice, 
 
 The girl opened the coach door and nimbly leaped out 
 upon the sandy roadside. 
 
 She did not appear to be more than twenty. Her strong 
 though willowy figure seemed shaped to do honor to tho 
 most sumptuous court costumes, although she was now wear- 
 ing a dress of mourning and for the journey. 
 
 Over her stainless brow, a thick mass of dark chestnut 
 hair formed a kind of crown, in which faint flickers of golden 
 radiance played. Her eyes were of opaque crystal, but from 
 time to time, they were lit by penetrating lustre. The smile of 
 lips so beautiful agitated the heart. She walked with an even 
 step, with no evidence of fear or weakness, to Cordbuff 's beaver, 
 nearly filled with the contributions of her fellow-travelers. 
 
 "Here, sir, is the ransom you are waiting for," she ob 
 served coldly. 
 
 "Excuse me, noble damsel," said Condor, perking himself 
 in the saddle, " But I had not seen what you were like.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. n 
 
 Otherwise, you should have taken the lead over these gentry 
 Hang it all, where would we be, if we did not grant the sex, 
 and rank and beauty, some privileges ?" 
 
 The young lady extended her arm with a queenly gesture 
 and let a purse drop into the hat, saying : 
 
 "This is half what I was carrying to town, and this other 
 portion does not belong to me, but to two orphans, for whose 
 cause I am going there to contest with the relatives and en- 
 treat the judges' favor. I venture to hope that you will not 
 show yourself more greedy than the former and more hostile 
 than thj latter." All this was spoken with tranquil dig- 
 nity, not devoid of marked haughtiness. 
 
 <5 On my soul, my fair pleader," returned the colonel, twist- 
 ing up the points of his moustaches between finger and thumb 
 and speaking with mocking gallantry, ''the cross kinsfolk are 
 overcome and the judges won beforehand by the might of 
 your attractions" 
 
 "Sir !" 
 
 'Whence I draw the conclusion that your orphans have no 
 longer need of the sum of which you expressed the wish not 
 to be deprived, and to boot you have no farther need your- 
 self of the diamond sparkling on your dainty finger to please 
 and capture " 
 
 "I am at a loss to understand " 
 
 "Yet it is clear : the ring sparkling on your white hand, 
 will marvellously suit that of the dame of my love. You 
 tannot think to keep me from it, any more than from the 
 second half of the sum of which you have dedicated one 
 tnoiety to my honorable necessity " 
 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay lifted to the bandit captain a look full 
 of apprehension. 
 
 "What, do you contemplate despoiling me of this jewel, and 
 the few gold pieces left me *' 
 
 "Lord love you ! thank me for being so moderate. Some 
 gentlemen-riders of the King's highway would require much 
 beside." 
 
 Aurore clasped her hands. 
 
 'Sir, sir, I repeat to you. I have yielded up all my own 
 property and this money which you claim is the lawful share 
 of the heirs, the sole means of the two young persons whom 
 
 I represent " 
 
 So long as the lady had shown a firm front and some
 
 12 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 haughtiness, the brigand had pretended courtesy : but ht 
 became bolder and more insolent as she turned suppliant and 
 agitated. 
 
 "Come, come,'* sneered he ; "these children will not be 
 at a loss with an advocate having such charms and bright- 
 ness of wit. Particularly, as you will not fail to find in Paris 
 many rich and generous friends " 
 
 The lady did not feel the drift of this ironical speech, and 
 implored as she saw the eyes of the scoundrel greedily fixed 
 on the precious stone on her finger: 
 
 " But this gem has not the value which you fancy it has 
 no value indeed save to me as a keepsake " 
 
 "Of some gallant cavalier, eh? Of course it is a token of 
 love. But, dash it all ! you will have no difficulty in finding 
 another to make a finer present." 
 
 The girl drew herself up to her full height and, as her 
 cheek was empurpled with ire and her eyes flashed with in- 
 dignation, she said: 
 
 "Oh, is it because there is no man present to defend me 
 that you presume thus to insult a lady?" 
 
 With her tremulous hands she covered her face as though 
 to prevent the additional outrage of the ruffian staring at 
 her. Through this screen she was all the more lovely, so 
 that Cordbuff's gaze became lighted with sudden and brutal 
 lust. He abruptly urged his horse towards Aurore, aixl from 
 his throat this exclamation hoarsely issued: 
 
 "Oho, are we shewing anger here? Be it battle, then ! I 
 shall not only take the ring but a kiss as well as price of 
 the victory." 
 
 "No, you shall only have the chastisement due such in- 
 solence, you rascal!" broke in a thunderous voice, as at the 
 same time, an iron grasp caught the adventurer by the waist 
 and tore him out of the saddle as though he had been a 
 feather. 
 
 "He-elp !" gasped the wretch, suffocated by the unex- 
 pected grip. 
 
 His four adherents lowered their muskets to the level ; 
 but, already, Squire Joel for it was none other who had 
 sprung in between the lady and the Colonel of the Royal 
 Marauders, was holding the latter up and out at arms-length, 
 much as a sportsman exhibits a rabbit to the yelping pack of 
 terriers, and using him as a shield against the
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 13 
 
 with which the muzzles aimed at him were menacing him. 
 
 "My good fellows," Said he peacefully, "fire away if so 
 inclined ; but you will fill only the body of your chief with 
 Jead - " 
 
 "Oh, no, don't fire, in heaven's name ! don't fire, for the 
 devil's sake," moaned Cordbuff, in desperation. 
 
 The muskets were raised slowly, but the Breton did not 
 lower his buckler. 
 
 " Now, gossips," he proceeded with the same serenity, 
 "suppose we chat about business. I expect your guns carry 
 each a bullet? Well, I have no objection to buying them 
 all four." 
 
 A clamor arose, and Lieutentant Lock-breaker eagerly de 
 manded: 
 
 " How much a-piece?" 
 
 "Altogether, as much cash as my companions have put in 
 that hat." 
 
 The four hangdogs looked at each other with astonish- 
 ment next to stupefaction, while the young man continued: 
 
 "All you have to do is to blow off your powder at the 
 Bight of swallows whirling yonder in the open, and I will 
 hand over to you all the spoil. Otherwise, have a care ! at 
 the first hostile move, I shall wring your captain's neck, or, 
 say, colonel's, the rank making no difference to me when I 
 am wringing the neck of vultures and I shall make use of 
 his carcase to thresh every man-jack of ye, one down, the 
 others take their turn. Similia Siinilibus, all with the same 
 sauce, as wont to say my worthy tutor the priest of Loc- 
 
 During this address, the unhappy Cordbuff presented the 
 the most piteous aspect ; he was no longer cynical and sul- 
 lenly mocking. The braggart's mask had been knocked off, 
 and laid bare the wicked coward's vertigo of dread. In vain 
 had he wrestled in his adversary's grasp. The wrist was as 
 firm as iron pincers, and still held him like a ball-proof plate 
 between the Breton's bosom and the robbers' bullets. The 
 latter conferred together in an undertone. 
 
 " It is a bargain," declared Lock-breaker, finallv making 
 a sign to his comrades, who discharged their muskets at the 
 same time as his into the air. 
 
 " Take the money !" said Joel, spurning the hat with his 
 boot toe.
 
 14 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 The highwayman-lieutenant rode up, alighted, and clutched 
 it. Mounting with the same rapidity, he did not return to 
 his companions, who were awaiting him with eyes blazing 
 with greed, but clapped spurs to his horse, turned to the left 
 side of the road, leaped the ditch separating it from the 
 meadows, and galloped off over the fields as fast as he could 
 
 go- 
 Up rose the three-fold shout: "Robber! false brother! oh, 
 stop the thief 1" Thus did Plucker, Pillager and Pickpurse 
 protest against such an appropriation of one's neighbors' 
 property, before rushing with a common impulse in pursuit 
 of the renegade. 
 
 " Oh, our money! thief, our money!" so roared with one 
 voice the man-hunters in their furious, breathless and dis- 
 orderly chase. 
 
 And "our money ! our poor money !" repeated like an 
 echo, on the spot, the notary, ship-outfitter, and sardine- 
 merchants as they beheld the purloiner of the hat and con- 
 tents disappearing with his speeding followers in the depths 
 of the horizon. 
 
 In the meantime, young Joel had replaced on his legs the 
 redoubtable knight of the Road, Cordbuff, still writhing from 
 the grasp. 
 
 Drawing that very long and heavy sword of his, he called 
 nut : 
 
 " Now then, my captain of cut-throats, show us your steel. 
 I do not want to crop your ears without some little defense 
 on your part." 
 
 "Monsieur Joel, will you allow me one request " 
 
 The youth turned quickly, for it was the fair traveler who 
 spoke to him. As the interruption was accompanied by a 
 look of fond gratitude, our champion felt his heart dance in 
 his breast. With his cheeks redending with emotion, he re- 
 spectfully doffed his hat, and replied with fire in his voice, 
 gesture and countenance : 
 
 "A request from you to me ? say, an order, which I shall 
 be only too happy to obey." 
 
 It was the lady's turn to blush and be perturbed, and she 
 cast down her eyes. But, pointing to the royal Marauder, 
 he said : 
 
 'Let this fellow go. I ask it as a favor." 
 
 'This scurvy knave?" said our hero, shaking his head:
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. i$ 
 
 " Really, on my faith, lady, the rascal has offended you and 
 I must slay him at your feet." 
 
 " Holloa !" broke in Cordbuff, trying to brazen it out, 
 "you may have found it very easy to unsaddle me by sur- 
 prise and to convert me into a corselet, as you had the luck 
 
 to do, but " Here he put his hand on his swordhilt, but 
 
 slowly and without any enthusiasm, for his adversary was al- 
 ready on his guard. 
 
 Aurora interposed once more, saying : "Nay, you shall 
 not fight." 
 
 " I should like to know why not," remonstrated the young 
 man. 
 
 "Did you not just promise me obedience ?" 
 
 But our hero was as fond of sword-play as a life-guards- 
 man, as wrangling as a theologian and as obstinate as a Bre- 
 ton. 
 
 "To be sure," he said, "if I were alone in question, I should 
 make the sacrifice of my wrath and my rancor : but it was 
 to a lady that the rudeness was shown. Now, the old soldier 
 who brought me up often repeated to me : when anybody is 
 deficient in respect due a lady in a gentleman's presence, 
 his sword ought to leap out c c its scabbard of its own 
 accord and never be sheathed until Jie offence is apologized 
 for." 
 
 " So, you refuse my request ?" 
 
 * I entreat you to ask me any other.** 
 
 " It is still the only one which, at present, I desire to make 
 to you. Come, you are noble ?" 
 
 The youth hesitated briefly before proudly replying : 
 
 " I come of such blood on the sire's side." 
 
 " Well, I am Yolande Henriette Aurore of the Tremblays, 
 daughter of Baron Louis Maximilian du Tremblay, in his 
 lifetime, honorary counsellor and register as well as lieuten- 
 ant for the Marshals of France for the province of Anjou 
 wherein we stand ; and I in the name of my sire and 
 tnyseif, and of the tribunal of Honor which he represented 
 and of all the nobility submissive to its jurisdiction 1 
 forbid you to cross steel with this ragged captain " 
 
 " Whew !" ejaculated Cordbuff. 
 
 " Mark this well : it is no longer a matter of doing me a 
 favor for what 1 am telling you binds you as surely as if the 
 ergeant of constabulary touched you with his crowned staff
 
 16 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 on the shoulder I am speaking to you in the name of tht 
 King and for honor's sake. To measure yourself with such 
 a creature would be Demeaning your station, forfeiting your 
 own self- respect and that you owe to the traditions of dig- 
 nity legated to you by your ancestors ; lastly, you inflict on 
 the order to which we both belong, an insult a hundred times 
 more flagrant than that which you stubbornly seek to 
 avenge an insult," concluded the lady, "which I should 
 never forgive you as long as I live. ' 
 
 When the speaker reminded Joel of his rank, nobility and 
 ancestors, you might see his face suffuse with blushes, and 
 he was as much embarrassed as surprised at the effect of 
 this language upon him. On the other hand, it is a fact 
 that he had but a faint idea of the famous Tribunal on the 
 Point of honor, instituted in the previous reign to prevent 
 duels between wearers by right of the sword, often interven- 
 ing to stop quarrels after hearing the complaints. 
 
 *' I yield," he said, confronted with the lady's'last words 
 and the resolute tone which emphasized them, and he re- 
 stored his weapon to its sheath. "Let it pass," he said to 
 Cordbuff. " Begone! you have been begged off." 
 
 During the debate between the squire and the young lady, 
 the craven had operated his retreat to his horse. The trav- 
 elers did not in truth pay any attention to him, or to the 
 dialogue. They were still gazing in the direction in which 
 their " poor money*' had flown in the care c the ingenious 
 Lock-breaker, whose trio of hail-fellows vainly gave Iwn 
 chase with all the powers of their mangy steeds. 
 
 As for the coachman, Paquedru, he was hunting in the 
 dust to see if any coin had escaped from the stolen hoard. 
 
 An outcry of savage }oy replied to Joel s boon, it was 
 from Cordbuff who bounded into his saddle where he took 
 the bridle between his teeth, and drew a pistol from each 
 holster. 
 
 " Soho ! you grant me mercy > do you, my turtle doves ? 
 but I am not going to spare you ! 
 
 He took aim and fired both arms at the same moment. 
 But the young man with the swiftness of thought had flung 
 himself before the other target. A streak of blood was 
 marked on his forehead, and he reeled as he carried his hand 
 to his chest. Aurore uttered a loud shriek. 
 
 " Good-bye to you, ray Hector '" shouted the robber, 10-
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. H 
 
 toxicated with rage and triumph. "As for you, my pretty 
 maid, we shall have a merrier meeting next time !" 
 
 Spurring his steed, he was off like a whirlwind. In his 
 way was the group formed by notary, sardine-naerchants and 
 ship-outfitte^ who were all four rolled in the dust. Before 
 the lightest of them rose to his feet, Condor was at a distance. 
 Let us do them the justice to report that; instead of flying 
 in pursuit of him, they all rushed to assist the wounded youth, 
 whom Paquedru had hastened to support. But here hap- 
 pened an unexpected incident : it was not the shot man who 
 fell, for he stiffened hrmself on his legs and rejected aid, but 
 the girl. The sight ot the blood trickling out of the wound 
 received on her behalf and tearing the defender's brow, had 
 given her a twinge at the heart. She closed her eyes ; her 
 features were covered with deadly pallor : and her body so 
 collapsed that the young squire had barely time to open his 
 arms to sustain her. He bent over the girl with his face 
 bedewed with blood, and forgetful of his own state, from the 
 anxiety which this sudden swoon caused him, he called : 
 
 " Lady, return to your senses ! What is the matter f Were 
 you hit ? In heaven's name, speak, I beg of you !" 
 
 There came no answer, for Aurore's swoon turned to hys- 
 terics. Spasmodic movements thrilled her limbs, and dull 
 moaning came from her bosons Paquedru and the travelers 
 bustled about her to offer their best services. 
 
 " Thump her in the back l is suggested the driver. 
 
 " Who carries smelling salts ?" inquired the notary, " or 
 has a feather to burn under her nose P 
 
 " A good glass of cider would fetch her to,* 1 counselled 
 Guerinee. 
 
 " With spice in it and a pinch of pepper* added his 
 mate. 
 
 The ship-outfitter was for the most simple and economical 
 remedies, for he ventured : 
 
 *' There is nothing like a dash of cold water bang in th* 
 face* 
 
 At this critical moment the rolling of & carriage,, or an- 
 other coach ; was heard on the road 
 
 * If that brings a doctor, it will be a godsend - r remarked 
 the scrivener. 
 
 And all turned their eyes V> ee what heaven or the othet 
 place was sending thea
 
 18 THE SON OF PORTHOSi OM. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TWO OF OUR OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 
 
 THE traveling-carriage which came towards the coach in 
 distress, was about a quarter of a league distant when the 
 affray >vas going on. It was drawn by four first-class post- 
 horses which sent the showers in sparks from the pebbles of 
 the road. Around the vehicle galloped, not less as an escort 
 than a guard of honor, half-a-dozen strapping footmen, 
 swart and of martial appearance, who carried a sword by the 
 side and musketoons at the saddle-bow. 
 
 On the back-seat cushions, inside, an old gentleman was 
 seated, who still wore the long hair reaching the shoulders, 
 and the fine moustache and royale, or goatee, of the reign of 
 Louis XIII. 
 
 This venerable man must have been of remarkable beauty 
 half a century back. He had retained of the good looks the 
 eagle-like profile: a broad forehead impressed with Majesty 
 acircumsp-ct mouth, by a miracle preserving enviable teeth, 
 a chin of correct outline, albeit prominent and angular ; as 
 well as black eyes of piercing lustre, and feet and hands of 
 which many a princess would be proud. He was clad entire- 
 ly in black velvet, with a small skull-cap apparently to con- 
 ceal where he had been shaven, like a priest. 
 
 But hair, chin-tuft and moustaches were blanched into 
 snow. The thin frame seemed near to snapping in two. The 
 yellow complexion would have delighted the lovers of an- 
 tiques. The features were hooked rather than purely aqui- 
 line; the forehead was laden with wrinkles and lips were so 
 thin that the mouth resembled a slit with a knife. Flacced 
 lids drooped to mask the fire of the sight; and the hands had 
 waxen hues and cracked at the knuckles like those of skele- 
 tons amid the clouds of rich lace which half smothered them. 
 
 On the front seat, facing this man in the sere and yellow 
 of age, dozed another old man, but of corpulent habit. 
 
 He affected to maintain the attitude towards the gentle- 
 man of an old servant both familiar and respectful. He
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 19 
 
 Seemed to be about the same age as his master, and like him, 
 wore a black suit, of strict cut and clerical appearance, 
 This was worn with as much conceit as dignity on a body 
 which good living had given the rotundity of the conven- 
 tional abbots of the days of good cheer. His visage was in 
 keeping with his figure. Between puffy cheeks a squat nose 
 withdrew from view, after the former had robbed the other 
 features : his chin retired from a layer of puff pasts, rather 
 than healthy ilesh, and this had threatened to blind him. His 
 hair, no less white than his opposite neighbors, was cut 
 square^/ and sanctimoniously down at three lines of his 
 brows. Let us hasten to recal to the reader that his forehead 
 in its most open days, had never boasted more than an inch 
 and a half. 
 
 At the time when we peer in at them, the master was 
 brooding and the attendant was napping. 
 
 At a jolt, the former exclaimed : 
 
 "Monsieur Bazin .'' 
 
 The other opened his eyes, and stammered 
 
 "Did your Right Reverence do me the honor to address 
 me?" 
 
 The other replied with a smile 
 
 "I am afraid you forget, my dear old Bazin, that I am no 
 Right Reverence; a full score of years have rung out since I 
 was bishop of Vannesand ceased to belong to the Church- 
 Militant having renounced looking after the salvation of 
 others to take care of my own." 
 
 "I fear me," sighed the fat fellow, "that it is the soonei 
 to reach it by the way of penitence and mortification, then, 
 that we have quitted Madrid, where life flowed so gently to 
 race up hill and down dale, instead of dwelling tranquil in 
 prayer and repose over the remnant of days which may be 
 granted us upon this earth " 
 
 "Precisely ; and I would observe in connection with your 
 remark, that we are moving very slowly. I am in haste to 
 arrive as soon as possible. Just bid the postilions make 
 haste ! "" 
 
 "But we are going at a round gait ! The road is a rougn 
 one and a horse may stumble. Your Excellency should 
 bear in mind that an upset might be mortal at ycur age." 
 
 His Excellency shrugged his shoulders in unconcern. 
 
 *'Speak for yourself, Master Bazin. You are five and
 
 lo THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 seventy, true ; but I am but thirty-eight twice toM 1** 
 "But still, my lord duke !" 
 
 "Enough!" impatiently interrupted the Duke of Almada. 
 "Do as you are told, and cease to load me with titles which 
 will draw the attention of the inquisitive upon me. Remem- 
 ber that 1 am to preserve the strictest incognito until we 
 teach Paris." 
 
 "Then what title shall I give to my lord the Ambassador? 1 
 "Style me the Chevalier d'Herbaly, as in days of yore." 
 "The Chevalier d'Herblay," reiterated the servitor, clasp- 
 ing his plump hands. "Sonc Dcus ! as in the time of riding 
 at full gallop affrays and running folks through with sword 
 and dagger : verily, why should not my lord assume at 
 once his old habits, the sword and boots and cassock of the 
 Royal Musketeers, with the title ?" 
 
 Sadly the aged noble shook his head, muttering : 
 ''Nay, ARAMISis no more. He is dead with his three 
 companions-in-arms, three friends three brothers ! Aramis 
 has gone into the dust with Athos, Porthos, and d'Artagnan. 
 How is it that not one of them has left a son or even a 
 daughter to revive the valorous name ? It seemed to me that 
 a spark of such glory should be yet existent ! Oh, were that 
 the case, with what joy I should nourish it, and fan it into a 
 flame so that men by that light might perceive what lustre 
 we four shed on the corps of royal lifeguards and on the 
 name of Frenchmen. "Resuming a dry voice, he said aloud: 
 "I repeat that I am for the present, and wish solely to be, 
 the Chevalier d'Herblay." 
 
 "Very well," grumbled the stout man, who with his gross- 
 ness had not been blessed with the good humor which had 
 only increased in his fellow-servant, the worthy Mousqueton; 
 "Enough is said. We shall conform to the wishes that is, 
 the will of the Chevalier. But, if we are going to plunge 
 anew into the life of adventures, I shall hand in my resig- 
 nation as steward: despite my age, I have not the faintest 
 longing to join so soon in eternity, whither were too hastily 
 hurried by fatigue suffered and hard knocks borne, my poor 
 comrades, Pianchet, Griraaud and Mousqueton."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM1S. 91 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EXTRAORDINARY PHYSICIAN. 
 
 WE have said that the rumble of a vehicle started the con 
 solers of Mdlle. du Tremblay, by the side of the stopped stage- 
 coach. In a few instants up came the Chevalier d'Herblay's 
 carriage, in a cloud of dust, witii the swiftness and rolling 
 of thunder. Shortly it had nearly reached the group around 
 the lady and her fellow-travelers who were in the middle of 
 the way. The postilions and the outriders were obliged to 
 curb the horses, whose bits were white with froth. 
 
 " Make room there 1" shouted the lackeys of the escort, 
 while the postboys yelled : " Look out there, look to your- 
 selves !" 
 
 At the same time the old nobleman lowered one of the 
 windows and demanded "What is the matter ?" 
 
 "Hold, whoever you are," called out Squire Joel, "and 
 come to ouraid. This young lady whom you see, is dying !" 
 
 " A lady dying ? Stop, boys ! rein in, lackeys ! Wait a 
 little, sir : I am at your orders." 
 
 He was obeyed. The carriage door was opened, and the 
 noble alighted with an ease not to be suspected in one of 
 his age. He briskly stepped up to our hero, and with an 
 accent of surprise exclaimed : " But you are yourself 
 wounded!" 
 
 " Pooh ! less than nothing only a scratch. I prithee, do 
 not heed me." 
 
 The old gentleman had given the fair frank face a look as 
 of one who was reminded of a resemblance, but the girl's had 
 a stronger attraction, and her marvellous beauty, as she re- 
 posed in the Breton's arms, drew from him an outcry of in- 
 voluntary admiration. 
 
 " Be of good cheer," said he, after a brief examination. 
 " No danger is to be apprehended. This person is simply 
 under the sway of one of those attacks of the nerves, often 
 felt by females after violent emotions. Without being a great 
 physician, I warrant that I can relieve her." He raised his 
 voice, and called : " Hillo, there, you, Esteban, Pedrillo ! 
 bring a mantle I and you, Bazin* let me have my traveling 
 surgical-case."
 
 at THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 The two articles being promptly brought, the improvised 
 physician continued : " Spread the cloak on the ground, and 
 lay the poor girl upon it. That is right. Now, I should liko 
 somebody to kneel beside her and support her head." 
 
 Joel would not resign to any one the care of carrying out 
 the orders of the doctor. From his case the latter took out a 
 bronze bladed knife and a small crystal phial. He bent ovei 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay and used the knife to force her teeth 
 open, with endless caution. This slight lock-jaw overcome, 
 alter a spasm, he introduced past her lips the tiny mouth ot 
 tiie phial and poured out one or two drops of the liquid con- 
 tents. Instantly, the color began to return to the pale cheeks 
 and the heaving of her bosom subsiding, her meanings and 
 convulsions ceased also as through enchantment. 
 
 " What did I tell you ?" remarked the friend in need, ris- 
 ing. " This calming extract is sovereign for affections of this 
 nature. Our patient is out of danger at present." 
 
 ** But she has not yet opened her eyes." objected the 
 Breton. 
 
 " Because to the period of excitement succeeds that of 
 prostration which is the obligatory consequence ; but the 
 young .ady will not be long regaining her senses, and she 
 has nothing to fear from an accident, which, all things con- 
 sidered, is very common in her sex. But," feeling once 
 more a strong and unaccountable interest in the youth, "why 
 do you not think of having your wound attended to ?" 
 
 "Pshaw!" said Joel, with a careless gesture, " a band* 
 age wet with salt and water, and it will not even leave a 
 mark. 'Tis but a graze the bullet merely glanced off the 
 temple.'* 
 
 "But you stood two shots," remarked the notary, with pro- 
 fessional accuracy. 
 
 "Ay, what became of the other ?" Simon Prieur wanted ta 
 learn. 
 
 "It seemed to me that it struck you fair in the chest," cox 
 tinued the coachdriver. 
 
 "We saw it stagger you," added both the dealers in sar- 
 dines. 
 
 From the time when the lady was pronounced out of peril, 
 the youth seemed to recover all his good humor. 
 
 **Oddsbob!" said he, gailv. "the knave did aim well. 
 caught the bullet under my breastbone, but, d'ye see, it
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. ij 
 
 flattened on a leather belt which carries my little fortune un 
 der cover, and my five hundred livres in hard cash are right 
 as the bank. If it had been paper money, it would have 
 been bored through like a sheet of wax, and my breadbasket 
 would have had a leak in it likely to interfere with my hearty 
 meals. As it turnes out, I am merely bruised. Still it was a 
 pretty hard knock." 
 
 "Receive my compliments," said the old noble witli affec- 
 tionate kindliness : "you placed your money to good advant- 
 age ! I never knew but one who could have stood up 
 against a shock like that. I should like to hear the whole 
 story," ha went on, consulting a large and yet tasteful watcft 
 set with brilliants ; "but time presses, and, besides, our in- 
 terestrr.g patient still needs our attentions. Is it your sister,, 
 by chance ? Your betrothed, by other luck? and neither rel- 
 ative, nor friend ?" 
 
 "My only knowledge is from having travelled in her com- 
 pany these four-and-twenty hours." 
 
 "Do you know her destination ?" 
 
 "If I heard aright, she is bound for Paris, like all of us.'* 
 
 "Is there no relative of hers among your company ?" 
 
 A negative ran the rounds of the bystanders. 
 
 "In that case, I offer to see her there in safety," declared 
 the chevalier. 
 
 "Take her away ?" exclaimed Joel. 
 
 "Oh," returned the master of Bazin, smiling, "only as far 
 As the termination of her journey. Where do you change 
 horses at Saumur ? he went on to inquire of Paquedru. 
 
 "At the Golden Heron Inn, in the St. Jean suburb, where 
 Ae travelers have time allowed for refreshment." 
 
 " How long does it take you to reach it ?" 
 
 "Say, better than an hour at the least." 
 
 "Well, you will find your lady traveler there, carried in 
 my coach in an hour or so- before you, and in that gained 
 time she will have rested and received such cares from the 
 servant-girls as her condition can have from women only.'* 
 
 The coachman bowed as one who says : "As it may please 
 your lordship." 
 
 D'Herblay waved his hand for his followers to bear the 
 girl into his carriage. 
 
 "Put her in my place," he said. ' I will sit with Bazij 
 to the front seat/*
 
 SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 "As two of the lackeys stepped towards Mdlle. du Trem 
 blay to carry out the order, Joel took a step himself to inter. 
 pose his body between them and the lady, still insensible 
 upon the mantle. 
 
 "But," he faltered. 
 
 The nobleman eyed him with such a lofty manner that he 
 topped, unable to continue his protest. 
 
 "My young master," said the old gentleman quietly, *'I 
 surely am not compelled to ask you by what right you as- 
 sume to oppose this act of humanity ?" 
 
 Abashed, the youth hung his head, as the gentleman pro- 
 ceeded, while the footmen carried Aurore into the vehi- 
 cle, "No matter! Say no more. I accept as expressed the 
 regret to be read upon your countenance, and I forgive you 
 with a true heart for having forgotten that a lady is always 
 sate under mine honor." 
 
 Only twenty-five minutes afterwards, his carriage stopped 
 before the golden Heron at Saumur. 
 
 Upon the noise of the horses breathing hard, with their 
 froth-flecked flanks heaving and smoking, the bells jangling 
 round their necks, the postboys' whips cracking as hard as 
 they could sound them, and the lackeys shouting " House, 
 ho!"as they got out of the saddle, out ran the landlord, Mas- 
 ter Hermelin, with wife, two daughters and all his house- 
 hold, to receive the traveler who arrived with so uproarious 
 and sumptuous a turn-out. 
 
 "I want the host ?" challenged the latter from the inter- 
 ior. 
 
 "It is \, my lord rejoined the Boniface, bowing like a 
 clown in the circus. 
 
 * At once make ready the best bed in your best room." 
 Straightway, my lord." With well-founded pride, he 
 added ; J The best bed stands in the best room, my lord 
 and that is my own." 
 
 Without listening to this, the speaker had alighted a* d he 
 turned with gallantry to offer his hand to Mdlle. du T\ ^ra 
 blay. saying : 
 
 "Come, my dear child. n 
 
 She stepped down in her turn; she had completely returned 
 to consciousness, but she was in need of support as she 
 was weak and pale from the sudden shock. 
 
 ''Really sir, I do not know how to repay P*
 
 "Hush !" interrupted the old noble, laying a finger on 
 his lips, "not another word. Your physician extraordinary for- 
 bids you to fatigue yourself by talking.'* He beckoned the 
 daughters and chambermaid of the host and ordered them 
 to take special care of the lady. "Conduct her to the rooms 
 taken by me, which are at her disposal. My steward accom- 
 panies you, to let me know if anything requires my presence. 
 Go, go, my charming patient," he concluded to Aurore, "and 
 take the repose without fear, of which you stand in need, to 
 complete your restoration. I will watch that you may be 
 roused for the resumption of your journey. Then, allow 
 me to be thanked for a service which, however, any gentle- 
 man would have shown you in my stead." 
 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay gave him a smile of gratitude, and en- 
 tered the inn, leaning on Dame Hermelin's arm and followed 
 by the latter's daughters, as well as by Bazin, who grum- 
 bled in an undertone at the incident and the burden imposed 
 upon him. 
 
 The chevalier was about to do likewise when a lounger, 
 seated on the stone bench by the doorway, rose and bowed 
 to him so pointedly that the old noble ejaculated: 
 
 "Eh ? unless I am in error, we have M. de Boislaurier at 
 Saumur. But any time and place are good where you are 
 met with." 
 
 ''The pleasure is on my side," replied the other, again sal- 
 uting, "what joy to meet so unexpectedly " 
 
 "The Chevalier d'Herblay," suggested the traveler, laying 
 significant stress on the title under which he wanted to mas- 
 querade. 
 
 A wink from Boislaurier showed that he had taken the 
 hint. He was a man of ripe age, and with a face serious 
 and discreet. Booted and spurred like a royal messenger, 
 he was clad in a hunting dress of buff velvet, with feather to 
 the hat and ribbons of the same hue. After shaking hands 
 with the new-comer, he spoke aloud with the intention of 
 being overheard : 
 
 "I had an appointment with a friend in this town to go 
 stag-hunting; but some business must have retained him on 
 his estate for I have been vainly waiting a couple of days." 
 
 "And you are in desperate tedium'" 
 
 "Of course ! I commenced to lose patience, and very 
 little would start me back to town."
 
 >6 THE SON OF PORT HO S ; OX, 
 
 "If you have no objections, you might do me the honor to 
 jhare my coach with me this evening." 
 
 In chatting thus the two entered the hostelry dining-room. 
 
 ''Won't you gentlemen do me the honor of taking meals 
 onder my roof ?" queried the host, bowing as though he had 
 a hinge in the lower part of his spine, for these were cus- 
 tomers of importance. 
 
 "Confound me, but the appeal is well rounded," observed 
 the chevalier, " and the salutations smack of the court fash- 
 ions. Little would one think to find the Versailles style at 
 Saumur." 
 
 "The reason," said the host proudly, "the reason is that I 
 have not always lived in the country ; I can tell you that 1 
 cooked for the Marquis de Villeroy.*' 
 
 "The royal groom-in-waiting ? and one of the daintiest 
 gourmets in the realm of France ! Plague on us but the 
 cheer ought to be appetizing here ! Would you like us to 
 test it in company, my dear Lord of the Boislauriers ?" 
 
 "How can you ask me ! most willingly ! It will be both 
 an honor and a pleasure to sit at your table." 
 
 "In that case, it is a settled thing," said M. d'Herblay, 
 turning to the host. "We will take dinner, friend. Serve in 
 half an hour ; and distinguish yourself, without any fear of 
 our looking at the bill too closely. Away to your kitchen! 
 Meanwhile, this gentleman and I will renew an old acquain- 
 tanceship ? * 
 
 "I haste away, my lords, and you will be contented, I vow 
 to you." And the delighted landlord-and-cook departed with 
 many a salaam. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW ROYAL FAVORITES DIE. 
 
 No sooner had the door closed behind the host than the 
 elder nobleman quickly turned to his guest, and inquired 
 in a low voice, dropping the jovial tone which he had 
 adopted : 
 
 ''I suppose you came here expressly to meet me, eh, B>is- 
 laurier ?" 
 
 "Just so, my lord the duke," was the respectful reply
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. yj 
 
 "And you come on behalf or Father Lachaise, tne royal 
 confessor ?" 
 
 "It was he wwo. notified of the route you chose to reach 
 Paris " 
 
 "The sea route, via Bayonne and Saint Nazaire '* 
 
 *' I continue, that it was he who sent me to your grace, 
 and I waited for your coming in this modest inn of this petty 
 town, where I was certain that our meeting' would not be 
 1 noticed by anybody." 
 
 " You have acted wisely. For at least some time my re- 
 , turn into France should be kept from the King and court. 
 Do you bring me any news ?" 
 
 " Grave news, my lord." 
 
 " Oh! ho \ with what a mien you tell me so. Grave rises 
 to the superlative, gravest, in that tone." 
 
 " Most grave, indeed. Judge for yourself the royal 
 favorite is no more." 
 
 "Mdlle. de Fontanges dead?" 
 
 "Aals! it is so." 
 
 "But scarcely over twenty ': it is dreadful ! no, no, it can- 
 not be !" 
 
 "It is only too true , and I am charged by the reverend 
 father to acquaint your grace with all the particulars of the 
 mysterious event." 
 
 "Mysterious, say you?" 
 
 " So much so, that history itself may remain puzzled to 
 decipher the funeral enigma." 
 
 The traveler frowned as he listened, seated. With a wave 
 of the hand, he invited the messenger to take a chair by his 
 side, when, leaning towards him as if he feared that the inn 
 walls had ears to catch the words about to be interchanged, 
 he said . 
 
 ** Come, come, enough of enigmas ! I require facts, 
 Speak without reticence and omit nothing which might en- 
 lighten me< ' 
 
 ;s The new LaValliere," said Boislaurier, slowly, " commit- 
 ted three mistakes * she insulted Madame de Montespan by 
 parading her triumph in winning the King away from her, 
 and the proud Athenais -" 
 
 "I knew her as Mdlle. de Tonnay-Charente," interpolated 
 the auditor. 
 
 "Does not readily forgive. The second error was to tak
 
 38 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 into her service, a valet who came from her supplanted rival*! 
 household ; and the third to accept from this fellow's hand 
 a cup of milk, and drink it off at a draft one evening when 
 she was warm and thirsty." 
 
 He who was called Aramis, was not a sensitive man. His 
 heart was dried up, like that of all old men who have been 
 fond of the fair sex or much loved by them. Hence he had 
 listened without wincing to the tragic story of the poor mock- 
 queen of a day, cut off in all the flower of her youth and 
 beauty and royal favor. 
 
 ** Saha!" he limited himself to saying: " Let me tell you 
 that this is a dreadful accusation that you are setting afloat." 
 
 "It is not of my invention, but public opinion circulated 
 under the cloak, in the court and town it is what circum- 
 stances point to what the inquest has brought out. Presi- 
 dent Lareynie and his Ardent Chamber being commissioned 
 by his Majesty to investigate the matter of the wholesale 
 Poisoning which terrified the whole capital." 
 
 "What has the outcome been of this Inquest?" 
 
 "It established undeniably that Madame de Montespan 
 tried to remove her rival of infected garments and gloves of- 
 fered to her by two villains namely, a servant named Ro- 
 mani and a Lyons silk merchant's clerk named Bertrand ; 
 and after applying to a regular professional poisoner, known 
 as La Filastre, the marchioness determined to rely on La 
 Voisin to make away with Mdlle. de Fontanges without 
 the manner being plain. She used, as a go-between, her own 
 maid, the Desoeillets girl." 
 
 "Is it not in my memory that this Voisin woman was tried, 
 sentenced and executed?" 
 
 " Certainly, my lord, and in great baste lest she 
 spoke " 
 
 "I should have thought that she was put to the torture to 
 riaake her prattle " 
 
 "So they did, my lord, but on an order from the King at 
 St. Germain's, her statement was taken on separate paper 
 from the official records so that his Majesty might destroy 
 them without the tribunal at the Royal Arsenal having any 
 cognisance of them. So were treated the statements of La 
 Filastre. The questioning of Romani and Bertrand was de- 
 ferred. In the last place, the Minister Louvois brought 
 about a meeting between the king and his discarded mi*-
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 29 
 
 tress in which the latter passed from weeping to recrimina- 
 tion and thence to a very high-handed manner. 
 
 The hearer made a contemptuous gesture. 
 
 "I cannot say that it is hard to imagine the interview," he 
 remarked phlegmatically. " Here you have the monarch 
 questioning but not without agitation K and he accuses the 
 woman, there ; he calls for admissions which are indignantly 
 refused him and he cannot even wring evidence of repent- 
 ance. The culprit falls to weeping. Soon, according to 
 woman's inevitable tactics, she inverts the proper order of 
 things she takes the offensive, and reproaches her judge 
 with his infidelity towards her the primary cause of her 
 false steps and crime. It was jealousy that forced her to 
 commit it ! the excess of her passion the flame of love 
 which devoured her! Men willingly excused the crime of 
 which they were the origin. Louis, who flatters himself 
 that he is a god, after once smiling on those who told him 
 so when he ought have laughed at them Louis is as much 
 a man as others. I can see him putting faith in these pro 
 tests, drinking in this adulation like incense, and growing in 
 toxicated on his adoration as upon so much nectar. After all, 
 it is only a riot in a harem. One of the sultans murders an- 
 other ; and merely to be alone in kneeling to the universal 
 idol. What a piece of flattery for his pride ! For your Olym- 
 pian Jove, whose frown shakes entire Europe, is weaker 
 than a school-boy, simpler than an errand-boy, and more trust- 
 ful than his shopkeepers of Paris, when pricked by his sense 
 and tickled by his self-conceit'. This is so true that he for- 
 gave all, pronounced it justified, and sets up the proud 
 Athenais in court firmer and more mighty than ever." 
 
 "So mighty," agreed M. Boislaurier, "that the Empire and 
 the United Provinces deem it proper to consult her by 
 ambassadors." 
 
 The veteran intriguer stared at the speaker with astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 "How now what are you telling me there?" he said. 
 
 "I say that an envoy of the Prince of Orange and another 
 from the Court of Vienna have been conferring with the 
 royal favorite on the arrangements of the peace to be soon 
 concluded." 
 
 " Peace !" echoed M d'Herblay, with a start ; " are we to 
 have a treaty of peace signed ? Are yon in your right senses^ 
 my paor
 
 50 THE SON OF POKTHOS; OR, 
 
 '* Peace will be signed, my lord ; in token of which it il 
 settled mat the town of Nimwegen shall serve as meeting, 
 place for the plenipotentiaries who will discuss the con- 
 dititions." 
 
 " Stay ! what about Spain, whom I represent ; it went in 
 to the coalition against Louis XIV. only on the urgent en- 
 treaties of the Emperor and the Stadtholder is not Spain 
 to be informed of an envent of this importance ?" 
 
 "It is as unknown at St. Germain's as at La Haye and Vi- 
 enna. Still, nothing is more certain. It is Holland that 
 is getting 'eady to be the first to part with the coalition. 
 William oc Nassau has despatched a confidential agent to Paris 
 charged to present La Montespan a present of ten thou- 
 sand ducats, if she will persuade his Majesty not to be hard 
 on the Dutch republic, which has suffered the most from 
 the war and is "he most worn out." 
 
 " How has the marchioness taken the offer ?" 
 
 " Her answer was that she will do her utmost to influence 
 his Majesty into evacuating the hostile territory, surrender 
 Maestricht and pay half the campaign expenses." 
 
 " How about the emperor, what has he asked and what 
 will he give ?" 
 
 " He has put an income of ten thousand florins at the 
 favorite's feet, in exchange for which she had promised to 
 restore Philipsburg " 
 
 *' And Charles II., my august master, where is he in 
 this carving and distributing ?" He spoke with a shade of 
 irony. 
 
 " Being isolated, the King of Spain will be obliged .c .c- 
 cept these conditions, and will probably have to cede to 
 France, Burgundy and other places which " 
 
 " You need not specify the more you have to eat the 
 more you want. Decidedly, King Louis should not have 
 taken the emblem of the sun the crab, which with its legs 
 outspread, does not badly resemble the radiant orb, would 
 suit him better," and the old duke, having extended his fin- 
 gers to illustrate his simile, cracked the joints. " How did 
 you learn all this?" he finally inquired. 
 
 " Entirely devoted to us is this maid of the marchioness s, 
 Desoeillets, and she obtained copies of letters exchanged be- 
 tween her mistress and both the envoys, for Father Lack*
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 31 
 
 * Long live letter-writing * the letters fly afar in the mails, 
 fcut the copies remain." 
 
 An instant's silence succeeded, after which the arch-plot- 
 ier resumed with a wrinkled brow and in a cut tone : 
 
 " M. de Boislaurier, what thus is meditated, must not 
 come to pass, for it ought not be so. I grant that France 
 is my country by birth, but Spain is that by adopting me. 
 There was I welcomed when I was, as a proscribed fugitive, 
 hunted out of Belle-Isle with fire and sword under the ban of 
 Louis XIV. Spain made me duke of Almada, conferred 
 the title of Grandee upon me, and entrusted me with the 
 care of its interests at the court of St. Germain's. I must 
 not allow my second mother to be humbled, a little as regards 
 myself and a great deal as regards her. Spain is the Roman 
 Catholic power above all ; the lessening of its influence in 
 the European concert will be counter to our justifiable views. 
 Reflect, moreover, that the alliance of France with the Dutch 
 Calvinists and the German Lutherans will deal a terrible 
 stroke to the Company of Jesus, to which both of us belong, 
 while I am the supreme chief. Our enemy is Protestant- 
 ism. It brings with it that spirit of free scrutiny which it 
 the ruin of the Church's power, based as that is upon the 
 faith of the masses. For a long period France has been at the 
 head of Europe. If Protestantism takes a footing here 
 and it has long rooted itself in the Cevennes if it over- 
 spreads it and finally gains the upper hand, then it will hold 
 the empire of the world. Persecution will be turned against 
 us ; the Sons of Loyola will be dislodged, obliged to disap- 
 pear under shame, hunted and tracked- glad to take ref- 
 uge in the exile of Calvin, the dungeon of Luther and even 
 the pyre of Huss and Dolet " 
 
 "Heaven knows that I share your ideas," observed the 
 messenger, "and the same apprehensions ; but how are we 
 to prevent it ?" 
 
 The ex-Musketeer gave one of those smiles which had 
 bewitched while they perplexed "Marie Michon," half a cen- 
 tury ago. 
 
 "Am I not in the battle's van ?" he rejoined. " All is well, 
 since you have apprised me. The old saw asserts that a man 
 forewarned is fore-armed. Unarmed, I should wage a cruel 
 war; armed, I am a thousand strong in my single charge. Is it 
 forgotten how I coped with Cardinal Richelieu, who was a
 
 92 THE SON OF PORTffOS; 0JT. 
 
 great man, and overcame Mazar in, who was a great politician? 
 I grant that, in those times, I had such aids as are lacking to 
 me now." And a shadow clouded the brow of him who had 
 accomplished such elevated aims when planned and exe- 
 cuted in the company of the three Musketeers and the 
 Queen's Guardsman, d'Artagnan. "Still, it was 1 alone who 
 drew from the dungeon where state reasons consigned him 
 the twin brother of the reigning sovereign, that second son of 
 Anne of Austria whom I substituted upon the throne of France 
 for the royal lover of La Valliere, Fontanges and Montespan. 
 The enterprise was incredible, unheard-of and senseless, if 
 you like, but it would have completely succeeded had it not 
 been wrecked against the honor of a sublime idiot Fouquet. 
 Well, he is expiating to-day in the Castle of Pignerol his fool- 
 ish grandeur of mind and imbecile loyalty, and the true prince, 
 who failed me at the right moment, is also expiating his weak- 
 ness in an iron Mask, if he has not been done to death in 
 some obscure fortress. Let them rot who broke when they 
 were my valuable tools. Ah, believe me, Boislaurier, when one 
 has undertaken tasks of such magnitude, and measured them- 
 selves with such adversaries he has no dread or care about 
 a court doll.** 
 
 For want of breath the ex-revolutionist, once Bishop of 
 Vannes, and eternal intriguer, stopped in this recurrence of 
 youthful ardor. It was after a pause that he continued, in 
 a calmer and more leisurely mood: 
 
 "Poor Fontanges would have been a precious tool to us, 
 and her lack of intelligence would have served us better than 
 all the wit of all the Mortemarts. But we must replace the 
 instrument out of repair with another. We have to drive 
 out the ally of the Emperor and William ot Nassau. We need 
 stoop to have recourse to the criminal hand which distil* 
 poisons and the more guilty one which pours it out." He 
 said this without a twinge of conscience, for he may not have 
 clearly remembered how the Franciscan died from the effects 
 of the potion administered at Fontainebleau; and yet Aramia 
 obtained the Generalship of the Jesuits all the speedier 
 through that draft. "We will defeat the marchioness with 
 her own weapons, by opposing to her in the King's heart a 
 woman with charms more intoxicating, subjugating and fas- 
 cinating. This creature, more of an enchantress, will be no 
 IMS docile than Fontanges, and davoted to oar plans. 1 '
 
 THE DE*TH OF ARAMIS. 35 
 
 ''The Reverend Father Lachaise and I have been think- 
 ing this over ; but it is not so easy a matter as may be fancied. 
 .Consider, indeed, that all the court beauties have already 
 tried to captivate the capricious monarch without being 
 able to rule him in any appreciable degree ; the reign of such, 
 s Soubise and Ludre lasted only for a short while " 
 
 "Hence, I am not going to the court to find this Circe." 
 
 "Where else is there a woman to witch a king ?" 
 
 "I hardly know as yet; but when I must find an object, 
 test easy about its forthcoming." 
 
 ''Heaven hear your lordship !" 
 
 The King of kings listens also to the lowest of the sub- 
 jects. It is not for the want of praying heartily that I shall 
 fail to be heard." So spake Aramis, with his smile like the 
 Sphynx's. "In the meantime, let us dine without misgiving," 
 he added in a tone become light, " and happily, here comes 
 our host to announce that it is on the table." 
 
 It was Hermelin, indeed, who informed them with many 
 cringes, that he desired to know if they wanted him to set 
 their table in the general dining-room. 
 
 " Why not ?" 
 
 "Only because the travelers by the Nantes coach will ex- 
 pect to occupy the other table under the window." 
 
 "Pooh ! what matters ? good company does not annoy 
 Us," replied the old noble kindly. 
 
 A few minutes subsequently, the jingling of bells and 
 trampling of hoofs, with the rumble of wheels, betokened 
 that the coach, delayed by the highwaymen, had at last ar- 
 rived. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WANTED A QtfEEN OF THE LEFT HAND. 
 
 THE heavy conveyance lumbered up, presenting an ex- 
 ample of the sage's precept : " Make haste slowly." Al- 
 most instantly, the passengers made an irruption into the 
 dining-hall. Last of all entered the young squire as he had 
 stopped in the kitchen \o apply to his wounds that simple 
 cure of salt and water which, perhaps, after all, was as heal- 
 ing as the famous balm which Madame d'Artagnan had o
 
 34 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR t 
 
 the gipsy. On the threshold he began to look for some 
 one. Perceiving M. d'Herblay, beginning with the soup, he 
 quickly walked up to him, and questioned him, doffing his 
 hat in his hand : 
 
 "Monsieur, will you kindly inform me how I am to act 
 to see Mtille. du Tremblay ?" 
 
 "The lady so named, as appears to be the case," returned 
 the chevalier, "reposes at present, in perfect health, I sup- 
 pose, and I have reason to believe that she will shortly be 
 able to resume her journey." 
 
 *'I can but thank you, and heartily," with embarrassment 
 the young man pursued. " Allow me to present my most 
 humble and sincere apologies for for " he faltered, "a 
 bad thought that I entertained." 
 
 The duke's smile became mild and friendly. 
 
 "I understand," he made answer with a little slyness; you 
 imagined that I had eloped with your traveling-compan- 
 ion" 
 
 Joel looked down, as the old gentleman continued with a 
 shake of his head : 
 
 "Oh, youth, youth I mother of all follies! still you need 
 merely to have glanced at my white hairs to be sure how 
 unreasonable and unseemly was your supposition." 
 
 "Say, stupid, ridiculous, odious !" exclaimed our hero, 
 blushing wi'.h shame ; "you see me in consequence so con- 
 fused that I cannot express my confusion ; but I am fresh 
 from the country, a wild rustic. But, by the sword of my 
 father ! I and Falsehood have never walked through the same 
 door." 
 
 The old lord made the gesture of patting him on the 
 houlder affectionately and somewhat as a bishop might dp. 
 
 ''Long ago I forgave you for that. Have your dinner m 
 peace, and sin no more by thinking evil of your neighbor.* 
 
 *' Dinner ? Faith, i was not thinking of such a thing 
 I had such a weight on my heart." 
 
 But it would appear that the weight was suddenly remov- 
 ed, for when the youth joined his traveling-companions who 
 had begun on the meal with a quarter of an hour's start^ ht 
 made out to recover the lost lime. 
 
 Boislaurier called his friend's attention to the fact. 
 
 " Yes ; he has a hearty appetite. It reminds me of my poof 
 *orthos I" Then, raising his voice, as if to dispel the mem-
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 35 
 
 ory of which he was reminded, he addressed the young Bre- 
 ton at one table from the other, as he was demolishing a rab- 
 bit pie : 
 
 "My young friend, do you mind telling us in the course 
 of what occurrence you received a wound or two, and what 
 was the cause of the swooning fit of your fellow traveler?'' 
 
 "Willingly, since you wish so-'' 
 
 And Joel related the adventure when the coach was 
 stopped by the Colonel of Royal Marauders and his troop, 
 with the result. He told it with a swing and gusto, but 
 with a reserve as regarded his behavior which earned the 
 compliments of the two gentlemen of the audience. 
 
 When he ended, M. de Boislaurier leaned towards his 
 Companion and remarked : 
 
 " Do you not agree with me that this youth expresses him- 
 self most fitly and in a manner superior in all points to the 
 peasants whose dress he has assumed?" 
 
 " Yes," responded the elder lord : " he is some younger 
 son out of Brittany, a hobbledehoy or farming gentleman, 
 going to seek his fortune in the capital, with a good pros- 
 pect of doing it, too, to my mind. A good appearance, a well 
 balanced tongue, coolness, and self-control " 
 
 And built like Milo of old '' 
 
 " Plainly ; built to stop millstones with his finger laid 
 on it, like Bernard del Carpio, or to heave a boulder like a 
 Titan " 
 
 A cloud shaded the face of Aramis : he leaned his elbow 
 on the board, rested his chin in the hollow of the hand, and 
 mused. The aspect of the stout young squire, the memory 
 he had himself invoked by his comparison they brought 
 back the image of Porthos, as his name alone had done. 
 Not merely Porthos as he had seen him perish trying to up- 
 hold the immense mass of the rocks of the Locmaria cavern 
 after the explosion which the strong man had occasioned 
 by hurling a keg of gunpowder among their pursuers, not 
 the crushed giant but the Porthos of the happy days of 
 their feast of arms. Porthos colossal Musketeer, active, im- 
 posing, magnificent in his lifeguard uniform and the gold- 
 embroidered baldrick which glittered like goldfish scales in 
 the^sunshine ; Porthos the lady-killer who had courted "My- 
 Lady" to provoke the proctor's widow into wedding him and 
 bestowing her late lamented husband's wealth upon
 
 56 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 the Porthos who fought so boldly and whose strength ol 
 hand could make a hoop of an iron bar and" a corkscrew of a 
 fire shovel handle. And the Porthos, older but still sturdy, 
 jwiio won the admiration or tne King at the royal table, as 
 Well as of tae courtiers, by tucking away lamb chops, uueas- 
 ants and game patties. 
 
 But ever the simple, fearless-hearted Porthos, true, smil- 
 ing, invincible, disinterested, ready to lay down his purse of 
 life for others as though it was for that heaven had given 
 him strength and riches: faithful to the motto of the Four 
 Friends, he had fallen, crushed by an enormous rock, on the 
 Breton beach where the salty breeze from the ocean waved 
 the heather above his bones. 
 
 The repast of the two gentlemen finished in silence, for 
 Aramis was in reverie, and the other respected it. Little 
 more talk went on at the other board, where all ate glutton- 
 ously. Was not Faquedru, who was teasting in the kitchen, 
 likely at any moment to make his appearance to call out the 
 traditional words : *'A11 aboard, gentlemen ! the delight of 
 innkeepers but the misery of famished, travelers, still used 
 by our railroad conductors at way-stations. 
 
 "Have the horses put to," said the old duke to the host, 
 **Do you not think we had better start for you have ac- 
 cepted a seat in my carriage?" 
 
 His friend was fully of his opinion. At this juncture, Ba 
 *in, the majordomo, waddled in upon the threshold to an- 
 nounce: 
 
 *'MdlIe. du Tremblay desires to present her duty to the 
 Chevalier." 
 
 Behind him entered Aurore, still pale and somewhat agita- 
 ted. With a noble and graceful step she went towards M. 
 d'Herblay. 
 
 "Monsieur," she said, "I have been warned that you are 
 about to depart, and I hope that you have not thought that I 
 ehould see you go without thanking you from the bottom of 
 y soul for the attentions I owe to you, and the care given 
 without your knowing who I am." 
 
 The duke had risen courteously to greet her. 
 
 "Lady/* he responded, "I am too well repaid for services* 
 of which you certainlv enlarge the value, by my satisfaction 
 fa seeing that they have been of some use. I suppose that 
 you no longer suffer from your indisposition?" 
 
 "Thank heaven ! and vourseK '
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. yf 
 
 do not dwell upon that point : it would vex me and 
 / can crave a truce on account of the service rendered ** 
 
 "I keep silent, then, since you require it ; but the grat- 
 itude which you check upon my lips, will return to my heart 
 to be there preserved, fresh and sincere " 
 
 Turning to the Breton squire, who was looking at her and 
 listening to her as one regards a saint, she continued : 
 
 " The same as that I cherish for this gentleman who de- 
 fended and protected me." 
 
 This sentence fell like a strain of celestial music on the 
 youth's charmed ear. He longed to find some eloquent re- 
 ply, choice and meet, but all that issued from his tremulous 
 lips, from the breast brimful of delight, was this raeaninglesf 
 exclamation : 
 
 "It is I who -uiank you, lady !" 
 
 While Aurore was speaking, Aramis had studied her with 
 marked attention. Perceiving it, she felt ill at ease and, courte- 
 sying again, she took a step in retreat ; but the old lord re- 
 tained her with a gesture. 
 
 "Permit me one question your name, which I but now 
 beard, is far from being unknown to me. Are you by chance 
 any kin to the Marquis du Tremblay, who was governor of 
 the Bastille, prior to M. de Baisemeaux, and" 
 
 "I am his grand-niece, sir." 
 
 "And Grand Huntsman under the previous King?" 
 
 "The same." 
 
 "An excellent gentleman, with whom I had a pleasant 
 acquaintance I mean, in the latter capacity my visits to 
 the Bastille not being in the capacity of his guest," pro- 
 ceeded Aramis with a singular smile which would be only 
 comprehended by those who had been informed, as the 
 readers of our "Man in the Iron Mask," of his inteviews 
 with the governor of that state prison of lugubrious memory. 
 'Let me see, the marquis married a foreign lady, I believe ?** 
 
 "A Hungarian, indeed, the widow of a magnate of Pesth 
 province." 
 
 "Who brought him a large fortune as her marriage por- 
 tion ?" 
 
 "The very fortune," replied Aurore, with a melancholy 
 mile, "which is the cause of my journey to Pans." 
 
 "How does this come about ?'' 
 
 "My grand-uncle died some eighteen months ago ^* 
 
 "My poor, dear friend !'"
 
 38 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "He died without children and leaving no will ; his wife 
 had preceded him to the tomb, and his inheritance would 
 have come without contest to my brother and sister and self, 
 as direct heirs, were it not disputed by two sons by the first 
 marriage. They assert that their mother gave her second 
 husband the property only for use during life, when it was 
 to revert to her descendants in Hungary. This leads to a 
 lawsuit, and I am proceeding to town to prosecute the claim, 
 consult lawyers and solicit the judges." 
 
 "You are undertaking an arduous task." 
 
 "It must be. But do not believe, Monsieur, that it ia 
 greed that moves me it is hard necessity. My parents, whom 
 heaven removed at a brief interval, left me nothing but an 
 honored and honorable name. Were I alone in the world, 
 Heaven knows that I should be content with that; for penni- 
 less girls of noble birth, there is always the nunnery open 
 
 "Do not say that you would enshroud so much charm in 
 the veil in a cloister !" 
 
 The speaker had the air of not having heard the compli- 
 wentary interjection, for she continued gravely and calmly : 
 
 "But I have the future of others to look after : my young 
 brother's and sister's. They must be reared as beseems 
 their station in life ; and the young man launched properly 
 upon his career, while the girl is supplied with a dowry. I 
 did not hesitate, but collected our resources of which I made 
 two parts : one, the least, luckily, was to defray my 
 traveling expenses ^ that I was robbed of a while since; the 
 other, preserved to me by this gentleman's help" she indi- 
 cated Joel *'is intended to pay the children's board in the 
 school where they will await the result of the case. Heaven 
 grant that it will not be long coming, and will be favorable 
 to us !" 
 
 "Mademoiselle," insinuated the chevalier, "I am rich, and 
 it would be according me a signal favor if " 
 
 A flash darted from the full eyes , her brow bent, and all 
 her loveliness assumed a bitter and fierce look. 
 
 "Sir," she retorted, in a tone animated by her wounded 
 pride, "I trust that you are not going to offer me your 
 pure ?" But, instantly recovering herself, she softened her 
 air, and said with emotion, "pardon me ! I forgot what I 
 owe to you, and poverty is so sensitive. I am not a beggar."
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 39 
 
 he protested with forced liveliness. "In Paris, I have an 
 old kins woman who will welcome like her own child, and 
 she will not refuse to share her all with me, at need." 
 
 In the silence which ensued, Bazin's master assumed a 
 paternal air. 
 
 "My dear young lady," he broke it by saying, "It is I who 
 must beg pardon, if I have offended, unawares, by an offer 
 which my three-score and ten years should authorize me to 
 make. I do not dwell on it. But if there be one thing 
 which I have the right to offer and you have the right to ac- 
 cept, from your being the head of a family, it is the support 
 of all honorable men. Come, towards the winning of this 
 lawsuit, do you know anybody in Paris ? have you not rel- 
 atives, protection and influence there ?" 
 
 Sadly the young litigant shook her head. 
 
 Alas, my lord, this is the first time I have been to town, 
 and I do not know a living soul there, save the old relative 
 whom I have mentioned. The unfortunate have no friends. 
 To triumph over my adversaries, I rely olely upon the right- 
 eousness of my cause and the help of Providence " 
 
 "I, too, rely on such aids; nevertheless, had you more life 
 experience, you would know that all the decress of justice 
 lire not always dictated by equity and right, but, more often, 
 |>y means of engaging the powerful intermediaries which 
 pleaders know how to employ." 
 
 "The God of the fatherless have mercy on us !" 
 
 "Well, I have some credit." M. de Boislaurier, hid * 
 (faint smile. "Make use of me without scruples and restric- 
 tions. The Chevalier d'Herblay will be happy to serve you 
 with all his zeal and all his power." 
 
 " But, really, how do I deserve " 
 
 "It is enough to see you, to be interested in you. By the 
 way, here is M. de Boislaurier, whom I have the favor to 
 
 present to you " The gentleman and the young lady ex* 
 
 changed salutations. " I have no doubt that he agrees with 
 me?" 
 
 " Certainly,'* rejoined the other, " I am quite won by the 
 lady." 
 
 M. de Boislaurier is attatched to the household of his 
 Royal Highness the Dauphin, a pious Prince of austere man- 
 ners," proceeded the chevalier; " when you knock at M. de 
 Boislaurier's door, you knock at mine. Besides." he added
 
 40 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 good jiumoredly, " we do not attempt to impose our services ; 
 you are perfectly free do decline them. Only, keep the chil- 
 dren in mind, as you were just saying " 
 
 '* The carriage of my lord stops the way," reported the 
 landlord. 
 
 At the same time the coachdriver's voice was heard out- 
 ide, shouting the stereotyped formula : " Passengers by the 
 stage-coach, take your places !" 
 
 The ex-Musketeer bowed to the young lady as he was 
 wont to do to the queens when he was a gallant, and said : 
 
 " I hope we shall meet again, my child. My age permits 
 me to give you this title. Remember that you are not with- 
 out devoted friends. Use them too often rather than 
 merely wisely, as the only means of proving to them that 
 you are aware of the interest they take in you." 
 
 The movement was general to leave the room, and Joel 
 took advantage of it to approach Aurore. She held out 
 both hands to him with an outburst of gratitude, saying : 
 * Wounded you were wounded \ and in throwing your- 
 self before me to save me from the shot aimed at me. Now, 
 you must not be ill friends with me because I did not go and 
 ask how you were at once," she went on with a forced famil- 
 iarity ; "but we are not going yet to part, you know, but go 
 on to Paris together so that I shall have on the journey full 
 leisure to overwhelm you with my thankfulness." 
 
 Meanwhile the chevalier was directing his steps to his car- 
 iage, on the arm. of his friend. 
 
 "What do you think of that girl ?" inquired the former. 
 
 " I say admirably fair," replied the gentleman, turning 
 to have another look at the young lady, who was preparing 
 to climb into the coach, assisted by the radiant Joel. 
 
 His companion's smile was a reflection of that which had 
 fascinated the Duchess de Chevreuse. 
 
 " Salute her with lowliness," said he, "as the rising star 
 
 is saluted as all the court will hail her before a great wnile ; 
 
 for the country lass, whose existence is not dreatnpt of by 
 Paris and St. Germain, is the woman whom I have chosen to 
 bring our projects to the desired goal. She will succeed 
 Montespan dethroned : she will be the future Queen of 
 
 France by the left hand the hand on the heartside, re- 
 
 aaember ^and, conseauently , the real sovereign of France)"
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 41 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SWORD FROM THE GIANT'S GRAVE, 
 
 Let us go back to the period when Fouquet, the Lord 
 High Treasurer in fact, of France, owned Belle-Isle-in-the- 
 Sea. The estate is six leagues long by six in breadth and it 
 was a fief of the Retz family, to whom we owe the human 
 monster who comes down to us through the nursery as the 
 original of "Bluebeard." After the property had the title of 
 marquis conferred the holder on by Charles IX., it passed into 
 the Financial Seperintendent's hands. It included three ham- 
 lets; Bangos, Saugen and Locmaria, the latter having some 
 celebrity in the petty ports of Brittany for the prettiness, 
 gaiety and coquetry of its lasses. 
 
 The prettiest, most promising and buxon of all the girls, 
 but the least coquettish, was then Corentine Lebrenn, god- 
 daughter of Master Plouer, a sub-officer of the Marines who 
 had become syndic of the guild of fishermen. 
 
 Corentine was eighteen years of age, and her treses of 
 deep yellow shone in the sunbeams like gold. She did not 
 know what to do with them, they were so abundant about 
 her shapely head. Her large, carefree eyes had smiles in 
 them like those on her vermillion lips. Together with nat- 
 ural charms, she was the best "catch'* in the island. Her 
 parents were hard-working, saving and intelligent working 
 folk, who had toiled all their life that their only darling 
 should be sheltered from care. They died at the task, but 
 left her a nice farm and land that would sell well. 
 
 You may imagine how closely this prize was pursued 
 by the young men, not only on the island, but along the 
 coast. Quite a retinue followed at her heels when she went 
 to sell the farm produce at the markets; she was so enticing 
 in her hooded cloak and short plush petticoat, and with her 
 rounded ankle disappearing in natty little shoes. The young 
 blades, too, formed a double row when she came out of 
 church on Sunday, for then she wore a rich lace headdress, 
 a gold cross, a velvet bodice worked with gold thread, 
 clocked stockings and silver buckles to her shoes. But 
 she little troubled herself about sweethearts
 
 THE SON OF PORTHOS; VR. 
 
 She had enough to do in attending to the farm and hout 
 matters, the harvest, the fowls, the stables, her almsgiving 
 and her songs. Her life passed on, sweet and peaceful. Her 
 limpid gaze was never dimmed with tears. Around her shone 
 a halo of glee. All who came near her were the happier for 
 her beaming gladness. 
 
 At this time, M. Fouquet determined to fortify his Isle-in- 
 the-Sea. Wherefore f nobody clearly knew. It was his 
 good pleasure, and his serfs asked no farther. The Dukes 
 of Burgundy no longer reigned over the place but the lords 
 of tiie manor ruled in their stead. Superintendent Fouquet 
 was the most powerful and wealthiest, and consequently the 
 most popular of them all. 
 
 He sent to Belle-Isle an engineer and workmen. The for- 
 mer was a cavalier of high stature and robust mien, who wore 
 a doublet laced with gold, and a hat covered with plumes. 
 All the female sex of Locmaria remarked his splendid ap- 
 pearance and his winning air. 
 
 Every evening the girl-farmer went to the churchyard 
 where her parents reposed to see to the flowers on their 
 graves and kneel in prayer. 
 
 It was in returning from this pious pilgrimage thatCoren- 
 tine was waylaid by a gang of intoxicated soldiers and stone- 
 cutters, at nightfall. In a moment they surrounded her, and 
 dancing drunkenly, insisted on her sharing tne bottle and join- 
 ing in their gambols. In despair she screamed for help, 
 though knowing that the new-comers, both workingmen and 
 soldiers, inspired great terror in the islanders. A man ran up 
 in strides like one on stilts; he knocked the revelers about 
 like ninepins and forced them to flee as much with his prowess 
 as by his post ot authority over them. It was the chief military 
 engineer He escorted her home, although he had so effect- 
 ually driven molestation afar. The champion was not so 
 much of a Parisian courtier as she took him to be, and with 
 the same rustic frankness which she showed in recounting her 
 name and position, he related that he was not what they 
 took him for He was he said, but a Baron at present, but 
 at the close 01 the honor of dining with the King, it was 
 intimated that lie might look forward to be made a duke 
 and peer of tne realm In fact said the naive Porthos, for 
 our readers will have divined who this engineer was who 
 felled men like puppets, his mission in Belle-Isle was not
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 43 
 
 ancohnected with the next step to his rising to the rank, for 
 the fortification was on behalf of the monarch, who had no 
 dearer friend than Fouquet. 
 
 The Baron du Vallon, we know, was a widower, and ever 
 impressionable: the maid of the farm had never seen such a 
 demigod, and they fell simultaneously in love. 
 
 They met again and again, and the love on Corentine's 
 part was so pure, elevated into idolatry, and impressive, that 
 the conqueror, who had perhaps no other defect than a too 
 free tongue, never boasted of the conquest to Aramis; still 
 less to d'Artagnan, who, since the far-reaching and fatal re- 
 sult of his false-play with My Lady, was a model of discre- 
 tion in gallantry. 
 
 As usual, at his last parting, Porthos had promised to come 
 again. He never came. But the siege terminated by the 
 island rebels surrendering to the royalists by command of 
 their leader, the Bishop of Vannes. Corentine did not know 
 that Porthos,(for she did not remember her lover by the titles 
 wnich he held and which he said were due him,) had not 
 suared the flight of his friend Aramis, but had been stayed 
 by death on the beach of Locmaria. 
 
 One person could have informed her how her beloved had 
 perished. It was her god-father, Plouer, whom we have seen 
 valiantly assisting the fugitives to sail from the island. Un- 
 fortunately there was nobody whom the poor girl so persis- 
 tently shunned as the syndic of the fishers, for she had her 
 shame and her sin to conceal from all she was on the eve 
 of becoming a mother. 
 
 She fled to the mainland, where she had an old relative 
 living by Quimper. There she gave birth to a son. It was 
 during her absence from home, and giving an excuse for it, 
 that occurred the arrest of Minister Fouquet, and his transfer- 
 ence to Pignerol Castle, and the occupation of the island by 
 the King's troops. Only a confused account of these import- 
 ant events reached Corentine in her retreat. Her distress 
 put her life and her reason in danger. When she returned 
 to the farm, she had lost her virginal smile, her cheek was 
 pale, and her eyes had learnt how to weep. Nevertheless 
 she was happy in a way, in her misfortune and her state of 
 outcast. For her child remained by her dear little Joel. 
 
 Corentine was the Mother, to the point of delirious idol- 
 atry. In pagan times, comparing her lover with ordinary*
 
 44 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 nay, remarkable men, she would have believed that a aemr- 
 god had condescended to love her. In the little Porthos, she 
 worshipped the hero whom she had suddenly met and so mys- 
 teriously lost. She knew that she had been loved, and siie 
 believed that she still was loved by the handsome nobleman 
 whose manly bearing, showy uniform and plumed hat, had 
 struck her with surprise and fascinated her. The conquest 
 was still wonder to her. She knew only enough of him to 
 deplore the loss. She was not ignorant of all that divided 
 
 them rank, birth and fortune. Would she ever see him 
 
 again? Of a certainty she yearned to do so, and with all the 
 ardor of her soul : but not perhaps for her own sake for 
 the innocent creature who slumbered in its cradle, calm and 
 rosy. 
 
 In bringing this child to Locmaria with her, she had braved 
 the local indignation. As soon as the excitement of the war, 
 as they called the affair, had cooled down, the gossips took 
 up the disgrace of the rich girl-farmer. How they did chat- 
 ter to revenge themselves on her who had been so envied. 
 How they overwhelmed the unmarried mother with brut"* 
 humiliation, coarse disdain, and pretended compassion, more 
 cruel and humiliating still ! How the swains whom she had 
 jilted and the maids whom she had eclipsed affected to draw 
 aside from her with disgust, tempered with sneering laughs 
 and cutting remarks \ The unhappy one supported all with- 
 out complaint. Had she not her treasure to Console her, in 
 her solitude, for the scorn of the gross multitude ? Its fresh 
 lips called for the kiss, while the sweet breath of the infantile 
 was wafted through them. 
 
 In the midst of this isolation to defend his mother from 
 the public scorn, little Joel grew up. With time he became 
 a youth of stature and strength far above those of the lads 
 of his own years. The parish priest of Locmaria, good 
 Father Keravel, had forgiven the sinning mother on seeing 
 how she had redoubled her charity and with what affection 
 she surrounded the son oC shame, and he had consented to 
 teach the youngster. He did teach him to read, write and 
 cipher. And a smattering of spelling and a little Latin ; 
 but the highest nobles no longer emulated Fouquet in ''liv- 
 ing up*' to the court of poets and men of letters which he 
 had fostered. But it was undoubted that the young Porthos 
 mounted the wildest of the island ponies barebacked, so that
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 45 
 
 he had won the fame of being a centaur : that he could run 
 down a hare on his own feet and could take the eggs from the 
 highest nest. And lastly, he could fire off a musket with as 
 good a success as old Plouer, who had won the reputation of 
 killing nineteen woodcock out or twenty, 
 
 We hastened to say that the old marine corporaljhad not 
 imitated the virtuous Locmarians by turning his back on his 
 errant god-daughter Old soldiers are usually indulgent in 
 matters of love In his presence nobody dared to speak ill 
 of the pretty farmer-girl. 
 
 Plouer was not only the most daring of mariners and the 
 cunningest fisher on the island, but he had been one of the 
 finest and deadliest fencers in his regiment. He could swing 
 a cutlass now so that not one durst stand up to him, steel in 
 hand. 
 
 So fond was he of the art without which no gentleman was 
 reckoned accomplished in that era, that he put a little sword 
 in the chubby hand of Joel when he was only five or six 
 years old. 
 
 From that time forward, the boy never let .a day pass with- 
 out having fenced with his tutor in sword play for an hour 
 or two. In the course of the lessons, the enlarged knitting- 
 needle had become a cook's skewer, and finally a long rapier, 
 while the unsteady hand was at length firm, the eye sure and 
 piercing, and the stripling was able to stand up all the day, in 
 the position recommended in the fencing schools of the 
 time which knew a thing or two. 
 
 Besides these advantages, our hero possessed at his six- 
 teenth year a height scarcely below six feet in his stockings, 
 without being weedy, and i: promised not to stop there . a 
 fist that could smash paving stones, a digestion that could 
 relish them ; and an inexhaustible fount of good spirits. 
 
 His mother worshipped her infant Hercules, and he re- 
 turned her love with interest. 
 
 He wanted for nothing. He had the finest broadcloth 
 suits, the choicest Hunting dogs, a fowling piece made by 
 the first gunsmith of Nantes, and enough pocket-money to 
 shower alms on the poor. On returning from the chase he 
 always found a copious repast, and the thickest feather bed 
 awaiting him for a good twelve hour's sleep. 
 
 Such happiness often covers the worst disasters. A great 
 event was to out an end to it.
 
 46 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 One day, one of the beggars whom he regularly relieved 
 and who used sometimes to attend him in his hunting ex- 
 peditions, was set upon by some fellows who came out of a 
 wine-shop, and not noticing that the son of Porthos was with- 
 in hearing, pelted him with stones and hurled at him the re- 
 proach that he could find no better post than to be the hang- 
 er on of a pert knave who could not tell his father's name. 
 
 The ringleader of these ruffians was a youth who had pre- 
 tensions to gentle blood, his father having been a notable 
 official under the rule of Fouquet. Upon the insulted young 
 man showing himself and scattering the brawlers by his pres- 
 ence alone, this one stood firm but refused reparation. 
 
 " I cannot fight with a man who does not know who is his 
 sire, he said : " I am a gentleman ! if you are born to 
 carry a sword, go get it with proofs of your right to bear it, 
 and I will meet you with my father's, on the beach by the 
 Giant's Tomb." 
 
 The gathered crowd supported the challenger in this in- 
 genious evasion, for nobody believed in the hazy story of 
 Corentine's amour, which had oozed out from Plouer in his 
 cups. 
 
 In a fit of rage and desperation, Joel had run off at ran- 
 dom, and woe to any one whom he encountered in that mad 
 race. 
 
 Without intending it, his steps brought him out into the 
 open, in the desert, which the young gentleman had well se- 
 lected for the duel which he did not expect to have to fight. 
 
 The Giant's Tomb was a moss and weed-grown tumulus, 
 about which the superstitious Bretons had woven the usual 
 garland of legends. Here, in plain truth, had been immured 
 Porthos, in defending his friend Aramis and to give him the 
 time to escape in the boat which Plouer and his crew were 
 to launch and direct ro avoid the royal fleet blockading Belle- 
 Isle. But the secret had been well-kept by the dead soidiert 
 whom tney had destroyed and the fishermen who had con- 
 veyed the fugitive Bishop of Vannes to the frigate which car- 
 ried him to Spain. Plouer was observed to laugh with the low 
 chuckle of the Breton when he heard a villager express his 
 dislike to go along the strand by what had been the cavern 
 of Locmaria' 
 
 Corentine, who had discovered the grotto, and had im- 
 parted the word to her god-father, had also kept the secret*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 49 
 
 Thus it followed that the rustics went back to the olden 
 times for a cause to account for the convulsion which had 
 buried the pursuers of the Bishop of Vannes and his fellow* 
 rebel in the fallen-in cave. They invented a giant who had 
 been at war with the priests who tenated the spot as custod- 
 ians of a temple, and who had been defeated by the holy 
 men. Ages after, when the enemies of the good bishop invaded 
 the holy site, the giant's spectre, enraged at the double prof- 
 anation of the fame of Calonesa and his resting place, had 
 upheaved the rocks and let all tumble in upon the royal- 
 ists. 
 
 When the furious youth reached this mound, the sun was 
 dyeing the gorse and heather with purple and mother-of-pearl 
 tints and the gulls streamed close up to him to scream at him 
 as he took a seat sadly among the melancholy larches which 
 twisted like dead serpents among the stones; some of these 
 showed the blue and black marks of the explosion. In spots 
 a rank grass grew, and in others, only a creeping weed with 
 a blood-red flower like splashes of gore. 
 
 Where Joel sat, the upheaval seemed one of the funeral 
 mounds raised by the ancients after a battle where a hand- 
 ful of determined spirits had overcome a host. It is true 
 that Aramis and Porthos between them, with the slight help 
 of Plouer and his crew of two, had slain over a hundred of 
 the foe. 
 
 Around was peace: butjiere the spirit of battle still reigned 
 and whipped up the ire of the youth. He meditated only 
 of killing everyone of the bitter jesters who had insulted his 
 mother and his father's memory. Oh, for such a weapon as 
 the Excalibur of King Arthur, who lives in Breton tradi- 
 tions. He would attack the slanderers a hundred strong, and 
 strike, and slay, and slay with an unwearied arm. This 
 father whom he had never seen and of whom he thought so 
 constantly but spoke so seldom who was he ? Piously the 
 youth invoked this sire who was but a phantom in his dreams. 
 And it seemed to him on the sombre background of the 
 pines and blackened rocks, that he suddenly beheld one of 
 those human-like figures moulded by the fays out of the 
 ocean mists. This figure had the martial bearing and vic- 
 toriouss talk of a conqueror of men, and it still seemed to 
 the gazer that the large eyes were bent on him with a glance 
 of blended sorrow and Bride. With, a uabLe gesture it drew
 
 48 7jJ SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 /long oword from its rich girdle-band, and with a flourish 
 AS if to indicate its purpose, placed it on a stone not a score 
 of feet away. Then, with a kind of affectionate nod of fare- 
 well, it faded into the other mists which began to wreathe thf 
 mound. 
 
 Breaking the spell which had held him during this vision, 
 Joel sprang to his feet with a wild cry : " Oh, stay, ray 
 father!" but when he reached the stone, all had vanished and, 
 indeed, no weapon of any kind rested on the face of granite 
 only a dry twig with which imagination had pictured the 
 sword. 
 
 But still Joel stared at the place where the simulacrum 
 had withdrawn from his sight : never had a dream been so 
 vivid he believed that he should never forget the form in 
 its details, plumed hat, with some of the feathers snapped 
 by bullets, glittering baldrick, loose breeches seamed with 
 gold lace and disappearing in the large tops of riding boots. 
 But to his call only the sea-bird's shrill scream had answered. 
 He turned reluctantly, when a sharp pain at his heel wrung 
 from him an exclamation. Something bright but ruddy 
 gleamed in the sunshine ; he stooped and carefully exam- 
 ined what proved to be a point of metal. He seized the 
 twig and dug it out it was a sword, but from its length 
 and weight and the size of the handle it must have belonged 
 to such a giant as was fabled to lay his bones here. 
 
 " It is my father's gift," said Joel, kissing it piously, al- 
 though the rust, which might be blood, reddened his pale 
 lips. "I accept the token and I hop to draw it only in 
 such causes as he would approve and never to sheathe it 
 without the wrong done me is avenged." 
 
 He had the weapon for redress, and now, all that he want* 
 ed was the proofs of his gentility. He returned home, and 
 entered the house, still pale, but his eyes blazing and his feat- 
 ures sternly contracted. Never had his mother seen the 
 usually placid youth so aroused. 
 
 "Good heavens, what has happened ?" 
 
 "I have been insulted," responded Joel, in a deep and 
 tremulous voice . "and I am to meet the principal aggressor 
 in a duel, when I am supplied with the name of my father 
 and the proof that he was entitled to confer on his son the 
 right to bear and use a sword. This sword his sword* 
 you see, I am provided with,"
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. & 
 
 And he related the vision and held up the sword of Porthos 
 which time, the action of the sea breeze and the crumbling: 
 of the stones, had fortuitously offered to his hand. 
 
 Corentine turned white as a sheet on seeing this giauat*s 
 glaive, heroic in dimensions, which she recognized as hav- 
 ing been worn by her colossal lover. She staggered, pressing 
 her hand to her bosom as though she had been pierced to 
 the heart with it. Joel loved his mother and felt a respect 
 for her which would not have been unworthy a saint. On see- 
 ing the distress which prostrated the unhappy woman, 
 sudden revulsion drore pway his wrath as regarded her. He 
 bent his knee as one does in suing great pard"U, and ex- 
 claimed with a pang of anguish: 
 
 "What is the matter, mother ? I have caused you pain t 
 Is it possible that you recognize this sword ?" 
 
 " It is the offering of the dead," she returned solemnly, 
 and staying her tears ; "Well, you shall know at once what 
 must have been enfolded to you one day. I met " 
 
 He held up his hand to silence her, with a kind of author- 
 ity which he had never felt or shown to her before. 
 
 "Nay, be still. I wish to know nothing. I will not fight 
 ft duel with this malapert, but cudgel him and his band oi 
 Jesters within an inch of their lives. Do not speak un- 
 less to utter my forgiveness for having caused you pain." 
 
 She disengaged herself from his embrace, and repeated : 
 
 "You shall know, my boy, what it is right you should have 
 known ; but let it be later may it be so ?'* 
 
 "Oh, mother, I have no wish but yours. Keep the se- 
 cret. Like the vision and the gift of my sire, it will be re- 
 pealed in Gods's own good time." 
 
 "I pledge you my faith that all shall be clear," she went 
 0n gravely. "If you have seen him dead it is because I 
 am to see him soon. You shall know all, all when " she 
 muttered the end of the sentence out of his hearing : "when 
 death shall prevent me blushing in your presence." 
 
 From that day, there was a change in the life of the 
 toother and the son. She grew gloomy, and her activity 
 waned. She left to him the care of the farm, and shut her- 
 self up in her room. She was often heard to repeat with the 
 vSet frown of one haunted by the same idea : "It is by my 
 ton's hand that I am punished." 
 
 She had long ceased to go to the churchyard to decor-
 
 JO THE SON OF PORTHOS; OK. 
 
 ate her parents' graves, for the backbiters would even now 
 have insulted her; in country places, moral feuds rarely die 
 out i but she took her only walks to the deserted tract of 
 the beach where rounded up the Giant's Tomb. Nobody 
 but Joel, whose curiosity had urged him to follow her one 
 day, divined the object of this strange pilgrimage. 
 
 "It was my father whom I saw, as surely as this sword 
 was his." And he smiled with a kind of savage and lofty 
 pride that he was the offspring of so grand and impressive a 
 figure. 
 
 Meanwhile the poor woman's countenance grew thin ; 
 around her eyes brown circles formed ; her skin assumed the 
 yellow of old ivory and threads of silver whitened her luxur- 
 iant hair. Her son was almost the only one not to remark the 
 alteration, for youth sees everything lively and splendrous 
 as itself. 
 
 Yet he was serious at whiles. He had not resented the in- 
 sult either with the providentially supplied sword or with the 
 cudgel, used for the adjustment of differences between those 
 who were not allowed the gentleman's arm ; but this was be- 
 cause nobody dared repeat the slur on his parentage, in his 
 hearing, from the terribly threatening look which he wore 
 when he suspected it was on the lips of an interlocutor A 
 jest loses its point when there is danger of no less than death 
 to the joker. No one believed that he had forgotten the 
 insult least of all the young squire who had uttered it. 
 Joel's natural liveliness was often veiled by a cloud of care. 
 His eyes wandered into vacancy and became fixed so that the 
 old crones said that the young master at Corentine's farm 
 had "seen the walkers on the heath," meaning those envoys 
 from the other world who tell us of what it is not possible 
 for mortals to hear without their being made grave for life. 
 He would stroll the beach for hours together, as if an in- 
 visible attraction linked his sight with some goal on the 
 other side ot the water separating him from the main. 
 
 The farm proprietress read what was passing within him; 
 for she would meet him on his coming home, and say in a 
 broken voice rj she pressed him to her bosom, i 
 
 "But you will not go away, my dear Joel, until I am no 
 more?" 
 
 The malady under which Corentine suffered was the most 
 Ondeimining of aU: it was grief. She was certain that her
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAAflS. 5* 
 
 gallant lover was in the grave, and the swor4 which pointed 
 to heavan from tne subterranean, was a token. She ques- 
 tioned Plouer in a secret conference, while Joel was out of 
 the house, and he described the companion of the Bishop of 
 Vannes, distinguished by his tall form and imposing de 
 meaner so that there was no doubt left that the father of the 
 boy was him they both were fond of, the engineer who had 
 defied the King and his forces. Unfortunately, the soldier 
 had never heard him called by any other title than "Porthos," 4 " 
 evidently a nom-de-guerre. But he had no more doubt than 
 his god-daughter, of the nobility of the officer. Unfortu- 
 nately, the Bishop of Vannes had fled as an outlaw. In thiv 
 remote spot, no one knew how the King had forgiven him, 
 on the instance of his favorite Captain of tne Musketeers. 
 That Aramis, escaped by his affiliation to the Company of 
 Jesus, should have attained high rank in Spain, did not enter 
 into the fancy of either of these rustics. They both believed 
 that the secret was entombed in the Giant's Grave. The 
 syndic of the fishermen went there, and tried to unearth the 
 bones of the valiant one ; but the immense boulders defied 
 his single hand to even budge them; and as he did not wish 
 Strangers to disinter the remains, he forbore to call in aid. 
 
 He returned to tell of his ill success to his god-daughter, 
 whom he had not seen for some days, and met a messenger 
 who was running to the priest's. Corentine was a-bed and in 
 a bad state; her ailment was mental and the physician for 
 the soul alone might do her any good. 
 
 As the messenger was an infirm old man, Plouer replaced 
 him in the quest. 
 
 In the meantime, Joel had gone into the sick-room at his 
 mother's feeble call. She was sitting up, after an effort which 
 drew from her a piteous wail. He hastened to wipe off She 
 tears which the pain wrung from her failing eyes. He had 
 crossed the room to reach her in a couple of strides, like a 
 lion. But he had not made more noise than the same animal 
 hunting for prey. He threw himself upon his knees by the 
 bedside, and pressed his burning lips on the woman's blood- 
 less and wasted hands. She drew him passionately towards 
 her. 
 
 "When you are by me, I suffer no more," she murmured. 
 "You must not afflict yourself," she continued, with gentle 
 gravity, on feeling the boy's tears on her face for he was
 
 53 THE SON OF PORTHOS. O&, 
 
 ever a boy to her ; "we are not to part forever, but shall 
 meet again where my prayers and my repentance will have 
 won me a place, I trust. In that home of peace and bliss, i 
 shall watch over your days. You will see me bending over 
 you, as when you were in the cradle, and the belief of my 
 guard will support you in the task which I entreat our Lord 
 to grant you the power to fulfill. 
 
 ''Your father assured me and a nobleman never lies to 
 the woman whom he loves that he never loved but me 
 that lie had no heir to his fortune, his title and his fame, 
 It is you who must show that his spirit survives in his son. 
 Learn who he was for I feel that he is not in the land of 
 the living, alas ! That is the reason that I reveal to you 
 the secret of my life, my loss of station among the neighbors 
 and this killing grief. It is my duty to avow my fault '' 
 
 "Mother," said the young man, "again, let me know r.oth. 
 ing. Say not a word, or speak to tell me that this is noi 
 the long farewell." 
 
 She thanked him with a look which painted the extent of 
 her gratitude. 
 
 "You have never so much as questioned me by a look, 
 since the once. Heaven will bless the son who so respected 
 his mother. Nevertheless, you have been seeking here, and 
 you have intended to seek on the mainland, the origin of 
 your birth. Do not deny what I and Plouer have perceived 
 Besides, you know not how to lie." 
 
 Joel raised his head with pride. 
 
 "The reverend father is coming," she resumed but with 
 fatigue. "No doubt he will approve of my course, and then 
 you will know all as far as I do." 
 
 She interrupted herself to listen to a sound which did not 
 catch his ears, and sank back, exhausted on the pillow. He 
 (leant over her, and he received that inimitable caress-- 
 Ithe dying mother's final salutation this side of the grave. With- 
 out, he now heard the tinkling of a small silver bell : it was 
 the priest coming, guided by Plouer, if the parish priest 
 needed any guide on that often traversed road. 
 
 Indeed Father Keravel approved of the woman's wishes, 
 for he remitted to Joel, next day, that of Corentine's deathj 
 the written confession which she wished her son to peruse foi 
 his search for his paternity, clues to help him, a portrait 
 traced from an unflagging memory, some names and a date,
 
 THE DEA TH OF Art AMIS. 5$ 
 
 She had yielded up these when the hour of her liberation 
 from grief and pain came to her. Days after the funeral of 
 one whom he long and sincerely mourned, the young master 
 of the farm announced his intention to sell it and all its ap- 
 purtenances. But the matter was not arranged without de- 
 lay, the cunning peasants pretending to be in no hurry to 
 purchase what they were in reality covetting. The formali- 
 ties and chaffering lasted about a year, in the course of which 
 the young heir gradually fell back into his old habits and 
 moods. 
 
 One morning he called upon Father Keravel, and after 
 having begged him to forgive him for the trouble he had 
 caused him as the "Big boy," of the school, and thanked 
 him for what amount of education he had succeeded in 
 imparting, he constrained him to accept a handsome sum 
 for his school and the little chapel, such as a suzerain lord 
 might have offered. 
 
 "Father," he said, "I ask to be remembered in your 
 prayers as I am going to Paris." 
 
 " Go, my son," answered the priest. "I know the aim 
 to which you tend, and I am not f.he one to turn you aside, 
 however difficult as it appears the reaching it will be. It 
 is a laudable errand, and you are a worthy young gentleman. 
 The Lord will protect you, and I shall bless you." 
 
 Our hero went to take leave of Plouer. At the first words 
 which touched upon the imminent departure, the old soldier 
 grumbled : 
 
 '* Humph ! it is my opinion that you are seeking a needle 
 in the haystack. But I am not going to wrangle with you, 
 from the time that you have taken it into your head. Why, 
 Paris, though, when to my mind it is here where you should 
 iake up one end of the clue ? However, do your best not to 
 Jeave your skin and bones in town for your pains, and in 
 *rder to be safe on that score, remember to quickly do unto 
 thers what you do not like them to do unto you!" 
 
 After enunciating this somewhat perverted Christian motto, 
 ihe old sub-officer added 
 
 "I see you have girded on the sword you found, and you 
 Itill believe as I do, that it belonged to the engineer who 
 fought the king's men singlehanded, cr nearlv so for though 
 I admit that the bishop saw the blood spilled, like an old 
 warrior as they tell me once he was the fighting fell nearlv
 
 54 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 all to M.Porthos's lot. We boatmen only scored dead hounds 
 to our credit." And for the first time, in its entirety, he re- 
 lated the scene in the grotto, where the royalists had been 
 held at bay by the paltry force of the two friends and the 
 three sea-farers. Joel listened with avidity, and his eyes 
 sparkled. This was a father worthy of his owning. But it 
 was the proofs of that parentage that he could alone hope to 
 find he was sure that he was turning his back in that 
 search, on his sire s grave. At least, he left the admiring 
 Plouer to guard it. 
 
 "Let me see it again," said the old corporal, and he rev- 
 erently handled the long sword. "That is it, I am sure. I 
 see the motto on the blade is ' One for All, All for One' a 
 very good one for the member of a regiment. There is a 
 Spanish one often seen on good Toledo blades 'Never 
 draw me but from reason never sheathe me but in honor.' * 
 
 Hugging the recipient of his fencing knowledge, as if to 
 crush him, he concluded: 
 
 "Hang these fondlings, which are only fit for women ! 
 Farewell, and may your journey then turn out well, my boy. 
 Tiiink sometimes of your old fencing-master, and keep in 
 practice for the ward, and the lunge, cultivate the prime 
 parade and when you thrust, do it with your whole arm, 
 body and soul. With that correct, you can reach any 
 point." 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON THE TRESHOLD. 
 
 To Mdlle. du Tremblay our hero imparted as much of 
 this romantic story as he knew, and he concluded succinctly: 
 
 "The cou< is at Paris or in its neighborhood, and the 
 place of all nobleman, is at the court. Now, it is clear that 
 my father was a nobleman, and if he be alive, or if he has 
 friends in position, I shall learn there about him. Hence, 
 I am making straight for Paris." 
 
 The young lady could not abstain from a start ot sur- 
 prise and compassion before such simple faith. 
 
 "But the clues of which you speak the dateand tht 
 names to aid you in your searches ?"
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. $ 
 
 "The starting-point is the date of the occupation of Belle* 
 Isle by the royal forces. The first of the names is that of 
 my father, 'Porthos,' next those of his three companions-in- 
 arms, for whom he cherished an attachment and devotion- 
 above proof these were Athos, Aramis and d'Artagnan." 
 
 Aurore shook her head, and commented: 
 
 "Odd names, indeed, and no doubt cloaks to their real 
 titles. What a number of enigmas to unravel !" And she- 
 gravely added: "I hope you will succeed." 
 
 He looked at her with affright. 
 
 "Oh, lady, with what a forbidding look you say that! You 
 will dishearten me. Do you already despair of my succeed- 
 ing in the quest?" 
 
 " No, my friend, for you have a helper though youi 
 only one, but it can do everything for those who trust ta 
 it " 
 
 "It ?" said Joel sadly: "I understand: you mean chance ?'* 
 
 "Well, I prefer to call it Providence," replied the girl with 
 inspiration. 
 
 This dialogue took place on the rich plains of Beauce ; for 
 time had progressed, as well as the Nantes Coach, and the 
 acquaintance of the young couple, commenced on the high- 
 way of Saumur, was complete on the day after their leaving 
 the Golden Heron. 
 
 The night following the departure had been spent by the 
 young squire in watching over the sleep of the lady , she sat 
 over against him, while he shrank back into a corner of the 
 cumbrous vehicle, where all the passengers were huddled 
 higgledy-piggledy. 
 
 When a dawning light peeped into the common cell, he 
 had seen the girl's entrancing features gradually become de- 
 fined, from being vague and smoothed out as in a vision, so 
 as to be still more captivating as they could be more clearly dis- 
 tinguished. The rising sun played with her tresses. As soon 
 as she opened her eyes, their gaze met the youth's, and a 
 rosy tinge suddenly colored her peachy cheeks. In the limpid 
 pupil was a slight reproach as she said to the admirer: 
 
 "So you were looking at me sleeping, Squire Joel?" 
 
 He, too, had blushed like a boy caught in a fault, and he 
 was confused and could not find a reply. His lifting his hand 
 to his forehead, to collect his wits, disarranged the bandage 
 with which his face-wound had been covered during, the
 
 5 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 eight. As he was trying to invent some excuse, to gire 
 himself countenance, Aurore asked if she might not help 
 him. And, without waiting for his consent, she proceeded 
 to replace the bandage with a hand which did not tremble. 
 
 Our Breton adventurer wanted speech to express his ecs- 
 tasy, but his ravished gaze was terribly eloquent. 
 
 *'I am just doing my duty," continued the fair Samaritan. 
 4t You ran the danger for me. I thank heaven the hurt is 
 so slight, when it might in such a place have been mor- 
 tal." 
 
 " It would have been a joy to have shed all my life's 
 blood on your behalf," muttered the youth. 
 
 " Do I hurt you ?" inquired Aurore, smiling. 
 
 " Oh, do not think of such a thing !" exclaimed the squire 
 -whose intoxication knew no bounds. 
 
 The bandage having been adjusted, the impromptu nur?e 
 went on to say: "I have spoken of a duty which it is sweet 
 to fulfill ; but I have also a right, and it is my desire : I want 
 to know who it is to whom I must be ever grateful for so sig- 
 nal a service." 
 
 Thereupon the young man had related the story of his life, 
 until his auditress, lifting a warning finger, indicated that 
 their fellow-travelers were also listening, with ears pricked 
 tip and mouths a gape. 
 
 "NiVci. mind the rest now. Later when we are going up a 
 hill." 
 
 This was tiie o^ meaua of having seclusion from their 
 coach-companions. So, when a rising ~f the road obliged 
 the party to alight and relieve the vehicle ui their bodies, 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay, whom her presumed lightness and 
 her sex had excused from this change, which the shipping 
 merchant facetiously styled "lightening ship ?J hastened to 
 step down. The least acclivity tempted her. Encouraged 
 t>y a smile, Joel offered her his arm, and the two walked on 
 together, leaning towards one another. In these instant.-, 
 of isolation, the orphan had. concluded his narration. On 
 her part, she repeated what she had told the Chevalier d* 
 ivoiay. After this exchange oi confidence, *hs two had 
 cnaited. Of what ? it little matters. No doub* of tne weather, 
 She scenery, continually varying, the villages they drov* 
 through without noticing them, and those trifles, " light as 
 air," which lovers find full of sense wtoen the adored one speaki
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 57 
 
 them. Their glances were caresses, their words incense, and 
 
 their heart-beats kept time. 
 
 On the heights of St. Cloud, Paquedru pointed with his 
 whip to the twin towers of the Cathedral of Ndtre Dame, 
 emerging on the horizon in the floating gold dust of a fine 
 summer's evening. 
 
 " Paris !" he shouted. 
 
 " Paris !" repeated the others, rubbing their hands with 
 satisfaction at having had no more adventures with highway- 
 men. 
 
 " Paris !" repeated with mutual sadness the Oon of Por- 
 thos and the daughter of the house of Tremblar. 
 
 For the rest, the driver's hail had been the proclamation, 
 impatiently awaited, of the end of their imprisonment in this 
 cage on wheels, rolling at a tortoise's pace. For our pair 
 of turtle doves, it simply meant a parting. Their bos- 
 oms shrank, their brows clouded, and their lips became 
 mute. 
 
 Meanwhile, the coach entered the city to stop in the 
 coachyard, the name still being applied to the site, though 
 uilt upon in the suburb, without the St. Honore* gate. 
 
 The passengers hastened to open the door and climbed 
 out with a sigh of relief when stepping on the pavement. 
 
 " Is Mdlle. du Tremblay here ?" inquired a quivering 
 voice, as an aged serving-woman showed herself at the coach- 
 door. 
 
 "Here I am," responded the girl, leaping out nimbly. 
 
 The old domestic courteseyed, and continued : "Your 
 kinswoman, my mistress, Widow de la Bassetiere, sent me to 
 meet you and take you to our house " 
 
 "Very well, nurse ; I am with you." But she turned to- 
 wards the Breton, who had alighted after her from being in 
 the farther corner, and said : " It is the time to part." 
 
 His heart was swollen with indefinable anguish, and he 
 could not breathe a word. 
 
 "Good fortune," she said, offering her hand, ''And I hope 
 we shall meet again." 
 
 "Do you hope that ?'* queried Joel, feeling life return to 
 him at the sentence. 
 
 "Certainly I do," in full sincerity : "It is only mountains 
 that never meet," she added, forcing herself to seem mirth- 
 fttl to cheer him up. "I feel sure that we shall meet again.*
 
 58 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "But when, and where ?" questioned the Breton, who had 
 learnt from his fencing-master, to reply directly and tc 
 the point. 
 
 Aurore was "hit." Perhaps she wanted the question to bt 
 put, for she answered promptly; ''The member of my fam* 
 ily offering me hospitality, lives in the Rue des Tourndles. 
 I beleive that St. Paul's Church is close by, and that is in 
 the neighborhood of Royal Place. Every evening, for the 
 vespers, I shall go to that church." 
 
 While the young couple were arranging for their next meet- 
 ing, two men in cloaks, with their hats slouched over their 
 eyes, were hiding under the shed over a shop-front. When 
 the young lady and the old servant went their way towards 
 St. Honore* gate, one of the men leaned to the other and said 
 in the Spanish language, in his ear: 
 
 "Esteban, have you noticed those two women ?" 
 
 "I have, my lord duke." 
 
 "Then, dog them whithersoever they may go, taking heed 
 not to let them perceive that they are the object of you* 
 pursuit." 
 
 "I understand yout lordship." 
 
 "Bring to me the name of die street and description of th 
 house where their journey leaves them." 
 
 "It shall be done, my lord." And the Duke of Almada's 
 trusted myrmidon stated off in the tracks of the unsus- 
 pecting pair with a stealthy step and wary carriage which 
 showed that the errand was no new one. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE FASHIONABLE FORTUNE-TELLER. 
 
 ABOUT the same time as the Nantes coach rolled into Paris, 
 three women came to a stop before a house in the middle of 
 the Rue du Bouloi. They wore the woolen petticoats, muslin 
 caps with a point, and hooded mantles of the middle-class 
 Parisians. The house had such a mysterious appearance as 
 became one reputed to be the retreat of the heiress, some 
 said tiie daughter, of La Voisin, the poisoner who cloaked 
 her deadly trade under that oj soothsaying. Whoever she
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 59 
 
 was she called herself the Manicarde, which meant, if any- 
 thing, the Manipulator of Cards. The fashion still ran on 
 witches, who sold pommades to ladies of quality to make 
 thin persons stout, and stout ones slender , charms to cause 
 the uimpressionable to love one another ; and who showed 
 shades of the greatest ; as for instance, to the Duke of Lux- 
 embourg, was shown Satan himself to influence a succession to 
 property, and to Cardinal Tour d'Auvergne, Marshal Tu- 
 renne, whose heir he was, and whose buried riches he was 
 hungering for. The Queen and the King's brother had 
 come to consult the oracles, it was asserted. 
 
 If the executed La Voisin's daughter, the prophetess had 
 learnt something by her fate, for she declared that she only 
 told fortunes and did not deal in cosmetics or elixirs of love 
 or, still less, deadly drugs, Thanks to this rule, the Lieu- 
 tenant of Police, Lareynie, allowed her undisturbedly to, 
 pursue her craft in the same street as where he lived, and 
 indeed could count from his house the customers she had. 
 
 At the knock struck on the door by one of the women, a 
 hard, sharp, ringing bang as by one accustomed tocommand| 
 a negro boy, dressed in the Oriental mode, silently opened it 
 and conducted the three visitors into a large parlor on the 
 ground floor where he pointed to chairs. 
 
 The room resembled an alchemists laboratory, the hang- 
 ing lamp showing stuffed crocodiles, owls, alembics, and the 
 traditional paraphernalia of the wizard, covered with dust. 
 On the other hand, the seats which the visitors took were 
 clean as if frequently used. They looked about them with, 
 curiosity, and one whispered, with a slight shivering : 
 
 " Does it not seem to you that these tapestry hangings 
 harbor a host of muttering spectres ? Do you not believe 
 that the witches Sabbath is celebrated here ? Really, ladies, I 
 am afraid." 
 
 A meeting of witches within a couple of steps of the royal 
 palace and the public gardens next door to the resi- 
 dence of the head of the police ! you must be mad my dear 
 friend!" With boastfulness she added: " I laugh at the 
 whole pack." Turning to the third of the party, she in- 
 |uired : What are you doing, dear Francoise ?" 
 
 " I am observing," replied this one tranquilly. 
 
 While the first lady shudders in dread, the second laughs 
 and the last observes, let us present all three to the reader, two
 
 60 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OK, 
 
 of them being called upon to play important parts in thi* 
 work. 
 
 The one in terror was small, fresh in complexion, inclined 
 to be full in figure, with chestnut hair, lively eyes and mock- 
 ing mouth. She is not of much importance to us. The gen- 
 eral aspect of her face did not rise above her commonplace 
 attire. 
 
 Not so with the laughing beauty: her haughty manners, 
 imperial stature, and lofty carriage of the head formed a strik- 
 ing contrast with the modesty of her dress. She appeared 
 older than thirty, but her loveliness was still "surprising," as 
 her contemporaries termed it. An abundant head of 
 hair, with a ruddy light color, puffed out her cap. Only the 
 slightest space separated brows of jet, seeming to be drawn 
 with a brush, and her imperious lip, of coral red, was 
 curled with a proud smile beneath a nose finely chiselled with 
 nostrils inflated with passion. Still, the masculine and reg* 
 ular countenance wore an expression of unease. The eye 
 was cold and hard ; the smile often perfidious and ironical; 
 and the prominent cheekbones betrayed fierce obstinacy. 
 
 The third visitor would have been more attractive but ; >r 
 her severe and thoughtful mien. Her face, without being 
 pretty, possessed an invincible charm, for its expression ol 
 meditative calm and resolution. Her complexion, of the 
 warm cream tint in colonial beauties, set off the black orb 
 which seemed pursuing some dream flown into vacancy, 
 and when she raised them upon persons, they were scrutin- 
 ized with deep and comprehensive fixedness. Curls of brown 
 hair clustered on the forehead, brown and smooth, where 
 the work of thought was plain. Lastly, she had the rare and 
 valuable boon of features that collectively could never be 
 forgotten, although no one of them struck attention. 
 
 All at once, a doorway hanging opened, and the Mani- 
 carde appeared. Her patrons were kept in ignorance of her 
 age, as she gave her audiences seances they would be called 
 in the modern jargon of her tribe, in a dark colored, ample 
 dressing gown with hood and cape, pulled down over ..he eyes 
 for which there were holes cut out; they sparkled with a ius- 
 tre which might be youth or simply weirdness. For an iu < 
 stant she regarded the three ladies, who had risen on bet; 
 approach. 
 
 " I greet you, ladies," she said in a grave voice.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 6l 
 
 "Ladies," was a significant term in her mouth, as it was 
 used at the period towards all women of quality; while mar- 
 ried women of the lower classes were called "mistress (mad~ 
 cmoiselle)" 
 
 ' 6 In you 1 hail Beauty, Birth and Rank !" she proceeded 
 after a pause. "I hail Fortune which is going to offer its 
 most amazing boon in making one of you a queen.'' i 
 
 " Queen? Am I to be a queen ?" exclaimed the tall, fair * 
 woman, stepping forward as though such a prediction could 
 apply to her alone, but the soothsayer did not take up the 
 direct challenge. 
 
 ** Is it you who wish to be the first to question Fate 
 through me ?" she said. 
 
 " Yes, to be sure, wise woman," returned the other, sink- 
 ing into the common parlance, " provided that there is no 
 obstacle." 
 
 The heiress of La Voisin nodded affirmatively. 
 
 ts You are quite right, inasmuch as your present position 
 gives you the right to take precedence of all womankind. 
 Follow me, therefore, into the study where I am accustomed 
 to receive persons of your quality." 
 
 Behind the arras, she had a private room without the 
 hideous and horrifying objects, toads, serpents, magic books, 
 etc., intended to impress the vulgar. On a table was only 
 a pack of fortune-telling cards and a witch-hazel rod. Near 
 the table was a capacious arm-chair. 
 
 " My lady the marchioness," said the sybil, standing and 
 speaking with marked deference, "do me the honor to take a 
 seat under my rooftree." 
 
 "You know my title?" exclaimed the other with, sur- 
 prise. 
 
 As plainly as I know the name of the high and mighty 
 Dame Athenais de " 
 
 " That will do," quickly interrupted the visitor, "do not 
 utter that name in such a place. Walls have ears some- 
 times, and I did myself quite too much harm, as no doubt'} 
 you know, by going to consult La Voisin unmasked and 
 without disguise." 
 
 "La Voisin was foolish enough to vend the drug that 
 cleared one's way to inheritance the Power of Succession? 
 drily replied the witch, "while I sell nothing but horoscopes. 
 However, I will call you the Marvel, if you please, as you
 
 02 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OX, 
 
 are styled in the circle where you shine with peerless lustre 
 Now, will you deign to give me your hand ?" 
 
 The marchioness seemed satisfied with this arrangement, 
 for she tucked up the sleeve of her robe, and held out to the 
 speaker a hand which might have come from an ancient 
 statue of Cybele; in his happiest inspiration Phidias never 
 sculptured one purer and so perfect. 
 
 "Yes," murmured the reader of the future, attentively ex- 
 amining the lines, "it is noble and severe, although graceful 
 in shape and pretty with its dimples. Albiet delicate, it is 
 larger than the average, which denotes a mind virile and de- 
 cisive, and capable of bold deeds. This hand is fit to wield 
 a sceptre !" 
 
 The lady listened with a thrill of pleasure, while the chiro- 
 mancer pursued : "By these lines I can tell that you were 
 born in 1641, and are consequently thirty-seven years of 
 age " 
 
 "Skip that !" 
 
 "You spring from a family in which mental brilliancy is 
 inborn. You were maid of honor to the Queen. In 1663, 
 I believe, you were wed ; but your husband quitted you, and 
 your children have no right to bear his name." 
 
 "My good creature," interrupted the Marchioness de Mont- 
 espan with impatience, "I am not asking to you for what 
 I know better than yourself. What I want to learn is shall 
 I be Queen of France ?" 
 
 The diviner rolled her eyes heavenward as though to con- 
 sult a higher power, before she answered : 
 
 "You are what you wish to become." 
 
 Frowning, the other said in a lowered tone : "But there 
 is yet an obstacle betwixt me and the throne." 
 
 "It will be removed." 
 
 "What? Queen Maria Theresa " 
 
 "Her days are numbered, and death waits at her door to 
 take her hence." She shuffled the cards and as she spoke 
 threw one down, face up, on the table : it was the seven of 
 clubs. "So many years as there are points here." 
 
 "Are you sure ?*' 
 
 "The cards never speak false,*' returned the Manicarde, 
 pointing to the pack with a slender finger which might 
 have been an old woman's emaciated with age, or a girl's not 
 yet developed.
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 6j 
 
 "Ah !" in this monosyllable, roared out, so to say, the 
 tnumph of uoundless ambition. The speaker's visage beamed 
 with tne intoxication of pride. She drew her hand away, 
 saying : 
 
 "Enough ! You need read no farther. If your prediction 
 comes to pass, your fortune is made, my pet. Meanwhile, 
 take this purse of gold." 
 
 She tossed a heavy one on the board. 
 
 "If only the throne be empty, rely on me taking and hold- 
 ing it." 
 
 But the sybil shook her head, and said' 
 
 "Lady, lady, you have not yet attained your mark. Did 
 you not see that rod move ?" 
 
 "What rod?" 
 
 " My wand which rolled over to touch the cards." 
 
 " No, I did not notice it. What would it signify ?" 
 
 " That there is a stumbling-block on your path. " 
 
 " Never mind ; I shall spurn it aloof, or break it." 
 
 " Does the fiery charioteer perceive the rut in which hii 
 steeds hurl all to ruin ? See the wand continues to vi- 
 brate Lady, lady, have a care !" 
 
 Without any apparent reason, the rod of wood thrilled as 
 if about to turn into a living snake. 
 
 "Why should I care ?" 
 
 *' Distrust everybody : those nearest you, in the first 
 place." 
 
 " My poor witch, you are in your dotage," said La Monies, 
 pan, with a smile. " I always take the most precautions 
 against those next me. Ask my son, though he is only eight 
 years old, and my sister, Mdme. de Thianges. Still, if you 
 would be a little more definite ?" 
 
 41 Harm comes from a woman whom you will have reared. 
 Beware of disgrace through a woman-friend." 
 
 The hearer reflected for a while , then she rejoined with 
 dark and threatening energy : 
 
 "Thanks for the warning. I shall not forget it. But 
 whom will dare, in the court of France, dispute with me 
 the inheritance of that wretch Fontanges * Those who 
 would rob me of my royal lover know too well that I am 
 not a La Valliere, and that there it but oneAthenias de Morte 
 mart. For all others, the royal couch will be a death-bed!" 
 
 The visitress with the pale complexion and fair curls re*
 
 64 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 placed the first client in the diviner's study a few instaatt 
 after. The prophetess bowed to her with tokens of the deep- 
 est respect She refused the hand which was held out to 
 her. 
 
 ** I do not need it to raise a corner of the veil over the 
 future. Enough for me to look upon your face where I seo 
 the traces of tears bur lately brushed away. For you have 
 suffered sickness, poverty and humiliations." 
 
 " The last particularly," said the other with bitterness. 
 
 '* When but a child, your parents were driven from theii 
 native land across the ocean. You fell into a trance on the 
 voyage so like death, that the ship's doctor ordered you to 
 be thrown over the board* but in embracing you for the last 
 time, your mother felt your cheek to be moist, your heart tq> 
 throb lightly, and you were taken back to the cabin whera 
 you opened your eyes.'* 
 
 44 This is true my mother saved me." 
 
 ** Two years subsequently, when you were drinking milk 
 on the grass, a deadly snake approached you and your 
 other had barely time to catch you by the hand and 
 snatch you away ; but the snake did not pursue you it 
 stopped to drink the milk." 
 
 " That is true : but why revive these memories ?' 
 
 " Merely to prove that the Almighty hand has never 
 ceased to be extended over you.'* 
 
 ** Why should He abandon one who has never ceased to 
 trast in His mercifulness ?" 
 
 "Fate ruled that you, young and charming, should be 
 wedded to an old invalid who bequeathed you the pension 
 which had helped him to subsist, but which . you long sued 
 for until recently " 
 
 "When the munificence of his Majesty restored it to w.* 
 
 "You have the consolation of another marriage," suggested 
 the fortune-teller. 
 
 4 'Remarry ? who would have me?" questioned the young 
 widow, disconsolately. "I am not a girl and I am poor. 1 ' 
 
 "Still,"' said the soothsayer, 44 you will marry for the 
 second time, and he who will select you to be linked with 
 h<m in glorious destiny, will have UQfle above him ave the 
 King of Heaven." 
 
 4 * What do you say ?* 
 
 M I tell you that, the lower ymir sttrtuv* potot, t!
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 5 
 
 you will swar. The goal will not be reached by the proud 
 woman who took the lead of you just now never will 
 she mount to the rank where her unscrupulous ambition al 
 lures her. Your fortune will astound the world and history. 
 A new Esther, you will take your place on the throne beside 
 your Ahasuuerus." 
 
 4< For mercy's sake," whispered the questioner, " speak 
 
 lower! Were you to be heard and heeded " 
 
 The gleam of brightaess in her eyes faded as quickly as 
 it had been kindled, and with apparent calmness, she re- 
 sumed : "But no, this is a trick of your craft: or you are 
 jesting ! in such language how can anything serious exist ?" 
 " Nevertheless, this is not the first time your ears have 
 been thrilled with such a promise. Did not the mason Barbre", 
 one day, in the Albert mansion, on seeing you, burst out 
 with this prophecy: 'Behold one who will arrive at great- 
 ness over the thorny path ?* The truth of heaven may issue 
 from the lowliest lips. To, and by, the least worthy may 
 be revealed the secret of its impenetrable will. I tell you, 
 that your woes are nigh to ending. You will be guided out 
 of your gloom by a ray from the crown of France, in the 
 same way as your mother's smile called you out of the cloud 
 of death. Adversity will flee from you like the snake that 
 threatened your life. A great monarch will love you, and 
 make you his wife you will be the Queen." 
 
 She paused as if worn out, and raised her eyes to the ceil- 
 ang as an actress glances towards the prompter, for inspir- 
 ation. 
 
 By a prodigious self-command the hearer calmed her feat- 
 ures, and closed her eyes as though the dazzling vision had 
 overcome her: thanks to this temporary abstraction, she did 
 not perceive the passing sight of a face with blue eyes and red 
 hair which appeared at a trap door in the ceiling, and re- 
 plied to the soothsayer's interrogating look with a smile 
 At this moment the door tapestry was lifted, and the third 
 visitor showed her head. She also held a purse and sh* 
 wid, in a pleading voice: 
 
 " Dear, dear, am I never to have my turn and a share i 
 the good things on fate's table?" 
 
 But the fortune-teller was making a low reverence to th 
 iUture Queen of France, and respectfully said- 
 
 ** Only when you have the means and the power, be good
 
 44 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 to the brave poor, as on the whole the world has been to you 
 who bear your poverty so bravely." 
 
 " Eh," said the intruder, advancing a little, * I did the 
 honor to ask if you " 
 
 " Madame," replied the witch to the speaker, " I hava 
 nothing to tell you but this. Albeit you are the Lady of 
 Heudicourt, and niece of a marshal of France, you will not 
 the less be expelled from the court on account of your spite- 
 ful tongue." 
 
 The astonished woman crushed up in her hand the purse, 
 and hastened to withdraw with her two companions. 
 
 Hardly had the negro boy closed the outer door on them 
 before the soothsayer, who had sunk on the large chair, was 
 joined by the owner *of the fair face with red hair who had 
 peeped through the sliding panel in the ceiling. This fam- 
 iliar, who had no doubt whispered to his voice the cues for 
 her foretelling, was an English-looking man of good appear- 
 ance, except for his eyes being watery and having drooping 
 lids. With such eyes he must be a skillful, hardened, perfid- 
 ious knave. He was the individual distinguished in the exam- 
 ination of the culprits of the Great Poisoning Case as "the 
 Englishman," or "the wool-merchant," he being neither in 
 reality. He was the leading spirit of the band, and, like most 
 ringleaders, had escaped, where his tools suffered. 
 
 "Well, did I do the part well ?" queried the woman, throw- 
 ing back the cowl and revealing the face of a pleasing and 
 pretty girl, who eyed the man with a sort of terrified, fasci- 
 nated expression. 
 
 "Not bad, Theresa, but for one omission you ought to 
 have had Mdme. d'Heudicourt's purse before you gave her 
 her prophecy. Luckily," he added, coolly donning a hat 
 hanging beside the arras and a sword and belt in another 
 hiding-place, "they will not have gone far." 
 
 "Oh, Walton, what would you do?" cried the girl, trying, 
 but with a timid gesture, to restrain him. 
 
 "Carry out the motto of your esteemed mother La Voisin, 
 and your father, now lodged in the Bastille recover the 
 purse which you allowed to slip your fingers what the lit- 
 tle finger loses, let the thumb regain." 
 
 And he darted out of the mysterious house on the traci 
 Of the three ladies of the court.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 67 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BRITTANY TO THE RESCUE I 
 
 LEFT alone on the threshold of the coach-yard inn, Joel fell 
 ft deep sinking at his lonesomeness in the great city. 
 
 He looked round dismayed at the strange sights and the 
 unknown people. He would willingly have rushed into the 
 arms of the first acquaintance lie spied, even had that been 
 the young gentleman who had insulted him at Locmana. 
 But he was not the man to dwell long in torpor and dis- 
 couragement. Something drew him forth with a sudden pang: 
 it was his appetite. Our Breton had that of his time of life 
 and of his illustrious ancestor. 
 
 He recalled the fact that he had not eaten since the morn* 
 ing. 
 
 " I must find a house, and a table well spread within it," 
 be said to himself. 
 
 Reflecting on what Mdlle. du Tremblay had said on quit- 
 ting him, about her going to live in the neighborhood of the 
 Place Royale, he concluded that it was there he ought to 
 find lodgings, but first he had to find that quarter. 
 
 Enquiring of a passenger, he learnt the dire'ction, which 
 took him through the St. Honore" gate, and the street of the 
 same name. 
 
 The length of the walk did not deter him, for he had stout 
 legs. The long sword of Porthos, however, discommoded 
 him by slapping against his calves, for he had not been in 
 the habit of wearing a sword at Locmaria. This constant 
 beating made him fretful and slackened his gait. Add the 
 multitude of novelties which detained him as he strolled, while 
 the Parisians stopped to stare at him, amazed by his Breton 
 dress and his bewildered air. But the quip and the laugh 
 died on their lips when they saw how he towered above 
 their heads and had broad shoulders to support the rebuke 
 he would certainly have administered to any jester. But 
 still all tended to delay him : so that it was dusk when he 
 reached the Palais Royal, and dark at the Rue Croix des 
 Petits-Champs, where, it being a crossing point of streets, he 
 halted to ask his way once
 
 68 THE SON OF PORTHUS; OX, 
 
 The worst of it was that the passers-by were few. With 
 the twilight, doors and blinds were closed. 
 
 In these days, Paris went to rest early. 
 
 It was at tins hour that the three clients of the witch came 
 Into the Rue St. Honore". 
 
 A little beyond them, a man debouched into the same 
 street from a dark and tortuous alley which few would care 
 to tread. It was the man called Walton, who had followed 
 the women in the manner familiar to thieves and police 
 spies in other words, he divined their route and ran by a 
 short cut to precede them. But he kept under cover of the 
 overhanging eaves and signs, and they did not perceive him 
 at the first. Besides, all their attention was directed to- 
 wards Joel, who was decidedly endeavoring to accost them. 
 In fact, he had no sooner descried them than, taking them 
 for three good-wives hastening home, he aimed to ask his 
 road of them. 
 
 He quickened his pace to catch up with them. They 
 took fright and began to run, which was into the arms ol 
 Walton, who had but to turn at any time to entrap them. 
 But the Bretons are headstrong, and in this respect, Joel 
 was doubly a Breton. Fast as the women fled, so he gave 
 chase. 
 
 It was a commonplace interruption to the grave thoughts 
 with which the trio had quitted the prophetess. Mdme. 
 d'Heudicourt was still confounded by the saucy retort o^ 
 the strange witch; the fair marchioness had a crease in th<i 
 forehead which denoted deep meditation. And the dark* 
 complexioned future queen was dreaming of her coronation 
 robes. 
 
 They were hurrying along when they first heard Joel's 
 nartial step. 
 
 Paris by night had no other illuminators, the moon ex- 
 cepted, than lanterns which the police regulations ordered 
 to be hung out. To the number of sixty, they were supposed 
 to give sufficient light for the half-million inhabitants. Th* 
 result was that with the last sunbeam, the doleful thorough- 
 fares were transformed into prowling grounds for beggars, 
 mostly sturdy, thieves of all sorts, pickers-up of drunken 
 men to rob them or of any other trifles, and the scum gener- 
 ally. 
 
 On finding themselves pursued, the three ladies exchanged
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM1S. 69 
 
 a glance <Jf growing disquiet. Without speaking,they pressed 
 on. But they not only failed to outstrip the hunter, but 
 they did not overtake the ingenious Walton, who kept in, 
 advance to execute the manoeuvre of separating Mdme. 
 d'Heudicourt, who had not left her purse, from her compan- 
 ions. 
 
 ''Beyond doubt," said the brunette, "we are followed." 
 
 "It is an armed man,** said Mdme. d'Heudicourt : " I 
 caught a glimmer of the light through broken shutters on 
 the hilt of his rapier." 
 
 The tall blonde said nothing, but she thought: *' I dare- 
 say I have been recognized, as easily as the fortune-teller 
 told me, I have a host of enemies in the court, and they 
 may have hired a bravo to kill me in the streets." 
 The three took the turn which led them to the waterside by 
 the Louvre Palace. A prey to growing terror, they huddled 
 together panting, and feeling their hearts thump as though 
 to burst. 
 
 "Merciful powers, I can go no further/' murmured the 
 marshal's niece. 
 
 The dark woman was also nearly swooning, and she 
 breathed : "We can never reach the St. Jacques ward." 
 
 "Keep on," said the third to give them courage, " here is 
 the New Bridge (Pomt Neuf). We may meet some pa- 
 trol or the night watch." 
 
 They did not know that the watchmen were very careful 
 how they marched around for fear that they would meet 
 some band of highwaymen, angry if interrupted in their work 
 of revelers ; who Would fight with them. 
 
 Thinking to reach the only possible protection, they has- 
 tened still more but suddenly a fresh terror arose in their 
 path; it was Walton, who thought that his time to intervene 
 had come as he spied Joel, and from his presistency in dog- 
 ging the fugitives, was naturally taken for a prowler of the 
 like mind. To avoid being caught between the two, the 
 ladies dived into the first opening. It was a dark court, 
 and unfortunately for them, a blind alley, or no thorough- 
 tare. 
 
 "Turnagain lane," chuckled Walton, to whom these back- 
 ways had no secrets : "They are in the trap, pretty pigeons.'* 
 
 At the same instant he and Joel came to the mouth of 
 the defile. They gave a glance at each other, but all was
 
 70 THE SON OF PORTHOSj OR, 
 
 dark and neither could well distinguish the other's 
 *r the details of the costume. The sorceress's colleague 
 therefore continued in his delusion that he had met a roamet 
 of bis species, and accosted him familiarly : 
 
 "They will be obliged to come back into our arms, com* 
 rade. I suppose it will be the usual division: share and share 
 alike ? The little one, I know, carries a purse." 
 
 "Zounds!" exclaimed the Breton, surprised and indignant, 
 "do you take me for a thief and molester of women r" 
 
 The mock Englishman imagined that the protest was, 
 ironical, and promptly rejoined : 
 
 <; Ha, ha! that is a good one. It is agreed, then? the purse 
 to be divided, and the women to fall to us as chance directs. 
 They are not ferocious, to be out after dark, three dolls who 
 seek adventures. Here they come, lad !" 
 
 "And there you go, villain !" shouted our exasperated 
 gallant, as, scorning to use even the flat of b's sword on such 
 a despicable ruffian, he delivered to Walton so formidable 
 a slap with his hand thai the unlucky scamp rolled in the 
 gutter. 
 
 Simultaneously the three ladies returned : they had found 
 no way out, and had determined to throw themselves on the 
 mercy of the cutpurses, by giving up their money, and, as a 
 last resort, to threaten them with dire chastisement in an* 
 nounctng their real quality. 
 
 What was their astonishment, not merely to see a brief 
 wrangle between the two men terminate by one knocking 
 th; other senseless, but the victor, taking off his hat with 4 
 flourish, very naturally inquire in a frank, round voice: 
 
 "Excuse me, ladies, but may I ask the right road to the 
 Place Royale?" 
 
 ''The women felt inclined to laugh hysterically; but one, 
 mastering the revulsion of feeling which filled them with re- 
 lief, said. 
 
 "What! was it to ask your way that-: ** 
 
 I was forced to gallop after you this quarter of an hour? 
 lust so, my ladies; and I mean no blame to you when I say 
 that you gave me as much trouble as a rabbit in the open." 
 
 " Then you are not a robber ? " went on the questioner, 
 ready to laugh. 
 
 "That is what that fellow thought whom I knocked into 
 the kennel for the uncomplimentary opinion. Tell me, are
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 71 
 
 there so many robbers in your city that every stranger is 
 taken to be one also? I am but an unfortunate stranger as- 
 tray in Paris. 5 " 
 
 "A stranger?" 
 
 "I have just alighted from the Nantes coach, and come 
 from where I was born and always have lived Belle-Isle- 
 in-the-Sea. 
 
 The dark woman whispered to the tall fair one : 
 
 " It seems right. I recognize his attire. It is that of the 
 better class of Bretons in the country." 
 
 Mdme. d'Heudicourt pointed to Walton, wallowing with- 
 out motion in the gutter, and asked: 
 
 " Is he killed ?" 
 
 u That rogue who befouls the heap of mud? I think not, 
 unless his cheek is as weak as his morals. I struck only with 
 my open, bare hand. But, if you will supply me with the 
 directions I need, I will make my bow and " 
 
 The fact was, hunger was pinching him again. 
 
 "One moment, sir !" It was the one of the three who had 
 been greeted by the witch as the Marchioness of Montespan, 
 and her hand was laid on Joel's arm to prevent his retreat. 
 
 "What more can I do for your service ?" he inquired, 
 rather impatiently and not in the least agitated by the con- 
 tact for he could but faintly distinguish the ravishing shape 
 of the unrivalled hand and arm. 
 
 "Sir, I take you to be a brave and gallant cavalier " 
 
 "Brave? I do not know so much about that, if the test be 
 to chastise a knave like that. Gallant? I try to be as much 
 so as a poor country bumpkin may be, who knows nothing 
 of fine city manners. As for being a cavalier, I only want a 
 horse for that." 
 
 His tone was so clear and sprightly that the marchioness 
 studied him closely, as well as the poor light allowed, and 
 remarked that he was by his carriage, robust but free and 
 even elegant, a man of good race and not deformed by labor 
 in the fields. So she modified the haughtiness in her voice 
 and bearing, and continued : 
 
 "My cavalier, I have a request to make. My friend? and I 
 have been misled so as to be some distance from our dwell- 
 ings. Another such misadventure might rise in out path 
 Ugly meetings are so frequent in this quarter. We cannot 
 disoense with the shield of vour arm and your ready cour-
 
 7 THE SON OF PORTHOS; 
 
 age. Do not leave us, weak and lonely, in the dead of night 
 Pray accompany us, and be by us for defense until we are 
 indoors." 
 
 " Oh, indeed, do not leave us to ourselves," entreated 
 Mdme. d'Heudicourt. 
 
 The last of the trio said nothing, but her large eyes were 
 most eloquent in their mute appeal. 
 
 At this triple call, our hero drew his belt more tightly to 
 quell that wolfish hunger, and likewise overcome a yielding 
 to weariness, he showed he had the mettle of a knight by 
 Baying, and meaning it: 
 
 "Ladies, use me as your own." 
 
 They walked in the direction of the St. Jacques suburb. 
 The convoy was apparently completely encouraged. A very 
 little more would have set them laughing at their recent 
 flight and fright. 
 
 "Ladies," said Joel, who found the silence a burden, 
 "there is a saying that all roads lead to Rome. I should be 
 really downright glad to know if you have any such a prov- 
 erb here, regarding the Royal Place, and does every road 
 lead thither?" 
 
 *' Are you bound to proceed to that olace ?'" inquired 
 Mdme. d'Heudicourt. 
 
 "Rather : for I have acquaintances thereabouts," re- 
 sponded the youth, blushing, "Persons whom I ought to keep 
 pear to, in order to lend them assistance at call." 
 
 "And would you walk through the town at night to offer 
 them that ?" 
 
 "Why not ?" 
 
 "Alone ?" 
 
 " A man is never alone when his sword is by him.*' 
 
 "Ah ! that is rather a neat retort," muttered the brunette 
 to the blonde. What do you think of him ?" 
 
 The latter made no reply, for she was busy in weighing 
 the capabilities of the youth. To cope with her enemies, be- 
 sides the poison phial, she might require the sword of the 
 bravo; and one who was attached to her by an affection which 
 she doubted not she could at will enkindle, would be worth 
 the mercenary. Joel did not even guess the scrutiny of which 
 he was the object. 
 
 " But good friend as a long sword i>." he remarked, " it 
 S, as now. of ttimes in the way, to say nothing of its not suit*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. yj 
 
 ing tny dress your pert Parisian boys have already made m 
 remark that, a murrain befall them ?" Then as they passed 
 under a swinging lamp, he subjoined in the same spirit oi 
 apology, *' it is a costume that has turned many a head here, 
 all the same ; though, for that matter, an honest heart may 
 beat under it as under any other more in the mode." 
 
 " What may your name be ?" inquired the fair woman. 
 
 " I am not sure what it might be, but it is Joel, for want 
 of a better: can I ask yours ?" 
 
 "Athenais." 
 
 "Bravo! it suits you like a glove!" 
 
 " Do you mean that ?" 
 
 *' Why, to be sure, for it is noble, majestic and impos- 
 ing." 
 
 " And do you think I am a little that way ?" 
 
 " Wholly-~you look like a great lady of the royal court!'* 
 
 " Look at that, now ! a compliment ! it is plain that 
 Brittany has become part of France !" 
 
 She kept her eyes on him more closely than before. He 
 had pierced the incognito, though fresh from the daisies. 
 
 On the other hand, he was worthy the admiration of tha 
 finest court lady. His tall figure, with the long, stalwart 
 limbs, gave his very movement the gracefulness of nature, as 
 in a wild buck. His bashfulness was free from awkwardness, 
 and the fiery energy of his features, when he was aroused out 
 of his placidity, would have been the envy of a prince. The 
 sham citizen's wife, a judge of men, saw clearly in his eyes 
 a whole poem ot audacious candor. 
 
 " Ah ! * here she pretended to slip. "Oh, Squire Joel, 
 the pavement is so slippery and the night as black as in an 
 oven let me beg you to offer me your arm." 
 
 "Only too proud, Mistress Athenais." 
 
 He crooked the elbow, and the arm of " Mistress Athen- 
 ais" was pendent on his own, but it was hers alone that 
 slightly quivered. After an Aurore du Trernblay, even a 
 Montespar. at past thirty, at least fell into the second 
 place. 
 
 They were now at St. Michel's place. 
 
 " Squire," said the monopolizing marchioness, " 1 wager 
 that you have come to town to seek your fortune." 
 
 '' Guess again, and you will be wrong. To make my for 
 tune is the pivot of my dreams."
 
 74 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "So Dame Fortune is the only one of the fickle sejc thu 
 attracted you ?" 
 
 "Woman ? On my faith, not a woman/ but a man is what 
 I am in quest of." 
 
 "Ah, a patron lord, of course ? 
 
 "A lord, I believe ; but more than a patron ; the arbiter 
 of my future, my fate, my all." 
 
 But feeling that his frankness was leading him too far 
 among strangers, he interrupted himself by exclaiming : 
 
 "A turn to the right they are demolishing that ho, 
 and we run the risk of the night breeze dropping a stone on 
 our heads to say nothing of that heap of rubbish." 
 
 " I was asking you of whom you are in search ?" 
 
 " A little to the left mind that puddle ! von were all bt 
 stepping into it." 
 
 She- caught his eye and, shaking her finger at him, she said 
 playfully : 
 
 "Oh, you Breton backed by a Norman ! is it thus that you 
 throw the hounds off the scent ? All your politeness was 
 merely to keep your secret from me." 
 
 "It is not mine," observed Joel, gravely, " but that of t 
 woman who is dead." 
 
 " Good ! preserve it. That is not the kind they steal in 
 Paris, and I am not in the habit of fawning to obtain my 
 ends. Still, hearken ! If chance brings it about that you 
 do not gain from the person in question, or if you simply do 
 not find him, what will you do ?" 
 
 "Become a soldier of the King, and go and seek my for- 
 tune where there are blows and strokes to receive and 
 give." 
 
 "I am certain that you will make your way in the army 
 if you boast ever so little of good birth to get you a rank 
 or if you have a friend to help you on." 
 
 "What kind of friend ?" 
 
 "One who is devoted, and to be depended upon, and hav- 
 ing influence so that you could be presented at court " 
 
 The squire burst into a hearty laugh. 
 
 "Ho, ho, ho ! Such a friend must have so long in arm 
 that she could, without stooping, untie the rosettes on her 
 shoes. Even in Paris such friends are not rained down 
 from the skies.'* 
 
 "Spite of that, you shall not die in want of them I give
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 75 
 
 you my word on it. With your good looks and your valor 
 
 The doubting youth began to hum a Christmas canticle, 
 which begins with the well-known words: 
 "Let's go unto the church 
 To hear a sermon fine" 
 
 She interrupted the sarcastic lines by abruptly demand- 
 ing . 
 
 ''My companion, have you not a sweetheart ?" 
 
 They were now in the St. Jacques ward. The marchioness* 
 itompanions trotted on discreetly a few paces behind the pair, 
 pretending not to listen but straining themselves to over- 
 hear. Little Mdme. d'Heudicourt whom St. Simon, the 
 memoir-writer, describes as "merry, but bitter as gall" she 
 had characterized La Montespan by saying "She would en- 
 t ice all the saints in the celendar, after having entangled the 
 Apostles." 
 
 But our wary hero remained dumb to the leading ques- 
 ion. It had called up in his mind the image of Aurore, 
 ,nd he saw her walking up the hills of the Saumur highway 
 vith her graceful figure imparting sinuous movements to her 
 dress ; her straw hat, for the journey, dangling on her arm 
 oy its ribbons, and the breeze swung it and tossed her 
 nair. 
 
 At length, in a voice that betrayed genuine passion, he an 
 swered: "I have not what we call a sweetheart, but one that 
 is my beloved." 
 
 *' Heavens ! and how long have you been in that predica- 
 ment ?" 
 
 " To tell the truth, lady only this evening." 
 
 " And how did you find it out ?" 
 
 *' Quite easily : by my feelings. My pulse beat as if I had 
 
 , fever; the blood rushed about me as though it was water 
 
 when a dam has burst, and the blood seemed an inflamabta 
 
 fluid. My heart grew too large for the breast ; and my 
 
 temples were encircled by a crown of fire !" 
 
 ''Why, this is the grand passion, or I am no Judge," she 
 exclaimed with a cooing like a dove. "Such a flame as is 
 not often encountered the real one, good and ardent." 
 
 "Never betove did womankind produce such an effect ai. 
 ne! deuce tak^ me if it seemen natural!" 
 
 The lady's & Uted eyes .darted a stream of fire. The guilt*
 
 76 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR t 
 
 less rustic was making her fancy that he was declaring sud 
 den love for her. 
 
 "Ah, what could a man give in return for such love?" she 
 inquired. 
 
 " All that I have nothing too speak of my life!" 
 
 He drew himself up to Ins full height, with the heroism 
 of his ancestors, Antoine, Gaspard, Porthos, glowing in him. 
 She was struck dumb for a space with admiration. 
 
 *'So you would defend this idol against anybody? " 
 
 "Certainly!" 
 
 "And if any one plotted her injury " 
 
 Deadly pallor overspread the Breton's lineaments ; for an 
 instant he dwelt motionless; then his body seemed to grow; 
 his long locks seemed to turn to rays around his head as in 
 pictures of the Archangel Michael ; one expected a flood of 
 burning words to rush from his lips. But he murmured 
 solely this in a hollow voice : 
 
 " I would kill were it you !" 
 
 **What?" screamed the marchioness, "you would kill, 
 even me ? I do not understand ! then, you did not mean 
 me ?" 
 
 " I would stab the King himself, if the King intended 
 mischief to Aurore " 
 
 "Aurore ?" she repeated, eyeing him in stupefaction, ''You 
 said Aurore ? who bears that name ?" 
 
 " The lady to whom I have given my heart." 
 
 " Oh, the lady of your love ?" 
 
 *' I have never loved elsewhere I shall never love but 
 her, and she is going to be my wife as soon as I conquer 
 what will make me worthy of her hand and her affection 
 name, rank and fortune !" 
 
 The marchioness tore her arm from the speaker's, and 
 said curtly, as he now looked at her in astonishment : 
 
 " We have arrived, and no longer need your kind of- 
 fices." 
 
 Here stood a low, mournful and sprawling house, stand- 
 ing back in a garden with a yard in front, behind high walls. 
 The two stories had a mansard roof, and the two wings were 
 for domestic offices and stables. On account of the color of 
 the stones and the slate roof, the neighbors called it the 
 Grey House. 
 
 The coachyard doors were on the street ; at the bang of
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. % 
 
 the knocker on them, an old servant came to open and show 
 them all into the yard. 
 
 " Honorin, have the horses put to the carriage," com- 
 manded the lady whom Joel had specially escorted as she 
 crossed the threshold. 
 
 " Is your ladyship returning to St. Germain's ?" respect- 
 fully inquired the man. 
 
 " No ; I am going to pass the night here. It is to drive 
 this gentleman to the Place Royale." 
 
 She nodded coldly to our Breton, who was buffeted from 
 one surprise to another. 
 
 " Methinks that is where the lovely object of your flame, 
 so eloquently painted, deigns to dwell on earth ?" she 
 sneered. 
 
 At this moment, a boy of about eight years appeared on 
 Ihe doorsteps ; he wore a royal scarlet velvet suit, trimmed 
 with rich lace of gold and silver thread: he wa^ blessed with 
 an intelligent face, fine but melancholy in tht catures, but 
 Cursed with a club foot and cne leg being drawn up shorter 
 than the other. He hobbled along to throw himself into 
 the dark woman's arms, covering her with kisses and crying 
 <mt in delight: 
 
 " So you have come home at last, dear mother! I could 
 ?tot go to bed until I saw you, from fear that some mishap 
 had happened to you." 
 
 "My lord," said the recipient of these tokens of affection, 
 **Do you not see the marchioness your mother?" 
 
 Thus rebuked, the boy turned towards the Marchioness 
 tie Montespan, and wished her "Good evening!" but with* 
 out going up to her. 
 
 " Tut, tut!"said the marchioness, biting her lip, "here's a 
 to-do because your governess has been taken away from you 
 for a little while! Fie! you ought to be asleep at this hour, 
 Louis. Here, d'Heudicourt, take him to his rooms and see 
 that he is put to bed instantly. 
 
 D'Heudicourt took a step to carry out the order, but the 
 little cripple-prince burst into tears and clung to his govern- 
 ess's skirts. 
 
 " My lady," interposed the latter, " allow me to manage 
 this. The duke will never go off to rest unless I sing him ta 
 sleep with a snatch of a song, or tell a chapter from a story." 
 
 La Montespan snapped her fingers in indifference.
 
 78 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OK. 
 
 "Do as you please, thou pensonification of Wisdon! I 
 aao ready to drop with fatigue, and intend having rest. D' 
 Heudicourt, come and help my women to undress me." 
 
 Joel had stood wonderstricken by all that he saw and 
 heard. 
 
 " Young master," she proceeded, " It is always folly to 
 set the burden of real love upon one, but worse when one 
 is trying to reach fortune :then, it is rank stupidity." 
 
 She held out her hand to him in a way that indicated he 
 was to kiss it, which he did on the finger tips : and she sailed 
 ap the steps with a queenly port. The governess was on the 
 terge of following her, having taking up her pupil in her 
 rms to spare him the pains of mounting the steps : but be- 
 fore departing, she said to the youth, whose tall form gave 
 tim the aspect of an exclamation-point : 
 
 '* Squire Joel, here comes the carriage of the Marchiones* 
 4e Montespan, which will set you down wherever you like to 
 say. My noble friend has omitted, I think, to thank you 
 for the service done us I remember it for her. If ever 
 you have need of my services, do not hesitate to come and 
 knock at this door, and call upon Fran^oise d'Aubigne, the 
 widow of the Poet Scarron." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 rKIQUET AT FORTY. 
 
 THE inn of the Moorish Trumpeter derives its title from 
 its signboard, which swang and groaned in the wind over 
 its door : this sheet of iron, framed in oak, rusted by the 
 weather, had once been painted by some budding Raffaelle 
 with the portrait of a blackamoor blowing an enormous trum- 
 pet. The house stood in the street called Pas de la Mule, 
 which ended in the arcades of the Place Royal. It was a 
 venerable structure hiving a pepper-box turret on the roof, 
 and the front made > stonework and cross beams. The 
 first floor above ground jutted out over the street, and con- 
 tained a lattice-windowed roor wnere the host lodged for 
 one night or longer, any one not coming on horseback. He 
 himself slept in the garret wi*h his fiVst drawer-of-wine
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. -j\ 
 
 the only one. The ground floor was divided between the 
 dining-room and the kitchen, without there being even a 
 partition. 
 
 The part bordering on the street was given up to the cus- 
 tomers. The other boasted a fireplace in which an ox 
 might have been roasted whole. But on holidays this gigan- 
 tic feast was replaced with a foul or a joint ; now a leg 
 of mutton, turning on a spit before two or three k.s on the 
 hearthstone. Nothing could be more primitive, or business- 
 like, than this eating-house with the kitchen on the premises. 
 Here were the tables and benches shining with the frequent 
 application of elbows and the customer's breeches. There, 
 the kitchen pots and pans, carefully shining like gold and 
 silver ware, though only copper and pewter 
 
 In the midst of these objects, was hung a long sword, 
 crossed by the long spit only used on grand feast days. 
 
 Master Bonaventure Bonlarron, as was the Trumpet's 
 keeper had been a soldier before roasting and carving 
 spring chickens. Sergeant in the Laferte Regiment and 
 wounded by a musket bullet in the famous charge of the 
 Duke of Enghien at Rocroy, he had most unwillingly laid 
 down his arms and turned his flag into the innkeeper's apron. 
 Not that he had lost any money by the change of trade, for 
 the inn was well placed to coin for him and was much 
 frequented from its neighborhood to the Place Royale. But 
 only at the first, wnen it was the fashion to drop in at the 
 Moor's to take the last meal before going to fight a duel, or 
 toast the victor when the party returned from the field of 
 honor. But Louis XIV had never forgotten the Revolution 
 of the Fronde, when he had suffered much humiliation, and 
 he was severe against single combats. 
 
 The golden days of the Moor departed, and rarely did the 
 master see among his peaceful guests one or two of the bel- 
 licaose spirits that once rattled his dishes about his ears 
 with oaths and the stamping of foot with which the swash- 
 bucklers invited the antagonist to cross steel. 
 
 This Sunday evening. Master Bonlarron was alone in his 
 establishment, witK his waiter Bistoquet. The former was 
 a tall, bony man wearing a cook's dress of white, but even 
 in this he showed tnat he was warlike, for he had cocked 
 the cap over one ear, and he walked from kitchen to dining* 
 room with a swaggct*
 
 So THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 His man was a homely lad of about twenty, with long awk. 
 ward limbs.and gaunt hands, which broke more dishes than 
 ogling did hearts in that quarter. 
 
 "Confound my luck !" ejaculated the innkeeper, coming 
 Co a halt in a military position after his uneasy stroll ; "Um 
 good old days seem gone forever, when handfuls of gold, 
 from the noblest purses of the realm, were scattered over 
 these very tables and the best wines of my vaults flowed lika 
 water. If only the citizens would have riots with the sol* 
 diery I but, no, they all are content to sling bad words at 
 each other and nobody whips out a knife. It is disgusting ! 
 After a good riot, I should dish up my mutton to the surviv- 
 ors, but there it is, roast to a crisp ! we shall have to eat \\ 
 Bistoquet." 
 
 The waiter made a wry face. 
 
 " Thank you, master, very much, but I am not fond ot 
 dark meat it is black as the Moor's head over the door, o 
 a lump of soot." 
 
 "Well, dish it up and put it on the table, while I put up the 
 shutters and bar the door The day is gone." 
 
 And the cook-shopkeeper moved towards the door, where, 
 just as he reached the sill, a joyous voice chirped with tho 
 oily accents of the languid Parisian : 
 
 " All hail, mine host and the company ? Are you quite 
 well ? so glad ! I feel that way myself Which noble lord 
 is the proprietor of this casa, as the Italians say ?" 
 
 *' I, my gentleman,' responded Bonlarron, bowing to the 
 customer, who came so late and addressed him so merrily 
 
 He was a man of about forty, but to such age does not 
 count. In vivacity, mirth, quickness and briskness he was 
 ever a boy , but the %amin of Pan's, who would lose his head 
 to have a jest with the Grand Seignior, or to eat the Pope's 
 favorite dish He had a small, round face, scarcely wrinkled 
 although it had seen all kinds of hard weather : inextin- 
 guishably bright eyes, never at a rest : a turn up-nose : prom- 
 inent cheekbones, tokens of tenacity and subtility : and a 
 sharp chin. He wore a nondescript dress, which might have 
 been composed on a battlefield by stripping the dead of all 
 arms : the legs were bound with leather thongs like an Italian 
 mountaineer's : the waist had a wide woolen sash like a 
 Spaniard's; his body was encased in a buff leather coat such 
 as used to be worn under armor; he had a dagger and a
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. $ 
 
 sword .nd also the inkhorn and quill which lawyers and clerk 
 carried at the buttonhole in front of the breastbone. And 
 small cap with a prodigiously long feather, clasped by a motv 
 strous piece of glass which had been cut out of an old churcl 
 window and in vain would pass for a ruby,, 
 
 What spoilt him was the small size and fragility of his legs* 
 Sitting down, he would have passed muster as a full-sized 
 man, but on his feet he was but a mannikin. 
 
 He skipped nimbly into the centre of the dining- room, 
 which Bistoquet had illuminated by applying a splinter from 
 the fire to a pair of hanging lamps. Thereupon with voi 
 ubility and without awaiting to be spoken to, he prattled : 
 
 "Who am I? gentlemen of the fire and the corkscrew, yoia 
 Bee the prodigal son. I am a son of Paris who returns to his 
 native city, the unrivalled, the inimitable, and I grant thai 
 I am happy again. I was well known in my youth in the 
 quarter of the Cathedral ; the very sparrows that pick up 
 crumbs on the pavement in front, know Renaud Friquet !" 
 He took off his cap to his own name. "I was choir-boy, and 
 at my own hours, wine-drawer in the finest drinking-trap in 
 the Rue de Calandre. Hail to you, also of our noble pro- 
 fession, that of St. Boniface ! But do not for a moment 
 think that I am trying to get a free meal on the strength oS 
 my being one of the trade. Tut, tut ! I am on the high roacj 
 to a fortune title, rank, and I know not what. I have nos 
 travelled and warred over half the world not to pick up & 
 valuable secret or two. Though I am a Parisian, I can see 
 farther than my own belfries. Yes, I am Little Friquet. 
 Albeit the old King-demon may burn me, if i can imagine 
 why !" He flipped his fingers disdainfully. " As if a gian- 
 was needed when a hard piece of work is to be done. 
 Why, our King is no taller than I, even on the celebrated 
 high heels on which he stalks." He waved his hand for the 
 innkeeper to close his mouth. "But let us not discuss roy- 
 alty and policy. Let me rather talk of myself, though that 
 is repugnant to my delicacy, for I loathe to acquaint the 
 whole world and his wife with my own matters. In short, 1 
 return to my native city, where I was a boy in the days of 
 the Fronde of lively memory, with a letter of recommenda- 
 tion to the Minister of the Navy, and fifty pistoles which I 
 owe to the munificence of his cousin, Lord Colpert du Ter- 
 ron, Naval Steward, for huving saved him from drowning is
 
 3f THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 the port of Rochelle. You see that it needs not beirg a 
 colossus to put a great man under obligation to you. So I 
 sailed from Rochelle to Havre, and came up to Paris by the 
 boat, which landed me at Celestins Wharf. Now I stand in 
 need of a good meal and a good bed. Are you prepared to 
 supply yours truly with one and the other >" 
 
 " My master, I have a room that will suit your lordship 
 to a dot," answered the eating-house proprietor, with the 
 deference due an eloquent speaker who had also a minister- 
 ial letter and fifty pistoles in his pockets. 
 
 " That is fine ! I take the room." 
 
 " Besides, if your lordship will deign to be content with 
 a prime leg of mutton that I was reserving for my own table 
 
 The waiter hid his smiling mouth with his hand. 
 
 " Mutton? I have always revelled on mutton. Better and 
 better ! I will deign. You shall see, my friend, that though 
 the Parisians are reckoned dainty, I can ply a good knife and 
 fork. Old Nick devour me if I leave you more than the 
 knuckle." 
 
 " Hold !" broke in another voice on the threshold/' I 
 hope that you will spare me a slice." 
 
 Everybody turned and they had no difficulty in seeing 
 who spoke, for the tall form of Joel of Locmaria filled up 
 the doorway. He came from the part where he had left 
 the noble dames by the carriage which had left him at Royal 
 Place. There he was, wandering in the dark, when he caught 
 sight of the light of the inn, in an anjacent street. He steered 
 towards the beacon, and with unlooked-for luck, recognized 
 the tavern sign swinging in the night wind. The door too, 
 stood ajar for the better welcome to the famished and house- 
 less. 
 
 So Joel was striding in quietly and waiting for a favorable 
 instant to make his modest request when he was obliged to 
 hear Little Friquet's harangue, which ended with a prospect 
 or his chance of a meal being blocked. 
 
 It is a fact founded on the stupidity of man, that the pig- 
 mies have always hated the giants. Friquet was no excep- 
 tion to the tradition, for he eyed the taller guest with imper- 
 tinence, and in a quarrelsome tone, demanded his business. 
 
 " Not business, but a pleasure, I expect, " replied the 
 Breton. " I desire, sir. to remind YOU of a saying which ss
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. *} 
 
 too, who are clearly a genuine gentleman. Come, now, will 
 you let this pass, and be my friend?" 
 
 "With all my heart," replied Joel, imitating his action. 
 "Our hands on it; we will be friends for life, until death do 
 OS part. Now, let us to table," he added, merrily, " this 
 fencing within four walls wondrously sharpens the appetite. 
 We will drink to the prolongation of our acquaintance." 
 
 Master Bonlarron was looking around. 
 
 "Hang it all," he said, "whatever has become of my man ? 
 I believe this king of cowards has fainted away." 
 
 "I am here, master," breathed a gentle voice from under 
 the table, where the illustrious Bistoquet had hidden himself 
 by crawling. 
 
 The veteran pulverized him by a scornful glance and 
 bade him hasten to serve, "though you are but ill fitted, 
 meseems, to wait at the board where such valorous chevaliers 
 deign to sit." 
 
 The guests were soon sitting up to the joint; it was em- 
 inently tough and hard, but had it been boot leather, it 
 could not have resisted the teeth of these famished Gara- 
 gantuas. Besides, the wine at the Blackamoor Trumpeter's 
 was delicious, and by the time the dessert was reached, the 
 four for the juice of the grape made them lenient even to 
 the waiter all were jolly together. The ex-sergeant told 
 stories of thecamp, march and field, the waiter chirped a song 
 of his own composition, and the new friends chatted about 
 their hopes and dreams. 
 
 Friquet, whom we left chorister and drawer in a tavern, 
 odd servitor of the spirit divine and the spirits of wine, had 
 indeed roved far. Finally fostered by M. Colbert du Terron, 
 High Steward of Rochelle, he had- learnt a good deal about 
 the navy and war. He had invented a new build for ships 
 to improve their speed; and other "ingenious devices," as 
 they said then, induced the steward to send the Parisian, 
 back to his native city to see if he might not falsify the old 
 saying about prophets. 
 
 On his side, the rustic squire, no less communicative from 
 the good wine, narrated the events heralding his birth, those of 
 his youth and what had occurred on the road and in the town. 
 What most struck the intelligent hearer was the names of the 
 three btothers-in-arms of Poithos, which were to serve the 
 as stepping-stones in his search.
 
 4 THE SON OF PORT HO S ; OR, 
 
 into the eating-room, with Friquet's form, "1 can never thiiifc 
 that you expect to absorb alone a joint of those dimensions." 
 
 "Why should I not ?" 
 
 "'Because there is a rule against it " 
 
 "What rule is there against it, pray ?" 
 
 "The rule of capacity : the container must be lager than 
 the contents." 
 
 The landlord rubbed his hands, enchanted at the joke, 
 and the coarser Bistoquet laughed out aloud. 
 
 Friquet leaped up in the air as if to crack his heels like a 
 gamecock, and when he came down he had drawn his sword. 
 
 "Man, you have insulted me, for I know whether I am 
 small or not. But I do not allow the remark to be made. 
 'Sblood ! you shall pay me for these affronts." 
 
 The landlord can put it in the bill. But, think, when we 
 shall have cut a slash or two in our skins " 
 
 "You seem to be tender about yours?" 
 
 "Well, yes I did not bring a change out of Brittany." 
 
 "The truth is that you are afraid." 
 
 "Afraid ? I do not know all the words in the Parisian 
 jargon, and I know not what you mean." 
 
 While Joel was saying this with a smile, Bonlarron 
 warmed up with evident gratification. His waiter plucked 
 him by the sleeve." 
 
 "Good heavens!" he gasped, "are they really going to cut 
 each other's throat ?" 
 
 *'I expect so," replied the tavernkeeper, radiant with en- 
 joyment: "and if only the luck falls that one of them shall 
 be laid out on the floor, we may have the fashion revived to 
 dine here after duels and breakfast before them ! proceed- 
 ings to which I owed the old-time vogue of my clouded estab- 
 lishment." 
 
 "But there are edicts against single combats, master." 
 
 "Edicts," grumbled the ex-soldier, eyeing his man with 
 profound commiseration. "Edicts are plenty against all rec- 
 reations of the rich and the people. If there were no edicts 
 how could one have the fun of breaking them ? Come, will 
 you bet on the fight ?" He examined the pair who were tak- 
 ing on another's measure visually the Breton, calm, good- 
 humored, taunting, and the Parisian nervous, agitated and 
 lashing himself into fury. 
 
 " Both brave, but one as flurried as a tiger, while the otb*
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. ^ 
 
 is cool as Polar bear. Which will you lay a crown upon ?" 
 
 " Master, master, you cannot think to let them come to 
 blows. You ought to interfere. You should exercise your 
 authority." 
 
 "Exercise my sword, yes," He ran to shut up the house 
 so that the watch should not disturb them and called for his 
 rapier when this care was taken. While it was brought him, 
 he threw off his white apron. 
 
 Do you imagine, boy, that lam going to stand with my arms 
 folded while the gentlemen have it out?" 
 
 *' You don't mean to say that you will fight, too ?'* 
 
 " 'Sdeath ! but fight I will !" 
 
 * With whom ? the best man ?" 
 
 " With the worst, one here with you, dolt !'* 
 
 "With me *' r repeated the waiter, horrified. 
 
 We will be the seconds to these gentlemen, according to 
 the code of honor. You shall take one part, and I the other: 
 o then, a fight in the good old style !" 
 
 "But I do not carry a sword, master !" 
 
 " You may use the big silvered skewer !' 
 
 " Oh,-Lord !" 
 
 '' Yes, perhaps it is longer than my toadsticker ; but 
 you can have that point in your favor." 
 
 In the meantime, Joel had unsheathed his blade ; but to 
 jake a final appeal for reconciliation, he said : 
 
 " Come, let us sup first : plenty of time to cross steel after- 
 wards." 
 
 " No, no !" protested Friquet, " straightway Death of 
 rwy life ! To it ?" and with his uplifted sword he menaced the 
 Breton, who had no more than enough time to fall into the 
 position of a parddein in carte. 
 
 The exasperated Parisian rushed on with such impetuosity 
 that the blades were engaged up to the hilt. Happily the 
 Son of Porthos had as much coolness with the naked steel 
 as with buttoned foils ; he disengaged his blade from such 
 dose quarters and took a step backward. 
 
 " Soho !" sneered the fiery little man, "the Goliath re- 
 tieats." 
 
 "I am not retreating . I am merely breaking free ; and 
 in all countries where sword play is a science, to free thebladfr 
 is part of the game and not a retreat." 
 
 While lecturing, the stranger to town parried the thrust*
 
 86 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 and lunges of the Parisian, though quick, hot and varied, 
 without making any return. 
 
 " Horns of the fiend, I believe you are playing with 
 me!" snarled the latter. 
 
 "I am quite sure of it, sir," replied Joel, placidly; and 
 launching out a lunge, he said at the same time, " If I had 
 leally let go,you would be spitted like the leg of mutton." 
 
 In truth the infuriated little hero felt the long sword 
 furrow his side but so lightly that he might have thought 
 it was but the point of a roughened foil. 
 
 " This will have to be ended," he exclaimed. 
 
 "Just what I say," observed our hero: " I am not ask- 
 ing for any thing else, for I am hungry to the very tip of 
 my toes." 
 
 Making a feint of a lower carte,v/hich the opponent par- 
 ried with a circular sweep, he entangled the Parisian's 
 blade and with a whip-like movement of violence, sent it 
 to the other end of the room. 
 
 "Kill me, kill me outright, instead of disarming me/' 
 shrieked the mad little fellow, foaming at the mouth with 
 shame, rage and humiliation. 
 
 But the son of Porthos peacefully restored his weapon 
 to the scabbard, with the remark: " You see, were I to 
 kill you, we should not take supper together." He went 
 and picked up the fallen sword and with a bow r*urned 
 it to him. "I hope now," he went on in his frank, round 
 voice, that you will not draw back from the fpast for 
 which you so valiantly fought. Remember, ' none but 
 the brave deserve the fare. " 
 
 There was no keeping vexed with such good humor. 
 
 '* Halloa, landlord, set the board out for two three 
 all who like! I invite you all to join me and this hero." 
 
 Friquet was for an instant overborne by his defeat, he 
 was red and confused, while he trembled. But won over 
 by the antagonist's loftiness, he took a step up to him, 
 and said in a low voice full of lively feeling: 
 
 " My master, I was wrong. I behaved like a cur- 
 mudgeon in picking this quarrel with you, instead of 
 merely picking that bone. It is my confounded dwar- 
 fish stature which upsets my brain, and I wish to the 
 lord that I could grow up or out of the testy 
 mood. It ill becomes the Parisian, that is, the 
 most civilized being on the earth, and before you
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. *\ 
 
 great a traveler and warrior must have heard in his pilgrim- 
 age through the world. It preaches the necessity of char- 
 ity to your neighbor." 
 
 " What do you mean by all this talk ?" 
 
 Our hero swung his hat in his hand and in the most en- 
 gaging manner continued : 
 
 "It means that I, too, have come from afar, in quest of lodg- 
 jg and something to eat. I shall not be sorry to share 
 frith you the delicacies of this no doubt famous establish- 
 ment." 
 
 It was the turn of the landlord to doff his cap and make 
 his bow to this second wearer of a sword. Besides, each pays 
 his scot/' said the countryman. " Share alike and pay a- 
 like like comrades. Are you agreeable ?" 
 
 If the Little Parisian were agreeable, he did not look it. 
 It was with a very sour look that he snappishly responded 
 to the youth who overshadowed him : 
 
 "Devil take it ! I ordered that mutton and I shall keep 
 it" 
 
 "You are not polite," said Joel, tranquilly. "But I am 
 too dry in the gullet to be dainty dry as an old nail in a vine- 
 stake." 
 
 And unceremoniously reaching his arm over Friquet's 
 head and past the landlord's ear, he took up a pewter pot 
 from the counter, and scarcely stopping to test what it was 
 by the smell, he drained nearly a quart of the wine at a. 
 draught. 
 
 Meanwhile the little Parisian's eyes flared up like a cat's on 
 whose tail one had stepped. 
 
 "Not polite ?" he repeated in a high voice. "Odsboddikins 
 Have you an idea of teaching me a lesson in etiquette you 
 who look to come out of the marshes of Brittany, to me, who 
 is a Parisian born ? Let me tell you that I deal stripes and 
 lashes to hulking fellows wh > have threatened to put me in 
 their pocket" 
 
 "Stay !" returned the Breton impatiently, "the size of you 
 and me is not in debate : the trouble to satisfy is in our 
 teeth, which seem to be the same length. If they do not set 
 something eatable before us, nothing will be left but our 
 swords and daggers, for we shall have eaten one another 
 tlive and without waiting to strip off the rind. Besides, "as 
 he compared the leg of mutton, which Bistoquet had brought
 
 M THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 "Hold!" ejaculated he, *'at least, I know one of the thra 
 who are strangers to you." 
 
 "Is it possible?" 
 
 "It is Captain d'Artagnan, no less!* 
 
 "Captain, eh?" 
 
 "Captain commanding for the King, his Majesty's owij 
 life-guards, the two companies of the Red and the Black 
 Musketeers. I was only a boy when I was wont to see him, 
 but a boy does not forget those who pull his ears and give 
 him crownpieces. Faith, he promised to cut my ears off 
 once and he would have done it, for I was riding a stolen 
 horse of a friend of his and he rewarded me with a kick of 
 which I cherish the memory. What a fighter you should 
 have seen him the day they arrested Town-counsellor Brous- 
 eel that was a riot, such as we see never in these degener- 
 ate days," rattled on Friquet, rubbing his hands with a war- 
 rior's glee which was shared by the grinning landlord. 
 "Bricks and chimney-pots flying like snowflakes, the citizens 
 flying to arms, and M. d'Artagnan facing two thousand, 
 roaring, rampagious men as if he were a stone statue out of 
 the cathedral. Ah, he was one of them ! the paladins that 
 we read about. Then to see the cowardly mob melt away, 
 like the snow I spoke about, when he spied his squadron 
 coming up. 'Present arms make ready!' but, 'Sblood! which 
 was his pet oath before he could say, 'Fire!' the crowd had 
 fled on all sides and Broussel was lugged away to the Bas- 
 tille in double-quick time. Oh, yes, let me alone for know- 
 ing M. d'Artagnan, the bravest of the brave, but likewise 
 the most wily of the wily but then, he was the typical Gascon 
 the master of the world, if he had wanted it." 
 
 "Really!" 
 
 "My master the beadle of Notre Dame was also once in 
 the private service of a friend of Captain d'Artagnan's 
 stop a bit this, too, may have been one of the three you men- 
 tion well, my master Bazin, after he had been tasting the 
 wine which we supplied from oar tavern for the sacramental 
 vessels, would let his tongue wag. Oh, the special cohort of 
 M. d'Artagnan and he executed the grandest feats of arms 
 in the reign before my time. They coped with the famous 
 Cardinal Richelieu, and made but a mouthful of Cardinal 
 Mazarin, the Italian sneak ! If the gentleman you seek was 
 a comrade of Captain d'Artagnan, then he is worth tne 
 finding, I warrant.''
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 89 
 
 *What has become of Captain d'Artagnan?" inquired Joel 
 tv-ith that relief which one feels when a tangible reality begins 
 to appear where one dreaded a myth was deluding the eye. 
 
 Friquet shook his head, already sad at having to disap- 
 point his new friend. 
 
 "That is the point where I am at fault; for I have been 
 playing the rolling-stone, when, had I stuck to the ecclesias- 
 tical calling or the taverner's, I should have been a beadle, 
 bar my non-imposing mien, or a host like our worthy Boni- 
 face at my elbow. I know no more than you who is head of 
 the church in town or of the royal body guard." 
 
 "You need not look to me for aid," remarked the wine- 
 shop-keeper, "since his Majesty oSended his good city by 
 living in a palace outside of it, I am no longer informed on 
 the court and garrison news. Captain d'Artagnan may be 
 retired from old age, or dead, although we old soldiers have 
 life rivetted to our bodies." 
 
 "It is easy to make inquiries," Friquet suggested. 
 
 "In what quarter," demanded the Breton eagerly. 
 
 "In the Musketeers' quarters, of course. They are still in 
 existence, and they are only fit to supply the oven of Old 
 Nick if they do not cherish the memory of their old com- 
 manders." 
 
 "You are right, my friend. The next thing is to find 
 where the Musketeers are stationed." 
 
 "That is also easy," said the landlord : "As they are the 
 royal household troops, they will have followed the King 
 into Flanders." 
 
 "Right again," said Friquet, "but the campaign is over ; I 
 Iheard that his Majesty had got back to Lille, and so that is 
 where the clue must be sought for." 
 
 "Wait a minute," said the master of the Blackamoor, "you 
 need not go so far, for all the Musketeers would not have 
 gone there. A troop will have been kept at St. Germain's 
 to guard the Queen. This I am sure of, as I met the Vis- 
 count de Bregy, the other day, one of my customers, who is 
 also a Musketeer corporal of the squadron left, as I say." 
 
 "Do you think he would know anything about Captain 
 d'Artagnan." 
 
 "It would be a poor joke if he did not, for he must have 
 nerved under his orders, as toe has been in the corps some 
 dhirty years "
 
 90 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 "Thirty years," exclaimed the hasty Parisian, "and not 
 yet shelved ? I should think he were more fit to walk on a 
 crutch that carry a musket !" 
 
 "M. Friqnet," returned the host, smiling paternally. " I 
 have just witnessed that you are a plucky gentleman. You 
 will become a redoubtable master of fence when you wear 
 out your impatience, and fortify your theory. Still, though 
 you have youth on your side, I should not advise you to fall 
 out with M. de Bregy, as I know nobody, unless it be our 
 neighbor here who could match him in strength of wrist 
 and close fighting. Ah, the Musketeers have always main- 
 tained the repute of having the best swordsmen in their 
 ranks. 
 
 "What, another Colossus of Rhodes," sneered the incor- 
 rigible Parisian, "I should like to test this military Methuse- 
 lah. In any case, his brilliant fencing has not very rapidly 
 advanced him in his company." 
 
 "Now, you hit the peg. He ought to have been colonel, 
 or major-general, but he is overfond of the winecup, of 
 whipping out his blade and running after the petticoats ; he 
 will drink, and dice and frequent the broad road that lead- 
 eth to perdition, as you, monsieur, who have been in the 
 choir, will know better than I. Still, he is a perfect gentle- 
 man, borrows money with a lofty air as if he conferred the 
 favor, will drink the hardest heads under the table, and 
 fight while there is a stump of steel in the swordhilt. I know 
 that he has been out in the field of honor ten times, and al- 
 ways laid his antagonist low." 
 
 "Bravo ! for the Musketeers,*' said Friquet, grudgingly : 
 " but there is luck in odd numbers or to them, and the 
 eleventh or thirteenth may lay him out." 
 
 "I shall go to St. Germain's to-morrow," observed Joel. 
 
 "You could not do better," agreed Friquet; "and mean- 
 while, let us share that room overhead, which can be made 
 double-bedded, I suppose ? as we have shared the mutton." 
 He rapped on the board with his goblet, crying out : "An-, 
 other cup, host ! Then, to rest, all of us. I must be early 
 at the minister's to-morrow, and let me catch any of the 
 clerks make a mock of me." He plumed himself triumph- 
 antly and added: " When I wear the royal uniform on my 
 back, it will make me inches taller and no one will refuse me 
 the respect 1 deserve."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 91 
 
 " How long will it take me to go out to St. Germain's ? n 
 inquired the stranger to town. 
 
 " A couple of hours at the most, on a good post-horse, 
 which you may hire," replied the tavern-keeper. 
 
 " That will suit me," said our hero, not forgetting Mdlle. 
 du Tremblay. " I can be back for Vespers." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ONE CHANNEL OF INFORMATION IS CHOKED. 
 
 IT was about two in the afternoon, and the July sun was 
 heating white .hot the sharp pavingstones which have always 
 been the terror of foot passengers and the delight of farriers 
 in the good town of St. Germain. Before the front gateway 
 of the old Castle, paced two Musketeers, with the arm on 
 their shoulder which gave their regiment its name, while an 
 other pair, off duty, were sitting on the edge of the ditch, 
 with their legs swinging in the hollow, and their swords dan- 
 gling between them. Other times, other names we have 
 not now the names in the corps of Du Verger, De Belliere, 
 ect., but Gace and Hericourt, those on duty, and Champag* 
 nacand Escrivaux, for those idling. 
 
 In the Spanish fashion, the Queen Maria Theresa was tak 
 ing her siesta and the court followed her example. So the 
 sentinels were yawning fit to dislocate their jaws, and their 
 comrades in the moat were gaping, when one of the latter 
 had Just the strength left to nudge the other and say: 
 
 "Escrivaux, look over yonder, towards the Tennis-court 
 what do you call that queer figure?" 
 
 "It is a real, live Breton, fresh from his country," re- 
 turned the other, glancing in the direction indicated. "A 
 strapping fellow, by the mark ! But he must be infernally 
 green not to be burnt to a crisp in venturing out on the royal 
 highway in a heat equal to roasting an egg, twixt my cassock 
 and my shirt.'* 
 
 It was our friend Joel, entering the town after leaving the 
 nag which had brought him from the city, at the Sully VElra 
 tarern, and coming along by the castle rampart. 
 
 *'He's coming this way," resumed M. dc Charapagnac
 
 92 THE SON OF PORTHOS; Ou, 
 
 "Can he have some business with us ?" queried M, 
 d'Escrivaux; "as if one wanted to discuss business this 
 weather 1" 
 
 Coming to a stop, the new-comer bowed to the Musketeers 
 vith his usual affability. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he began, "may I ask the question if you 
 do not belong to one of the companies of the Royal Muske- 
 teers ?" 
 
 <4 We do, as the uniform should tell you." 
 
 "We are all at your service/' added Champagnac politely, 
 while both rose and returned the salute. 
 
 "Your obliging greeting emboldens me to address you 
 question " 
 
 "Do not hesitate, monsieur," 
 
 "Only too glad to have it in our power to oblige you. 
 
 The bowing went on again, till Joel continued : 
 
 "I only am wanting to know if you have any knowledge 
 of Captain d'Artagnan " 
 
 Meanwhile, the sentries had lounged up to the speakers, 
 and were listening, with their muskets held at ease. At the 
 magic name, a chorus of admiration broke from all four. 
 
 " Our Captain d'Artagnan ! the pride of the regiment 
 whose colors we have the honor to guard i nobody has ever 
 led the Musketeers into more glory, and with more energy 
 and fatherly love ! He is a cavalier whose exploits tired the 
 Muse of History to keep the run of. And his memory is 
 preserved as that of one of our bravest and most brilliant 
 officers !" 
 
 The Son of Porthos was affected to the heart by this eu > 
 logy. 
 
 "I thank you, gentlemen, " he said. "You make me proud 
 and happy., for the officer you praise was my father's friend." 
 'In that case, we compliment you," said M. de Gace, 
 "for the captain was not prodigal of his friendship and no 
 man could win it who had not also won his spurs of knight- 
 hood on the field of battle." 
 
 *' One word farther/ said the inquirer : * You spoke of 
 the captain's memory, as though he had ceased to exist." 
 
 "Why, he has been out of the army list these twenty years," 
 responded Hericourt. 4> None of us knew him, and it is only 
 by the legends of the messroom that we know what a pre 
 cious servitor the King lost in him."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 93 
 
 Thereupon, as if all wished to prove that not a chapter in 
 the record of the soldier was unknown to them, they spoke 
 one after another : 
 
 "Captain d'Artagnan was killed in the campaign in Fries- 
 land By a cannonball which crushed in his breast On the 
 very day when he took by storm the last stronghold which 
 his instructions ordered him to capture from the Hollanders 
 And at the very instant, too, when his Majesty's messen- 
 ger handed him the patent and truncheon of Marshal of 
 France." 
 
 Our seeker hung his head. 
 
 "Dead?" he muttered. "I should have expected it, and 
 yet this certainly makes my heart ache. Gentlemen," he 
 said aloud, as he recovered his manlier mood, "since you let 
 me so trespass on your kindness, permit a final inquiry." 
 
 "Speak on.'* 
 
 "Has any of the three names I am about to utter, made 
 a previous impression on your ear? Athos, Porthos, Ar- 
 amis?" 
 
 The four soldiers seemed to reflect, but finally they re* 
 plied that this was the first time the singular names had beef* 
 heard by them. Joel bowed to take his leave. 
 
 "Then, there is no more for me to do than offer you the 
 expression of my gratitude as I go." 
 
 But Escrivaux, sympathizing with him in his evident dis- 
 appoi^.ment, retained him. 
 
 "Stay, stay ! Might not those belong to the Three In- 
 trepid Musketeers, called the Inseparables ? With M. d'Ar- 
 tagnan, who was a gentleman-private in the Queen's Guards 
 at the period, they held the Bastion of St. Gervais at the 
 jSeige of La Rochelle against a large body of the Calvinists ? 
 Gentlemen, you remember the story of the dinner napkin 
 which our comrades set up as a standard on the walls they 
 defended and which King Louis XIII. ordered to be em- 
 broidered in gold with the royal lily-flowers ?" 
 
 "Why, of course we do,** replied Champagnac. "You 
 have hit the mark. But all that happened " long ago. In 
 the preceding reign" 
 
 "And, mark," said Gace, smilinir "'/ie oldest of us is not 
 over thirty." 
 
 " There is only one in the company who could enlighten 
 you on this score, " pur<sn*H rfericourt " and he is our cor-
 
 9< THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 poral M. de Bregy, who is not always in a talkative moef 
 
 "'Not when he has left his money on the cardtable " 
 
 " Or his wits in a pot of wine " 
 
 " Where is your M. de Bregy to be met with ?" abruptly 
 
 inquired the Breton, bent on his own idea. 
 
 "In his favorite drinking-place in the Vaches Street " 
 
 **Or the dicing- den of the Poteau-Jure" Street " 
 
 "Unless he has lingered by the way to drub some varlet 
 
 or quarrel with a citizen for having too pretty a daughter 
 
 "Hold ! talk of the wolf and you will see his ears," said 
 Escrivaux; "here he comes from behind the wall of the Royal 
 Kennels." 
 
 "You are right, in faith," added Champagne; "be on your 
 guard, comrades. The old bear has cocked his hat awry 
 a token that he is more cantankerous than usual. Take my 
 advice, and do not accost him just now," he added to the 
 country squire. 
 
 "Thanks," was the latter's rejoinder, as he laughed. "This 
 will not be the first time that I have locked horns with a 
 stag and not come off second-best." 
 
 In the meantime Corporal Bregy swaggered up, ringing th 
 spurs on his buff leather boots and shaking the red feather 
 of his hat over his ear so that it seemed likely to fall. 
 
 This "sore-head," as in military slang was called the veter' 
 ans galled by the steel cap of service, was of athletic build. 
 Under his scarlet cassock, on which blazed a sun of gold 
 lace with spreading beams, his broad and robust shoulders 
 were prominent, as well as a chest in full proportion to his 
 whole frame. Such a constitution alone could defy pro- 
 longed excesses in debauchery and dissipation. Everything in 
 him reflected that brutal and quarrelsome confidence spring- 
 ing from the consciousness of herculean strength and cour- 
 age above proof. From this, too, arose an impudence which 
 tempted the most pacific person on whom his taunting gaze 
 fell, to take him by the throat and thrash him into 
 decency. 
 
 " How now! my pretty pages, is it thus you conduct your- 
 selves on sentry-go ? since when, in the devil's name, have 
 the orders been for soldiers to chat with civilians when under 
 arms ? By all that is sacred in the army, I do not know any*
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. <y$ 
 
 thing but my soft heart that holds me from sending you all 
 into arrest for such behavior." So he thundered. 
 
 " Corporal," said Champagnac. "it is only this gentleman 
 who wants to speak with you." 
 
 *' A gentleman, to speak with me ? what gentleman ?" 
 
 And holding his head back, he scanned the Breton so dis- 
 dainfully and provocatorily that the latter felt anger flush 
 up into his face. But speedily mastering himself in view of 
 the aim he sought, he began : 
 
 " Corporal, I come from master Bonlarrons " 
 
 " The vendor of wine and cooked meats in the Pas-de- 
 Mule Street ? a capital host, that, or the infernal fires may 
 roast me I the best bub to drink that I ever lapped ! I fancy 
 I owe him some ten or twelve pistoles for it. If you have 
 come to dun me, I can tell you that you would have acted 
 wiser to stay in his cellar and drain his biggest tun ; for that 
 rascal Vilarceaux, the captain of the keepers of the Royal 
 Spaniels, has raked in my last crown of pay at picquet." 
 
 "I do not know anything about your debts " 
 
 "What is the matter, then, by the horns of Belzebub? It 
 did not seem to me that you were tcngue-tied as I came up, 
 for you were chattering away like a flock of jays to my sol- 
 diers here." 
 
 The squire made an effort to overcome the growing irrita- 
 tion which this brutal welcome caused in him, spite of prud- 
 ence. He laid succinctly before the rough soldier what he 
 Wanted of him. 
 
 "Athos, Porthos, and Aramis?" grumbled the corporal, 
 plucking at his moustache in ill humor. "Yes, I do remen- 
 ber them all. Athos was a great nobleman, a couut of sme 
 place which has escaped me who took the shine out of us 
 With his sovereign style and magnificent manners whicfc 
 did not save him from dying like an old dog, in his domain 
 down in Blaisois." 
 
 "Then, the others I prithee, the others?" 
 
 *'Aramis and Porthos ? Aramis was a priest who had no 
 business to don the Musketeer's uniform; and Porthos was 
 a beefeater, a gorger and braggadocio " 
 
 "Plague on it!" blurted out the young man, his voice trem- 
 bling from his biting his lip till the blood ran, *You are not 
 lenient to your old companions-in-arms." 
 
 "Ah," growled the veteran with a hateful rancor **Thcy
 
 ^6 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 were the ones who enjoyed all the plums, while I, doomed 
 to rust in a low position, have had to take ray belt in two 
 buckle-holes just to save for my daily whet and crust." 
 
 "But this Ararnis, and Porthos?" 
 
 "Oh, Aramis became a bishop, and Porthos, a baron 
 voyal favors that they hastened to requite with rebellion and 
 ingratitude." 
 
 ''What are you saying ? " 
 
 "That the Bishop of Vannes and Baron du Vallon were 
 mixed up with Fouquet in the great conspiracy which led to 
 that minister's arrest. They were two leaders who defended 
 Belle-Isle against the King's men, and they slipped away 
 during the hard knocks. I have seen the sentence which con- 
 demned the brace of gallowsbirds to death for high treason." 
 
 The squire had turned whiter than his shirt-collar ; from 
 his eyes darted a flash which alarmed the spectators, and 
 from his quivering lips issued this indignant protest : 
 
 "Porthos, a traitor impossible ! You are a liar !" 
 
 At this, Bregy fairly roared. His forehead veins swelled 
 like cords ; his broad face from red turned to violet,*and 
 his hand grasped his swordhandle. The challenger acted in 
 the same manner, but Champagnac and Escrivaux flung them- 
 selves between. 
 
 "Gentlemen, think what you are about ! drawing swords 
 before a royal residence ?" 
 
 The coporal shoved back his half drawn blade into its 
 sheathe, and stepping up to his living goad, he stared at him 
 and said with ill-contained ire, "Young man, you have spoken 
 a word which makes you equal to me in age." 
 
 "I know what it entails," replied Joel, "and I am ready 
 to maintain it." 
 
 At this juncture, three o'clock sounded from the bell-tower. 
 Four Swiss guards, with their coporal, came to relieve the 
 Musketeers ; when the change was made and the words 
 given, the Musketeer Corporal said to his two sen- 
 tries : " Messieurs d'Hericourt and Gace, go and leave your 
 muskets in the guardhouse. Then, join us in the Forest. 
 This stranger and I am going to take a stroll for our health 
 In emphasizing the last word, he showed his tolerably good 
 and strong teeth in a tigerish grin. " Messieurs d'Escrivaus 
 and de Cnampagnac will also come with us. Each will come 
 alone so as not to attract attention. All are to meet at the 
 Saint Fiacre's Oak cross-roads."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 97 
 
 Side by side the duellists strode through the woods, wel- 
 come with their shade on that blazing day. The Musketeer 
 took off his hat and puffed as he hummed an old marching, 
 song. His perspiration streamed on his forehead and filled 
 his wrinkles and scars and the brushes which were his brows.. 
 Joel was not. high-colored, but he was resolved. It is asserted 
 that those about to die see all the events of their past life like 
 'a panorama. Joel saw Old Brittany again, the Giant's Grave, 
 the sword'which he wore, thrust up out of the mossy ground, 
 and the face of his dying mother. But this time it wore a 
 hard, stern expression, and he believed she was whispering .- 
 
 "Defend your sire's fame!" 
 
 Behind this implacable countenance, appeared another 
 Aurore du Tremblay's not less imperiously dooming the bully 
 to death. 
 
 "Young man, we have arrived," said Bregy, wickedly lay- 
 ing stress on his words of double meaning, "here is the end 
 of your journey." 
 
 In this clearing, covered with grass, several roads came to 
 meet and form a star. In the centre rose a hoary oak, shrouded 
 in ivy and lichen, and harboring in one of its decayed knot- 
 holes a plaster statue of Saint Fiacre, who is the gardeners 
 patron saint. 
 
 "We can begin the dance whenever you like," returned 
 the Breton, with impatience. 
 
 "Go slow, my boy, go slow, said the other jocularly. We 
 must wait for our seconds, as I do not want it said that I 
 butcher little children, like the ogre in the street-hawkers* 
 ballads." 
 
 The four Musketeers came up, each by a different path. 
 
 '"Gentlemen," said the old swordsman, "two of you will 
 kindly second our young fighting-cock, while the others 
 stand by me- It is understood that you are not to interfare 
 whatever takes place, save as the seconds' duty regulates* 
 and testify at need that the fight was properly managed and 
 that 1 despatched this gentleman according to the rules." 
 
 The soldiers silently obeyed. Escrivaux and Champag- 
 nac placed themselves by the Breton, and the other two re- 
 mained near their superior. All four had a saddened air 
 and eyed our hero with unequivocal compassion, as he un- 
 sheathed his sword. It must be said that the sight of this 
 heroic weapon, deftly wieldad. had. however, a lively effect.
 
 J8 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 His adversary alternatively opened and closed his right 
 hand to test the play of the muscles, and stamp with his 
 foot. 
 
 "I am waiting for you, monsieur," said Joel. 
 
 The swordsman tossed his beaver on the sod and took out 
 his sword. He bent his knee a couple of times in rehears- 
 ing a lunge, and sneeringly remarked : 
 , "Do you not want to make your last speech and dying con- 
 fession to these gentlemen ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 'Then, look to yourself." 
 
 "I mean to." 
 
 In a deep silence, the two rods of steel clashed and at 
 Once an oath was drawn from the corporal's vinous lips for 
 he had perceived that his task was not so easy if he expected 
 to overcome the Breton offhand. The latter had not winced 
 under his attack, but stood like a statue with a mechanical 
 arm playing the sword. 
 
 "Come, come, the boy has a spice of the fiend in him," 
 muttered the old soldier. "I did intend only to lay him up 
 for a few weeks. But now I shall be obliged to settle him 
 straight off." 
 
 Gnawing his moustache, he successively tried to thrust in 
 carte and tierce, overstepping the fighting-line, and dealing 
 the strokes with decisiveness and expertness which alarmed 
 the beholders, while he was astounded at their being met 
 each time by the inflexible iron, for he believed he alone held 
 the secret of these lunges a tradition of the regiment. It 
 was a sight of terrible and enchaining interest, with moving 
 incidents which the lookers-on watched with anxious curios- 
 ity. The resistance to which the old brawler was not hab- 
 ituated, surprised and irritated him. It caused him gradually 
 to lose his science and coolnew ; giddiness affected his brain, 
 obscured his sight and burdened his arm. He felt this de- 
 fect and redoubled his impetuosity, and became frightful, 
 with his foaming mouth and bloodshot eyes standing out of 
 ;he sockets. At one time, he shrank back on his guard, and 
 then bounding forward, he delivered one of those high 
 Ihrusts which would have penetrated the gorget of a foe and 
 transfixed his throat ; but Joel seemed to anticipate this 
 Itroke, old and of the Italian school of fence, for he dropped 
 K> swiftly that the sword passed straight over his head. At
 
 THK DEATH OF ARAM1S. 99 
 
 he rose, he and the shotforward and baffled swordsman al- 
 most came in contact. He might with a shortened arm 
 have stabbed him who was thus at his mercy, but he con- 
 tented himself with giving him one of those looks which an- 
 nounce to an antagonist that he must expect no mercy when 
 the time for execution comes. 
 
 By a reaction brought about by the phases of the combat, 
 Bregy now doubted himself and the other became confident, 
 and this could be read on his face. Bregy stifled another 
 oath. 
 
 To avoid a downward cut upon the sword, he leaped 
 nimbly back but his left foot slipped, and by a natural move- 
 ment Joel delivered a thrust as straight as a line and the 
 sword disappeared in the Muskeeter's breast. He remained 
 on his feet yet an instant, and tried to speak, but a flow of 
 blood choked him. Reeling, he let go his sword to place both 
 hands on his wound ; then, like a tree uprooted, he dropped 
 on the sword. 
 
 The victor leaned up against a tree, with perspiration 
 beading the tip of each hair. He dared not risk a movement. 
 His victory seemed a dream. He stared, affrighted, at his 
 sword, crimsoned to the point, which he had also let drop, and 
 at the corporal, lying on his back near the old oak. The 
 distended eye? seemed to watch him, and a curse or some 
 threat seemed hovering on his lips. Unwittingly he leaned 
 towards him, "when something like a sigh exhaled and to 
 the young man alone these words in the faintest of whispers 
 reached the ear: 
 
 "The thrust of Porthos !" 
 
 Joel had killed the insulter of his father with a secret 
 thrust known to but few in the regiment. 
 
 The seconds exchanged a few words like men accustorr.ed 
 to such deeds. 
 
 "Nothing ran be done;'* 
 
 "Nothing, unless we notify the forest-keepers, who will all 
 carry the corpse into St. Germain's." 
 
 Champagnac and Escrivaux approached the conqueror of 
 their unpleasant officer. 
 
 " Monsieur," said one, "you will do well in quitting this 
 place as soon as may be, as the royal edicts against duelling 
 are strict rjd the constabulary cannot be trifled with." 
 
 "Of c< fse we may have never seen you." So said thfe
 
 too THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 other. "M. de Bregy must have been killed by some 
 stranger, which is what we shall say when we are questioned. 
 But look ! somebody is coming. Haste away ! without losing 
 a minute." 
 
 Joel stammered a few words in the way of thanks.Picking 
 tin the avenging sword of his father, he mechanically wiped 
 it \vith a handful of leaves, and replaced it in the scabbard. 
 Then, he departed with the step of a drunken man, wildly 
 and without an aim. 
 
 Bonlarron and Friquet were awaiting him for supper when 
 he found his way to them he hardly knew how. 
 
 "By the big bell of Ndtre Dame," exclaimed the Parisian, 
 when the recital was ended; "I should have acted in the 
 same way. I should have made that braggart skip into the 
 air so high that the tower of St. Jacques of the Slaughter- 
 house would hare been seen under his flying carcase." 
 
 As the fatal duellist flagged in appetite, the soldier-land- 
 lord emitted this consolatory maxim: 
 
 "The first time you kill a man, it always makes a slight im- 
 pression; but it is only the first corpse that counts. It i? 
 nothing when you get used to it." 
 
 HAPTER XIL 
 
 ANY PORT IN A STORM. 
 
 ONthe AnjouQuay, stood the sumptuous mansion built for 
 Nicholas Gruhin, and afterwards the property ofLau- 
 But it was taken at the present season for his Parisian 
 residence by his Eminence the Duke of Almada, ambassador 
 pi his Catholic Majesty, Charles II., King of Spain and th 
 Indies. 
 
 Aramis was seated in his closet, wrapped in a wadded 
 silk sown, before a desk loaded with papers. He had 
 just finished reading the following communication; 
 
 " MY LORD ; I hasten to inform your lordship that the 
 King will shortly be on the return from Lille to St. Ger- 
 main's, and that it is urgent to make preparations accordingly. 
 The marchioness seems indeed more ttut ver assured of tii*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. lot 
 
 power of her charms and the success of her ambitious de- 
 signs. I hear that she has secretly vaunted of a prediction 
 lately made to her which, if it come to pass, will ruin our 
 hopes and projects entirely. A fortune-teller of the Palais 
 Royal ward announced to her that the Grand Alcandre 
 (Louis XIV.) would shortly be free to wed again and wouM, 
 by marrying her, raise her to the supreme rank in the reahn. 
 Therefore, it is necessary to produce at the court the coun- 
 terbane to this noxious influence the person who will 
 eclipse her. Deign, your Excellency, to take measures con- 
 sequently and consider me on all occasions the most faith- 
 ful, devoted and respectful of servants, BOISLAURIER." 
 
 Hot as was the evening, a high fire blazed in the ample fire- 
 place in carved marble before which the desk was placed. 
 Almada crumpled up the letter into a ball, and flung it into 
 the blaze where it was consumed in an instant. Then, set- 
 tling back in the armchair, he seemed to let meditation ab- 
 sorb him. In a short time, he roused himself and mur- 
 mured : 
 
 ' Upon my faith, Boislaurier is right; things must be 
 hurried on. As the mountain will not come to us, we shall 
 go to the mountain." 
 
 He struck a spring-bell and a footman appeared. 
 
 ''See if Esteban has returned and send him hither at once." 
 
 In a few minutes the lackey inquired for, was before his 
 master; a fine, sharp Spaniard; he bowed to the old lord. 
 
 "Well, what tidings?" demanded the latter. 
 
 "I have the honor to bring your Excellency the informa- 
 tion which I was charged to gather." 
 
 "Very well. Speak J am listening." 
 
 "The young lady whom I followed, dwells with an old rel- 
 ative whose infirmities keep her indoors, in the Tournelles 
 Street." 
 
 "Yes, proceed." 
 
 "She comes forth in the mornings to call on various law- 
 yers proctors, judges, counsellors " 
 
 "Go on, go on." 
 
 "In the evenings, she goes to worship to the parish church 
 of St. Paul's, which is her habit." 
 
 "How have you learnt that?" 
 
 ''I heard her say to an old beggar-woman, in the porch, 
 M she dropped a coin into her hand: 'You may expect the
 
 X THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 ame daily at this time as I shall come here regularly." 
 
 After a pause the ambassador asked: 
 
 "Have you not at beck some bold fellow devoid of preju* 
 dices, who will do any kind of work if he be paid amply?'* 
 i fle added, smiling as the lackey was about to offer himself; 
 'I am not mistrusting your delicacy; but private motives pre- 
 vent me confiding the mission to a member of my house' 
 hold." 
 
 "Your Excellency will be suited to a charm," went on the 
 Spaniard eagerly ; " I have met the very fellow for this 
 wcrk." 
 
 "Ah, how nicely things fall into place ! What is the qual- 
 ity of this rogue for all work ?" 
 
 "He styles himself for the nonce Captain Cordbuff ; he is 
 an old friend, for we served the King together." 
 
 "In the navy?" 
 
 Esteban shuddered, for he and the highwayman had palled 
 At the same oar as gallcyslaves for the King of Spain. 
 
 "How long will he act?" 
 
 "As long as the purse of his employer holds out." 
 
 "So I may call upon him to do me some slight service?" 
 
 "Your Excellency may have him at a reduction from the 
 market price. The poor scamp arrives out of the country 
 where he was badly treated, to judge by his tattered clothing. 
 He will throw into the bargain three more scurvy rascals 
 equally as tattered, whom he drags at the heels they looking 
 upon him as a hero. All four were the victims of a dishonest 
 comrade." 
 
 "Dishonesty amongthieves? what is this world of iniquity 
 coming to? but a truce of your confidence. I am not going 
 to prunt by the distress of villains to chaffer with their con 
 science. Bring me this valorous captain in a brief time." 
 
 "To-morrow, early, he will await the command of your 
 Excellency." 
 
 "You are a precious Esteban. Continue to show the same 
 Zeal. My treasurer will often want to see you." 
 
 On dismissing his valet, the ambassador wrote some lines 
 in a kind of diary carried with him, in the cipher which he 
 taught to Juanjugan. and anew plunged into musing. 
 
 A smile came to his thin lios and gradually became more 
 jnd more bitter. "Heigho!" he sighed, in fatigue. "How 
 d'Artagnan, Athos and Porthos would look with contempt
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMl*. 103 
 
 OR the webs I am spinning now. Those valiant champions of 
 the wronged and oppressed queens and lovers, waged manly 
 warfare and measured themselves with such combatans as 
 Richelieu, Cromwell and the crafty Mazarin: they foughi for 
 fair ladies and reamless kings, under the flash of swords: 
 they rode desperately; they crossed the seas like Perseus and 
 Jason in the fables. 
 
 He had partly risen in his seat, and a spark of fire danced 
 under the curtain of his eye. The memory of dashing deeds 
 of yore galvanized the worn-out frame and awakened the 
 Musketeers in the diplomatist. But this return of youth lasted 
 briefly. The expression of mocking wisdom, his second nat- 
 ure, soon replaced the fugitive gleam of enthusiasm on the 
 aged countenance. 
 
 With a dry and broken laugh, Aramis continued 5 
 
 "But times have changed. The great conspiracies in whid* 
 a plotter risked his head on the block of Chalais, Cinq-Mar^ 
 and Montmorency, have given place to bedchamber intrigus^ 
 where the disgrace of a favoritt or the ruin of a courtier is 
 arranged behind my lady's ;aii or the minister's fire-screen, 
 And this hand, which has been mighty enough to shake a 
 throne, is reduced to push couit puppets to and fro as though 
 they were pawns on the narrow chessboard in the alcove. 
 Ah, 'tis a woman's age ana I must act like a woman, spite- 
 ful, relentless, neglecting no paltry action." 
 
 Folding his slender, white hands over the silk dressing-gown 
 and gently twiddling the thumbs to counteract his nervous* 
 ness, a habit of his, he resumed, while his .'eaiures reflected 
 a satisfied conscience. 
 
 "All things considered, is it Jiult cf jfti.e if their is no 
 longer an Olympus to scale ? I am more able to climb the 
 molehill. Anyway, the interests I guard are important. 
 'Sdeath! as my poor d'Artagnan usi d to swear, the importance 
 of the end justifies the meanness cf the methods." 
 
 And with this Jesuitical plea, by hi. oosition over the Sons 
 of Loyala most appropriate in his mov-.Sj he soon after re- 
 tired to a sound repose. Not long after he had breakfasted 
 on chocoltate in the Spanish mode, he hav. n interview with 
 our old acquaintance Cordbuff. 
 
 At a result, the valorous Condor, w ; ^h a couple ot nis old 
 troop, but no longer mounted, might have been seen in the 
 dust, prowling in the neighborhood of St Paul's Churckr
 
 K THE SON OF PORTHOS; OX. 
 
 Wittun, a dozen old women were listening to eveing pray 
 i,r5: Mdlle. du Tremblay was kneeling in the Virgin Chapel. 
 
 When she approached the holy water font, the worshippers 
 Ti.:'s;ht have noticed, if their sight had been keen enough to 
 ; *erce her veil, that she blushed. Near the same basin stood 
 a young gentleman, our friend Joel, who dipped his fingers 
 in the blessed water and offered it to the lady. Thus their 
 fcak^.s touched. Together, they descended the porch steps. 
 
 Tais discovery of the male escort to the lady whom they 
 r/e;c! set upon, did not meet the taste of Condor and his 
 r.o.rvc 1es; but their orders were strict and their need of gain 
 l&ose r 3ent. Reviving their courage, they glided after the 
 paii" "*<> of them crossed the street and went to join still an- 
 other., linking under a doorway, wrapped in a dull colored 
 clou*: I..IQ covered with a black felt hat. The third con- 
 tinued to dog the happy couple, who would not have noticed 
 if a regiment were at their heels. 
 
 ' Well, " inquired the watcher, of the others as they met. 
 
 '' \ Ml. <rou are quite right, captain," responded one of the 
 pie-.. **iv Is the Breton peasant with whom we had the 
 uuisha^ on the Saumur road." 
 
 "And &e girl is also one of the travelers by the coach 
 the pretty i,-l. M 
 
 * U will be. * ruble prize, then," observed Condor, grinning. 
 * At length I h we it in my power to get even with that pert 
 "/future's scorn and the rustic's brutality." 
 
 "1 do not know so much about that," returned one of the 
 twain, u you iiae acted wisely in having reinforcements; 
 Che p." 5 . 1 */ bird *-'*<> beak and claws to defend herself." 
 
 "Ay-*' addcU tae second, "and she will not fail to pipt 
 pretty loudly. * 
 
 "What does that matter?" sneered the Colonel of the 
 Royal Marauders. "Have we not a gag to prevent her mak- 
 ing too much noise , As for the clown, we have ten good 
 blades who wiU put ,im out of a state to annoy the brave 
 subjects of his Majesty." 
 
 With the tone cJ a general arranging his army in line ol 
 battle he went on *'Where is your comrade, Pickpurse JT 
 
 "Following thfc 'pair of cooers-and-wooers ?" 
 
 "Where is the hackney coach ?** 
 
 "Behind the church." 
 
 "And the rest of our fellow* ?** 
 
 v Alonz with tne coaci*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. wj 
 
 "In that case, to work ! Mind, no rumpus and rashness : 
 that is the special order of the noble lord who employs us. 
 Take your time and do the trick smoothly." 
 
 For three days, Aurore had been coming to St. Paul's to 
 vespers, and twice Joel had had the pleasure of escorting 
 her to her home. But he done it by keeping at a little dis- 
 tance. On this occasion, he made so bold as to walk by her 
 side. As she eyed him with a kindly smile, he muttered, 
 more confused and timid than when first they met : 
 
 "Are we going to part so soon?" in a tone of entreaty. "I do 
 ao want to speak with you." 
 
 "I am of the same mind, my friend," she answered with- 
 out hesitation, and holding out her hand to him, upon which 
 an expression of delight shone on his face. 
 
 They turned into the Petit-Muse Street. 
 
 "Give me your arm," said Aurore; "I am frightened." 
 
 " Not with me by you, I hope," said Joel. 
 
 " Oh" she responded " I know by experience that I may 
 rely on your strength and courage: but this part is so lonely, 
 and night is falling so fast." 
 
 Indeed, there were few persons out ; the night promised 
 a storm and all the 'sky was lowering. The girl leaned on 
 her protector's arm. With ecstasy he contemplated her de- 
 licious loveliness which the increasing gloom softened and 
 caused to appear more heavenly. They walked but slowly, 
 keeping close to each other. To the Breton's lips the words 
 pressed, but he held them back in order to do nothing but 
 listen to those from the voice which thrilled him to the core 
 with intoxication. 
 
 *' Well, have you commenced your investigation," she in- 
 quired. " I am sure you have, though, as you are a man of 
 immediate action.. Do you still count upon a success for 
 which I pray every day ?" 
 
 The youth felt great embarrassment. Ought he to in- 
 form the lady of what had happened when he went out to 
 St. Germain f He durst not. 
 
 Still, as falsehood was repugnant to his frank and straight- 
 forward nature, he answered the question by putting an 
 other. 
 
 " And your steps, mademoiselle, do they bid fair to turn 
 ut happily ?" 
 
 " Alack" she sighed, with a shake of the head, " 1 am
 
 106 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 not an adept at begging and praying favors. The art is a sealed 
 letter to me of obtaining general support by reiterated sup- 
 plications, and I have the great flaw of being proud. Ah, it 
 I were alone at stake, and not the welfare of these children 
 I" 
 
 " You would give up the task !" 
 
 " I certainly should, and leave town on the morrow." 
 
 " Leave town ?" repeated the other, with a shudder. 
 
 " What else can you expect ? its tumult gives me a dizzi- 
 ness." 
 
 I am frightened by the traps which I suspect to be set 
 for my feet. Horror and pity are inspired in me by the 
 mingling of passions and lusts which clash in the streets, 
 where the tall houses hide the heavens. Then, again, I feel 
 myself so lonesome, here, deprived of all support, and de- 
 fense, so weak in a lions' pit where the motto is of Each for 
 Himself ! and where one must fight for a corner in the sun- 
 shine and a scrap of bread, with many weakening and shame- 
 ful compromises. Oh, how much better I should prefer to go 
 home to the country and dwell far, very far from the town? 
 My country is your own, too, where the wild rose and the 
 golden furze mingle on the cliffs and the boundless strand ! 
 and their scent blends with the wholesome breeze from the 
 ocean." 
 
 " Could you resign yourself to dwell there by yourself ?" 
 questioned the lover, with a tremulous voice. 
 
 *' I should esteem myself happy above all women if I had 
 beside me one whom my heart has chosen." 
 
 " Oh, yes," he muttered, " you mean some opulent and 
 puissant nobleman who would make you a sovereign 
 lady" 
 
 *' You are wrong," returned Aurore, softly, and shaking 
 her head. " I am poor, and I have confessed that I am 
 proud, but this pride prevents me accepting anything from 
 the man who weds me save the wedding-ring." Her voice 
 became haughtier, and she added : " But as a daughter of 
 the noble, I am bound not to marry beneath my line." 
 
 "Ah, me!" 
 
 She pressed his arm with hers, and in a grave and pene- 
 trative voice demanded : 
 
 "Why this sigh ? I am patient and we are young. Can 
 we not await in confidence until heaven shall have blessed
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 10: 
 
 our efforts, or that, in default of your finding out your sire's 
 name, you make one for yourself ?" 
 
 "Good heavens," so ejaculated Joel, "is it possible thai 
 you have divined my secret ?" 
 
 They had reached the Celestins Wharf, where there stood 
 a bench by a tree. The girl took a seat upon it, saying: 
 
 "Won't you sit beside me ?" 
 
 He obeyed and she pursued : "I am in the belief that you 
 love me." 
 
 He raised his eyes and met hers fixed upon him, and then 
 hers were cast down from his being so ardent. 
 
 ''Yes, 1 like I love you," continued she, "to learn which 
 I had no need to hear the tale from your lips; I had but to 
 listen to my own heart.'* 
 
 Fired up into a fever, our hero said : "I do not well know 
 what my feelings are, but this is sure I respect no being in 
 the world as I do you, and I should die were you to be the 
 bride of another." 
 
 In the brief silence following, a slight stir was heard, which 
 may have been the approaching wind: the storm was nearing 
 them and the darkness augmented. But the lovers saw 
 nothing of either phase ; they had no consciousness of the 
 advanced hour or of the thunder growling in the distance. 
 Joel had grasped the small hands which quivered in his ten- 
 der hold. 
 
 "Aurore," he kept on repeating, "Aurore, you are my 
 loved one ! My hope and all I long for in the time to come! 
 You are my life entire!" 
 
 A heartrending scream interrupted him, for the girl had 
 seen a dark form detach itself from the lesser shadow of the 
 tree. An arm was raised with a heavy holster-pistol held in the 
 hand so that the butt should come down on the young man's 
 head. He fell, stunned, like the pole-axed bull. 
 
 As if this fall were a signal, three men swiftly darted out 
 from the same covert, and rushed upon Mdlle. du Tremblay. 
 At the same time, a coach, drawn by two strong horses, 
 came out of one of the alleys ending on the bankside. The 
 three ruffians hurried her away towards it. 
 
 She resisted, and shrieked: 
 
 "Help, help! this way!" 
 
 This appeal of distress worked a miracle. Joel sprang 
 to his feet, like the bull does, sometimes, when the axe has
 
 io8 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 blunted the senses, not fatally paralysed them. The thidj 
 felt of his shaggy Breton hat had broken the force of the 
 blow. By the pale gleam of a stray lamp he had a peep 
 at the ravishers, and he bounded upon them, with his sword 
 in his grip. On seeing him swoop, like the charge of a cava- 
 lier, one of the three ruffians left his comrades and also 
 bared the sword. 
 
 "No passage this way," said he. 
 
 "The Colonel of the Royal Marauders !" exclaimed Joel. 
 
 "I am your man," replied Cordbuff> darting the steel point 
 at his face : " I am going to mark you this time again where 
 ray pistol ball left the trace." 
 
 This was only a fencer's trick; for, instead of the blade ap 
 proaching his eyes, Joel had to parry a lunge which might 
 have cut him in halves. 
 
 "Ah, food for the gallows that you are," growled the Bre- 
 ton, "You are not worthy being slain by a noble sword." 
 And, reversing the weapon, he used it as as a club and 
 with the weighty pommel nearly split the bandit's skull, 
 and he rolled in the mud. In one bound the victor had 
 cleared him, and in two more reached his accomplices. With . 
 a cut, he left the Plucker howling, and with a thrust, he sent 
 Pillager into a doorway to try to patch up a deep hole : 
 Aurore had no vile hand on her now. She clung to his 
 neck. 
 
 "Oh, you have saved me," she said. "Nay, God help us!" 
 she almost immediately cried, "We are lost." 
 
 At this time, indeed, a dozen armed bravoes, what were 
 called "the Ferocities," disbanded soldiers who led a vagrant 
 life, seemed to issue from the bowels of the coach, much as 
 troops came from the wooden horse within ancient Troy. 
 They must have their march regulated in advance, for they 
 headed directly for the young spoilsport. 
 
 "Curs," said he, "well for you that I am not alone!" 
 
 Instead of rushing headlong into their midst, he took up 
 the gin as though she were a feather, and rapidly turning, he 
 began a retreat. The whole band started on the pursuit. 
 Fortunately the first blast of the coming storm lifted the dust 
 into a cloud and shrouded them in its blinding whirls. This 
 for the instant checked their speed, and that space sufficed 
 to give the fugitive a reasonable advance. 
 
 Large drops of rain began to fall
 
 SHE DEATH OF ARAMIS. K* 
 
 'an like a deer. Thinking that to save his dear one, 
 he should not shrink from proceedings which the emergency 
 would win pardon for, he took the girl upon his left shouldei 
 and held her from falling with the arm that side; she did not 
 Stir. His right arm was free for his sword. The priceless 
 burden did not slacken his furious stride; if anything, it 
 spurred him on in its giddy swiftness. They who followed 
 hot-foot were inveterate. He heard them breathlessly hast- 
 ening) with the clash of weapons and formidable oaths. But 
 our champion was fortunately of the build to accomplish 
 feats of this description. He was nimble, spite of his some- 
 what burly frame. It was not for a poor result that he had 
 trained his muscles in hunting and fowling on the plains at 
 Belle-Isle, and in running over the sand even in the tempest- 
 uous nights under the thunderpeals. 
 
 The present storm was at its height. The ground rang 
 under the rattling hail. On every hand echoes hurried back 
 the roar of thunder. But the Breton had seen far worse on 
 his native coasts. 
 
 In the Equinoctial gales the ocean-rollers come in upon 
 them with the howls of Titans trying to scale the cliffs. He 
 strode onward, undismayed, with a regular pulse and an 
 even respiration. 
 
 But not so with the rufflers : broken by drink and carous- 
 als, they floundered and stumbled on the miry soil : they 
 choked for breath; at every instant, one stopped short. Joel 
 was bareheaded at he fled, his long hair streaming out on 
 the wind, wet with the rain and his perspiration He crossed 
 one bridge then, another. He threaded one, two, three 
 streets and with a final effort, reached the end of the outer 
 ward beyond the old City limits. Here he paused to rest 
 on a corner-post, catch his breath and listen. 
 
 The sound of the pursuers rose no more. He uttered a 
 shout of triumph : 
 
 "Thank heaven, we have thrown the pack off. Madem- 
 oiselle, with the help of heaven, I believe we have noth- 
 ing more to fear." 
 
 Aurore made no reply ; she remained without any move- 
 ment. 
 
 "Mercy on us, is she dead ?" gasped the Breton. 
 
 With anguish he touched her pulse, and he found that it 
 still beat.
 
 HO TfJE SON OF PORTHOS; OK. 
 
 "It is only a faint," he sighed in relief. "The same sort 
 of thing as she experienced on theSaumur highway. But," 
 as he sustained her on his knee, ''she must be attended to. 
 Or, this drenching rain and killing hail will be the death of 
 her. What a place- -not a soul about ! All the doors and 
 windows closed, no lights, and the walls so pitiless ! I do 
 not even know where I am," he added, in despair, while his 
 eyes questioned the shadows that thickened around. 
 
 Suddenly a flash of lightning glared: out of the dark 
 loomed the house before which he had paused, and the brave 
 youth uttered an outcry of joy. 
 
 He recognized the building as the Grey House. Only a 
 few days previously, he had escorted home the three ladies 
 who had asked for his arm, on the Pont Neuf. Filling him 
 with light and cheer, came the remembrance of the sentence 
 which one of the three had pronounced as the most grateful 
 for his service : 
 
 "If ever you have need of my aid, do not shrink from 
 knocking at this door, and asking for Franchise d'Aubigny, 
 the Widow of the Poet Scarron." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 QUEEN-LIKE. 
 
 THE great anxiety of the Widow Scarron was for the 
 royal children whose early training was entrusted to her. She 
 feared that the storm would rouse them. At every thunder- 
 peal which shook the casements, she glanced towards their 
 cribs with uneasy affection. But the three children did no* 
 stir ; innocence protected them in the battle of the elements. 
 So the lady resumed her reading. At times, interrupting her- 
 self, she put down the book and the pencil with which sha 
 was making notes, to muse, leaning back in her easy chair, 
 with her gaze on vacancy, and her serious lips fluttering : 
 " Queen that woman repeated that I was to be a queen." 
 Still a smile of incredulity curled her mouth, although a 
 ray of hope lighted her eyes. She shook her head as though 
 to dispossess it of the haunting thought. In the midst of 
 one of these tormenting reveries, the r-yal governess
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 1 1 1 
 
 abruptly started, for a heavy hand hammered with the knocker 
 on her door. 
 
 "A call at this hour what can this mean ?" 
 
 A few minutes having passed, a servant came in. 
 
 " What is the matter, Honorin ?" questioned the mis- 
 tress. 
 
 "Madame, it is a young gentleman who craves speech of 
 you." 
 
 "A young gentleman ?" 
 
 "Whom I remember as the one who guarded you and the 
 marchioness hither, and whom her ladyship ordered the car- 
 riage out to take him home." 
 
 A passing flame glowed on the lady's face. 
 
 " Oh, that brave fellow " 
 
 " He is not alone, but has with him a young lady very 
 pretty, upon my word, and seeming in a swoon, for he car- 
 ried her in his arms." 
 
 " This is most strange," said the governess, rising. " How- 
 ever, conduct them into my oratory, where I will join them 
 presently." 
 
 When she entered the pious room, of which the chief sec- 
 ular ornament was a bookcase, containing her husband's 
 works, Joel, who had been awaiting her in faltering and agi- 
 tation, took a step towards her with a supplicatory gesture 
 and said, as he pointed to Mdlle. du Tremblay, whom he 
 had placed upon a sofa. 
 
 " Oh, for pity's sake, lady, help and succor her, and I will 
 repay you." 
 
 On beholding the dead-seeming girl, with the treasure of 
 her hair flowing over her shoulders and streaming with wet, 
 the governess could not restrain a low scream of astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 " Quick, call Nicole and Suzette," she said, turning to 
 the footman, who had followed her. " Let the bed in the 
 Blue Room be warmed. And bring me my traveling medi- 
 cine-chest." 
 
 " I must explain to you, lady," began the Breton, again 
 advancing. 
 
 " Another time," she interposed. " We have no time now, 
 when we must revive her without delay." 
 
 Her two chambermaids having run in, she proceeded : 
 
 " Take this lady into the Blue Room, where you will ra
 
 112 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 move those wet garments and put her to bed. I will set 
 among my remedies which will be most fit to bring her to life 
 anew. You, stay here, sir," she went on to the deliverer 
 " I shall return as soon as the patient will no longer need my 
 presence. Then you can acquaint me with the information 
 of whom I have the happiness to befriend and by what con- 
 course of circumstances." 
 
 A half-hour clasped, which seemed half-a-century to the 
 waiting heart But at last the mistress of the Grey House 
 appeared. 
 
 "Be of good cheer," she said to this mute challenge. Mdlle. 
 du Tremblay for her name came out in the babble of fever 
 is asleep. I have sent her into it by a calming potion. 
 But she must have been overcome by great terror and a 
 piercing emotion " 
 
 "So they were great, indeed." 
 
 Our hero rapidly placed under the governess's eyes the 
 scenes which we have described. When he arrived at the 
 sequel of his mad race through the storm and in the dark 
 streets, she declared: 
 
 "Verily, here is an adventure which commenced by a pas- 
 toral to end by a tragedy. I now comprehend the poor girl's 
 trouble from which I have sought to spare her by adminis- 
 tering the soothing draft. Have no fear: she will be calm 
 on awakening, in a safe place and with her defender by her. 
 If it should not be so, I will not hesitate to have recourse to 
 medical science and call in Fagon." 
 
 " Fagon ? oh, a doctor ?" 
 
 " A physician the new royal physician." 
 
 "Oh, then he will save her ! For indeed, lady, if he should 
 fail, I should no longer have any heart to live, and would 
 have only one thing farther to crave of you : point me out 
 the nearest road to the river" 
 
 The royal governess shook her finger at him in affectionate 
 remonstrance. 
 
 *' I repeat to you that the young lady is not in danger of 
 death at least, such is my belief: what she feels is the con- 
 sequence of her high-strung character, excessively nervous, 
 it strikes me." 
 
 "You are right in that matter," said the Breton, "for I 
 have seen her before similarly indisposed." 
 
 "And then, the upset ot the mina yielded, I suppose, to
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 113 
 
 the repose of the body. So will it be to-day. Sleep is the 
 sovereign remedy for these accidents." 
 
 "Heaven hear you, who bring to me hope and to her 
 health." 
 
 He started to take her hand, but she shrank back from 
 this manifestation of gratitude. As the squire stared at her 
 in surprise, she resumed, to shift the topic of conversation 
 and give herself a countenance : 
 
 "At present, M. Joel, meseems it is time to think about 
 yourself." 
 
 "You say Joel ?" exclaimed the Breton with pleasure. 
 "Then, you know my name ?" 
 
 "Did you not confide it to one of my companions ?" 
 
 "And you did not forget it !" 
 
 "No more than your generous assistance." 
 
 **Pooh, a trifle ! It is I who ought co pour out uninter- 
 rupted thanks to you this night. Still, as you do me the favor 
 to interest yourself in me " 
 
 "I wish to point out that, as you appear soaked and 
 muddied " 
 
 " It is likely. It is all on account of the deluge and I did 
 not notice it." 
 
 "You cannot remain in such a state " 
 
 "For fear of spoiling your carpets ? that is true. I am as 
 much out of place here as though I were a river " 
 
 "No, no," she protested, "I am not talking of carpets, but 
 of yourself who need dry clothes and warmth." 
 
 "Tush, a turn before the fire and a glass of wine to warm 
 me through and through, and I ask no more." 
 
 "How inhospitable of me," said the royal governess, smil- 
 ing "Be good enough to accompany me. We can talk a* 
 well over the wine you reminded me to offer." 
 
 Joel was soon seated in the dining-room, between the 
 fireplace where fresh logs were blazing and the table, which 
 Honorin had abundantly loaded: but the satisfaction of his 
 hunger did not dispel the cloud darkening his brow, usually 
 so carefree and smiling. While he was feasting, the host- 
 ess had spoken with her cold, sane, pitiless reason. 
 
 "So, you are in love with Mdlle. du Tremblay ?you really 
 love her, in full sincerity, in your inner self ? it is neither* 
 surprise of the senses nor a freak of youth ? You love 
 her so dearly that you would sacrifice your fortune to her if 
 the proposal arose ?"
 
 814 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 " I would not only sacrifice my earthly possessions but mj 
 lot in paradise." 
 
 " Breton talk of bartering his salvation," she said mirthfully. 
 
 " Good Lord, this is getting serious. Does Mdlle. du 
 Tremblay return the sentiment ?" 
 
 *' Sue has given me the great joy of authorizing me to be 
 lieve so." 
 
 A slight cloud if vexation shaded the questioner's 
 brow. 
 
 "On my honor, this opens like a love-romance, "she said. 
 'But before the finis be reached, what disappointments, 
 crosses and proofs ! In the first place, you have a rival." 
 
 " A rival ?" 
 
 "To whom do you attribute the attempt at abduction 
 from which the fair Aurore escaped only by your interven- 
 tion ? I vow that there is a thwarted swain in the background 
 some dangerous personage, no doubt, who does not recoil 
 from the most expeditious practices " She spoke with more 
 emphisis, and looked hard at him ; "For the first time, the 
 method failed : but what shows that they may not succeed 
 on the next essay ?" 
 
 Our hero dropped upon his plate the breastbone of the cold 
 fowl the rest of the succulent bird had already gone the 
 way of all (chicken) flesh. 
 
 "What, do you reckon that these scoundrels are in hire of 
 someone loftier ?" 
 
 "Come," she counterqueried, with some bitterness, "do 
 you yourself think tnat one will easily renounce the desire 
 to secure a girl so accomplished as your idol ?" 
 
 "Out upon him !" growled the youth, lowering his head 
 like the bull about to charge ; "I must kill this man." 
 
 "Do you know him ?" 
 
 "I shall seek until I find him." 
 
 "A very problematical result. Has he not as much reason 
 to keep^?r<& as you to discover him ? May he not have at 
 call means most plentiful to elude you ? Besides, what would 
 you re ic'i? He is doubtless a rich and powerful man, who 
 has an army of cut throats at his back, and you stand alone, 
 except your sword." 
 
 This logic choked Joel, who drank a cup of Burgundy to 
 clear his throat. 
 
 **a ihe meanwhile," proceeded the lady, dwelling on her
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. tfj 
 
 words as if she wanted to convince her auditor of the des 
 perate nature of the situation "Mddle. du Tremblay is no 
 longer in safety in her lodging in Tournelles Street, do you 
 think? For my part, I do^not suppose so. The dwelling must 
 be known to the unknown ravisher, who will multiply his plots 
 around that point, till, sooner or later, the prey falls into 
 them. For you will not always be at hand, like a guard 
 of honor, and the bedridden relative who gives her shelter 
 does not appear to me able greatly to help her." 
 
 "But," remonstrated the squire, "above the rich and mighty, 
 there is the law which protects the weak and oppressed." 
 
 Widow Scarron smiled sceptically. 
 
 "My young master," said she with ironical compassion, 
 "it is plain that you have recently arrived from the rural dis- 
 tricts, for the law here is what the Lieutenant of Police 
 Lareyine makes it. He is said to be honest ; but is it likely 
 he would take your side, and your Aurore's, two youths 
 from the provinces, without credit or influence against a ri- 
 ral of your antagonist's rank? From the highhanded man- 
 ner in which he acts, I may presume that he is a great no- 
 ble, assured he may brave justice, or a rich one able to bribe 
 it." 
 
 Joel rose in sorrow. 
 
 "Woe is me 1" he sighed. "You see that I must leap with 
 her over the nearest bridge " 
 
 The heartrending outburst was so deep that the hearer wa 
 thrilled to her inmost fibre. 
 
 "How he loves her !" she thought. "He will kill her sooner 
 than another shall boast of the conquest, and then slay the 
 villain, however high. In all ways, death impends. But he 
 must not be lost so young a man, who, like myself, be- 
 longs to the future. Squire Joel," she called out as he stag* 
 gered towards the door, "return and retake your seat." 
 
 As his only reply was a mad shake of the fist, she ran to 
 him at the door, and leading him back, forced him to take 
 his seat. 
 
 "You are but a boy to throw away lives like coin. If I 
 were your friend, we might hatch up some meos together 
 to extricate you from this quandary. There must be a way 
 when there is a will. So there is ! do you recall the^lady 
 whom you served as cavalier one of my companions ?' 
 
 marchioness ?" mechanically queried the Breton*
 
 Il6 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 " Yes, the Marchioness de Montespan," and she studied <M 
 the young man's face the impression made by the revelation, 
 or she sought for it, for there was none. 
 
 Nothing was there but his personal distress. 
 
 " Does the title convey no information to you?" 
 
 " By rny faith, not a jot is there anything particular abou* 
 it ?" 
 
 " It is not possible that you are ignorant who the mar- 
 chioness is " 
 
 " I saw that she was a very bewitching and obliging per- 
 son." 
 
 "Is that all?" 
 
 " The whole story." 
 
 " Really, do you mean to say that you do nqt know her po- 
 sition in the court ?" 
 
 " Oh, she holds a position at court, does she ? One of the 
 Queen's ladies, I venture to guess ?" 
 
 The hearer, who laughed very seldom when she became 
 Madame de Maintehon, burst into a peal if hearty laugh- 
 ter. 
 
 " You will be my death, the Lord forgive you I" she ex- 
 claimed, " I believe you make witticisms as Moliere's M. 
 Jourdain composed prose, without trying to do it. Come, 
 come, it is not from Brittany that you arrived, but a journey 
 farther shall we say Felix Aradia or Nova Zembla? The 
 youth stared at her, bewildered at this outburst. "How furious 
 the proud Athenais would be to hear that ! she who fancies 
 that she fills the whole universe with the beams she reflects 
 from 'the Sun.' But let us look to ourselves. Collect your 
 thoughts. Of what were you two conversing as you came 
 ftlong, she on your arm, from the New Bridge hither ?" 
 
 Trie youth repeated very accurately the dialogue. 
 
 "It would be so," muttered the auditress. "Heudicourt is 
 fight the woman wants to captivate every mortal son. At 
 all events," she went on aloud, "you did not confide to her 
 the name of your beloved ?" 
 
 He shook his head, and she approved. 
 
 "Good we have a chance to succeed." 
 
 "Succeed in what ?" 
 
 *'In the first place, in shielding your sweetheart from thf 
 pursuit of your rival." 
 
 "Is it possible ?*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS, \ ig 
 
 Hearken to me : The Marchioness de Montespan is 
 how will I explain it ? a great friend of the King his great- 
 est, best friend up to the present time," she said to herself. 
 "The King can refuse her nothing," she proceeded, for his 
 ear, "a matter of give and take. Now, if my lady agrees to 
 take Mdlle. du Tremblay under her wing " 
 
 "I see," broke in Joel, encouraged. "All you want is this- 
 protection, which I will ask of the lady." 
 
 "You ?" 
 
 "Of course ! the great lady is not so haughty as you say. 
 We chatted together on the same frank footing. I will de- 
 clare to her that there is nobody on the earth but my Au- 
 rore " 
 
 "Mind you do nothing of the sort, you blundering fel- 
 low !" 
 
 "Why not ? She showed herself right kindly to me." 
 
 "That is the very reason." 
 
 "I do not understand." 
 
 "There is no necessity of your understanding." 
 
 "There, you are scoffing at me again," murmured tha 
 youth* 
 
 "Do not be angry with me for that. I have not had such 
 fun since I lost my poor Scarron. But you are of the most 
 laughable innocence." 
 
 *'In plain " 
 
 "In plain, then, I charge myself to speak for you to the mar* 
 chioness. I beg you not to interrupt me ; and do not do it, 
 even to thank me. I have been so much somebody's ward 
 that I am happy to play the fairy godmother to somebody 
 else. In the first place, Mdlle. du Tremblay can stay here 
 until recovered from her alarm and ready for me to conduct 
 her to St. Germain, where I will lodge her by Madame de 
 Montespan. Under the roof of the royal residence, her un- 
 known pursuer will not dare to renew his attacks. Hereafter,. 
 we shall see what is to be done. I have your happiness in 
 my head, and whenever I make up my mind to anything, 
 it come to pass. In acting thus, I am not purely giving the 
 man of her choice to your adored darling ; but a rarity- 
 worthy of pairing off with Oger the Danish Knight for wild- 
 oess and for chastity with Scipio Africanus." 
 
 " Oh, madame, how kind you are, and how heartily I bless 
 fou."
 
 1 1 8 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 But though she let him kiss her hands, like the queen sht 
 dreamed to become, she receded, and in a calm voice said. 
 
 " M. Joel, allow me to part company. I must return ta 
 our interesting invalid and the children entrusted to my 
 care. All need my attentions. Besides, it is getting late, and 
 you must be fatigued with your exertions and the long race. 
 Take the needed repose in this chair the best accommo- 
 dation I can offer you; but you must be cut out for a soldier, 
 judging by the way you wield the sword, and you mast im- 
 agine that you are sleeping on the battlefield, on a night of 
 victory. Good night ! courage and hope !" 
 
 Joel slept in the easy chair by the chimney corner, with a 
 leaden sleep till an advanced hour of the morning. A maid- 
 servant came to usher him into the room where Mdlle. du 
 Tremblay was reposing. 
 
 Aurore was prey to a violent fever, as was revealed in the 
 lustre of her eyes, the purple tint on her cheekbones and 
 the relaxation of her muscles. When she woke, after a night 
 of nightmare, peopled with frightful panthoms and opened 
 her mouth to ask where she was, Widow Scarron had bent 
 over her and in a most motherly voice, replied: 
 
 "Do not question, my child. At this moment the effort 
 to listen and to speak may be fatal to you. Be it enough to 
 know that you are surrounded by friends." Pointing to net 
 defender, who entered on tiptoe, anxious and excited, she 
 added : "You see that I am not deceiving you. Your 
 champion repeats my entreaty. Friends have undertaken 
 to shield your head from all danger from whatever quarter ; 
 from the malady which keeps you in bed, as from the criminal 
 plots which threatened your honor." 
 
 Joel knelt beside the pillow; he took the burning hand 
 and saluted it with a reverent and gentle kiss. She re- 
 sponded by softly and affectionately pressing his hand, and 
 she would have spoken ; but the Widow Scarron again in- 
 tervened : 
 
 "Let me once more, urge no imprudence. I prescribe com- 
 plete silence. And I represent the Faculty of Medicine 
 here, until the doctor arrives. I have sent an express to SL 
 Germain to bring Dr. Fagon," she continued to the Breton. 
 "I expect him to finish the cure I have commenced* But 
 fou must not meet him here." 
 
 *'Ar you sending me away r"
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 119 
 
 "Yes; to Tournelles Street to begin with : did you not say 
 that Mdlle. du Tremblay lived there with an aged relative?" 
 
 "Yes, old Madame de la Bassetiere." 
 
 "Exactly: she must have been mortally frightened during 
 this while; it is urgent to set her at ease on the fate of her 
 young kinswoman, and ask her approval of the measures we 
 intend to take for her welfare." 
 
 Aurore, in spite of her state, did not lose a word of this 
 colloquy. Her look seemed to say to the royal governess : 
 "I thank you for thinking and foreseeing everything !" and 
 as clearly on its traveling to Joel, it spoke; "Hasten, my 
 friend, for mercy's sake !" 
 
 "But I shall see you again?" supplicated the Breton. 
 
 Widow Scarron pushed him gently towards the door, 
 saying : 
 
 "Yes, you may come back. Any evening. Is not your 
 presence a remedy, as efficacious as any Dr. Fagon can order: 
 but I must regulate the dose. Now, for heaven's sake, get you 
 gone. Do you not see that as long as you stay, our patient 
 will not close her eyes." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DAMON AND PYTHIAS IN THE i;TH CENTURY. 
 
 our adventurer reached St. Antoine Street, he re- 
 extraordinary animation at about the middle of it, 
 L* the Place Royale. Children were running to and fro and 
 screaming; footpassengers stopped and formed groups; The 
 stoiekeepers came out of their doorsills, and the windows 
 were noisily slammed up to form the frames for curious 
 face*. Our astonished friend inquired what had happened 
 of an honest cobbler whose stall stood in the corner of Val 
 St. Catharine-Street. 
 
 "Master," responded the disciple of St. Crispin, an arrest 
 has taken place over yonder in the tavern of Pas-de-Mule 
 Street an important capture of a heinous malefactor." 
 
 "Really?" 
 
 "We saw the officer and six provost guards march past a 
 while ago, with their halberds in the fist and in the coats of
 
 f JO THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 the City colors. Look, it seems to me that they are com- 
 ing back." 
 
 Nothing so gathers a crowd in a city as a police arrest. la 
 it because we are all likely to deserve our committal to hard 
 quarters, as a cynic might say? The mob thickened on both 
 sides of an open way hurriedly formed. From all the mouths 
 of the serried spectators a buzz arose, from which these sen- 
 tences vaguely stood out, so to say: 
 
 "It is a murderer a thief a counterfeiter a forger?" 
 '"No, it was sacrilege arson a bankruptcy. "Say, rather, 
 a conspirator a rebel an accomplice of the traitors 1" 
 "You are all out, stupids! it is a maker of wax dolls which 
 kill the original by inches as they melt away! a poisoner, who 
 went to the witches. Sabbath with Brinvilliers and La Voisin." 
 
 In the midst of this uproar, the armed force marched on- 
 ward with a slowness due to the hindrance caused by the 
 mob swelling on every point. The police officer who preceded 
 it, tried with his long staff to keep back the curious specta- 
 tors who encumbered the way. His six arohers were old 
 soldiers, burly and ponderous, who overshadowed by their 
 bulk the prisoner whom they escorted ; among these robust 
 guards he was dwarfed so as to seem a boy. Nevertheless, he 
 did not fail to try by drawing himself to his full height, to 
 remedy the defect in stature. At the same time, he was not 
 a bit discomfited, ashamed or embarrassed. Carrying him- 
 self haughtily, with his breast stuck out like a pouter pig- 
 eon's, his head held back disdainfully, his hat cocked over 
 the ear and his hand on his hip, he nodded to the male by- 
 atanders and winked and smiled killingly to the ladies. 
 
 When he strutted by Joel, the latter exclaimed : 
 
 "Friquet !" 
 
 The mannikin did not hear the word in the disturbance} 
 ?r perceive the speaker, he was so busy about himself. A 
 g/'rl who was staring, had cried out this expression of com- 
 passion : "Oh, the poor little man !" and the little Parisian 
 testily retorted ; 
 
 "Little, indeed ! you impertinent drab ! you are pretty 
 watchmen that you let hussies insult a cavalier of my rank 
 and quality under your protection." 
 
 Friquet, the protege* of Minister Colbert's kinsman, ar 
 tested ! The Breton fell out of the clouds, and, seized with 
 ity, he ran to P c -du-Mule Street. On espy-
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. in 
 
 ing him come up, Master Bonlarron, who was oratingwith heat 
 in the midst of a crowd of neighbors, hastened to quit them 
 to hurry up to the young man with gestures of alarm. 
 
 "You rash fellow," he said, pushing him inside his house. 
 "Why have you come back ? away ! or, hide yourself 1 let 
 nobody suspect you are here." 
 
 "Hide ? why should I hide ?" 
 
 ''Because they are after you !" 
 
 "After me ?" 
 
 "Decidedly. It is by providence that the police were 
 fooled, for they have been fooled they never depart from 
 their usual practices. And they have captured the little 
 Parisian instead of you. Yet there is a difference in you two. 
 But those asses can never see clear." 
 
 "Arrested in my stead ?" said Joel, pinching himself to 
 make sure he was awake. "What do you mean by that ? 
 How comes Friquet to be taken for me ?'* 
 
 "Well, he was not sorry to be taken for a topping blade 
 of your build." 
 
 " What cock-and-bull story are you cramming me with, 
 mine host? I can make neither head nor tail of it. Pray 
 explain." 
 
 "Here you have it. This morning, as I was breakfasting, 
 I saw an officer come up with half-a-dosen archers of the 
 City Guard, of whom he posted two at my door. The 
 others stamped in with him. I naturally asked them what 
 the deuce they wanted. Information, said they, and 1 was 
 not to be chary about it, as they came in the King's name. 
 I was overpowered with the honor, and begged them to be 
 seated, and show how I might be agreeable to his Most 
 Christian Majesty. 
 
 " 'You must frankly answer our questions.* 
 
 " 'I will answer to any amount as long as I do not get 
 myself into any snarl.* 
 
 "You have a guest freshly arrived from the country ?' 
 
 " 'Better than that I rejoice in two.' 
 
 " ' We mean the one who. has just been out to St. Germain?' 
 
 "'Do you tell me one has gone out to St. Germain? 
 Good ! travel shapes young men when it does not knock 
 them out of all shape.' 
 
 " 'The postmaster has sworn to letting him have a horac, 
 and the innkeeper at Pecq that he left him there.'
 
 ,tt THE SON OF PORTHOS; OX. 
 
 * 'Left the horse, eh ? that proves he is an honest 
 gentleman, anyway.' 
 
 "About this time, the officer perceived that I was toying 
 with him, and he pulled a face as long as a day without a 
 cup of wine ; he levelled his glances at me like shots out of a 
 blunderbuss. As if he could daunt me, a veteran of Rocroy 
 ^iio shouted, 'Devil take you !' to the Spanish guns 
 vomiting grapeshot." 
 
 *' 'Friend, you are merry,' he sneered. 'Always when I am 
 not bilked by bad customers and have cause to be glum.' 
 
 "'We are not talking of your character, but^of your lodger's. 
 Where is he now ?' 
 
 " 'How do I know ? he is not here, that is flat, for he for- 
 got to come home last night.' 
 
 " 'Are you certain ?' 
 
 " 'As certain as that this is a glass of ratafia that I am toss- 
 ing off to your health." 
 
 " 'Rogue, you are trying to deceive me. The bird is in its 
 nest. The police agent who was charged to watch him, saw 
 light in his room last night, and everything leads us to believe 
 hat lie has not come forth.' 
 
 " 'If he has not gone out, you had better go and take 
 him.' 
 
 " Whereupon they went upstairs with a good deal of cau- 
 tion. After a while, they came dovm with M. Friquet. The 
 brave lad ? did not pretend to deny himself, or ratner deny you. 
 He marched along between the halberds like the King among 
 his guards. That Hop-o'-my-thumb ought to be seven foot 
 high, to behave so handsomely as to let hinself be locked up 
 for a friend. The only thing is to see if the police and jni- 
 tices like the fun of the jest. 
 
 "But whither are they taking him?" 
 
 " I asked one of the archers and he said that the usual pro- 
 cess was to bring him before Lieutenant of Police Lareynit 
 at the Chatelet prison." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 "A magistrate with a heart of the same stone as the build- 
 ing around him." 
 
 "Well," said Joel, settling his hat on firmly: " I wou!4 
 like to know the straight road to the Chatelet." 
 
 ''Halloa!" ejaculated the innkeeper, starting; "you nevci 
 mean to*'
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 123 
 
 I am going co appear in my place before the bar of jus* 
 tice." 
 
 "Why, you headlong fellow," said the veteran, "you 
 cannot think of it. It is about that confounded duel and 
 the King will be enraged killing his Musketeer, and m a 
 royal forest!" 
 
 "I reproach myself in no way, and I shall await the re- 
 tult of my trial without fear." 
 
 "But you forget the edicts which you have broken." 
 
 "If the law," tranquilly returned the squire, " if the 
 law punishes gentlemen for obeying the dictates of honor, 
 then it is the law-maker who ought to be punished. Do you 
 refuse to tell me the way to the prison ?" he added, proceed- 
 ing to the door. 
 
 "It will be pointing out that to your doom." 
 
 "Then I must ask of the first-comer. I do not want M. 
 Friquet to think that I would profit by his devotion longer 
 than I could help." 
 
 "Tut ! do not bother about him he will slip out easily. 
 A Parisian always comes out of a scrape with glory if it be 
 only vain-glory!" 
 
 The other frowned. 
 
 " Do you, an old hero, suggest such a dastard act to 
 me?" 
 
 " What I suggest is, that, without losing a minute, you 
 make for the St. Honore Gate, quit Paris and hie you 
 home to Brittany, where you will not be sought for." 
 
 ' You cannot be speaking seriously. If you were, you 
 would be insulting me so that only your age would protect 
 you." 
 
 '' You stubborn-headed boy," returned the tavern-keeper, 
 stamping his foot, "are you attached to nothing is there 
 nobody you love on earth ?" 
 
 " Hush !" interrupted Joel, with a flow of all the feeling 
 in his breast. " It is wicked of you to place a man between 
 his love and his duty. Not another word make way," he 
 said with an imperious wave of the hand " Farewell !" 
 
 " No," said the old sergeant, throwing himself before 
 him ; " You shall not make such a blunder you shall not 
 go forth, by the pitchfork of Satan ! I will not have you go. 
 Come, come, the matter of it is that I like you," went on the 
 Veteran, with his rough voice and hardened face softened
 
 124 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR 
 
 by tender emotion, "you might be' son of mine. It is 
 three days since we met, but it is just the same as though w 
 had gone through a campaign together. You are an old 
 campaigner, in tact, for you are satisfied with everything 
 wine, meat, bread, the waiter and the host. You have first 
 class health and a good appetite. And you can fence like 
 the Archangel Gabriel ! All this, to moulder in jail ! all this, 
 to end on the scaffold I may say ! for running a racketty, 
 riotous sot through the midriff, who owes even his landlord 
 for liquor enjoyed ! an old rat to be paid for as though he 
 were new. I oppose your going. And have a care how you 
 play with my patience. Zounds ! I have it in me, to take 
 my rapier down from the hooks and pin you to the wall to 
 prevent you committing a folly which I regard as suicide !" 
 
 Joel could but smile at this singular way of preventing 
 self-murder. 
 
 "Mine host," he said, " you are an honest man, and you 
 must forgive me for laying a hand on you but your obstin- 
 acy drives me to it." 
 
 At the same time, he seized the old man by the collar, but 
 only in fun, as if to drag him away from the doorway where 
 he had planted himself; as the worthy Bonlarron threw out 
 both arms to repel the attack, the Breton thrust his leg be- 
 tween his, and gave him the trip up in so scientific and suc- 
 cessful a manner that the result was positive that the noble 
 art of wrestling was well cultivated in Belle- Isle. The vet- 
 eran of Rocroy sat down on the floor so roughly that every 
 bone in his body had a separate ache. 
 
 "Excuse me, papa," said Joel, "but I saw no other way 
 out of it." And, leaping over the dumbfounded landlord, ho 
 passed through the doorway. 
 
 During this time, M. de Lareynie was passing the time 
 away at the Chatelet by reading and hearing reports of thq 
 police. He had a grave and honest mein ; his broad fore- 
 head wore the legal wig very fittingly, and there was as much 
 integrity as energy in his glance. 
 
 He was in the heart of his business, a swarm of details, 
 when an usher came in and whispered a few words. 
 
 "Ah," said the magistrate with satisfaction, "so they havf 
 caught the Hector at last. That is right. Bring him in." 
 
 A few minutes later, preceded by the officer and followed 
 by the six archers, Friquet was introduced into the offic*
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS, 115 
 
 He advanced with his nose in the air and his moutn pursed 
 up in a kind of conceited smile, made a bow according to the 
 rules, and opened his mouth to utter a compliment which 
 he had prepared on the route, to felicitate the magistrate in 
 having the good fortune to set at liberty so shining a stai 
 of the future. But the functionary did not allow him any 
 time to do this. 
 
 "Hillo, Saint-Jean," he questioned the officer with aston- 
 ishment, "What under the sun have you brought here ?" 
 
 "My lord, it is the person you ordered us to apprehend," 
 was the exempt's reply. 
 
 "Have you gone mad, by chance?" returned the chief of po- 
 lice, shrugging his shoulders. "This, the man in question ? 
 you cannot have consulted the description given by all the 
 witnesses whom we examined !" Taking up a paper from 
 the desk, he read, "Here is the paper ! Read and compare ! 
 Height over six feet ; aspect herculean ; dress Breton 
 peasant's " 
 
 "But, my lord," protested the officer, "we took the bird 
 in the very room of the very inn where the stranger was said 
 to lodge I carefully questioned him, and he has asserted 
 that lie was the duellist we were after." 
 
 "But you do not accept such statements on plain assertion, 
 do you ?" 
 
 "Why, my lord, when a prisoner owns up that we have the 
 right man " 
 
 * 'A track to throw you off the scent.! Master Saint- Jean, 
 like your name sake, you have lost your head ! you are a 
 blockhead who have let yourself be lulled to sleep you de- 
 serve to be broken " 
 
 The infuriated head of police turned upon Friquet who 
 was cooly taking a chair, and challenged him roughly with : 
 "Here, what are you doing there ?" 
 
 "Waiting, at my ease, until your lordship shall have con- 
 cluded conversing with this officer on a variety of subjects 
 of which I do not understand the slightest word. At least, 
 ii: seems to me that you accuse the poor fellow of commit- 
 ting a blunder while it is nothing of the kind, I assure your 
 lordship, for I am the person whom the King has no doubt 
 talked to you about." 
 
 "Indeed, I am acting on the express order of his Ma- 
 jesty but the description does not apply "
 
 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "A fig for descriptions !" exclaimed the Little Parisian, 
 impatiently. "I am not six feet high, but after all what ii 
 an inch under or over ? As for the dress of my country, I 
 changed into the present one just to add to my persona) 
 advantages " 
 
 "What, do you claim to be " 
 
 "Claim to be myself ? More than claim, I am proud to 
 declare myself ! " 
 
 ''Is this possible ?" muttered Lareynie, fidgetting on his 
 chair. "What a hardened rogue! so you make a boast of what 
 you have done ?" 
 
 "Certainly I do. I am not beginning my career as a mili- 
 tary engineer. But wait, my lord, till I make more prog- 
 ress you will have the eyes dazzled out of your learned 
 head." 
 
 The Lieutenant of the Royal Police turned to his usher : 
 "Are the register and the constabulary sergeants here ?" 
 
 "They are, my lord." 
 
 " Let them enter." 
 
 As soon as the new force were in the room, the high of- 
 ficial continued : " Clerk, prepare to take down the state- 
 ments of tliis man. Sergeants, place yourselves beside him, 
 as he is in your custody now." 
 
 Friquet looked with surprise at the new-comers and the 
 speaker : 
 
 " How now ? what new game are we playing ? Statement, 
 clerk, constables Death of my life ! I do not comprehend 
 at all." 
 
 " Accused," began the official in a stern voice, " do 
 you acknowledge having maliciously and aforethought con- 
 travened the edicts promulgated by our sire, the King" 
 
 It was now the Parisian's turn to fidget. 
 
 " Edicts what edicts ? Do I dream ? or is it your lord, 
 ship who has had a sunstroke ?" 
 
 ** The edicts bearing upon duels," continued Lareynie, 
 "consented to, and signed, through the diligence of the late 
 Cardinal Richelieu, by the lamented King Louis XIII., and 
 renewed by the reigning monarch, the Fourteenth Louis, 
 his successor, on the nineteenth of January last in his good 
 city of St. Germain ** 
 
 *' I, contravened any edicts ?"muttered the Little Parisian, 
 with his hands hanging in his stupor.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 137 
 
 M By crossing swords, in the royal domain of St. Germain 
 Forest, with Corporal Bregy of the Royal Musketeers, who 
 cannot be pursued by justice for aiding in this deed of re- 
 bellion from his having unfortunately succumbed in this com- 
 bat by your act of bloodshed " 
 
 Friquet cried aloud : light burst in upon his brain. It 
 was to lead him before judges that he was furnished with a 
 squad of soldiers and not to escort him into the minister's 
 presence. He was accused of treason and manslaughter, and 
 was to be shut up in prison all in the stead of his friend 
 Joei of Locmaria. 
 
 Without heeding the terror he inspired as last, the magis- 
 trate continued : 
 
 '*' In consequence, you become qualified for trial before 
 the tribunal of the Constabulary and Marshals of France, 
 especially instituted to administer the laws of the realm and 
 the will of tiie King against those guilty of infringing them. 
 He paused to give his hearer time to fully realize the re- 
 doubtable sense in his speech, before he solemnly resumed: 
 '* Misdeeds of this category bearing no less penalty than de- 
 captation by the sword " 
 
 Spite of his bravery, the Parisian sank into the seat, for 
 his legs gave away under him. A red mist veiled his eyes, 
 and on the ruddy background he beheld a vision of the 
 death sman, with axe and block. "Unless," said Lareynie, 
 the King grant you grace which I strongly doubt, seeing 
 the heinous nature of your atrocity." 
 
 Friquet ran his hand round his neck where a cold chill 
 seemed to strike like a steel edge. 
 
 "You must prepare to sign your avowal provided that 
 you are the true criminal. For you may have agreed with 
 him to dally with justice that he may profit by the time gained 
 to make his escape over the border " 
 
 This suggestion was a ray of light to the Parisian, who was 
 quickwitted. While he was in jail, Joel might indeed be 
 making his flight homeward. His course was taken in a trice: 
 he would support the imprisonment ; suffer judgment to go 
 against him, and even let the execution goon for he would 
 have saved his friend of new creation but dear. His face 
 grew calm and his limbs ceased to quiver as he arose, and 
 said steadily : 
 
 "My lord. I will trouble you for the pen with which t
 
 12* THE SON OP PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 But at this critical moment, a violent tumult was audible 
 without ; above all a vigorous young boy shouted : 
 
 "1 tell ye again that I must see M. de Lareynie and see 
 him I will, spite of all the devils ! were you five hundred 
 Strong, you should not keep me out." 
 
 There was a clash of weapons and a scuffle, before the 
 door was dashed open. The Son of Porthos appeared on the 
 sill. The six archers courageously formed a line, and crossed 
 halberds to repulse him. To the rescue ran the two consta- 
 bles, while the exempt and the clerk valiantly formed a rea- 
 guard. Joel had not drawn his sword, but, without raising 
 a hand, he cut through the defenders as if he were a cyclone. 
 He planted himself in front of the Chief of Police. 
 
 "My lord," he began, "I know what is going on. This 
 splendid fellow is sacrificing himself for me. But I do not 
 accept the sacrifice. It was I who violated the edicts for I 
 drew my sword in the precincts of St. Germain, and slew Cor- 
 poral Bregy. The King calls for my head I bring it on my 
 shoulders; but let me solicit a boon of your justice and hu- 
 manity. Let my poor friend go free, who is at the worst guilty 
 solely of heroism and devotedness.'* 
 
 "Monsieur, what you desire shall be done," replied the 
 Police Lieutenant, moved to the heart by the young man's 
 air, action and language. "You may depart," he said to 
 Friquet. 
 
 The latter leaped into the new-comer's arms, faltering: 
 
 "Joel, Joel, what made you come here ? why did you not 
 let things have their way? I should have been so happy to 
 contribute to your welfare. 'Sblood, why am I thwarted ?" 
 
 He was choking with mingled grief and joy, as the Breton 
 folded him to his heart in a brotherly embrace in which he 
 almost disappeared. 
 
 The magistrate bent towards the police officer, and said 
 with the conceit of one who rarely was at fault : 
 
 "Now we have t\*i right man, Saie*-Tean! This is the one 
 you should have htamllod though it might have cost you 
 some pains. Did I not intimate all along that it would take 
 to lay low a Bregy quite another antagonist than this mani- 
 kin?" 
 
 Manikin ? at any other time the derided Tom Thumb 
 would have resented the epithet, but at this moment the Lit- 
 tle Parisian was too excited to notice it.
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS 129 
 
 * J Constables,* proceeded the magistrate. " dc four 
 duty !" 
 
 The two constables marched up to the youth anj one 
 said, 
 
 "In the King's name, I charge you to, surrender your 
 Aword." 
 
 The other drew from his pocket a short ebony wand with 
 a white knob and, tapping the youth on the shoulder, said : 
 
 "In the King's name, I arrest you." 
 
 Within half an hour, the squire was walked out of tht 
 Chatelet between the two sergeants to a coach stationed on 
 the waterside. The soldiers made him step into it and 
 placed themselves on the opposite seat to that he occupied: 
 the rule is for one of two constables to sit beside the pris- 
 oner, but in this cage there was no room. A mounted ar- 
 cher of the watch rode up to each door, and at once, off 
 went the whole equipage at a gallop. 
 
 After a quarter of an hour, it stopped before a fortress, de- 
 fended by an abundance of moats, ramparts and outworks, 
 and with high towers outlined against the sky. 
 
 "Get down," said one of the sergeants. 
 
 Joel obeyed. Two soldiers who seemed to await him, 
 took each an arm. A man with a bunch of keys in his hand, 
 took the lead. The little party passed under a vaulted roof, 
 over a draw-bridge, through a guardroom, and a maze 
 of stairs and corridors, after a large yard. Thus they 
 reached the third floor, where one door after another was 
 opened to the number of three. Here the prisoner was 
 thrust into a cell, furnished with bed, table and chair. 
 
 "Here you are, at home," said the turnkey. 
 
 He withdrew with the two soldiers, and the keys were 
 heard grating in the locks, and the bolts shooting into their 
 (Dockets. This sourd aroused the captive, who had mechanic- ( 
 ally paced the long way, accepting all that happened him as I 
 iin a dream the most monstrous conceptions are met without' 
 fcesitation and without astonishment. He strode to the doot 
 and called: 
 
 "Hey, you fellows !** 
 
 "What is wanting so soon," demanded the jailer through 
 the barred wicket in the thick door. 
 
 "One word, I prithee." 
 
 "Be iharpl"
 
 130 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 "I should be obliged to you for telling me in what plac 
 I am." 
 
 "Beginning your jokes already, eh ?" grumbled the man, 
 as he departed. "As though you did not know, as well as 
 {me, that you are in the Bastille." 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE COUNTERCHECK. 
 
 SINCE a month, Louis XIV. had returned to St. Germain, 
 nd the little town reassumed the gala aspect imported by 
 the monarch and his appanage. He was then in the apogee 
 of his power, and the "divinity which hedges a king" sancti- 
 fied even his foibles. He did not dissimulate any of them. 
 Montespan was the titular favorite and mother of his progeny 
 whom the Widow Scarron cared for, and he had just re- 
 warded the latter by conferring upon her ihe rank of Mar- 
 chioness de Suggere. Madame de Sevigne", whose friend she 
 was but who spared nobody with her wit, ran off a series of 
 jests on the tide, which she misread as *' Suggest." 
 
 "A happy suggestion of his Majesty, she whispered to 
 the courtiers, "indeed, she had from somebody \\itsuggestion 
 to wed the cripple Scarron ; it was suggested to the mason 
 he that should predict her a great fortune and I should not 
 wonder if envy suggested that she should undermine the 
 benefactress who raised her from poverty to confide to her 
 the care of her children by the King." 
 
 Apart from iheladies and courtiers discussing this promo- 
 tion and the bad news of the Queen's health, the officers of 
 the lifeguards were conversing on matters of discipline. They 
 were the Lieutenant of the Musketeers, Maupertuis, and the 
 present captain and his predecessor of the Guards, Gesvres 
 and Brissac. 
 
 "What has become of that limb of the fiend?" inquired 
 the last of the Musketeer. I -mean that young bravo from 
 the provinces who slew one of your corporals?" 
 
 "Yes, with a spledid thrust through the chest. Wcllj htf 
 is still under lock and bar. 1 ' 
 
 "Are they not going to try hintf"
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 131 
 
 "It is in doubt what to do for he may not be of noblf 
 blood as he pretends. He is plain Joel." 
 
 "Impossible! where can a commoner have picked up sec. 
 rets of fencing to kill a royal Musketeer?" 
 
 "Ay, and with a thrust known only -in our regiment, but 
 which had almost passed out of memory with the heavy 
 swords for which it was invented. It was called the 'Thrust 
 Porthos,' from a famous gentleman-Musketeer of the past 
 reign who used it to fatal advantage." 
 
 ** For my part," continued Maupertuis, "I should send 
 him home to plant his cabbages and cut them with his huge 
 word, for, all taken into account, he fought like a brave 
 man. We swordsmen never yet thought a duelist dishonor- 
 ed for having broken the law. The dishonor would have been 
 in his refusing the challenge." 
 
 "You are not very kind to your soldiers," observed Gesvres. 
 
 " Oh, to tell you the truth, gentlemen, this Bregy was nofc 
 prepossessing : a toper who drank when not dicing, and 
 wrangled when not dicing. Still, his Majesty is angry at 
 the edicts of his father being laughed at, since he renewed 
 them, and I had hard work to pluck from under the royal 
 paw four of my soldiers who were seconds in the combat." 
 
 " And did he pardon them ?" 
 
 '* Wei!, so far as life goes ; but they must step out of the 
 household of troops' uniform and join the active army in 
 Lorraine." 
 
 " Why not send the Breton along with them he seems 
 even more admirably adapted as food for powder." 
 
 "Nay, they will waste him in prison or in the galleys un- 
 less they shoot him or hang.'' 
 
 "How old is the poor fellow ?" asked Brisac, yawning be- 
 hind ids gauntlet. 
 
 "On my honor, I do not know. I have never seen him. Say 
 between twenty and thirty, I suppose." 
 
 The guard officer combed his moustache and thought- 
 tully remarked, "In that case, he had better be done for at 
 once before he pinks more of our fellows." 
 
 On the same terrace, in a more remote spot, the Duke of 
 Almada was strolling, leaning on Boislaurier's arm. 
 
 "It is very bad," said he, "that all your efforts to trace 
 that young beauty should have been useless." 
 
 "Alas, my lord : all our pack of sleuth-hounds have been 
 ent afield, but the best have drawn blank."
 
 132 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "So have those whom I privately employed," continued the 
 ambassador, snappishly. "My man Esteban is the cunningest 
 knave that ever was; the rascal calling himself Captain Cord- 
 buff has a nasty cut to seek revenge for; Desgrais, the sharp 
 police-spy who tracked the Marchioness de Brimvilliers to Liege 
 and arrested her there he, like the rest, has been flouted, baffled, 
 and foiled to the top of their skill." 
 
 "Has your excellency reflected on this point," went on Bois* 
 laurier after a pause: "if I am to believe the reports of my spies, 
 that Madame de la Bassetiere, who is her relative, frets not a bit 
 over her young kinswoman's disappearance. From this I infer 
 that she is not ignorant where she is hidden." 
 
 "You may infer as much." 
 
 "And has not my lord sought to extract information from her?' 
 
 "It has been tried without success. Nothing can be drawn. 
 Her old servant-woman is equally as impenetrable. So things 
 come round,'' he added, with forced gaiety; "in the entire 
 universe, only one incorruptible chamberwoman existed, and luck 
 falls so that she is across our path." 
 
 A fresh silence ensued, which the subordinate broke. 
 
 "Can Mdlle. du Tremblay have returned home ?" 
 
 "Into Anjou ? I have written thither for news, and the answer 
 came this morning that she had not been seen." 
 
 "Then we must throw down the cards, the winning one is not 
 among them." 
 
 "Wherefore?" returned the duke quickly. "It is missing, bin 
 we can fabricate another or find one to our hand. At the same 
 time, I do not conceal that this loss puts me in a terrible turmoil 
 Confound that young springald?" 
 
 "What springald, my lord?" inquired Boislaurier, looking round 
 on the group of courtiers. 
 
 "Oh, that bucolic Amadis who happened upon the scene 
 just in the nick to cut the prey out of the grip of our myu 
 midons. We must settle accounts one of these days with 
 him." Pressing the companion's arm, he pursued with a 
 dreajny eye, "let me tell you, good Boislaurier, that some 
 indescribable, mysterious sympathy attracts me towards that 
 young man; when first my sight lit upon him, I felt that cold 
 tremor which the superstitious say denotes that one is walk- 
 ing on a grave. He pleased me highly at the Saumur inn. 
 His appearance and his assertive manner remind me of a
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 133 
 
 dear old friend whose loss wrung from me many wars, I should 
 have liked to help him on, but the upstart flounders into 
 the centre of my web and upsets my plans. So much the 
 worse for him ! Never has man thwarted rne and not re- 
 pented it. I level obstacles : I overthrow adversaries and I 
 kill enemies." 
 
 "But has not this youth likewise disappeared ?" 
 
 "Yes : a proof that the pair have gone off together. But I 
 shall find them, and " 
 
 A threatening gesture as of one snapping a twig in two, 
 energetically completed the interrupted phrase. 
 
 " But what is going on yonder ?" he said, in a change of 
 tone. " Why that flocking to- one spot ? has the King come 
 forth ?' 
 
 There was a great stir on the terrace and in the grounds. 
 
 " My lord, it is the Marchioness de Montespan entering 
 the Bowling-green alley." 
 
 " Ah, very well I understand. Alone in her room sits 
 Queen Maria Theresa ; but the gilded throng crowds around 
 .he favorite. Is his Majesty accompanying the latter ?" 
 
 " No. your grace, there are -but two ladies by her side 
 ner familiar fiend the Widow Scarron, and and " 
 
 " One of her sisters, of course ?" 
 
 " Nay it cannot be I am the sport of some illusion !*' 
 
 " What is the matter ?" queried Almada. 
 
 The gentleman did not reply immediately ; he rivetted 
 his eyes on the marchioness's companion, and finally fal- 
 tered : 
 
 " Still, that step, those features why, 'tis the same my 
 lord, it is the giil whom we believed buried in the bowels of 
 the eartn She who escaped all our researches Mdlle. du 
 Tremblay." 
 
 " Mdlle. du Tremblay !" was the outcry of the Spanish 
 duke. 
 
 " None other you have but to look. There, by the edge 
 of the great fountain basin." 
 
 Almada shielded his eyes with his hand and after a long 
 scrutiny, replied : 
 
 '' You made no error. It is she. On my soul, the poet is 
 right who said tiiat 'Truth is stranger than fiction.' Rubbing 
 his hands and cracking the knuckles to overcome their stiff- 
 ness, he chuckled: " Who spoke of throwing down the cards?
 
 134 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 We shall win with ours, because it is in the hands of the op 
 ponent. Boislaurier, this time the game is ours." 
 
 In fact, they saw Mdlle. du Tremblay. 
 
 She walked on one side of the Marchioness de Montespan, 
 who had the Widow Scarron on her left. The favorite wore 
 a silken robe of sky blue ; the governess a dead-leaf colored 
 dress, rather poor in eSect; while the new-comer, thanks to 
 the plotter's suggestion, and to shine the brighter for her dull 
 army, was clad in a changeable silk. It was trimmed with 
 Venetian point lace and knots of pale green, and amid the 
 pearly and rosy tints of the silk, she was fair to an extent 
 that would have paled the stars. This was not the court 
 type, to which the artifices of the toilet contributed a main 
 part but the loveliness which prolongs the pleasure of the gaze 
 and discloses innumerable fascinations at svery turn. Amid 
 these charms must be cited the melancholy and the indiffer- 
 ence which were read on the girlish face as on an open page. 
 Aurore considered the brilliant courtiers with neither amaze 
 nor embarrassment, neither curiosity nor interest. Mortal 
 repining was visible behind the immobile and languid mask. 
 Everybody wondered who was this new-comer who soared 
 above the glitter which environed her the glory of the 
 foremost court in Christendom. 
 
 As the three ladies stopped before still another compli- 
 menting gathering, anew movement was made in the elegant 
 assemblage. All mouths opened at once and the whisperran 
 from the forest gates to the terrace balustrade: 
 
 "The King, ladies and gentlemen, the King!" 
 
 Louis the Great decended the palace sstairs. 
 
 He was the Grand Monarque in all the Force of his age, 
 fortune and glory. This day he wore the countenance he 
 put on when, as St. Simon the memoir-writer says, "he 
 meant to transact business." He was clad, too, in black vel- 
 vet, with worked gold buttons; the Blue Ribbon crossed his 
 scarlet satin vest, embroidered with flowers. A white plume 
 curled around his beaver. The only jewels were in his shoes 
 and garters. He leaned, for effect rather than for support, 
 on a cane with a jeweled handle. 
 
 As the courtiers swarmed round him, he looked more care- 
 worn, and made a sign that he wished to be alone with the 
 Marchioness de Montespan. On seeing the King draw near, 
 both her companions had started to withdraw, but she had
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 135 
 
 beckoned them back, and said with that blood familiarity 
 which she showed to the greatest personage of the kingdom, 
 and which her lover allowed her to use towards him, though 
 be was a stickler about etiquette. 
 
 " Sire, here is the Marchioness de Suggfcre, who wishes 
 nothing so much as to thank your Majesty for the new favor 
 of which she is the object." 
 
 Widow Scarron made a low courtesy, and said : 
 
 " Will the King permit the most devoted of his servants 
 to present the expression of boundless gratitude for the boons 
 with which she has been ceaselessly overwhelmed by the 
 most generous and magnificent of sovereigns." 
 
 Her voice trembled, which was adding sugar to the sweet, 
 in uttering this studied speech of which the vain Louis de- 
 lightfully swallowed the laudative- epithets. Nothing was 
 more agreeable to a ruler whom seventy years' reign had but 
 partly dulled to the joy of being praised and adored. 
 
 " Marchioness," responded he, "1 felt bound to reward 
 the care with which you have surrounded my children, for 
 whom I am not unaware that you have been truly a moth- 
 er." 
 
 This was an undisguised fling at La Montespan, but she 
 merely smiled as she plied her fan. The monarch turned 
 to her without having paid the faintest attention to Mdlle. 
 du Tremblay, and said abruptly to the favorite : 
 
 " Now for us two,madame." 
 
 With the greatest tranquility the marchioness walked on 
 beside him, in silence, for she was waiting for the onset, 
 though she preserved her calmness. On the contrary, the 
 King was agitated. 
 
 "Madame," he said, at last finding courage, "to my re- 
 gret I have to inform you of a decision I have come to, which 
 will certainly afflict you as much as it does myself. It is 
 necessary that we should be most careful in our relations ; 
 the Queen is so very ill that I am bound to spare her every- 
 thing of the nature to distress her and impede her recovery., 
 
 "Ah, indeed !" sighed the marchioness with the utmost 
 indifference. The King was evidently ill at ease, for he did 
 not look at the lady and pretended to flip a white pebble on 
 the path with his cane. She kept her eyes on him, though 
 with the tranquility which was exasperating to him. 
 
 "I see," said she trifling with her <an,"that your Maiesty
 
 136 THE SON OF PQRTHOS ; OR, 
 
 has been listening to the Queen's physicians, who must say 
 something horrifying to earn their salaries." 
 
 " No, madame, I have listened solely to my own feelings, 
 which alone I obey." 
 
 As if she had not heard him, the favorite went on: 
 
 "As you have decided, it only remains to me to bow to 
 your will as to .'.heir wisdom. The preachers Bossuet and 
 Bourdaloue are possessed with eloquence to make converts 
 through a wall of stone I have been converted, and relig- 
 ion and duty justify me in breaking the bonds which are a 
 weight upon my conscience and, an outrage on morality." 
 
 "What !" exclaimed the monarch, wincing, and at the 
 height of stupefaction, "Do you, marchioness, propose " 
 
 "That we should part ? Just so, sire. I take the first 
 step. I am only too happy to spare you the chagrin of tell- 
 ing me to depart.'* 
 
 But she did not cease to smile, and the King could not 
 understand her. It was not without violent apprehension that 
 he had made up his mind to announce the rupture to his 
 left-hand queen. He expected the outbursts of unspeak- 
 able furies for which the marchioness was famous. More 
 than once he had felt their lash. But the irritable Athenais 
 spoke without anger and sharpness. This resignation of- 
 fended him, for was it not an insult to his winning self? 
 
 "It is a settled thing" said "the Marvel of Beauty," "I quit 
 the court to-morrow. The sooner the better, methinks, for 
 good intentions should be carried out without delay." 
 
 4 'Do you then quit my court without unwillingness, regret 
 and bitterness?" 
 
 "It is thus I go." 
 
 Louis bit his lip, unable to admit that he could be dis- 
 pensed with. 
 
 "I have no reason to be uneasy about my children, as I so 
 recently heard your Majesty say they would be cared for by 
 their second mother. Besides, I may be allowed to see them 
 in roy retreat at Clagnv, where I intend awaiting the farther 
 pleasure of the King." 
 
 "In that out of the way place, a suburb of Versailles f" 
 
 A desert is the fit refuge for one who must look to her 
 salvation: so I supplicate your Majesty not to -stand in She 
 way of my holy occupation. Like Mary Magdalen the great 
 sinner, I want to repent of my errors, which are zlst* in
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 1 37 
 
 degree your own, so that my prayers must include my Louis, and 
 of the scandal which we both have set before a world too good 
 for me. I shall implore heaven to make those forget me 
 whom I shall strive to forget while praying, trying to be 
 contrite and performing deeds of benevolence." 
 
 " Would you try to forget everybody ?" 
 
 " Without exception." 
 
 Louis cropped the head off a magnificent pond lily with 
 a cut of his cane. So he could be forgotten ignored ? 
 His unmeasured pride was stung to the quick : but hiding 
 his wound under a stiff and offended air, he said : 
 
 " Enough ! go when and whither you will." 
 
 "As soon as I shall have discharged a duty placed under 
 the sceptre of your Majesty's justice a person whom the 
 Queen's friends themselves would deem worthy of your in- 
 terest." 
 
 She beckoned to Aurore, who had stood at a distance, and 
 added : 
 
 "Come hither, mademoiselle." 
 
 She obeyed, blushing with emotion. 
 
 "Sire, this Mdlle. du Tremblay, daughter of one of your 
 old and faithful servants, who has been pursued by villains 
 perhaps seeking to repay upon the daughter of the former 
 Governor of your royal prison of the Bastille, the grudge 
 which they owed him and your Majesty. She begs to be 
 placed under the safeguard of your justice and authority." 
 
 Louis examined Aurore who courteseyed to him, and he 
 was impressed deeply by her angelic appearance and pure 
 looks. La Montespan did not fail to mark the effect and a 
 gleam of satisfaction sparkled in her eyes. 
 
 "Sire, the lady has been the victim of an audacious at- 
 tempt to abduct her in the streets of Paris, almost in the day, 
 and only by a miracle did she escape the ruffians. Speak, 
 my young friend, lest his Majesty believe the event impos* 
 sible." 
 
 The girl related the incident in a few telling words. 
 
 "By my soul," exclaimed the hearer, <0 Such a misdeed 
 is not to go unpunished. The author shall be found out, 
 for which I will give orders to my Police Lieutenant." 
 
 "I doubt not," said the marchioness, "that the perpetrator 
 is some considerable personage who is above the laws." 
 
 "Madame," retorted Louis, frowning gravely, "know that
 
 13* THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 nobody in my kingdom may brave with impunity the law% 
 which are for all." 
 
 "Yet," persisted the marchioness, "I should beg measures 
 to be taken for our safety, for I reckon on being accom- 
 panied to the Clagny Convent by this poor haunted girl." 
 
 The King held out his hand over Aurore's sunny head 
 with a dignified gesture, and answered: 
 
 "Rest tranquil. The young lady is now beneath my pro- 
 tection. I shall take heed that everbody knows this, and woe 
 to whomsover is guilty towards her of any enterprise of the 
 kind stated." 
 
 "Oh, sire, how kind you are," faltered the girl. 
 
 "Thank me not," returned the ruler. "It is a prince's 
 duty to watch over the repose and virtue of his subjects. 
 A sweet duty to fulfill," he gallantly subjoined, without tak- 
 ing his gaze off Aurore, "when the object is the daughter of 
 one of his gentlemen and is herself one of the most accom- 
 plished persons whom I have ever had the blessing to ad 
 mire in my court." 
 
 "Your Majesty is too good," stammered the girl, no less 
 confused by the look than by the compliment. 
 
 "Ha!" muttered the marchioness; "The fish nibbles he 
 will gorge this bait." 
 
 "If you must go," said the King to the elder lady, slowly 
 and watching her now, ''at least I may come at times to dis- 
 turb your solitude ? Besides, you must return when I shall 
 have silenced ridiculous gossips and importunate counsellors 
 " Athenais shook her head hopelessly, but he continued: 
 "If only to show your charming protge"e that your pleading 
 is not forgotten." 
 
 "If your Majesty commands, and Mdlle. du Tremblay re- 
 quires a court presentation, we shall hasten. Otherwise " 
 She heaved a deep sigh and hid her face behind her fan. 
 He may have thought to hide a tear if so, it was one of 
 glee and triumph. 
 
 The King turned away as well from the two ladies as from 
 all the others and the courtiers, and leaning against a statue 
 pedestal, he was buried in musing when as if the marble 
 were suddenly imbued with speech, he heard these word* 
 whispered in on odd voice: 
 
 " Is she not divinely fair?" 
 
 The King abruptly turned round and from his lips burst
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 139 
 
 the name of the Duke of Almada. It was, indeed, Aramis 
 who had noiselessly glided up and saluted the King of France. 
 The latter did not like this interruption ; he liked tne^man as 
 little. He had never forgotten the tragic episode in his youih, 
 which we have related in the works entitled "Louise de I*a 
 Valliere"and "The Man in the Iron Mask," but which might 
 have borne the name of "The conspiracy of Aramis." Its 
 object, it will be recalled, was to seat on the throne the elder 
 and twin brother of Louis, who was incarcerated from his 
 majority in the Bastille and terminated his wretched life in 
 another prison, where he was seen by Athos and his son 
 Bragelonne, while the prince was wearing the Iron Mask 
 and was guarded by Captain d'Artagnan. The King re- 
 membered with horror that Aramis had dared to lay violent 
 hands u'pon him, when he, assisted by the gigantic Porthos, 
 abducted him by night from the Chateaux of Vaux, and 
 crammed him into a dungeon, where he almost perished of 
 terror, rage and despair. This old man beside him had once 
 dethroned him to place in his stead his other self, and such 
 deeds are never forgiven by kings. Hence Louis XIV. 
 would never forgive the Chevalier d'Herblay, the Bishop of 
 Vannes, the comrade of Porthos du Vallon, the friend of 
 Fouquet, and the Aramis who had extorted his terms from 
 Anne of Austria, his mother. But Aramis knew what he was 
 talking about when he assured Athos, during his flight from 
 the royal justice, that he had but to reach Spain to reconcile 
 himself with the King whom he flouted. Indeed, as General 
 of the Jesuits, he had mounted to the Embassy of Spain for 
 the French Court. The necessity of reasons of State Policy 
 constrained Louis to welcome the Duke of Almada, the con- 
 fident of his brother-in-law Charles II. . Stiilit was almost 
 without precedent that anybody should put a question to a 
 King, and Louis assumed a stiff attitude and chilling haught- 
 iness. 
 
 "My lord," he said in a tone in agreement with attitude 
 and look, "methinks that you question me ?" 
 
 "Heaven forbid that I should so far forget my respect," 
 responded the old duke, bowing. "I only ventured to be the 
 echo of your Majesty's thought, read on your august brow. 
 Overlook, I pray you, my error or my wrongfulness in act." 
 
 "Of whom are you speaking.'*' demanded the King, a little 
 affected by this keenness of sight
 
 140 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 "Of the lady who has just had the honor of conversing witfc 
 your Majesty." 
 
 "Oh, true Madame de Montespan was announcing hei 
 retirement to a nunnery, and " 
 
 "A peaceful journey?" exclaimed Aramis, and then to him-, 
 elf he quickly said: "Into a nunnery. Ah, now she will 
 be dwelling in my states and I shall know all her moves." 
 Aloud, he observed significantly, "It is of the other, the 
 younger lady that I spoke. The marchioness is indisput- 
 ably fair, but only the fairest of earthly creatures, while her 
 companion is like an an<>i come down upon the earth. 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay " 
 
 "Then you know her?" 
 
 "Such is my happiness, and I take the liberty to add that 
 never has a loftier and braver spirit inhabited a more perfect 
 frame." 
 
 In the silence ensuing, the sovereign's hostility was fought 
 against by a powerful curiosity. 
 
 *You began to say that Mdlle. du Tremblay" 
 
 "She is of a good house in Anjou which has proven its 
 value to the realm, and she deserves by her name, character 
 and virtues whatever favors the King may shower upon her." 
 
 "For the moment, my lord, she asks for nothing: merely 
 to be defended " 
 
 "Defended? as though such an angel could have enemies." 
 
 "An attempt has been made to carry her off." 
 
 "Is it possible ?'' 
 
 *' Some scoundrel who remains unknown, but I shall have 
 him sought for and dealt with by my officers of justice." 
 
 The Duke of Almada did not flinch. 
 
 "Hold it as certain," he exclaimed with warmth, "that 
 no one forms more ardent vows than I do for the punish- 
 ment of the guilty. Ah, if I were half eighty years again, at 
 the happiest period of life, when one is no longer a boy and 
 not yet in the dry leaf ah! to love, to reward and to pun 
 ish with one's own hand?" 
 
 His auditor sighed, for the second time. 
 
 "That is your Majesty's time of prime," said he, "though of 
 age and death one should not speak to princes, and yet these 
 sighs testify to an alarming state of mind for anyone of tho 
 pinion that jollity is the half of health." 
 
 "Duke, you are not looking on a happy mam or king. 1 *
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 141 
 
 "When the saying is 'Happy as a king!' when from 
 that point my august master is ready to make any sacri- 
 fices to preserve the good graces of your Majesty it 
 must not be as a monarch that you have become the 
 fount of sighs but, perchance, as a man " 
 
 "The proverb you quote is mendacious like the rest. 
 One of my citizens in Paris is happier than I. He acts 
 as he pleases." 
 
 "Well, why should notyour Majesty actas the citizensdo? 
 when they are tired of the cold joint at home they sally forth 
 to dine at the eating-house. It is true that your Majesty 
 may object that he has already tried dining out, and " 
 
 "Duke/' sharply, but the simile would come. 
 
 "If the triviality of the simile offends your Majesty, I 
 will say plainly that I am afraid that your Majesty has a 
 frightful attack of the blue devils. Take heed, my King!" 
 said Aramis, cunningly seeming to return his old allegiance 
 at this point of serving the sovereign. ''The blue devils 
 are the ones who tease one to death if not repelled in 
 time, and the only recourse is to the prescription of Don 
 Juan, who cured the heartache of one donna by turning 
 to have the heartache through another." 
 
 The hearer wore a guarded manner. 
 
 "Pardy, duke! this counsel does not smack of the 
 churchman, which once you were." 
 
 "Ah, sire, the reason is that before I wore the mitre, I 
 shaded my brow with the red-plumed hat of your lamented 
 Father's Musketeers. And then, if your Majesty allows 
 me to babble, it is the habit of men of my age nathe- 
 less, there is good sense in the babble of some old men 
 I am astonished at the backwardness about imitating the 
 citizen,who disgusted by a servant-maid, sour, or grown 
 beyond tenderness, or what you will, goes and gets an- 
 other, more soft and accommodating. Albeit the King 
 punishes me for this frankness in excess by revoking his 
 usual kindness so far incessantly shown me, I will be- 
 lieve that the Marchioness de Montespan is the cause of 
 the cares darkening your sovereign brow it is she who 
 by her impudence the word is strong, but true has 
 paraded a connection which her every interest and her 
 gratitude impressed her to conceal as much as possi- 
 ble. She, I say, has led the Queen who has hither- 
 to suffered in silence of an incurable ailment : loving
 
 k*2 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OK, 
 
 one whom a whole realm adores but who loves her n< 
 
 "Duke !" 
 
 "It is the publication of this scandal which has brough' 
 upon your anointed head the thunders of the preachers *' 
 
 "What, do you know " began the King, fingering his 
 canehead nervously. 
 
 "An ambassador is bound by his office to know everything 
 in the court to which he is accredited. I knew also that your 
 Majesty is on the eve of parting with the lady, and that it is 
 done without regret on her side for heaven lias endowed 
 your Majesty with too fine a perspicacity for it not to per- 
 ceive that she loved you less for your sake than her own '* 
 
 "Not thus,'* sighed Louis, with melancholy, "not thus was 
 I beloved by that poor La Valliere, and Fontanges." 
 
 "I know not how Mdlle. de La Valliere died," said the 
 Spanish envoy, as I was not in the pleasant land of France, 
 but as for the guileless Fontanges, whom poison slew, because 
 he had a love for you without bounds or calculation " 
 
 "Duke, this supposition," began the King, looking at the 
 speaker with a kind of fright: 
 
 "Sire, the legel axiom, 'who profits by this crime?' is fully 
 applicable here. But I am not going to have the irrever* 
 ence to insist, since in his high wisdom, the sovereign wishes 
 night to veil an atrocity so abominable. I confine myself to 
 weeping over the inoffensive, unavenged victim." 
 
 "Alas!" sighed the monarch, shaking his head, "where 
 shall I find another such as she?" 
 
 "Do not slander the sex, sire," quickly interposed the old 
 duke, "thank heaven, all do not resemble the ambitious heir- 
 ess of the Mortemarts. All do not reign by the ascendancy of 
 a pitiless spirit and by the terror inspired by their transports 
 and violence. To some exceptions, love is an entire, absolute 
 and incessant sacrifice a complete abnegation of self to 
 ihe gain of the beloved object. These find all their joy and 
 pride in seeing the first of the king* of earth lay by their 
 side, in shade and silence, the burden of his grandeur and 
 cares of kingship. In their monarch they adore not ta 
 glory of the crown or the harvest of honors and favors uhicn 
 crop up beneath his feet, but the handsome gentleman wh* 
 kneels in passion and ardor to intoxicate them with caresses, 
 They are delignted that the sovereign puts off, on the thresh- 
 oid of the hidden retreat, that supreme majesty which dag
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 143 
 
 les the people. They prefer him as he is asking but nis 
 affection and conspiring solely to make him happy. Only too 
 happy .to be selected by him from the garden of flowers, they 
 have for him the most shining face, the blandest smile, 
 and the most chaste heart resembling those vestals of the 
 Hindoo temples who, in the mysterious gloom, administer 
 to the idol whom they are ever fated to worship." 
 
 The King's air spoke, as plainly as words : " Continue !' 
 But the wily Aramis answered the mute invitation in this 
 sentence: "Oh, sire, I have finished my sermon, which I 
 greatly fear has taken too long a time. Your Majesty's 
 ministers will accuse me of diverting it to the detriment of the 
 state affairs." 
 
 " There is a time for all things, and I have still a question 
 to put to you." 
 
 " I am ever at the orders of the King." 
 
 " Has this young daughter of the Tremblays no kins- 
 folk ?" 
 
 "Alas! she is an orphan, your Majesty, and it is on this 
 deplorable condition that I wish to call your benevolent at- 
 tention." 
 
 "I am listening to you !" 
 
 "This ward of the Marchioness de Montespan in some 
 degree mine, though she has not charged me to intervene in 
 her favor has repaired to Paris from her province to prose- 
 cute a hazardous lawsuit, on the winning of which de- 
 pends her fortune, a pretty one, together with the subsist- 
 ence of her young brother and sister two children so young 
 that she stands towards them as a little mother. Our Au- 
 rore is poor but proud beyond equal, and sues for nothing. 
 Hence ic is I who plead for her, thinking if some post could 
 be given her t however humble, near your august person, its 
 income would eke out her meager resources." 
 
 "You have reasoned very well," said the monarch gravely, 
 as his countenance visibly cleared. "At the present mo- 
 ment, a post of reader is vacant in the Queen's household* 
 which I accord to Mdlle. du Tremblay," 
 
 "Sire," returned the duke, bowing, "one cannot stay bjr 
 your Majesty any length of time without every instant aug- 
 menting one's gratitude." 
 
 "Your ward may at once enter upon her duties. I will 
 speak to the Queen presently on the subject, from whom
 
 144 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 you shall hear her announce the good news to your interesting 
 orphan, should you come this evening, as I trust." 
 
 "I shall not think of failing," replied the old noble, bow 
 ing again. 
 
 "In that case, keep well until we meet this evening again, 
 my dear duke !" 
 
 At these parting words, an ironical gleam passed ovei 
 the arch-plotter's countenance. In the midst of the doffing 
 of hats from the courtiers who had watched this dialogue 
 from a distance, and the smiles of the ladies, Aramis joined 
 Boislaurier whose arm he took once more. 
 
 "Well, my lord, have we the point ?" asked the latter. 
 
 The old peer laughed with the muscles of his mouth with- 
 out making a sound, and rejoined : "In faith, I am not 
 complaining. The game is as good as won." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DEEP WATERS RUN SMOOTH. 
 
 THE Queen's cardparty was held in the royal apartment 
 occupying the south wing of the palace. This hall, bril- 
 liantly illuminated, was literally crammed with the courtiers 
 and ladies. In the midst, before a large fire in the chimney 
 place, for, as a Spaniard, she was always chilled, Queen 
 Maria Theresa was sitting at a card-table, between her lad- 
 ies, and engaged at her favorite pastime. The Queen was 
 short and stout, and when she walked or danced, her knees 
 gave way, which still farther diminished her in stature : 
 her teeth were spoilt by het excessive eating of sweet choco- 
 late. She idolized her husband, and kept him in view when 
 he was in the same room, and she would be happy all the 
 day if once he smiled on her. If he were more kind than 
 that, she would run around to tell how glad she was, to any- 
 body who would listen to her. 
 
 He must have vexed her greatly to have such a spaniel 
 growl at the favorite and hint of a return to Spain unless the 
 marchioness were sent away. 
 
 The topic of the chatter was this very retirement of the 
 favorite in the low whispers some said " disgrace" anrt
 
 THE DEATH OF A RAM IS. 14$ 
 
 " exile" not pretty words, while all eyes were turned upou 
 the proud marchioness. Without flinching Jie supported 
 the weight of all the stares : gay and yet haughtily, she pn 
 tied in a group of her faithful '. lends, but the Widow Sca'_ 
 ron had returned to Paris to look after her royal nurselings, 
 Aurore du Tremblay was isolated h. <~ window recess and 
 looked on without seeing, and hrardthe conversation with-', t 
 out heeding it. 
 
 " The King !" called out a pags, 
 
 The King entered with his Minister Louvois. Ail the 
 groups made a. movement to concentrate where the new ar-j. 
 rival should come to a halt: all heads botfed to the sovereign 
 and all the women bent like the tall sunflowers to the magnifi- 
 cent Apollo. Louis wore no fierce aspect on this occasion ; 
 his demeanor was rather contented and kindly. 
 
 " Do not let me be a spoil-sport," he said to the Queei. 
 who made a pretence of rising. " Let no one be disturbed 
 by me. I wish and desire so. What vsere you saying, my 
 lord ?" he continued, but addressing the Minister of War 
 Louvois. 
 
 " Sire, I have the honor to inform your Majesty that th>; 
 Duke of Lorraine has thrown his forces into Freiburg, where 
 he menaces our Alsatian strongholds, insufficiently garri- 
 soned, I am sorry to admit, as our troops have not had time 
 to cross the Rhine on their return out of Flanders " 
 
 The King did not heed, for his attention was traveling 
 with his gaze elsewhere; finally, discovering Mdlle. du Trem- 
 blay, behind the marchioness, to whom he haste., ^d to make 
 a sign. 
 
 " Very well," said he, interrupting the minister, " to-mor- 
 row in the Council, we will remedy this evil which you point 
 out." 
 
 Meanwhile the Queen had not taken up the cards., and 
 like the rest of the assemblage, who held their breath, she 
 waited some important event was about to take place. 
 
 In the midst of this silence and curiosity, La Montespan 
 detached herself from the group formed by her friends. She 
 crossed the hall with a measured step suiting her figure and 
 bearing of a Juno , her gaze scanning the spectators with 
 the proud serenity of one who despised enemies, of which 
 for three parts the gathering was composed. On arriving by 
 Jhe card-table, and bending to Ma-rig Theresa with a humility
 
 146 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 too deep not to be ironical, she spoke with calculated 
 slowness and contemptuous tranquility : 
 
 "Will your Majesty allow me to inform her of my resolu- 
 tion to leave the court and retire into my domain of 
 Clagny ? in case the Queen deigns to give her assent to thia 
 project ?" 
 
 Everybody understood the sting in this latter phrase. 
 
 "My lady the Marchioness," replied the daughter of King 
 Philip IL, with fairly concealed joy on her face and in her 
 tone, "I have no right to prevent your desires being accom- 
 plished. It is the King who may retain or grant you leave. 
 No doubt his Majesty, whom you should have consulted be* 
 fore turning to me, will have communicated his will : what- 
 ever it decided upon was well decided." 
 
 The marchioness courteseyed again with the same emo- 
 tionless calmness ; she never lost her smile, which crushed 
 feigned compassion and glutted hatred. She took a step to re- 
 gain her place, when the Queen asked her to stay an in- 
 stant. The favorite stopped with an inward shudder ; she 
 felt that a stab was about to be dealt to her. 
 
 " Mention has been made to me," proceeded Maria Ther- 
 esa, " of a noble orphan young lady whom you have warmly 
 recommended to his Majesty's bounty. 1 mean to do 
 something for her. Is this Mdlle. du Tremblay present ?" 
 
 "She is here," responded Louis with blundering eager- 
 ness, and he pointed out Aurore, who immediately became 
 the cynosure of all eyes 
 
 < Draw nearer, lady," said the Queen, and the girl ap- 
 proached, in a flutter. 
 
 The marchioness had lost her color. She seemed to re- 
 coil upon herself with a view of leaping in between Aurore 
 ~>)vi the sovereign. 
 
 , " Madame," faltered she in a voice wherein anger and as- 
 tonishment struggled. "Mdlle. du Tremblay needs no help, 
 thank heaven " 
 
 "From this moment, no need," returned Maria Theresa 
 COid.y. "You are right, for, henceforward she belongs to 
 my household. She takes the place left vacant by Mdme. 
 d T Ai&ueperse, and will be installed by the Mistress in Super- 
 intendence into that office to-morrow." 
 
 The favorite did not retort, for there is no contesting 
 with 'r u .c Queen. But her eyelids burned red amid the pal*
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM'S f. t& 
 
 lofof her visage, and through them one barely perceived 
 the baleful glance of the bruised viper. 
 
 In the meantime, Aurore, however much surprised at this 
 unexpected boon, and tottering under the general scrutiny, 
 bent the knee to Maria Theresa, and murmured: 
 
 "Oh, what have I done to merit such a favor ?" 
 
 "Rise, child." said the Spanishwoman, holding out her 
 hand to help her up, "and recover yourself. I have been 
 told that your .ather left no property, though he had long 
 and faithfully served the realm. What I am granting, with 
 the assent and from the initiative of the King, is no favor, 
 as you seem to believe but a beginning of reparation : that 
 is all. Duchess," she went on. to Madame de Montausier, 
 ber chief lady in attendance, "place Mdlle. du Tremblay near 
 yourself. It is understood that she is not to quit you until we 
 shall have lodged her in the rooms which you will have made 
 ready for her." 
 
 The Marchioness de Montespan walked towards Louis, 
 with her pupils shooting out the blueish flame which maybe 
 seen in the wild beasts' eyes after dark. Her voice hissed 
 between her nearly closed teeth, to utter these words: 
 
 "Well contrived, sire my compliments to you. But this. 
 is not the last round and I have yet to play!" 
 
 On the royal face was a surprise too great not to be as- 
 sumed fora purpose. 
 
 "Really, I do not follow your drift," he said; ''did you not 
 beg me to look after the welfare of this poor girl ? Am I not 
 giving you satisfaction when I place her for safety under my 
 roof and near the Queen?" 
 
 Now, the cardplaying went on. Maria Theresa smiled, 
 though she was losing, for she did not know how to cheat as 
 the ladies of quality did in her day. In ail the above, her 
 august master had approved of her by a sly glance. All 
 agreed that the slighted Queen had this time shown good 
 sense, dignity and energy. All likewise hailed the new read- 
 er's beauty, modesty, bearing and ease from frequentation of 
 good society. The general sentiment was friendly towards 
 her. 
 
 Mdme. de Montespan was shunned, but she was not an 
 antagonist whom one reverse defeated thoroughly. She 
 silenced her rage and hid her spite under the armor of he 
 pride.
 
 48 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 Meanwhile the King, circling around like a butterfly, had 
 reached the place where Aurore stood too unknown for 
 anybody to congratulate her on any pretext. 
 
 "Well," he inquired, after saluting her with the respectful 
 courtesy which he lavished upon the sex. "are you satisfied, 
 lady?" 
 
 She stammered some words of thanks which he interrupted, 
 
 "It is not to me you should offer these. But to your triend 
 whose earnest entreaty furnished me with the means of re- 
 pairing forgetfulness which was growing into a fault." 
 
 At the same time, he stood aside and disclosed the ex- 
 Bishop of Vannes. 
 
 " The Chevalier d'Herblay !" ejaculated Mdlle. du Trem- 
 lay. 
 
 " The Spanish Ambassador, the Duke of Almada," the 
 old noble smilingly corrected her. At the Golden Heron, did 
 I not promise you should hear from me ?" 
 
 Aurore looked at him in astonishment, murmuring : 
 
 "It i? to you, then, that I owe this benefit?" 
 
 He interrupted her by taking her hand with the prelate's 
 unction and kissing it with the Musketeer's gallantry. 
 
 " I am your servant your friend, if you deem me worthy 
 of the title and your physician, as you may remember 
 my experience on the Saumur highway." 
 
 " As though I could forget !" 
 
 "Well, it is from that point of view that I forbid any trans* 
 ports of gratitude at present. You may make up for it by- 
 and-by when I shall have done for you all that I intend." 
 He emphasized this pledge with an odd accent. Lowering 
 his voice still more, he concluded : " Meanwhile, allow me 
 to ask a few minutes' hearing not here, or this evening 
 a private audience it cannot be dangerous with one of my 
 age !" 
 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay reflected briefly before she resolutely 
 answered : 
 
 "My lord duke, I am the more happy to confer with you 
 from my having an entreaty to address to you." 
 
 "Is this true ?" 
 
 "The generous support which you have lent me without 
 my knowledge, and offer to continue, embolden me to entrust 
 to you the secret which torments me and the grief with whicfc 
 I am overburdened."
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 149 
 
 It was the duke's turn to look at her, stupefied. She 
 hung her head with deep despair. 
 
 "Alas!" she sighed, "amid these unexpected boons which 
 Providence sends me,my soul is sad like one's about to die." 
 
 "Is this possible?" 
 
 "You can relieve me of doubt and ignorance which is 
 killing me." 
 
 "Do anything you like with me, my dear child." Laying 
 a finger on his lips, he pursued: "But, hush! this is not 
 the place or the time to exchange confidence, where they 
 are watching and listening. I hear/' he added, "that you 
 are to stay with the head-Mistress of the Queen's ladies un- 
 til you have your own rooms. The Queen does not rise till 
 noon, and I will call on you to-morrow." 
 
 As he rose after bowing, a hand touched his shoulder. It 
 was the King's who was returning after going around the 
 room, and distributing those compliments which are 
 known as "court holy-water.*' 
 
 "My lord duke/' said he, "I shall have something to say 
 to you on my leaving the State Council to-morrow." 
 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay was installed in Montausier House, 
 which had a mean exterior but the apartments were vast, 
 handsome and nicely planned. One of the first floor par- 
 lors was given to her to receive the Spanish Ambassador. 
 She sat on the sofa, and her elbow rested on soft cush- 
 ions as her hand sustained her drooping head. Her eyes 
 were burning. And yet it did not seem that she had cause 
 to fret or weep. In one day, without efforts, she had won 
 the aim of her life the object of every petticoat- wearer 
 in France royal favor ! 
 
 A country girl, blended with the herd, with no money 
 or credit, fighting with bad fortune for her existence and 
 that of others dear to her, she was this day with a footing 
 at court. Her post was beside the Queen; the King had 
 given her a welcome; the men bowed down to the ground to 
 her and the ladies began to be jealous. The whole appeared 
 like a dream. 
 
 But the acute suffering which pierced her heart was real 
 enough. 
 
 For a month she had no news of Joel. Widow Scarron 
 did not tell her the truth. Made restless by the strange dis- 
 appearance, the latter sent Honorin to the Blackamoor Tav-
 
 ISO THE SON OF PORTHOS; OK, 
 
 era, where the servant questioned the landlord, who related 
 how his lodger was arrested, and he had not hidden the 
 cause. The royal governess knew too well with what a 
 dreadful penalty the Tribunal of Honor punished those 
 who infringed the edicts. Louis XIV. had always shown 
 himself severe towards duelists. She recoiled from the idea 
 of driving to despair perhaps to death, the girl whom she 
 had brought back to life, by telling her for what fate the 
 Breton was reserved. 
 
 Subsequently Mdlle. du Tremblay was presented to the 
 Marchioness de Montespan. The latter was admitting to 
 herself that her charms were becoming too mature longer 
 to retain her royal lover. She planned to have a voice in 
 the choice of her successor, whom she hoped to make her 
 own pliant instrument, so that she still would rule. Aurore, 
 without relatives, fortune or will of her own, seemed to 
 her just the obedient doll she looked for to play the part. 
 Hence she had hastened to offer her services. 
 
 The innocent girl did not suspect the design. She had 
 accepted with gratitude the favorite's assistance. But the 
 sentiments inspired by the latter did not include confi- 
 dence: hence she had preserved her heart's secret. She 
 wept for the lost squire, but in concealment. 
 
 Her meditation was broken by the footman, coming to 
 announce the Duke of Almada. The latter entered briskly 
 and with a winning mien to take a seat near the young 
 lady, who had risen to receive him. He waved her with his 
 hand to resume her place. 
 
 " Come, come, my child," said he paternally: " why is 
 such sorrow on your sweet face ? why are your cheeks so 
 pale and your eyes so red? Yesterday you were blessed with 
 one of those godsends which most women would covet." 
 
 *' My lord duke, I am in distress because a witness is lack- 
 Tig to my happiness n she hesitated. 
 
 "Why this emotion r" said the nobleman with an encour- 
 aging smile. " I have been in holy orders and was wont 
 to hear confessions much more painful than what you may 
 have to avow Is there any need to tremble at undergo- 
 ing the universal fate of being in love r" 
 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay hid her face in her hands, and mut- 
 tered: 
 
 " Have you, indeed, guessed ?"
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 151 
 
 " With no need to be a great wizard. I had only to 
 watch on your countenance tne reflections from your candid 
 mind. Besides, could anything else happen in a court full 
 of dazzling cavaliers, with burning eye and winsome speech?" 
 
 Aurore shook her head. 
 
 " The man dearest to me is not a noble of the court." 
 
 *' Oh, then, it is some friend of your childhood, or com- 
 panion of your youth, some kinsman, perhaps, whom you 
 left in your province^ of Anjou ?" 
 
 Aurore repeated her negative gesture, while the ambassa 
 dor's sharp glance was studying her under the pretence of 
 good hnmor. 
 
 "In any case," he proceeded, "it cannot be any lowborn 
 fellow. A girl of your birth and character does not look 
 below her to make one of those selections which ruse a blush. 
 A Tremblay never stoops to conquer a husband." 
 
 "My lord duke," quickly protested Aurore, ''M. Joel is a 
 nobleman." 
 
 "Joel," reiterated the duke, seeming to reflect; 'whose 
 name is this? methinks I have heard it somewhere before. 
 Oh," he exclaimed, "of course ! I recall it. The young 
 gentleman of the Nantes coach ! Now, I am quite at my ease, 
 after your giving me such a fright. This is not a serious 
 matter." 
 
 "I love him," observed Aurore firmly. 
 
 "Tut, tut ! a girlish fancy ! The youth does not lack 
 some nobility in his style and bearing it is a wayside 
 romance, sketched out, but stopping at the first chap- 
 ter." 
 
 "I love him," repeated Aurore. 
 
 "Yes. I am not ignorant that he defended you against some 
 footpad or other and heaven forbid that I should gainsay 
 your feeling some gratitude towards him ; but lasting grati- 
 tude would degenerate into folly." 
 
 "I love him," said the girl for the third time, with the sama 
 determined tone and face. 
 
 The churchman also assumed a severe mien. 
 
 "Then," he said coldly, "you must find the courage to tear 
 this unseemly passion from your heart. Everything at the 
 same time commands you to do so circumstances, your in- 
 terest and future, and the prospects of others even to the 
 providential part which you are called upon to play."
 
 i S 2 THE SON OF PORTHOS\ OR, 
 
 "What do you mean?" exclaimed the girl, revealing all her 
 astonishment 
 
 "I say that the good fortune befalling you yesterday is nothing 
 to that awaiting you to-morrow. In short, reality will surpass all 
 that you may have ventured to conceive most fairy-like and 
 magical in your girlish dreams you will be transported to the 
 threshold of our paradise or the Empyrean of the pagans ' 
 
 "Gracious!" faltered she, "I cannot understand " 
 
 "Hearken to me, my child, that all may be clear unto 
 you." 
 
 He bent towards her, and speaking with studied slowness and 
 in a low voice, so that she could the better hear and comprehend 
 the sense and range of his words, without any of them crossing 
 the room and being overheard, if by chance there were listeners 
 he said: 
 
 "Buried as you may have been in the country, some rumors 
 must have reached you, so that you cannot be unaware what part 
 was played in the court circle where you are entering, by Louis 
 de La Vallie"re the first love of our fickle sovereign. You like- 
 wise cannot be ignorant of the position held here at present by 
 the Marchioness de Monespan, whose patronage you accept. 
 You must have your opinion formed upon these two Egerias of a 
 prince, who beginning as a Tarquin the Proud, wishes to end as 
 Numa the Wise." 
 
 'It is true that the story has been told me of the former, and 
 how cruelly she expiates not having resisted her heart; as for the 
 second, I accepted her services not without repugnance and 
 self-resistance as heaven be my witness! because I had urgent 
 need of a shield of power against a stranger who persecutes me. 
 To appreciate their conduct is a care that I leave to their con- 
 science, which will awaken sooner or later; to the world of 
 fashion, their accomplice; and to history which will judge them. 
 As a Christian, I pity them." 
 
 "In any event.Jyou must admit that their fate is worthy of envy. 
 To reign over a king; dispose with both hands of his boons and 
 favors; to assure the peace of Europe, or at pleasure, unchain 
 the dogs of war upon the nations; inspire grand ideas; lead to the 
 fulfillment of great deeds." 
 
 "This, my lord, is the function of the Queen." 
 
 "If the Queen were able to accomplish it; in the first
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 153 
 
 place, she must have her husband's love but our King 
 never felt more than esteem for his; policy united them 
 and temperament separates them." 
 
 "Then I feel no less compassion for the lady neglected 
 than for her successful rivals. Still, were the choice 
 given me, I believe I should prefer her loneliness to their 
 victory but I own that I do not see " 
 
 "To what I am tending? to this the King has had a 
 fresh passion spring up in his heart within a few hours " 
 
 "He has ceased to love Mdme. de Montespan?" 
 
 "He is madly smitten with another!" 
 
 "Another?" 
 
 "An adorable creature, who need never dread the 
 fate of the proud daughter of the Mortemarts, if she will 
 listen to a true friend and second his views, in exchange 
 for a devotion above proof: she will then realize the 
 problem of fixing an erratic star of making a capricious 
 lover one of the most faithful " 
 
 The temper paused to study on the hearer's counte- 
 nance the effect of his opening exordium. She seemed 
 to be searching for something in her mind. 
 
 "My lord, pray be indulgent/' she muttered; "I am 
 but a poor country girl, and really I wonder if " 
 
 "What!" ejaculated the plotter, enjoying in advance 
 the surprise he had ready to finish with, "have you not 
 understood that it is you whom we are talking about?" 
 
 He certainly expected an outburst of amazement, real 
 or simulated, and was much mistaken, for the girl re- 
 mained dumb. It was evident that her intelligence 
 refused to admit what she heard. 
 
 "Yes," said the ambassador, dwelling on his words, 
 "it is you whom his Majesty loves, I am offering you a 
 coronet, if not a crown, for one word which, falling from 
 your lips, will allow him to hope that you will receive 
 the proof of this love and its disclosure without anger." 
 
 Mdlle. du Treblay sprang up suddenly. 
 "God help me!" she cried, "the King loves me? loves 
 me?" 
 
 In her eyes and her voice was immense apprehension, and 
 she threw up her arms in front of her as though to repulse 
 the words which she had heard. Almada also rose, and he 
 laid his hands on her shoulder with familiar authority.
 
 154 THE SON OP PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "Calm yourself, child," he said. "You hare a superiot 
 mind as I have a practical one. Do not let us waste time 
 which we may turn to a better purpose. Therefore, I hasten 
 to play aboveboard. The Company of Jesus, of which I am 
 the General, means to preside in the Royal Council and 
 direct its policy. Help us thoroughly and we will sustain 
 you to the utmost limits. Would you like to govern France 
 with us? I leave you the solid part of the realm ami tne bet- 
 ter task to do good where others have only done ill. If you 
 were an ordinary woman, I should picture to you the court 
 prostrated at your feet, the dazzling of festivals, the con- 
 cert of homage, and the incense rising for you to share 
 with the demi-god whom Europe considers as arbiter of its 
 destinies. But you are as good as fair, and I simply say 
 unto you So far the people have cursed the favorites who 
 preceded you; Let them learn to bless you." 
 
 Aramis stopped again, not of his own accord, but from the 
 effect of his words. A burning glare blazed in his auditress's 
 eyes. A purple flush mounted to her cheeks, while she opened 
 her mouth to speak. But the words, though scathing her 
 lips, were not uttered. Her eyelids fell like veils over the 
 .lightning glance, and she became calm again. She gently 
 disengaged herself from the old noble's grip, and proceeded 
 towards the door. 
 
 "Where are you going ?" inquired the other. 
 
 "To quit this house," was her curt answer in a broken 
 voice ; " I leave the town, too, for return to my native village 
 in Anjou, where the peasants have not yet learnt to cease 
 to respect the daughter of their old master." 
 
 "Going away ? but this is madness ! After what you have 
 heard ?" 
 
 *'It is precisely what I heard that commands me to remain 
 not another instant in a place where I have been. insulted. 
 Oh, I do not care to hurt your feelings I am not one who 
 repays insult in the same coin. Besides, I am firmly per- 
 suaded that you did not believe you were insulting me. That 
 is credible enough ; for the world in which you dwe.I and 
 in which I entered yesterday, regards as a glory what I call 
 a shame. I was alone and moneyless, and you offered me 
 the means to become rich and mighty. This is great kind* 
 ness on your part, and I must beg your pardon for not be- 
 ing on the level of the task which you deemed me worthy to
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. \ 55 
 
 aceomplisn. Row could things be otherwise when I am a 
 Puritan, with odd ideas about honor. I should rather fall 
 dead on the side of the ditch, clad in tatters, with the beggar's 
 wallet slung round my neck, than be satiated with royal favor 
 and endearments, in the glitter of jewels, rank and fortune. 
 I should mar your court with my foolish prejudies: humiliate it 
 it with my siily pride; slight it in my ridiculous innocence. 
 This is why I doom myself to blight, obscurity and poverty; 
 why I do not even await the issue of the lawsuit in which 
 I am engaged and which I feel that I am incapable of win- 
 ning in the usual way ; why I accept for my dear ones the 
 poverty which blemishes my father's name, but which, at 
 the worst, will not stain our family blason. Farewell, my 
 lord duke. We are never to meet again. In the retreat where 
 I shall live between labor and prayer, I promise to remem- 
 ber you only from our first meeting, and I shall force my- 
 self to forget how badly a nobleman mistook me and in- 
 sulted me as the King himself has no right to do. For, 
 granting that he loved me, at least, he did not offend me 
 by proposing I should be his mistress." 
 
 While Aurore was speaking in this high and noble strain, 
 Aramis was reflecting. When he had fully meditated, his 
 new batteries were in line. He was now a more dangerous 
 plotter than when he conceived to substitute one royal brother 
 for another at Vaux. When Mdlle. du Tremblay walked 
 with a statue's step up to the door, she found he had glided 
 in between and a complete change had taken place on the 
 duke's countenance. Tears moistened his eyes; his linea- 
 ments expressed a joyous emotion without equal ; his voice 
 quivered as he said, in turning to the girl with a supplicating 
 gesture: 
 
 "Oh, my child, my dear child, how happy you have made 
 me. How greatly I admire you ! How great is my love and 
 my estee'm !" 
 
 Before such a brusque outburst, Aurore receded and ut- 
 tered not a syllable, but her face was eloquent in its profound 
 amaze. 
 
 "To think that I was on the verge of doubting you. Yes 
 I doubted you I confess but only for a space. I feared 
 that you would succumb beneath the test." 
 
 "Test? was that a test?" almost screamed the girl. 
 
 Aramis lowered his head with a chagrined air, and replied 
 in a reproachful tone:
 
 156 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "Did yon not suspect it? true, true, I went too for much 
 too far! But I wished to know the whole." He took her by 
 Mne hand and led her to the sofa. " I vowed to ascertain 
 what you might secret. And what have I met but the purest 
 honor, and all that embellishes and sanctifies the heart of 
 woman?" 
 
 Aurore was still repeating: "A test?" for she distrusted 
 yet. "So," she said slowly, "what you said but now " 
 
 "That was mere fable, of which I beg you no more to 
 think " 
 
 "The King " 
 
 "The King holds no other feelings towards you than any 
 gallant gentleman may declare to any honorable girl and 
 he is now casting off the Marchioness de Mor.tespan 
 solely to be disentangled as regards the Queen. Alas!" he 
 went on, with a sad shaking of the head, " this furnace, the 
 court, into whose hot breath you have but stepped, musl 
 quickly and fatally sear the finest minds, for you to believo 
 that an old man with white hair like me, a nobleman by win* 
 ning his spurs on the battlefield and by his descent, the rep 
 resentative of a great power and an illustrious sovereign, 
 I, in short, 2 was capable of descending to pander even for 
 a King!" 
 
 "My lord?" 
 
 " Oh, cruel, unjust and wicked: how you on your side 
 imistook me! But how sharply you have punished me by 
 putting faith in a ruse of which I had not foreseen the ef- 
 fects!" Again his tone and expression altered, while he 
 added with a touch of vanity admirably assumed: "I grant 
 that I played my trick with art. Condemn me if you will) 
 but own that you were my dupe. " 
 
 She laid a hand on her heart. 
 
 "I was caused much pain," she sighed. 
 
 "Still again," he said, drawing her to him with a fatherly 
 action, "overlook this. It was that deuced professional pride 
 of ours. We diplomatists fall into such a habit of deceiving 
 and feigning " 
 
 In the pause, the duke secretly observed the girl. At the 
 end of a minute, she raised her lovely, clear and ingenuous 
 eyes and questioned: 
 
 "Why was this test made?" 
 
 The ex-Musketeer's teeth were impressed on his lip.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS* 157 
 
 "Why did you play this comedy?" persisted Aurore, "Why 
 put yourself to so much trouble ? Why cause me so much 
 pain?" 
 
 In the time it took' her to frame the questions, he had. 
 shaped his reply. 
 
 ''Do you mean to tell me that you do not guess?" She 
 shook her head. "What, you have not reflected that the 
 righteous aim I had, justified my plan ? It was necessary 
 for the Queen's future peace that she should not again har- 
 bor a viper at her side. How many innocent-seeming intrig- 
 uantes have sought to mount into tne royal favor by first ob- 
 taining a hold in the Queen's service? these would have thrown 
 aside the devoted lover who was of lowly birth compared 
 with the ruler of France: but you on the contrary trample 
 on everything between you and the object of the great and 
 holy love filling your heart. I was in my right in asking if 
 in uniting you to that object, I should not expose myself to 
 hearing you reproach me some day for having been the key- 
 stone of your happiness, if not of your golden fortune. And 
 he whom you choose will share your scruples. He may be 
 one who shrinks lest you blame him for the humility of hie 
 line being an obstacle to your rising with him to where you 
 are lawfully free to aspire your longings are legitimate for 
 luxury, fame and grandeur. Thus thinking, I tried to tempt 
 you, and the experiment has fully succeeded, at least. You 
 have refused a throne to keep yourself for the man of your 
 heart. Wnat more convincing proof can I desire of an affec- 
 tion and a disinterestedness which nothing in the future can 
 have the power to weaken?" 
 
 The girl's charming features had at length brightened 
 Her youthful beauty seemed to send out rays. 
 
 "My lord," she faltered, "you are speaking of Joel." 
 
 "Why, of whom else was I to speak save the lucky dog who 
 has the inestimable chance of being distinguished by such 
 a treasure ?" rejoined the old duke, with liveliness. 
 
 " Do you know, then, what has become of him all this 
 month ?" 
 
 "Do I know ?" 
 
 Truth obliges us to admit that Aramis did not have the 
 faintest clue ; but a diplomatist of his mark ought never t 
 be caught napping. 
 
 "on have seen him ?" inquired Mdlle. du Trernblay.
 
 158 THE SON OF PURTHOS / OR, 
 
 " As you will see him before a great while. But," kv 
 added guardedly, "you must ask him for the explanation of 
 his mysterious absence." 
 
 "Will he come to St. Germain?" 
 
 "Of course," replied the duke, with a goodnatured smile, 
 "he will be forced to come, unless you want to have the wed- 
 ding celebrated in another place." 
 
 "Wedding?" 
 
 "That follows since I told you I had made up my mind to 
 make you both happy." 
 
 Aurore fixed on him a steady gaze. 
 
 "Has M. Joel found what he was seeking, then ?" she 
 inquired- 
 
 This was not a question for which Almada was prepared 
 and he was disconcerted ; he mused : "Wuat on earth was 
 the young rogue seeking for ?" But he was obliged to reply, 
 and do so at once, as the girl's eyes were imperiously ques- 
 tioning him. "He has found it?" he said with assurance. "But 
 not without pains, and the task took time." 
 
 "But you aided him, I will engage ?" proceeded the other 
 with a sincere flow of thankfulness. 
 
 "Oh, you inquisitive child!" he retorted, shaking a finger 
 at her. " Nothing can be hidden from her. Well, yes, 
 I aided him witn all my power." 
 
 She held out her hand. 
 
 " How I thank you if, with heaven's help, Joel has found 
 a name ?" 
 
 " Oho!" thought the ex-prelate, "It is a name he is after? 
 Our loving swain has come to find or make a name in Paris. 
 Well, let us give him one for a present, whicu will rob no 
 one A name ?" he exclaimed, " A title more like Cheva- 
 lier de Locmaria! That sounds rondly and looks right, as 
 he comes from Belle-Isle, where I had reason to remember 
 Locmaria, one of my parishes. And " here a cloud passed 
 over his brow, " was it not in one of its sea-graven caves 
 that my poor Porthos died ?" 
 
 He looked so serious that she forbore to speak, but, recov- 
 ering, he said : 
 
 "But I am wishful to leave your betrothed the pleasure of 
 relating all that has happened to him since your parting. 
 The chevalier will be beside you in a few days ; for it is a 
 settled thing that you will remain at court ?" Bui Aurore'*
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 459 
 
 face wore alarm and repugnance, and he persisted: "You 
 must, my child. The Queen has much need of one like you. 
 The poor iady has not a soul near her to whom she can con- 
 fide her woes and have them shared. The friendship which 
 she will inevitably accord you and the very high esteem in 
 which the King holds you, will help you to a reconciliation 
 of the couple which all desire and which will be a benefit to 
 the state." 
 
 "My lord, I shall remain." 
 
 "Ere long, besides you will rest on a husband's arm I will 
 do my utmost to obtain from both their Majesties the consent 
 to your union. They will feel pleasure in signing the con- 
 tract as witnesses, and as a kind of wedding present, I war- 
 rant the Chevalier of Locmaria will receive some rank which 
 will allow him to be near you. But," he went on, looking at his 
 watch, "the hour is striking for you to go on duty, and I 
 myself have an appointment with the King on his leaving the 
 Council-room^ Let us part, my dear Aurore." 
 
 She held up her forehead which he lightly kissed, murmur- 
 ing "I might easily be your grandfather !" At the thresh- 
 old, he called: You will shortly see me. With him ! Mean- 
 while, be so kind as not to forget me in your prayers." 
 
 "Be sure of that, my good lord," returned the girl. "In 
 my heart you have a place like God and Joel." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MAKING A KNIGHT OF HIM. 
 
 IN the renovation of St. Germain's by the famous Mansard, 
 fa covered way around the building was replaced by a veran- 
 dah, which was called the Gallery. Here, on coming from 
 the Council of State, Louis XIV. was accustomed to receive 
 applicants for favors and those for whom he had communica- 
 ions. Here Almada proceeded after quitting our heroine. 
 
 On the way from Montausier House to the palace, the old 
 duke distributed to the passers-by all sorts of nods and 
 smiles and caresses with the hand, which betrayed the for- 
 mer cnurch dignitary. Nobody would have suspected the
 
 i6o THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 turmoil in his brain and the mental labor he underwent,, to 
 see his smiling mien, the gallant and yet guarded looks at 
 the pretty women, and the exquisite art with which he gradu- 
 ated the marks of politeness according to the rank of those 
 he met. 
 
 "This Joel must be found again," he mused as he strolled 
 in the sunshine in order to warm himself. "I have promised 
 her so. It is tiie sole means to save the situation of affairs 
 bungled by the monstrous innocence of this young girl whom 
 I have arrived in time to place in the contest for the favor- 
 ite's vacated post. This must be done to retain this virgin at 
 the court, for it is highly necessary that she should not leave 
 St. Germain. It is certain that the King cherishes her under 
 his heart-wing, and I will put my hands in the fire if he has not 
 asked me hither this morning to speak to me about her. Yes, 
 but where am I to unearth this young rustic? He will hamper 
 my projects and, absent, he may upset them. Just think 
 that I believed I knew all about the softer sex from having 
 half-a-century's experience with them, and this one non- 
 plusses me. By Jove ! as I used to swear when I wore a 
 word by my side, to see me beaten by a silly maid's scruples 
 I, who was the lover of that whirlwind in a fardingale called 
 the Duchess de Chevreuse; the confidential friend o( 
 Queen Anne of Austria in her amour with the Duke of 
 Buckingham : the dashing, lady-killing Musketeer ; the 
 priest-confessor of a bevy of fashionable penitents ; the be- 
 holder, if not the actor, of all the merry intrigues which 
 enlivened the end of the last reign and the beginning of this. 
 It is true that I never met any such squeamishness in the 
 Duchess, or the Queen, or Mazarin, or my penitents, or 
 Fouquet's lady-loves, or the early love-conquests of this 
 King. All the same, a philosopher it might be me was 
 very right in saying that woman is capable of anything even 
 of doing good and acting well." 
 
 On entering the Gallery, the first persons whom the Spanish 
 Ambassador caught sight of was Lord Nicholas de Lareynie, 
 Lieutenant General of the Royal Police. Under his arm was 
 a large portfolio, stuffed with papers of all kinds. The new 
 comer walked up to him, and said after the exchange of the 
 usual courtesies : 
 
 " Bear my lord, since you are the man who best knows 
 Ycrything; going on in the capital, pray try to enlighten m
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 161 
 
 tin tke fate of a fine young fellow, who much interests me, 
 and who has been missing this month." 
 
 " My lord duke, I am devotedly yours." 
 
 " This youth has lately arrived from his province of 
 Brittany. From Belle-Isle, if I am rightly informed : honest 
 of face, costume of his country, the figure and bearing of a 
 young athlete. As a special token, the longest sword by 
 his side that any living man wears I never but once saw- 
 its mate." 
 
 " Oho !" exclaimed the magistrate, starting with surprise 
 K this succinct portrait puts me in mind of an acquaintance. 
 I declare, it would be odd if you were seeking the very man 
 of whom I came to confer with his Majesty. He had fists 
 to knock down a wall, eh ?" 
 
 "That agrees." 
 
 "He answers to the name of Joel, too?'' 
 
 It was now the duke's turn to be astonished. 
 
 *'Joel it is so. Do you know where he is ?" 
 
 "He is in the Bastille, of course." 
 
 "In the Bastille ?" 
 
 "In proof of which, I have had the governor's deputy ask- 
 ing me in what style he is to be treated. You may not be 
 unaware, duke, that at the Bastille, each prisoner receives 
 fare and accommodation occording to his position, quality, 
 fortune and the private instruction sent with his committal 
 warrant by the head of the realm." 
 
 The old friend of the late Bastille Governor, Montlezun. 
 did know this from afar back ; so, interrupting the Police 
 Lieutenant, he asked : 
 
 "But why was the poor lad clapped into jail ?" 
 
 "A very bad case," answered Lareynie, scratching his wig 
 with an ivory back-scratcher carved into the semblance of 
 an open hand, as was the fashion ; "violation of the edicts, 
 a duel ending in a man's death this poor lad, as you call 
 him, in plain, ran a Musketeer officer through the body." 
 
 "Heaven fotbid 3 " 
 
 "As a matter of course, lie was arrested, and the constab- 
 ulary opened an inquest on the matter ; but as he could 
 not supply proofs that he was nobly born, these judges of 
 points of honor would not derogate to try him, and we are 
 all in a quandary. In what court is he to be tried? I have 
 come to have his Majesty's idea on the subject 1 *
 
 ifia THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 As he spoke the functionary drew from his letter-caie a 
 sheet of parchment written with a wide margin and inscrib- 
 ed for a heading : " Report for H. M. the King ?" He hand- 
 ed this document to the duke, saying : " Do you mind, 
 while we are waiting, taking a look over it ?" 
 
 Aramis had no objections. Thus he knew to a jot all 
 that had befallen our hero. He had finished when the King 
 came out of his closet, with an air of good humor. On his 
 entering the Gallery, Lareynie started to hand him the re- 
 port on the Joel Case, which the ambassador had returned 
 to him; but the monarch, who had perceived his companion, 
 said : " Presently, my lieutenant," and taking the envoy of 
 Spain by the arm, he observed ; " I am obliged to you for 
 keeping the appointment." 
 
 *' Oh, sire," rejoined the old courtier, making as supple as 
 it was noble a bow, " the wishes of the sovereign are orders 
 to me. Moreover," he added, after a pause, " if your Ma- 
 jesty had not deigned to evince his intention of meeting me 
 this morning, I should nevertheless have waited to see him 
 come by having accepted from him the office to offer hom- 
 age to which I venture to hope the recipient will not show 
 hers altogether insensible." 
 
 " Homage ?" 
 
 " I mean by that ! to bear to her the expression of feel- 
 ings with which overflows towards him the most sincere 
 and grateful of hearts."' 
 
 The ruler's cheeks were covered with bright red, and his 
 eyes sparkled with deep satisfaction. 
 
 " Ah, you have seen Mdlle. du Tremblay ?" he greedily in- 
 quired. 
 
 " I have just left her," replied the diplomatist, smiling to 
 himself at having so swiftly guessed how things stood. 
 
 " Then, she does not seem very much displeased with her 
 new position ?" 
 
 " Ah, sire, it is more than gratitude which she professes 
 towards your Majesty, but adoration, poorly constrained by 
 the bounds of respect owed by the subject to her sovereign. 
 Yesterday she was stunned and abashed. Think how little 
 she expected the signal favor of which she was the object ! 
 And then her heart's transports were paralysed by the un- 
 ion of gladness, perplexity, amazsment, and confusion be- 
 fore the King and the Queen, and the whole court whose
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 163 
 
 bold curiosity, in way of speaking, distracted her. But, 
 this morning, after a night passed in fever from intoxication, 
 almost incredulity, with what eloquence has she spoken of 
 her august benefactor ! with what ardor she declared to me 
 her devotion to her royal mistress and her worship for her 
 master ! with what emotion ful and passionate accents she 
 repeated to me on my leaving : ' Oh, my lord duke, the 
 King is the most generous as he is the most noble of his 
 gentlemen in the kingdom.' 
 
 "Did she really hold this language ?" interrogated Louis^ 
 his voice trembling with pleasure. 
 
 "And as I merely asked her what had most struck heria 
 the brilliant assemblage which she saw for the first time yes- 
 terday, you should have known with what freedom and sim- 
 plicity she responded: 'Do not question me, for I do not 
 know how to answer. I saw none but the King, and I am 
 dazzled like the rash creature who looks up at the sun.' " 
 
 These words were too much like those which poor Louise 
 de la Valliere uttered, in the hearing of the King, twenty 
 years before, under the Royal Oak at Fontainebleau, for 
 the hearer not to recall that scene. All the sweet savor of 
 youth returned with its freshness and sharpness, though 
 saddening, like the scent from a flower found dried in a book. 
 But the memory was sufficiently strong. 
 
 "For this girl is chasteness itself" pursued Almada. 
 "Her soul knows no more of falsehood than her lips. It is 
 one detached from all earthly lust, the sanctuary of all lofty 
 aspirations and sublime devotion. Those lips are as strange 
 to coquetry as to kisses." 
 
 In hearing the ambassador, the "Grand Alcander," was 
 intoxicated with ambrosia. This affection, mingled with re- 
 spect and a dread that made the woman prostrate herself be- 
 fore its object, was a dish of spice for one. who liked rare del- 
 icacies. What flattery could equal, in his eyes, the being 
 taken for a demi-god ? But as he strove above all to seem to 
 be beyond human weakness, he forced himself to dissimu- 
 late under a mask of ordinary pleasure the joy and pride 
 which lifted him to the seventh heaven. 
 
 "My lord," he resumed after a short silence, "it was pre- 
 cisely of Mdlle. duTrembly that I waited to speak with you. 
 >he belongs to a family of faithful servants whom we have 
 wrongfully neglected for some time. Were the members-
 
 eft* THE SON OF PORTHOSj OX, 
 
 still on earth, rewards in proportion to their services should 
 certainly seek the obscurity into which their modesty re- 
 tained them until their death. In ihe child we shall repair 
 the involuntary harm caused her parents by our ungrateful 
 forgetfulness. Mdlle. du Tremblay shall be a Lady of the new 
 Palace." 
 
 "But, sire, the rule is that the husband shall be the wear- 
 er of the honors which carry this title," remonstrated the 
 ex-prelate. 
 
 "We will select a husband worthy of our royal ward, and 
 we count upon your excellence to aid us in this act" 
 
 "Oh, sire, how your Majesty divines and thoroughly carriet 
 out one's wishes! I was proposing to lead the King's solic- 
 itude upon the isolated state of this poor girl ! it wat 
 *iy design to supplicate my prince to give her a protector 
 ind place her in a family." 
 
 "This is what we shall do ; we charge you to find among 
 bur nobility some gentleman who merits obtaining such a 
 treasure, and in the wedding presents shall be a title for the 
 thosen one to some post in our household." 
 
 The ambassador smiled as he replied: "There is no need 
 for me to exhaust my power of research to find this privi- 
 leged person, as I have at hand a young friend who will es- 
 teem himself only too happy to unite his fate with the amia- 
 ble lady's whom your Majesty honors with his bounty. Ii 
 is a Breton gentleman without ambition as without attach- 
 ments." 
 
 "What is his name?" 
 
 "It is the Chevalief de Locmaria, if your Majesty will al- 
 low him to wear that title." 
 
 "He shall be the Chevalier de Locmaria." 
 
 "Only, I am not going to conceal from your Majesty that 
 he has a wild and primitive character, abrupt and rough, badly 
 suited for life in the court, and I daresay he would prefer 
 to make his way in the army." 
 
 "Let that be so, too he shall have an officership." 
 
 "And if there were fighting going on, he would gladly be 
 sent to the front." 
 
 "Well, we will send him to Marshal Cre*qui, who is to oper- 
 ate against Prince Charles of Lorraine and Freiburg." 
 
 "Good! he will be pleased. I know my Breton, who is a 
 lover of battle and hungry for danger and glory. All h*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 165 
 
 longs for is a chance to distinguish himself before the en- 
 emy and he will not shrink from the forlorn hopes and other 
 desperate movements entrusted to daring spirits who carry 
 their lite in their hands." He laughed like a funeral kneel, 
 faintly heard. "But who can help a young daredevil becom- 
 ing a hero at the cost of his life?" He paused, but he said 
 ill that was necessary. 
 
 The two had returned to the part of the Gallery whence 
 they started, and Lareynie was patiently wailing, with his 
 portfolio under his arm and the report in his hand. 
 
 "Sire," remarkd Almada, " your Police Lieutenant is 
 waiting for the proper moment to have an audience granted, 
 and I should feel ashamed to retain the King any longer." 
 
 "Ah," said Louis, glancing at the scroll held out to him, 
 '* This relates to that daring duelist who draws his sword 
 under our very windows. A bold rogue, by my faith! How 
 is it he has not yet been tried ?" 
 
 The Spanish Ambassador interrupted Lareynie, about to 
 reply. " Sire, it is long been said that clemency is the 
 brigntest jewel of monarchs as the right to pardon is their 
 finest appanage." 
 
 "On my soul, duke," said the King, eyeing him with aston- 
 ishment, "I like to think that you will not intervene on be- 
 half of this bully " 
 
 "I venture upon this piece of audacity." 
 
 "You are going to ask me the pardon of this rebel ?" 
 
 *'I beg more than that his immediate setting at liberty." 
 
 "But a duelist is a murderer !" 
 
 "Hence I apply to the royal generosity, not to mercy." 
 
 "Do think what you are doing," said the King, stiffening 
 his bearing and tone. "Put the fellow at liberty who has 
 trampled on our signature at the foot of the edicts killed 
 one of our military servants and has not even the excuse 
 that he is of noble blood." 
 
 "Nay," returned the ambassador, placidly, " it is allowable 
 for a Breton, fresh from his native hamlet, not to know all 
 the edicts " 
 
 I' Eh, is the rascal a Breton?"asked the King, softening his 
 voice. 
 
 " As for his nobility that is rather dubious silt he can 
 be ennobled at any time by your Majesty. As for the dead 
 Musketeer, there is no lack of them, your Majesty havine
 
 1 66 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 two companies, each five hundred strong. Besides, judging 
 by the statement, this deceased M. de Bregy was not the 
 finest sample of French chivalry " 
 
 4< But still his murderer " 
 
 * Adversary, if you will allow it" 
 
 " Be it so his adversary seems very dear to you ?" 
 
 '* Not the least in the world ; I hardly know him and 
 only once met him, but he is useful to me, which is of much 
 more importance." 
 
 " Useful ? what could you do with him ?" 
 
 Aramis looked the speaker in the face and replied, lower* 
 ing his voice but giving each syllable a value: 
 
 *' If it please your Majesty, I should make him the Knight 
 of Locraaria, and the husband of Mdlle. du TremWay." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE FELLOW PRISONER. 
 
 IT is high time to return to our friend Joel. 
 
 Fortunately, there is no fear but we shall find him whera 
 we left him, as the Bastille guarded its prisoners with only 
 to great abundance of ditches, ramparts, bars, bolts, locks, 
 wardens, soldiers, and spies for anyone to go forth un- 
 allowed, unless he wore wings, or had the patience in dig- 
 ging his way out which Latude exhibited. 
 
 Joel was incarcerated in that one of the eight towers called 
 the Basiniere. His cell was on the third floor of it. 
 
 At the first, the unhappy youth was like one stunned by 
 the violence of the shock befalling him : motionless, dulled, 
 he had no sight but the terrible state prison whose name the 
 jailer had shouted to him on leaving him. Shaking himself 
 at last like one casting aside the clinging effects of a night- 
 snare, he had looked around and made the circuit of 
 his room which did not take long. Instinct being strong, 
 he went to the window for air and light a small loop-hole, 
 doubly grated with thick iron bars. 
 
 Hapless Joel! 
 
 This robust countryman, habituated to drink in pure air 
 as he raced over the heabhs or on the beach , in the forests
 
 r along the cliffs, was now reduced to draw breath tnrouga 
 a mere crevice. It was too narrow for him to insert his 
 head. He could barely descry a patch of sky on which 
 nothing was outlined not even a treetop, a weathercock, or 
 a spiral column of smoke. 
 
 The captive examined the worm-eaten table, covered with ' 
 a worn cloth, which, with a bed and a stool, formed the 
 furniture. He felt the bed, which struck him as hard, and 
 finally returned to a seat on the stool, where he gave himself 
 up to the saddest reflections. 
 
 So, he was in jail, under the possibility of being condemn- 
 ed to capital punishment ! in that quarter, no illusion was 
 possible : the crime was evident, the law formal; the trib- 
 unal would surely doom the culprit, and there were nine 
 chances and a half that the King would sign the death-war- 
 rant. Now, our hero did not dread death. But he longed 
 for life. Particularly deplored its being cut short because of 
 how he had meant to employ it : in accomplishing the task 
 imposed by his mother, and afterwards in consecrating him- 
 self to making his beloved happy. 
 
 But in the midst of his higher, holier thoughts, nature as- 
 serted itself Joel was hungry, thirsty and in need of rest. 
 When his dinner was brought him, a copious one and well 
 served, it must be admitted, which showed that the spirit 
 of the former governor Baisemeaux still haunted the pris- 
 on he ate like a starved animal. The furniture was poor 
 but the provender good. After which he flung himself on 
 his bed, and slept as soundly as if he had been in the guest- 
 room of the Blackamoor lulled by the ceaseless babble of 
 little Friquet. 
 
 When he awoke at daylight, he had some difficulty in re- 
 membering where he was. But a glance on the surrounding 
 walls told him that he was in the Bastille. As this confirma- 
 tion drew a sigh from him the turnkey walked in and 
 said : 
 
 "Exercise-time, master. If you like to come up to the 
 tower top you can get some air that beats anything down in 
 the streets. You can hare a chat with the other gentlemen' 
 prisoners, which will stir you up a bit." As he guided the 
 new-comer through the maze of stairs and lobbies, he added: 
 Besides, you will not make any long acquaintances as it ap- 
 pears that your trial will come off pretty soon. The majof
 
 1 68 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 bade me announce that the constabulary recorder would 
 look you up to communicate the decree, to-morrow." 
 
 The exercise took place on the "tower leads," or leaden 
 roof. As there were five storeys, a prisoner to each, Joel 
 met four strollers up aloft. On their countenances and 
 clothes one could almost read the date of their imprison- 
 ment. Two of them were men in their fortieth year and 
 were insignificant. The third was a man of medium stat- 
 ure and middle age, square- shouldered, and strongly built : 
 he had a round, good-humored face, with a stupid eye and 
 silly smile ; in short, the aspect of a citizen rather idiotic. 
 The last was an old man of eighty, with long white locks and 
 beard in disorder and vestments in tatters. 
 
 On the coming up of our hero into this sky-parlor, the 
 first three eagerly asked : 
 
 " What's the news from Paris ?" 
 
 "In sooth, gentlemen," was Joel's reply, "I am at a loss 
 to satisfy you, from my being arrested when I had scarcely 
 more than arrived from my province." 
 
 "So you were arrested ?" 
 
 "Oddsbobs ! I should think so. You did not come her* 
 for the pleasure of this promenade, I engage !" 
 
 "Well, no, they had certainly not." 
 
 "But what were you arrested for ?" inquired the dull-eyed 
 citizen. 
 
 The Breton related his adventure, at the termination of 
 which the other remarked with a doleful wagging of the 
 head : ''By our Ladyj your case looks black to me. The 
 King does not joke with duelists. However, you have the 
 advantage of knowing what you are shut up for." 
 
 "Do not all prisoners ?" quickly asked JoeL 
 
 "Well, I do not in the least" 
 
 "Nor I." 
 
 "Neither do I." 
 
 The new-comer did not like to put the question to the 
 . Jd man, but as he looked at him inquisitively, the latter 
 < ,X>ke. 
 
 "I am sorry for you, my gentleman," said he in a grave 
 "You will certainly suffer the fate of those executed 
 
 T the same offence. The Cardinal has no pity." 
 
 "What cardinal ?" inquired the Breton. 
 
 The other stared at him with astonishment.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 169 
 
 "Can there be any other than his Red Eminence, Cardinal 
 Richelieu ?" 
 
 ''Bless us! he has been dead these thirty years!" 
 
 "Are you sure?" 
 
 "And his successor, Cardinal Mazarin, is in the same 
 state." 
 
 "But there is a King Louis XIII. yet?" 
 
 "No, he died before the latter and followed the former 
 into the grave." 
 
 "Excuse me, monsieur," said the old man politely. "I was 
 ignorant of these events, having entered here in the year 
 of the birth of that King's first-born." 
 
 The Son of Porthos shuddered, for he had not spent as 
 many hours in prison as this wretch had years! Still, out 
 of all the prisoners, this one seemed the most calm and re 
 signed. In the evening when the warden brought supper, 
 he asked who the aged man was. 
 
 "That's Number 68," responded the man carelessly. 
 
 "And the others?" 
 
 "Oh, they are 123, 136 and 141." 
 
 The key-bearer condescended to explain that the Bastille's 
 guests lost their names in entering and were distinguished 
 merely by numbers; the servants knew not the motives for 
 their detention, and the governor would not in most cases 
 know unless he himself questioned them. In many cases, 
 however, they knew as little as himself. 
 
 "Then, I am a number, too?" queried the squire. 
 
 "Not yet," replied the turnkey, "for you are an exception. 
 It has not been seen fit to supply you with one, as it does 
 not look as though you would get blue-mouldy here; it is 
 given out," he added, with a grin, "you will have your head 
 off next week." 
 
 ! Next day, as had been foretold, the prisoner saw, entering 
 his room, with the gravity of his office, Master Onesime 
 Chamonin, Chief Recorder of the Constabulary. He deigned 
 to inform our captive that he was under watch and ward be 
 cause of his attire, his apoearance and the extreme length of 
 his sword. The St. Germain forest-keepers had been struck by 
 his ncight and broad chest, hisBreton breeches, the peacock's 
 feather in his hat, the unusual length of his rapier, as well 
 as his wild bearing and unsteady step and having guessed 
 he was the slayer of Corporal Bregy, whose body they were
 
 170 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 charged to convey to the town, they had hastened to fur* 
 nish his description to Lareynie's spies. Thus these were en 
 abled to dog him into the Blackamoor Inn at Paris. 
 
 The four Musketeers had refused to provide any informa- 
 tion on the case, as well as on the survivor of the meeting 
 except to declare that all had passed according to the code 
 of honor. 
 
 Chamonin called upon the accused to set forth his proofs 
 of nobility so that he might be tried by his peers, the noble- 
 men composing the Tribunal of honor. As the Son of the 
 Baron du Vallon answered in full sincerity that, while be- 
 lieving himself of blue blood, he had nothing but his word 
 and belief to establish it, the worthy recorder retired with 
 the sentence : 
 
 ** In that case, you will not be beheaded, but only 
 hanged." 
 
 At the issue of this conference, Joel went upon the roof. 
 At first he was alone, as it rained and the guests of the Bas- 
 tille preferred even their cells to bad weather. Chamonin's 
 declaration had clouded our hero in look and heart. He 
 had seen the execution, by hanging, of a liorsethief at Guer- 
 nab Guerande. What a hideous thing is the gallows-tree ! 
 The whole scene had remained in the young man's mem- 
 ory and it made him shudder now after years. And it was 
 this ignoble, infamous, horrible death which was reserved 
 for him, a man so exuberant in strength, courage for grand 
 deeds and such high aspirations! 
 
 To drive away such miserable thoughts, he strove through 
 the rain to find among the houses of the city, the Church of 
 St Paul's, where Mdlle. du Tremblay attended evening 
 service, and they had exchanged their hearts and the Grey 
 House in the St. Jacques suburb where Aurore was now 
 sheltered. As he \vas absorbed in the search, a hand was laid 
 on iiis shoulder. He turned sharply. 
 
 It was one of the four other lodgers in the tower : the 
 one with the dull and guileless air, who had approached, 
 without his hearing him. Joel did not recognize him at 
 once. 
 
 "Who are you and what do you want?" he challenged 
 roughly. 
 
 " I am Number 141, to serve you, if I may, sir,*' rejoined 
 the old fellow gently. "A prisoner like yourself, a fellow*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 171 
 
 lodger in this strong box where the King keeps those ha 
 wishes held in hand. I occupy the drawer above your own." 
 
 "Eh?" 
 
 "I mean to say that 1 am lodged in the fourth floor not 
 an unpleasant place, but I am going to quit it." 
 
 "Changing your room ?" 
 
 "No, I am going to be oat of it altogether," returned the 
 man jestingly. 
 
 "Released ?" 
 
 "Not a bit like it. I am going to make a try to escape to- 
 night," continued the confidential acquaintance in a low 
 whisper. 
 
 "Escape?'' repeated Joel. 
 
 "Not so loud !" said the prisoner, grasping him by the 
 arm. "You will ruin me. Here of all places the walls have 
 ears. Yes, "he went on, "I shall be out to-night. Heaven is 
 my witness that I should like to take you with me, but I 
 have misgivings mingled with my hopes." 
 
 ''How can one leave the Bastille " questioned the Breton, 
 his curiosity excited to the highest point. 
 
 "With patience, skill and tools, in time. With instruments 
 and assistance from without very quickly. I have a daughter 
 who is my life, my joy, all I care for. She has a lover who 
 has come to my aid with all that I need. I have a file and 
 a rope. I have sawn my two window-bars so that they will 
 readily snap, leaving an opening through which I can slip. 
 Towards midnight, I will tie my cord to the remaining bar 
 and lower myself on it as it hangs. In such bad weather as 
 impends, I may have the luck of the sentry, stationed below, 
 keeping in his watch box. If he be outside, worse luck ! he 
 will fire on me. If missed, I shall leap from the rampart into 
 the moat, swim across, climb the other side and try to steal 
 into one of the houses by the garrets, unless I can climb 
 down a gutterpipe." 
 
 "But you run the risk of breaking your neck a score of 
 times," remonstrated the Breton. 
 
 The elder snapped his fingers ; he had dropped the mask 
 of stupid content, and his heretofore dim eye darted a flame 
 which would have made the boldest recoil. His companion 
 felt singular uneasiness in parleying with this double- 
 face : it was certainly not fright so much as it was repug- 
 nance.
 
 172 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OK, 
 
 "Why do you behave so confidentially with me ?"he Mi- 
 quired. 
 
 '' Firstly, because you would n ot betray me ; your are an 
 honest youth as 1 read in your face. We are a family of 
 wizards, fortune-tellers and the like. And again, because 
 I nave a favor to sue from you. As you have said, I run 
 many risks of being snot, or my rope may break ; I may 
 drown in swimming the ditch, or break my bones scaling the 
 roofs and walls ; lastely 1 might be recaptured, but 1 will 
 kill myself first. It is for my daughter's sake that I risk all. 
 Afar from her kisses I am eating up my heart; I would pour 
 out all my blood for one of them. 1 would leap off this tower 
 to die on the skirt of her dress. It is to see her to em- 
 brace her that I will attempt this nigut the enterprise which 
 to you appears so Hazardous, and to me the more as I never 
 put the faith in her sweetheart wiiich sue feels. This supply 
 of the means to make my escape may be but a trap in which 
 I shall meet death, but I shall foil the plotter, if the man 
 is false, by constituting you my executor to convey my in- 
 heritance to my child." 
 
 "I?" exclaimed the young man, shrinking from the odd 
 desire. 
 
 The prisoner drew from within his garments a brass box, 
 about the size and shape of a large coin. 
 
 "This is hollow," he proceeded: "it encloses a paper for 
 which my enemies would pay an entire fortune. . For my 
 Therese it will be a piece of armor fit to defend her from all 
 blows from whatsoever quarter." Up to the present I have 
 contrived to hide it from all searches. If found on me, it 
 will be destroyed, and so this case must not leave your hands 
 but to be put into my daughter's hands" 
 
 "You are asking an impossible thing," responded the Bre- 
 ton, "How am I to fulfill such a mission?" 
 
 "I read in the stars that you will go from this place more 
 easily than I, and not to your deatii. Even if you were 
 doomed to death, you are not one of those dangerous crim- 
 inals, who are made to disappear in the dark lest they shout 
 out on the scaffold some destructive secret. You will be reg- 
 ularly tried ; the court may apply some dreadful punishment 
 to you, but your exceptional situation will command some 
 alleviation. A duelist is not one of those malefactors who 
 horrify or are scorned. You have relatives outside or friends
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 175 
 
 with whom you may communicate; your legal defender can 
 confer with you; you may ask a favor of your guards or 
 bribe a keeper. When sentenced, you will be allowed to say 
 farewell to your dear ones. Thus it will be through one of 
 these that you will pass this talisman to my daughter, unless 
 you prefer to give it her directly by summoning her to 
 you." 
 
 "Yes, at a pinch, something like this may be done," re* 
 plied the squire: " but " 
 
 "But ?" retorted the prisoner, with warmth," would you 
 refuse to help a wretch who has no hope but in you to pre- 
 serve an innocent girl from woes without end ?" 
 
 Once more his face had changed; it now bore witness to 
 so ardent an affection for the girl in whose behalt he prayed, 
 that the hearer was touched in spite of himself. 
 
 "Since you insist so strongly," said Joel, without hiding 
 his ill grace, "I will consent to serve you." 
 
 "Insist indeed, I do in the name of all you love !" 
 
 "Enough," said Joel, thinking of Aurore, at this; **giv 
 me the box." 
 
 "You promise to return it to me or to get it into tho 
 girl's hands?" 
 
 "I promise at least to try to do so by all the means in my 
 power." 
 
 "I do not doubt you. Heaven prompts me. You will han< 
 over the case without reading the enclosure ?" 
 
 "It is fastened up secretly." 
 
 "That may be mastered : the case broken " 
 
 "What do you take me for?" protested the Son of Porthos, 
 repulsing the medallion. 
 
 "Nay, I am unfair ! pardon me ! misfortune makes mo 
 distrustful. Take it, but hide it from all eyes." 
 
 "Be at ease. I will wear it hung round my neck under my 
 clothes. But what is the name of your daughter ? where am 
 I to go to deliver this article or send it to her ?" 
 
 "My daughter's name is Therese Lesage ; she lives in the 
 middle of Bouloi Street, and carries on business, I am in- 
 formed, as the Manicarde, as fortune-teller it is our her- 
 editary trade." 
 
 This, then, was the soothsayer whom the Marchioness de 
 Montespan and her two companions had visited on the night 
 when Joel had made those ladies' acquaintance ; but he did
 
 174 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 not know the name of the street or on what errand they wert 
 out so late. The mention conveyed no hint to him. 
 
 "I will make a note of this, and the likelihood is that I 
 shall not be searched from it not being suspected that I har- 
 bor state secrets." 
 
 "Oh, sir," said the other, with a false note or two in his 
 voice, "if ever I can or if my Therese can repay you for 
 me " 
 
 "I give you a free receipt, my companion, and the same 
 to your daughter. But one word more: if your project suc- 
 ceeds to-night, as I trust heartily it may- -" 
 
 "Be easy: if I am free, I will manage to see you and re- 
 cover the article." 
 
 At this moment, the warden's voice was heard : "Time 
 to turn in ! come down, all out on exercise !" 
 
 Our hero mechanically held out his hand to the other, 
 saying "We must part. Good luck ! Before sleeping to- 
 night, I shall pray for your success." 
 
 The old man's face twitched and he rejoined with bitter- 
 ness : 
 
 "You are luckier than I in being able to pray and sleep. 
 I thank you for the honor," he added, rejecting the hand, 
 "but not till we meet again." 
 
 " In the other world, then, " subjoined Joel gravely; 
 " for my opinion is that both of us are in the shadow of 
 death." 
 
 Number 141 ironically shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Where you like," returned he ; with a sneering laugh : 
 "But, as you are a good man and I, a great sinner, I do not 
 believe it will be in paradise." 
 
 Spite of Joel's assurance about his ability to sleep, mid- 
 night came and he had not closed an eye : the talk with th 
 father of Therese Lesage kept him alert. 
 
 Not that he was immeasurably interested in Number 141: 
 the shifting and equivocal expressiqns on his features 
 instinctively shocked our loyal hero, and he divined a danger- 
 ous rogue beneath the skillful deceiver. Still, in thinking 
 of the perils the unhappy man was about to confront to reach 
 his daughter and recover liberty, the young man could not 
 stifle compassion or prevent forming vows for the enigmat- 
 ical person's success in the task, f or at least he gave proof 
 of bravery.
 
 THE DEATH O* ARAMIS. 175 
 
 Outside, the tempest blew more and more bitttrly and vio. 
 lently. The gusts played about the old tower with the howl- 
 ings of wild beasts. The dashes of water drummed on the 
 walls till they returned a continuous dull beating. Midnight 
 rang from the great clock of the prison, incessantly remind- 
 ing the prisoners how the hours of punishment went. 
 
 Joel kept his eyes rivetted on the loophole over the foot 
 of his bed. It seemed a light spot in the prevailing gloom. 
 Suddenly, it was partly eclipsed by an opaque body : it was 
 the prisoner lowering himself from his cell above. 
 
 At this juncture the gale delivered its most furious assault 
 upon the fortalice. It shook it with such rage that it seemed 
 as if it were determined to tear the old fortress from the 
 ground, and bear it away on its wings like a shingle from a 
 roof. 
 
 The prayer of Breton seamen in a whirlwind involuntarily 
 rose to the watcher's lips. Some minutes elapsed, long as cen- 
 turies until a gunshot cracked amid the crash of the unchained 
 elements. A great tumult arose as though everybody in the 
 prison were awakened; there was running about and shout- 
 ing, orders sounded on all sides, and voices called "To arms!" 
 
 When the warder entered his room in the morning, Joel 
 asked what had happened during the night. 
 
 "I could not close my eyes. What an uproar there was 
 with the storm, and you fellows'rushing about, and shouting, 
 and shooting " 
 
 "It was an attempt to escape," replied Huguenin. 
 
 "Anybody I would know ?" 
 
 "Yes, your neighbor overhead, Number 141, who sawed 
 his window bars and slid down a rope from them. But when 
 the ground was reached, the sentry there challenged him and 
 as the fugitive only set to jumping the moat, he followed 
 his orders by firing on him." 
 
 "And then?" 
 
 The jailer puffed as if blowing out a candle. 
 
 "Number 141 is no more gone off killed with a bullet 
 in the head." 
 
 Joel, who had begun his breakfast, put down the glass 
 carried to his lips. 
 
 "Heaven receive his soul !" he exclaimed. 
 
 "It is more certain that they will have it in the other 
 qpurter," replied the turnkey, shrugging his shoulders, "for
 
 176 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 he was a thorough-paced rogue. A hundred times he ought t 
 have laid down his life, broken on the wheel, or lashed to 
 death, or in the halter " 
 
 "That man ?" 
 
 The jailer was in a talkative mood this morning. 
 
 ''It happens that he is the very one of my lodgers whose 
 tale I know," he rambled on. "Desgrais, the police-officer 
 who brought him in, told me all about him. His name is 
 Pierre Lesage, said to have been a priest in the house of 
 Montmorency, but that is a flam he is a half-gipsy, thief, 
 beggar, horse-doctor and horse-thief, vendor of all sorts of 
 abominable drugs. It is a sure thing that he was a wool- 
 dealer at Rouen before he became the principal partner in 
 Me wicked deeds of the famous prisoners, La Voisin, Fil- 
 astre and Vigoureux, three witches whom the Chambre Ar- 
 dent soon made a finish with. Their victims are said to be 
 reckoned by the hundreds, and high and mighty folks em- 
 ployed them." 
 
 "But how came it that he did not suffer the same fate as 
 his accomplices ?" 
 
 "That is the hitch they feared that he would raise his 
 voice so loud in an open court that the public would hear 
 queer things, the names of their employers, very great per- 
 sonages, do you see ?" 
 
 He winked significantly. 
 
 "So M. Lareynie suppressed the ugly business, and it 
 was considered enough to forget this knave in our tower." 
 
 "Which was not strong enough to keep him in," said the 
 Breton. 
 
 "Nay, there is nothing the matter with the tower," said 
 Huguenin, assuming a sly and mysterious air, "He had 
 tools to break out, but do not you run away with the idea 
 that they were smuggled in without our knowing all about 
 that Why, I was charged to mark each day how he was 
 getting on with the work while he was strolling about with 
 the rest of you aloft. It took a long time, for the bars 
 are good stuff, but he came to an end, whereupon I notified 
 Major du Junca. The bird was about to take a flight ! So 
 the sentry was warned, the best marksman we have in the 
 garrison, and he earned his ten pistoles, by breaking that 
 thorn in the foot of many a lofty one at court, beginning 
 with the Marchioness de Montespan."
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 177 
 
 "Zounds! 1 * ^claimed Joel, thinking to himself that he knew 
 how why he had felt a repulsion to the murdered prisoner, when 
 their hands touched, and now from the locket on his breast. 
 It burned him, as though heated white hot by a flame from 
 below, and twenty times in the day, he felt like tearing it off 
 and smashing it vnder his heel. But the idea that he had 
 given his promise withheld him, for his mother had always 
 said: 
 
 "Do not lightly pass your word: but be a slave to it when 
 it is given, even to knave." 
 
 All day long, the wemory and the speech of Pierre Lesage 
 haunted him. 
 
 "Comrade, did that monster leave a family ?" he asked of 
 the warden that evening at suppertime 
 
 " What monster ?" inquired the man, who had already for 
 gotten the morning's conversation. 
 
 " Number 141, killed last night." 
 
 " I hardly know wait a bit ! Yes, there was somethi/.g 
 fiaid by the police-officer about a daughter of his, whcoe 
 mother was La Voisin who UKCS with one of the gang who 
 duded justice." 
 
 " Some frightful old hag like her mother ?" 
 
 "I cannot enlighten you on the head, as I never saw tht 
 girl. And very likely, she would decamp when th,* father 
 and motner were arrested." 
 
 "Very likely, " thoughtjoel, "and that relieves roe of my 
 promise. If she is not here in Paris- I am not required to 
 travel the world over after her. And yet, he said with a 
 change of mind, "I should like to knot* what hs become of 
 her." 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A MYSTERIOUS TRANSFER. 
 
 DAYS went by without bringing our prwo^v any news of 
 his case. In the third week, he began to tret In his dear 
 Brittany, he used to employ his time from dawn in hunting, 
 hooting, rambling, riding, all those athletic pursuits 
 which had become as much a necessity an the air and 
 the light Since he came to town* hu oaya bad been fillad
 
 7 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 with adventures of all sorts. And out of this free, agitated 
 and extensive circle, he was dropped into the stifling air, 
 stillness and monotony of a prison. The vital fluid, boiling 
 in his veins, had no longer any outlet ; it rushed to his head 
 and made his arteries beat as if he had a fever. He re- 
 mained whole hours, shunt: on his stool, his legs crossed, 
 and his chin held in his iiand, staring idly. 
 
 When evening came, he would throw himself on his couch, 
 closing his eyes but merely dozing as he viewed extraordinary 
 visions : and it was not till morning that he went off into a 
 leaden slumber, in which was engendered some incoherent 
 dream. He had wings sprout out upon him like a bird's or a 
 bat's, and he flew out of his window ; but at the time when 
 he was passing over the outer wall, he fell into fathomless 
 abysses or he was shot, and he woke up witii a throbbing 
 .'icart, his chest panting, and his forehead streaming with 
 sweat. 
 
 As soon as aroused he would pace his room like a bear 
 perambulating his cage, until, tired out, he would, as before, 
 sit upon the stool, with swinging hands, wondering to God 
 and man what he had done that One should abandon him 
 and the other maltreat him, 
 
 One afternoon when he was thus mooning his time away, 
 unusual stir in his lobby was audible. Soldiers were present- 
 ing arms; steps approached his door ; the key grated in 
 the lock and the bolts were shot back : Major du Junca 
 walked in. 
 
 He was the acting-governor, awaiting the King's filling up 
 the post left vacant by death. Making his monthly inspec- 
 tion, he demanded if the prisoner had any complaints of his 
 treatment to make. 
 
 "I want for nothing, except the certainty about what is to 
 be done with me," returned the Son of Porthos. "This ig- 
 norance in which I am left about my fate is downright cruel. 
 On my soul, since I am to die, it would be humanity to 
 abridge my agony of waiting." 
 
 " I am of your opinion," said the deputy-governor, " and 
 I propose writing to M.Lareynie to solicit orders about you. 
 The Police Lieutenant will probably refer to the King, and 
 as soon as the reply comes, I will hasten to transmit it to 
 you, if there is no reason why I should not." 
 
 "Oh. may this reply arrive speedily! and may my departure
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMTS. 179 
 
 be" son from this prisonhouse where my stay is daily twenty- 
 four hours torture! I am eager to march forth, though it be 
 between the chaplain and the executioner." 
 
 "Oh, sir; I trust you will not be reduced to that extremity," 
 protested the major; "the King will not rear again the scaf- 
 fold en which perished the noble duelist, Bouteville. He 
 may rather merely forget you are here." 
 
 "Forget me, like Lesage the poisoner," thought Joel, winc- 
 ing; "But that is just what I do not want to happen." 
 
 "Sir, it is not what you wish, but what the King likes, '* 
 observed the major. 
 
 "Well," resumed our hero, "the King will be misled if he 
 thinks he is doing me any favor in leaving me in this hole 
 instead of having my head chopped off." 
 
 " Hole ?" repeated the deputy-governor in a sulky tone ; 
 ''the King never makes an error. I shall have the honor to 
 announce his decision when it comes." He bowed, and with- 
 drew with the four musketeers, who served as guard, and the 
 turnkey. 
 
 This time it seemed to the captive that the door banged 
 with a mournful sound, and he felt undoubtedly a prisoner. 
 He fell without strength on the stool, and fastened his light- 
 less eyes on the door which shut out all hope. He shrank 
 mentally and began to muse on his dead mother and his liv- 
 ing love. Stories of distinguished captives in this historical 
 prison came to worry hirn. Nearly all knew their 
 
 crimes. But this old man met at exercise, who had grown 
 white here without friends to sue for his release, or pester 
 the royal ministers ! If so lone, why was he kept here: why, 
 in forty years have made no attempt to escape ? 
 
 "It strikes me." mused Joel, "that, in forty years, I should 
 have made forty trials to get out. Indeed, why should I not 
 try it at once ?" 
 
 He had no friends, true or false, to pass him tools like 
 the betrayed Lesage, but he might convert the bars, if broken, 
 into some kind of instrument. 
 
 He set to examining his room straightway. The door 
 was of three-foot oak plank: the window was doubly grated; 
 the walls were four foot thick as he had noticed. All this 
 did not leave great hopes. He tried to shake the door ; a 
 number of bolts and bars answered for its solidity, to say 
 nothing of the whole series, being on the outside; on the in*
 
 T, THE SON OF PORTHOS; OH. 
 
 ,ide was not one nailhead or nut; so that the spikes and 
 bolts could not be moved. He shook the window-bars; they 
 were deeply set in the stone sockets. He sounded the walls, 
 but they returned the same sound everywhere to show that 
 they were solid. 
 
 A crowbar might have made an impression on the door , 
 a file on ihe bars ; and a pickax on the walls ; but Joel had 
 not even the file of the prisoner Lesage. 
 
 Stouthearted as was our youth, he felt despair, and fearing 
 he was going mad, he let a wild, hoarse laugh escape him. 
 But after a fit of vertigo, he became gradually calm. In a 
 month, he seemed resigned to the imprisonment But this 
 was due to his having conceived a plan ; one of simplicity 
 and facility of execution worthy of his father Porthos, who 
 might also have imagined it, though he was wont to confess 
 to his friend d'Artagnan, that his strength did not lie in his 
 head. 
 
 "When the major comes round for his monthly scrutiny," 
 ruminated the youth, " I will have ended their plot to mur- 
 der me by piecemeal by starting to murder them wholesale* 
 i will brain the major with this stool, seize his sword, settle 
 his escort and the turnkey whose bunch of keys I will take 
 in my left hand as a mace. Thus armed, I will run amuck 
 in the jail and, albeit I do not expect to cut my way out, I 
 
 will die the death of a soldier stabbed or shot. This is 
 
 not including the satisfaction of spiting the constabulary 
 which wants to cut off my head and the King who seems to 
 threaten me with eating his prison fare till death ensues." 
 
 It was coming to this resolution which restored quiet and 
 appetite to him. He slept and ate as usual. Did he not 
 need all his strength to run full tilt at the garrison of the 
 Bastille ? 
 
 One evening when he was feasting himself on this sweet 
 prospect of massacre, he heard the rattle of weapons and fall 
 of footsteps betokening the visit of the acting governor. In- 
 deed, he made no doubt that it was something concerning 
 himself, though at an unaccustomed hour, and he had learned 
 the habits of the place during his six week's stay Two sol- 
 diers marciied in and stationed themselves at the door-way, 
 behind came the major, towards wh'Nm Joel stepped with his 
 most jovial mien but holding the p'ooi from which he had 
 risen, in a handy though carelew "tanner.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM1S. i*> 
 
 **flow now, major," he challenged, " do you come to re- 
 peat his Majesty's will that I am to be beheaded like St. 
 John, hanged like Marigny, or sealed up in this dungeon 
 wall like my upstairs neighbor?" 
 
 Misfortune had taught him to dissimulate, for he smileC 
 while speaking and in his merry voice was not to be discerned 
 the least tinge of irony or deadly determination. But he was 
 ready to offer his visitors the stool on the head ! 
 
 "Be good enough to accompany me," responded Junca, "I 
 have orders to place you in the hands of one who waits for 
 you below." 
 
 Bewildered, the prisoner let the h*vy piece of furniture 
 fall to the stone floor. 
 
 " I I will follow you," said he. 
 
 The two left the room, and between a double Kne of sol- 
 diers, they traversed the labyrinth of corridors and staircases, 
 the yard, guardrooms, drawbridge and the roofed way which 
 our friend had met in entering. The march took place in 
 silence, for Joel was wondering : " Who can have come for 
 me ? Some officer," he supposed, after a little reflection, 
 " who has to take me before my judges." 
 
 At the end of the vaulted passage, a coach was waiting, 
 guarded by four horsemen and having a police officer in a 
 black dress, by the doorway. 
 
 "Step in," he said to the prisoner, standing on 0ne sidt, 
 to allow him to do so. 
 
 Joel obeyed, and the keeper jumped within beside him ; 
 the door was slammed and locked, and off started the vehicle. 
 At the first, the pair of horses, at good speed, went through 
 three parts of the city without the prisoner understanding 
 whither he was being conveyed. It was one of the dark nights 
 chosen for the transfer of prisoners. It seemed to him that 
 he was taken out of the town through one of its gates known 
 to him. Soon, by the purer and sharper air, he knew that he 
 was in one of the suburbs. By peeping out of the doorway 
 window he could see trees and fields. 
 
 "Does the chevalier wish the glass set down so that he 
 may breathe at ease?" inquired the guard. "Only, I beg the 
 chevalier's promise that he will not try to lose his present 
 company. I should at the same time notify the chevalier 
 that four of my comrades, galloping behind the vehicle and 
 armed to the teeth like me, would fire on him, and I should
 
 l2 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR t 
 
 have to do likewise with my pistols at the least offer to * 
 cape." 
 
 "Why the mischief does he style me chevalier," marvelled 
 die Breton. "Is there an error in the person, as lawyers say? 
 An error of this gruesome looking officer or of Major Junca? 
 After all he reasoned, with a flip of the fingers, " Imay as 
 well die under one title as another. Friend," he said to the 
 giver of this advice, "I willingly offer the pledge you seek: 
 not on account of the pistols you and your fellows may carry; 
 if the steers knew that they were being led to the slaughter- 
 house there would certainly be fewer butchers in the world." 
 
 The sashes were let down. Need we paint with what de- 
 light our youth from the country, oppressed for over a 
 month with the thick, heavy prison atmosphere, intoxicated 
 himself with the coolness of this summer night, full of starry 
 gleams and floral perfumes ! With what inexpressible joy, 
 too did he see, instead of the uniform horizon limited by 
 four walls, the woods, villages, and landscape each side of 
 the highway that way tracked by the vehicle wheels at 
 great swiftness and the hoofs of the horses going like a whirl- 
 wind. 
 
 As the rapid journey continued, the prisoner questioned 
 himself with growing wonder if he were not the dupe of a 
 nightmare? Had he not once before travelled this road, 
 gone through those two villages, threaded these windings of 
 this stream, and driven through these woods? Suddenly the 
 moon unmasked itself from behind a screen of tangled 
 clouds, and whitened a new curve of the River Seine. 
 
 The coach crossed a bridge. On the left a gigantic elm 
 mirrored its plentiful foliage in the cold, silvered water. 
 On the right a large house stood on stone pillars. Its roof 
 overhang so as to cover a verandah around the second story 
 From this swung a wooden board, on which was painted a 
 picture of the Large tree. 
 
 ''Bless my soul V ejaculated our hero, "the bridge of 
 Pecq, Sully's Tree Tavern, and that is the new Palace of St. 
 Germain's beyond 1" Thinking it over for a couple 
 of minutes, he continued his unspoken thoughts. "I under- 
 stand whither they are taking me to the spot where the 
 fault was committed that it may be expiated there. Where 
 I killed the Musketeer, I am to lose my life." 
 
 He threw himself back in the cpach, with a slight shiver.
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. i8j 
 
 He had a kind of fear of seeing the spectre of the slain 
 duelist stealing along in the moonbeams, in blood-spattered 
 shroud. 
 
 The horses breathed hard as they climbed the steep, lead- 
 ing from the riverside into the town. 
 
 "Chevalier," said the man in black. " Here my instruc- 
 tions bid me have the windows closed." 
 
 Not only did he close them, but he drew serge curtains 
 which intercepted all visual communication with the outside. 
 This man, whose eyes sparkled in a dusky face, spoke with 
 a Spanish accent. 
 
 "How is this ?" muttered Joel ; "where have I heard this 
 midnight bell before ? where have I seen that pair of car- 
 buncles light up the night ? where have I met this gallows- 
 hawk ?" 
 
 As he was trying to collect his thoughts, the coach 
 stopped. The "gallows-bird," partly opened the door, and 
 invited the Breton to alight. When he did so, he remarked 
 a singular building facing him. It stood at the end of a 
 vast courtyard, led into under an ornamental gateway and 
 the walls coped with stone and adorned with spikes. 
 
 "The town jail, I warrant," mused the new-comer. 
 
 "Chevalier, do you mind giving me your hand ?" inquired 
 the swarthy man. 
 
 "Confound the fellow, with his 'chevalier* on all occa- 
 sions. But I have no time to quarrel with him," added our 
 friend. "I have no time to dally on this earth." 
 
 He was so resigned and prepared for everything which he 
 thought likely to befall him, except a life in prison, that he 
 would have submitted without hesitation if a block, an axe 
 and a headsman had been presented to him and a sign made 
 that he was to kneel down. So he held out his hand with 
 a good grace, and followed his guide without any question 
 or observation. Thus he passed, without heeding, up a 
 staircase into a vestibule, into a gallery and upon one of 
 those flight of steps, broad and high, which would be so much 
 space wasted in the eyes of our modern architects who cover 
 eligible building lots. On one of the steps, leaning on the 
 landing-rail of handsomely wrought iron, an old, fat man 
 held a torch. His white hair was cut short and was shaped 
 on the top as a priest's is shorn ; and the fine broadcloth 
 coat, covering a paunch, resembled, in cut, case, trimming
 
 64 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR t 
 
 mnd color, all austere, the garments of a proctor, a steward, 
 beadle or a pedagogue. 
 
 " The head warden," thought Joel. " He seems to be 
 well fed here. On my soul, if the prisoners are nourished 
 on that scale, they run the risk of being taken out in invalid 
 chairs on wheels. 
 
 " Sen* or Esteban," said the fat man with importance, 
 * your duty terminates here." 
 
 The conductor released the Breton and this man went on: 
 " Will the chevalier deign to let me precede him ?" 
 
 " This tun of a man is very polite," muttered the Son of 
 Porthos. " But why does he also decorate me with the ti- 
 tle of chevalier like everybody else ? It is a mistake or a 
 lioax?" 
 
 They reached the first landing. 
 
 "The chevalier has arrived," observed the corpulent man 
 m an unctuous and yet high-pitched voice. 
 
 "This hogshead is too polite," mused Joel, shaking his head. 
 *' These are the attentions given to a man doomed to death, 
 and I am sure it is a fatal case." 
 
 The other opened a door and begged the chevalier to take 
 Ihe trouble to walk in. 
 
 "Far too polite," sighed the Breton. "Woe's me! It]is 
 certainly in a dungeon that I am to be kept for the dread- 
 ful hour." 
 
 The old man waved his hand for him to precede him, and 
 Ihe other obeyed. On crossing the threshold, he exclaimed : 
 
 " Deuce take it ! where am I ?" 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 BEFORE THE EXECUTION. 
 
 CERTAINLY, nothing resembled his cell in the Bastille less 
 than the room into which he walked. The whole aspect was 
 changed. No more barrd airholes, cold, bare walls, scanty 
 rickety furniture, and worn beds. All was new, bright and 
 luxurious mainly pastoral and amorous, for the fashion 
 turned to Cupid and Watteau shepherds and shepherdesses. 
 It might have been believed the boudoir of a fashionable
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 185 
 
 duchess: and the new guest was fain to think that, the prison 
 being overcrowded, they had lodged him for one night only 
 in the rooms of the jail governor's wife. Not even in the 
 house of the royal children, had he seen so much elegance 
 and sumptuosity; hence he repeated his question with grow* 
 ing surprise. 
 
 "The chevalier is at home," rejoined the portly usher. 
 
 The young man's brow clouded like protent of gather, 
 ing storm. 
 
 "At home? Joker of a varlet, are you trifling with me?" 
 
 The fat old man seemed afraid of Joel's irritated eyes. Ha 
 drew back a little, still facing him, as though his paunch 
 would be a breastwork in defence, and in a voice hoarse with 
 fear, replied: 
 
 "I hasten to affirm to the chevalier that no one would mock 
 at him. I am simply carrying out orders received, in pursu- 
 ance of which I must lock him up when I go forth." 
 
 "So I expected," responded the prisoner as naturally as 
 could be. 
 
 "Yes, lock you in until to-morrow, when they will come to 
 to well, you know better what than I do." 
 
 Our hero made the gesture of snapping a branch in two, 
 and said : " So it is fixed for to-morrow ?" 
 
 " To-morrow morning, chevalier." 
 
 " Early ?" 
 
 "In time to have all over by noon it is the usual 
 tning." 
 
 "Whew!" whistled Joel, "they have rapid judges in Paris 
 and its suberb; no lingering delay of the law here. Pooh, when 
 the wine is drawn it must be drunk, and the worse it is, the 
 more quickly! A nod is as good as a blink, to a blind horse, 
 they say down my way. I thank you, friend. I shall be 
 ready." 
 
 ''Talking of cheering up," said the other, delighted at the 
 smooth way which the peculiar interview was making, "if 
 the chevalier should feel any need of refreshment " 
 
 " I see ; nothing is refused to a wretch in my predica- 
 ment." 
 
 "I will have the honor of serving a cold collation, prepared 
 for the very case, it being contrary to the good old rules of 
 Galen and Esculapius for a man to take his sleep on an 
 empty stomach."
 
 i8o THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR t 
 
 *'T**e his sleep?" repeated Joel, with a wry face. It seem* 
 ed to him that in coming up the stairs he had sniffed some 
 appetizing perfumes from the kitchen. "Come to think of it, 
 the condemned is always given a last good impression of the 
 world he quits. Where is this cold collation previous to 
 the cold decollation, ha ! ha ! I do not like to offend the 
 ghosts of Galen and Esculapius whom I may be near to 
 meeting." 
 
 The stout man hastened to roll forward a side-table on 
 castors, on which a complete set of table articles for one per- 
 son was placed in order. He added to it, a golden-tinted thick 
 soup in a Dutch porcelain bowl, an enormous meat-pie in 
 a glazed crust, a roast foul cased in amber jelly, and a ham 
 of such a lovely rosy hue that it seemed "materialized" out 
 of a painting by Jordaens; to say nothing of the dessert, 
 fruit, cheese, cakes and other spurs to the thist. 
 
 "Plague take me !" vociferated Joel, on beholding this 
 knowingly devised feast, "his Majesty treats his guests hand- 
 somely here. He is a prince jealous about having their last 
 moments go off well. These succulent meats, that feather 
 bed in the recess, these kickshaws " 
 
 " Nay," protested the other, "this is only a light supper; 
 the chevalier will be better able to appreciate our cook when 
 he has breakfast in the morning " 
 
 "Oh, I am to have breakfast ?" 
 
 "Certainly, before the ceremony " 
 
 "Of course, how could I forget the ceremony?" queried 
 Joel with a chopfallen face. 
 
 "It is the rule " 
 
 "Of course, I know that nothing is refused to those wh 
 
 undergo the infliction of " And he ran his hand round 
 
 his neck, as he seated himself, and muttered : "It is settled, 
 then; I shall breakfast on earth though I sup in paradise!" 
 
 The old man had placed the eatables on the table with the 
 solemnity of a deacon setting the holy vessels on the altar: 
 he might have been serving a mass rather than a meal. Grave, 
 dignified and beatific, with his broad face congealed in com* 
 punction and self-concentration, he stood behind the guef^ 
 with a bottle of Chambertin in his hand, in the attitude of 
 the choir-boy holding the chalice, and he complacently lis- 
 tened to the gentleman, who, after finishing the soup to fckt 
 last drop, proceeded to dismantle the patty.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 187 
 
 "It will be a splendid sight people are fighting for the 
 best places the chapel is so small." 
 
 Oh, they were going to take the culprit into the chapel; 
 probably for the Amende Honorable, or religious ceremony 
 in which the condemned apologised for his misdeed. 
 
 "Father Lachaise is going to speak the exhortation " 
 
 "The royal confessor ! The King is doing the grand tor 
 me." 
 
 "Naturally, as he will be present." 
 
 "The King is coming to see me turned off ?" 
 
 "Undoubtedly, as he signed." 
 
 "Signed ? the sentence ? I understand. It is very kind 
 of his Majesty and much honor for me." 
 
 "And he brings the Queen, and she, all the ladies. All 
 *he court will be there." 
 
 "The Queen, too, in at the death ! a singular sight for 
 her and ttie ladies. Verily, your court has lofty tastes! they 
 will be delighted when I lose my head." 
 
 He rose and threw down his napkin. After all, the Queen wag 
 Spanish, and at her father's court, the court ladies witnessed 
 \he burning of heretics. It was necessary that he should 
 show a bold front to this choice audience, and to do that he 
 ought to have a rest. He had made away with the victuals 
 vrhich had loaded the board, like a juggler causing the pea to 
 vanish under the thimbles, and now he meant to see if the 
 bed equalled the cheer in goodness. 
 
 "Does the chevalier wish rne stili to attend him ?" 
 
 "No, I will go to bed unhelped. You may retire. Good 
 night !" 
 
 "The chevalier will please to bear in mind that I am o- 
 bliged to carry away the room door-key. Please not to think 
 it is through any personal freak, but because my master or- 
 dered so." 
 
 "Carry it away, my friend: for happiness there is no place 
 like a lock-up." 
 
 "There is a bell on the night-table, and if the chevalier re- 
 quires anything, he has but to ring it, for there will be some- 
 one on the watch in the corridor." 
 
 "I expected a sentry would be posted there.'* 
 
 "I wish a good-night to the chevalier," said the old man, 
 bowing deeply : "in the morning, my master, the Duke of 
 Alnuda, will see him."
 
 iW THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 'Oh, the duke is the governor, is he ? I never heard his 
 name before," thought our prisoner, as he was undressing in 
 the solitude. "And I never came across such a novel char- 
 acter as his turnkey. Where did I meet him before this 
 buckbasket of fat, this full-moon face of purple, and thj" 
 carriage of a sacred elephant ?" 
 
 Still puzzled, he laid down, and fell off into a delicious 
 sleep, whether it came from the excellent repast, the generous 
 wine, the softness of the fine bedlinen, or the fatigue from 
 the romance which he was acting lately : the graceful figures 
 in the pastoral landscapes of the tapestry mingled with his 
 dreams and danced in a round of poetical, fabulous and im- 
 possible charm. 
 
 Having an iron will, our hero could command his body as 
 readily as his mind and heart. Having decided on taking 
 rest, he slumbered without break until the hour when a foot- 
 man glided noiselessly into the room, and by drawing the 
 curtains, let a flood of merry sunshine cover the bed with 
 a sheet of gold. 
 
 We must confess that on waking and recollecting where he 
 was and what impended, Joel heaved half a dosen sighs of 
 Which the wind would have knocked down a bull-calf. Per- 
 suaded that he was doomed to death, and that the sentence 
 would be carried out without delay, he had resolved to bear 
 himself handsomely. Not to unnerve himsaif, he gave up the 
 idea of sueing to see Aurore. An interview with her would 
 have robbed him of courage. It was on paper that he would 
 bid farewell to Mdlle. du Tremblay, at the same time that 
 he would entrust her with the deposit for the prisoner's 
 daughter. 
 
 By the light, Joel judged that day was well advanced. As 
 they would soon be coming for him, he rose with speed. But 
 as his hand was put forth to find his clothes, left off by the 
 bedside, he was surprised that they were gone. 
 
 "At this moment, the stout jailer, as he still took him to be, 
 entered to ask: "Has the chevalier had the repose that meets 
 his desire ?" 
 
 "Entirely so. But where are my clothes! what has become 
 of them ?" 
 
 '* Consequently he entreats the chevalier to replace his Brd- 
 ton costume by this suit from the first tailor's of Paris." 
 
 He waved his hand, and four footmen brought in an elo*
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 189 
 
 font court dress in flesh-colored velvet, with Venetian 
 lace trimmings, and complete from the puffed shoes starred 
 with diamonds to the pearlgrey felt hat bending down in 
 the flap with the weight of a magnificent flame-tinted plume. 
 
 "This," continued the old man, pointing to an imposing 
 servant following the other four, "this is Master Hardouin, 
 my lord's head valet, who is charged, after the bath, to array 
 the chevalier and assist him in the dressing." 
 
 "Gracious!"thought Joel, "What a lot of ribbons for 
 the lamb led to the slaughter! I should have marched as 
 well in my peasant clothes, without fuss and feathers, 
 pompons and lace. Nevertheless, tell your master that I thank 
 him for thinking for me, and that I shall conform to his in- 
 tentions." 
 
 At bottom, our Breton was not sorry to don for once in 
 his life, all the frippery of the fashionables whom he had 
 admired with the like on their shoulders. He felt a secret 
 pleasure in appearing before his judges and proceeding to 
 the execution adorned by all the sheen of a display unknown 
 to him so far. Now he felt sure that he should look well 
 in the deathsman's eyes. His bravery would be doubled 
 by the lustre of his costume. So he delivered himself into 
 Hardouin's hands. 
 
 Imprisonment had not injured him. His sunburnt com- 
 plexion may have been paled a little, and his herculean fig- 
 ure a trifle reduced, but this gave him a delicacy of appear- 
 ance vainly sought in him before. Strong and handsome 
 he had gone into the Bastille, and he came forth with strength 
 and manly beauty, with the fineness which is the mark of 
 good blood. In short, here stood a perfect cavalier, as he 
 looked at himself in a mirror and acknowledged that he had 
 reason to be proud. 
 
 Ah, if Aurore could but see him now ! 
 
 He took up the hat. 
 1 \\ is well. I am ready. Lead on." 
 
 He went forth with the old stout man. 
 
 ' How is this ?" demanded Joel, in the passage, " nobody 
 to escort me ? no guards f" 
 
 " We have only the landing to cross and the stairs," replied 
 the steward. 
 
 " Oh, is it here the court assembles ?" 
 
 He made a wry face, for he was wishful to walk through
 
 190 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 the town, and exhibit to the gaping mob the stylish garments, 
 the rich lace and the bold sweep of the plume. The good, 
 vain Porthos perpetually reappeared in his son. 
 
 "Deuce take them!" he muttered, "I hope, wherever chc 
 trial takes place, they will not execute me in camera/" 
 
 The steward opened a door, saying: 
 
 "The chevalier de Locmaria!" 
 
 "Let the dear boy enter," rejoined a paternal voice. 
 
 Joel uttered an exclamation of surprise: instead of the 
 stern and impressive show and paraphernalia of justice which 
 he had expected to behold in the room where he was intro- 
 duced, the Savior on the cross hung against dark drapery, 
 and the long table where the judges would be sitting in a 
 row, cold and solemn in black and scarlet robes, the ushers 
 in inky garb and golden chains, the clerks with longs pens, 
 the guards with ebony wands: here was a large dining-room, 
 where the sun sparkled on Bohemian glass and shone on the 
 magnificent silver plate, arrayed on shelves of an oaken side- 
 board with a table laid for two, aglow with rare flowers and 
 dazzling with bleached linen, crystal and china. 
 
 Near this board an old gentleman was buried in an 
 armchair, upholstered in Cordovan leather, studded with 
 gilt nails and stamped with arabesques. This old gentleman 
 got up as Joel was ushered in, and was at once recognized 
 by the latter. 
 
 "The Chevalier d'Herblay:" he broke forth with his as- 
 tonishment still growing. 
 
 "The same," responded the other, running to him with 
 open arms. "And better, besides, if you are agreeable. For, 
 though I kept the mask on during my journey from Nantes 
 to Paris, here at St. Germain there is no need for me to dis- 
 avow that I am the Duke of Almada, the ambassador of his 
 Majesty the K.in< of Spain." 
 
 " Duke of Almada Spanish Ambassador ?" repeated 
 the youth, pressing his forehead between both hands with a 
 stupefied air, " my ideas are buzzing about in my head like 
 fledglings in a nest. However," he went on, putting out his 
 hand to button hole the other as if he feared that he would 
 escape from him, " since I do recover your lordship, will you 
 assure me that I am in my senses, not dreaming while awake, 
 and if not the dupe of a dream, the actor in no fairy tale or 
 destestable trickery ?"
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 191 
 
 ** My young friend," returned the duke, cordially, "1 wifl 
 explain what is to give you pleasure. I think with you that 
 an explanation is necessary between us; but I should like to 
 unfold it while we are taking breakfast, for we have a great 
 deal to get through with this morning, and we must not lose 
 any time." 
 
 Waving the guest to a seat, he ordered his steward to 
 serve. 
 
 "We can converse freely," he added, as he unfolded his 
 napkin, "as my footmen understand only Spanish." 
 
 Joel seated himself mechanically facing his host, who filled 
 his glass and his plate with his own hand. 
 
 " If you do not object to speaking while eating, my boon 
 companion, I am at your orders." 
 
 " Where am I, my lord ?" began the Breton, without wait- 
 ing to be asked again. 
 
 " You r.ve in my house, or I should say, a friend's, as a 
 resident of :?t. Germain lets me occupy his dwelling when 
 business c.Jls me h v .her i it is the gentleman whom you saw 
 with me at the inn c.t Saumur." 
 
 " Then I am not in prison ?" 
 
 " You are in Boislaurier House, near the church, and op- 
 posite the palace." 
 
 "But I have been in prison, in the Bastille, these six weeks." 
 
 "So I heard : from having delivered a swordthrust. Ah, you 
 are a matador, a fatal fighter, as the Spanish say, my champion 
 of Belle Isle." 
 
 "But I was yesterday in the Bassiniere Tower of the Bas- 
 tille, a vile hole." 
 
 " Very true, as it was only yesterday that his Majesty 
 signed the order for your release." 
 
 "His Majesty signed the release order ?" repeated the 
 Son of Porthos, starting upon his chair. 
 
 "He restores you to the world and gives you entire and 
 plenary mercy." 
 
 "So that I am free ?" 
 
 "As air." 
 
 "And I am not to be tried ?" 
 
 "Not at all." 
 
 "And hence not sentenced to ** 
 
 He made the gesture of cutting his throat with a drawing 
 movement of the edge of his open hand.
 
 193 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 "Be at ease," returned the old nobleman, laughing. "Ycmt 
 head may stay tranquil on its shoulders, which it would be 
 a pity to remove as it looks very well there. Now, may I of- 
 fer you some of this warmed up cold partridge with a glass 
 of Romance, it will help you to swallow the good news." 
 
 "WiUi a good heart let us drink the health of the King. 
 And yours, too, my lord, since you come to me as the dovo 
 to the Ark. But," after he had tossed off a brimming goblet, 
 ''to whom do I owe this unlooked for boon ? who has beg- 
 ged it of the King ?" 
 
 "You have friends at court, my young master." 
 
 "Do you tell me so ? All the friends I know ef, are * 
 9ouple whose acquaintance I formed at a Paris inn, tha 
 Blackanooor Trumpeter, of which one is its host Bonlarron, 
 and the other a fellow-guest, one Friquet, neither of whom 
 do I imagine powerful enough to extract a favor from the 
 King." 
 
 Alraada shook his finger at him with playful threaten* 
 ing. 
 
 "My son of Brittany, you are ungrateful, and blink, foi 
 you look afar for what is close to you." 
 
 "You are right," returned the youth, smiting his brow 
 with his fist. I am an idiot, a blockhead, a heartless scamp, 
 not to have guessed sooner : it is you who have doae all thit 
 you are my liberator." 
 
 Say at once that I am your providence," interrupted th 
 ether, with his mouth full ; "I find a pleasure in extricating 
 honest folks from straits when they interest me. By the way, 
 will you have another helping of this larded leveret ?" 
 
 The Breton held out his plate. 
 
 "I am ready for anything," he said. "Shall I be vexed 
 at you if you give me a fit of indigestion, when you have 
 saved me from the courts of justice ? But," he quickly 
 subjoined as a fresh idea struck him and caused him to lay 
 down his fork and lean on the table with both elbows to have 
 a good stare at his host, "how did you learn that I had a 
 duel with that Musketeer, was arrested and clapped into 
 the Bastille ?" 
 
 "We will tell you some day," said Aramis, chafing hi chin 
 with his hand. "For the present we have other fish to fry. 
 By the way, how did you like those smoked eels last night? 
 they come all the way from my fishing village by Barcelona,
 
 TME DEA TH OF A R AMIS. 193 
 
 and are appreciated by epicures. You can thank me an- 
 other time ; when we both have time, you to be lavish of 
 gratitude and to receive its expression." 
 
 Joel stood up, his breast hea.ving with emotion. 
 
 *'At all times, you may have my life, my blood, my 
 
 arm 
 
 "Stop a bit, boy," interposed the duke, with good humor, 
 *' are you sure that all these belong to you ? Did you not 
 give them to the woman you love?" 
 
 Joel started, for these words reminded him of Mdlle. du 
 Tremblay. He was free to hasten to the Gray House and 
 learn what had become of the young lady, and explain 
 to her why he had been so long absent from her. All the 
 ideas which had been fermenting in his brain, vanished be- 
 fore this one. All he thought of was hurrying from table. 
 Nothing was capable of paralysing his impulse not the 
 Itardoons in marrow, or the fat young turkey which were now 
 put on the board. 
 
 " My lord," he said, "you have treated me kindly, 
 like a father but I must beg a further favor " 
 
 " You have but to name it, my young friend." 
 
 "I want leave to depart on business which will not wait.** 
 
 "Quit before we finish breakfasting ?" 
 
 "I am no longer hungry or thirsty." 
 
 "What a hare-brain you are, that you forget the ceremony 
 ki fixed for noon." 
 
 "What ceremony ?" 
 
 "That for which I sent my man Esteban to bring you out 
 tf theBastille: for which you have been conducted here: for 
 which the royal chapel has been decked, the royal notary 
 called, and letters of invitation issued to the whole court: 
 for which, in short, you have been arrayed in a wedding- 
 suit which gives you the splendrous aspect of a Galaor or a 
 Don Sancho that which their Majesties deign to honof 
 with their presence." 
 
 " Is ray dream continuing am I in a fever ?" moaned 
 our hero, at the apex of amazement. "For mercy's sake, my 
 lord answer me what ceremony is on the board ?" 
 
 Looking fixedly at him, the duke replied : " For what 
 ceremony would you don a wedding-suit, if not for your wed- 
 ding?" 
 
 When th thunderbolt falls on a man's head, he does DOS
 
 burst out hito shrieks and howls: he is deprived ot consciou*. 
 ness, motion, and thought. But under the apparent apathy, 
 nature is still acting : the briefly interrupted senses and or- 
 gans re-establish themselves and when intelligence of the 
 disaster returns, the wretch moves, groans, and strives to 
 .be himself again. So was it with Joel, who was for a 
 Awhile thunderstricken, but at last an exclamation rose 
 'from his lips : 
 1 " But I had no wish to be married.'* 
 
 " You are but a child the King's will must never be dis- 
 puted." 
 
 " Is it the King wants me to marry ?" 
 
 " He desires it, and, as a respectful subject, you ?" 
 
 " Why does the King meddle with my private affairs?" 
 cried the son of the Rebel of Belle-Isle. " He does not 
 know me he has never seen me." 
 
 "Chevalier, the King knows all the noblemen in his realm." 1 
 
 " In short, why should there be a marriage?" said Joel 
 with a shrug of shoulders which rather reflected on his claim 
 to be numbered among the King's acquaintances. 
 
 " Because all ladies of the Palace establishment are bound 
 to be married." 
 
 Oh, so it is a lady of the royal establishment that I am to 
 be married to like taking a pig in a poke. I am sorry for 
 her, but may all the wedding-rings in the world be welded 
 into one suit of chains in which to hang me, but if she waits 
 forme to wed her, she will pine in perpetuity! The King is 
 mighty, they say. Let him be the master over his courtiers 
 and his varlets," continued the youth, striding up and down 
 the dining-room become too confined for him; let him set 
 the law for all Europe ; let him turn the globe into a bubble 
 to obey his breath ; all this is a matter between him and hu 
 man weakness, servility and foolishness. But he has no right 
 to dispose of my will and feelings, and my free choice this 
 came from God to me, and not to him by birth or with the 
 crown. I am a Breton, and the men of my land are more or 
 less like their ancestor Duke Conan the Headstrong." 
 
 "Young man, young man, take care!" retorted the duke, 
 concealing his merriment, "you confess that the Bastille 
 is a disagreeable dwelling " 
 
 "In other words, I am to be dragged back into it, unless 
 X yield to the royal will? The bridal chamber or the prison)
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 195 
 
 I prefer the latter: for if my body suffers, my conscience will 
 be at ease." 
 
 "His Majesty can do more " 
 
 "Yes, I know he can send me to the scaffold or the galleys. 
 It may be imagined that I shall quail; but a great mistake is 
 made. I was ready yesterday, and I snail be the same to-day 
 and hereafter. Does the King want a sample of courage? 
 Let him come and see me die." 
 
 While tli us speaking the Son of Porthos was a sight to bt- 
 hold. The richness of his attire, its laces and ribbons, 
 went for nothing in the effect, no more than did his athletic 
 beauty : the beauty was in the nobility on his brow, and in 
 his look and his smile. 
 
 "He has spoken his mind," mused Aramis. "He is a man, 
 on whose shoulde rs my old Musketeer's uniform will fit as 
 though he inherited it as a son of the regiment. It is a pity to 
 throw him away to the enemy, but he must not remain here 
 he would break the King in twain like a dry twig." 
 
 There was an instant's silence which the ex-prelate broke 
 with the words: 
 
 "Come, come, my lad of mettle, this is all very fine, but 
 we are not in Syracuse and reigned over by the Tryant Den- 
 nis. Louis the Grand will not violate your personal rights 
 in any way." 
 
 "Excuse me," said Joel, becoming calm. "I was wrong 
 to lose my temner, and forget what I owe you and the good- 
 ness of the King. But I am ill-accustomed to disguise 
 what I feel. And, besides, did you know that I " 
 
 "If you yourself did but know," interrupted the Ambassa- 
 dor, "what a blessing was intended for you ! a love of a 
 girl the most winning as the best." 
 
 *'I do not wish to know her; for I should have to decline 
 her even if with regret were she endowed with all human 
 perfections. You, who are a nobleman, will understand me 
 from all sworn pledges being a holy thing ; I am engaged to 
 another. A man does not twice give his heart. I am not, 
 my own master, for my heart and my life are in a woman's 
 hands one who is also an adorable creature, and without 
 offence to the lady you cite, the best and most charming of 
 her sex." 
 
 "But if the one of whom I spoke brings you a marriage 
 portion larger than the spotless soul in its ideal envelope?
 
 196 Z+iE SON OF PORTHUS; UX. 
 
 If to you, a poor and unknown youth, uncertain of the f 
 tare, and yet open to legitimate and elevated ambition, she 
 brings glory, fortune and credit the sovereign's friendship, 
 a uign post at court and a superior grade in the army " 
 
 "Heaven is my witness," said Joel, with a flash of the eye, 
 ** that I often dreamed of the joy of marching among tne 
 ' soldiers of France if not the honor of commanding them a* 
 we went into the smoke of battle to seek in the hostile ranks 
 my captain's commission or ray knightly spurs, but, thougu 
 your witch should furnish me with the means of realizing 
 the conception, I would still refuse." 
 
 Aramis rested his elbow on the cloth and his chin in his 
 hand, as he spoke with emphasis on each syllable and 
 scanned the young man with piercing eyes: 
 
 " Even if this enchantress should be named Henriette 
 Yolande Aurore du Tremblay ?" 
 
 The hearer was confused, for joy rushed to his brain and 
 occasioned congestion. His temple veins swelled and beat. 
 The floor swam beneath him, and had he not caught at the 
 table he would have fallen. 
 
 "What, is the bride to be " 
 
 "It is Mdlle. du Tremblay whom was offered to you fo 
 your life-companion would you reject her ?" 
 
 "She oh, heaven help me !" 
 
 "Do you love her as she merits being loved ?" 
 
 "Do I love her ?" He pronounced this with fervor m 
 which blazed the most ardent passion that ever fired a soul. 
 *' Oil. my lord," he faltered, " if all this be not sporting with 
 me, I shall die of bliss. But it would be too cruel to play with 
 me better kill me offhand with a bullet in the brain or a 
 swordthrust through my body." 
 
 Almada rose and going to one of the windows, he raised 
 the curtain. 
 
 "Look, you unbeliever," he said. 
 
 Boislaurier House faced the front of the palace. On the 
 open space between there was always a crowd in any season 
 including people who came from town to see the King and 
 court ; the populace like the display of the great more than 
 some believe. On this morning, the curious pressed in 
 greater number than commonly over the pointed pavingstones 
 between the church and the palace. Before the latter, guard- 
 ed by the Musketeers and the Swiss Guards, the handsomest
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 197 
 
 coaches set down gentlemen in brilliant attire and ladies in 
 the latest freaks of fashion. Rumor ran that they came to 
 attend a marriage at midday in the Chapel Royal before the 
 King and Queen. 
 
 Suddenly a murmur sped through the crowd : 
 "The bride, the bride 1 make way this is the bride !" 
 A coach in the royal colors came out of a street, in which 
 was seated Mdlle. du Tremblay in company with the head- 
 mistress of the Queen's ladies and another lady of the bed- 
 chamber, with a gentleman, the master of ceremonies, Mar- 
 quis Montglat. When the gathering beheld her, in her white 
 satin costume, the long white veil floating down her shoul- 
 ders, and the symbolical orange-blooms in her hair, but one 
 voice arose amid the clapping of hands : " How lovely she 
 looks !" 
 
 She was beautiful, indeed, if only for the expression of un- 
 limited felicity to be read on her ravishing features. 
 Reeling like a drunken man, Joel fell upon a seat. 
 "Do I continue to dream?" he asked himself. "Will I 
 never awake ? Or am I going mad ?" 
 
 The Duke of Almada clapped him on the shoulder, saying : 
 "Well, descendant of the Headstrong Conan, are you still 
 determined to die in bachelorhood and obstinacy ?" 
 
 "Who says that we love one another ?" questioned the Son 
 of Porthos, instead of replying. 
 
 "Who would have said so, but the lady herself?" 
 "And does she consent to marry me?" again interrogated 
 the youth, whose voice slightly trembled. 
 
 "Did you think that they were dragging her to the altar?" 
 ''But how has she come to marry me, without a name?" 
 went on the other with distrust. 
 
 "You will pardon me," said the old noble; " you have a 
 name and a title; you are henceforth the Chevalier de Loc- 
 taaria, according to the King's good pleasure." 
 "But I have done nothing to deserve this favor!" 
 " Deserve it hereafter. I have answered to the sovereign 
 for your zeal to serve him. The war is not over a decisive 
 campaign is preparing on the Rhine, and there you may win 
 your spurs/' 
 
 "I vow to heaven," exclaimed Joel, "that his Majesty will 
 not have a more devoted soldier in his ranks more devoted 
 to the glory of his flag. Furnish me with the occasion to
 
 198 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OX. 
 
 show what I can do, and, as our old Armorican song has it, 
 1 will prove that danger and I are two lions born the same 
 day, but I am the elder and the master." 
 
 His unusual stature expanded to its full development; a 
 breath of warlike enthusiasm seemed to throw up tiie mass 
 of his hair; his countenance beamed with flame as from the 
 cannon mouth, and his tones rang as from the bugle sounding 
 the charge. 
 
 "I shall remember your words," said the old duke gravely: 
 "though I am sure that I need not remind a gentleman 01 
 the sanctity of an oath. His Majesty," he went on in a less 
 solemn tone, "had wrongs to repair towards the family of 
 Mdlle. du Tremblay, so that nothing should astonish in his 
 bestowing on the dear child the husband of whom she 
 dreamed. And there is nothing farther astonishing in that 
 husband being provided by the royal initiative with the 
 means to hold a proper position at court." 
 
 As though to efface from his hearer's mind the very shadow 
 of mistrust, he concluded affectionately : " Besides, I do 
 not allow you to imagine scruples where Aurore,the para- 
 gon of virtue and honor, has not deemed it proper to raise 
 any obstacles ?'* 
 
 M. de Boislaurier entering at this juncture, the diplomat- 
 ist presented him to his guest as " One of my excellent 
 friends who is anxious to become yours." 
 
 They shook hands warmly. 
 
 " My lord Duke," said the new arrival, "allow me to re- 
 mind you that the King is waiting." 
 
 " That is true. And I forget all about him while chat- 
 ting. Let us be off, chevalier. Quick, Bazin, our hats, 
 gloves and swords. " Make the King wait !" he added with 
 comic fright. "The Lord forbid ! offenders have been put 
 in the Bastille for milder faults than that. And it is not 
 only the King that is kept waiting but the Queen of Beauty. 
 That is a crime to womanhood a thousand times more wicked 
 that treason."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ONE KIND OF ROYAL DIVORCE. 
 
 AFTER the wedding, performed with utmost pomp, the 
 happy pair were taken in a royal carriage to Boislaurier 
 House, where Aramis's friend had placed the first floor at their 
 orders. 
 
 Aurore and Joel arrived there, bewildered by the day so 
 overcrowded with divers adventures ihrough which they 
 were driven blindfold, it might be said. Judge if they were 
 in haste to relate to each other what they had done and ex- 
 perienced since their parting, and try to understand the 
 events of which they suffered the results without knowing the 
 reasons. 
 
 Unfortunately, Lady Montausier accompanied the new 
 lady of the royal household in order to edify her on her new 
 duties. 
 
 "To-morrow your service will commence," she said; "it 
 is urgent that you should attend early at the palace whence 
 you cannot go away unless by written leave." 
 
 "What's this? broke in the newly married man, "forbid- 
 den to leave the royal residence ?" 
 
 "Certainly : the Queen may be seriously attacked and 
 want help at any moment." 
 
 4< It seems to me that it would be better to keep a doctor 
 and sick-nurse at hand on regular wages," grumbled our 
 hero. ''How long does this service last ?" 
 
 "Three months at a time; still you ought not to go far a- 
 way from the court, as some attendant may fall ill, and you 
 ought to be ready to replace her, if you keep in favor." 
 
 "You seem to be very frightened about illness," said Joel 
 in an audible whisper. "Listen, my good dame, so kind as 
 to give my wife these lessons. If she must begin this task 
 early to-morrow, you will understand that she and I have a 
 lot of private matters to discuss. So you will overlook my 
 apparent rudeness in suggesting that your presence will 
 probably be more in request over the way than in this 
 house." 
 
 Mdme. de Montausier went off in high dudgeon, as be-
 
 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 came an old lady of sixty, and left the pair, at length alone; 
 But, however bold in dismissing the Queen's first lady, out 
 hero was timid and embarrassed when beside Aurore and 
 scarcely dared to speak. 
 
 "What delight do I feel under your protection," said she. 
 
 "Since I was a child at my mother's knee," returned Joel, 
 "when I was happy without knowing it, I do not recall in all 
 my life one moment comparable to this !" 
 
 For awhile, they remained mute, absorbed in reciprocal 
 contemplation. 
 
 "You are fair as an angel, Aurore," said the man at 
 last. 
 
 "And you appear to me as the archangel, with the flaming 
 sword, from my having seen you twice guarding me with 
 your arm," she rejoined. 
 
 The windows were open the night was calm, the air 
 pure and the firmament splendid. Only vague murmurs 
 crossed at intervals the silence of the slumberous night. 
 The wind wafted scents either sharp or heavy as they came 
 from the forest or the garden. They were sitting side by 
 side, as they sat on the bench on the Celestins wharf when 
 the ruffians of Colonel Cordbuff assaulted them. The mem- 
 ory of that attack struck her and she shuddered. 
 
 "Why do you tremble, darling ?" inquired Joel. "Here, 
 we have net to dread the storm or treachery. Let ou* 
 spirits rest in trust." 
 
 "Yes," responded Aurore, "let us forget the wicked. Wa 
 should enjoy this unique and gladsome hour without fear 01 
 trouble.'* 
 
 With a gentle movement she let her head sink upon his 
 shoulder, while her eyelids drooped, but the Breton started 
 up as her lips almost were reached by his own. 
 
 "What is the matter ?" asked the wife, reopening her as- 
 tonished eyes. 
 
 At this moment, a spurred heel rang again on the pave- 
 ment of the square, and a vigorous blow was struck on the 
 door panel. A powerful voice was heard to shout : " On 
 the King's service !" before which no one had the right to 
 keep his door bolted, locked or barred. 
 
 Aurore recoiled. 
 
 '* What can that be ?" she faltered. 
 
 " No doubt, it is some message from the King *or M. dt
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. aoi 
 
 Boislaurier, or the Duke of Almada," replied Joel, though 
 he was not at ease. 
 
 They remained apart, staring at each other, while two or 
 three minutes passed. At length they heard the slow step 
 of the steward approaching. A hand gently tapped on the 
 door. 
 
 " Who is there?" inquired the Knight of Locmaria. 
 
 " A messenger from the King," replied Bazin, to whom 
 the gentleman opened the door for him to enter. 
 
 " Lieutenant Maupertius of the Royal Muskeeters," he an- 
 nounced. 
 
 In the shadow on the landing appeared the manly form 
 of the guardsman, partly draped in his cloak ; behind him 
 were Aramis's emotionless face and the more inquiring one 
 of Boislaurier. On the threshold the soldier saluted the lady 
 profoundly : then advancing towards our hero, he presented 
 a large note with the royal seal and said : "On behalf of 
 the King." 
 
 Joel broke the seal, opened the envelope and drew forth 
 a parchment which he ran his eyes over: then he uttered an 
 outcry: "An appointment as ensign in the new artillery com- 
 pany forming at Douai." He turned towards Aurore with 
 his countenance beaming with pride and delight, to say : 
 " Think of that ! an officership I am an officer ! Oh, our 
 jtind our excellent King !" 
 
 Maupertuis took a second note from his pocket, and hand- 
 ed this also to the speaker, saying: "By order of the King !** 
 
 The latter treated this as he had done the former, but the 
 exclamation it drew from him was not pleasure like the first. 
 He read the King's orders over again with astonishment 
 akin to stupor. He examined each line and weighed every 
 word by itself. He had turned whiter than the paper held 
 in his shaking hand. 
 
 "What is it ?" asked the alarmed woman. 
 
 By way of answer the Knight of Locmaria read aloud : 
 
 On receiving this present order, the Chevalier de Locmaria 
 will mount horse and ride at speed to report at Paris to the 
 Minister of War, who will hand him despatches for Marshal 
 Crequy, now in his camp before Freiburg, in Brisgau. Under 
 no pretext whatsoever is there to be delay in the execution 
 of this order. Our Lieutenant of the Musketeers, M. de
 
 joa THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 Maupertuis, is charged to see that the Chevalier de Loe> 
 man a is started duiy upon his journey. 
 
 " (Signed) Louis." 
 
 The wedded couple stared at one another in bewilder 
 Kent. 
 
 "But the Lord forbid that this should be possible," mut- 
 tered Joel. 
 
 "VVnat should not be possible ?" haughtily demanded the 
 Musketeer, who probably knew that he stood before the 
 duelist who had made a vacancy in his corp 
 
 "What his Majesty requests." 
 
 "His Majesty does not request he commands," replied 
 the successor of d'Artagnan with the same stiffness. 
 
 " But his Majesty cannot think he must have forgot- 
 ten The devil take me! I cannot quit in the evening the 
 woman whom I married only this morning !" 
 
 The piteous accent and the despairing mien of the poor 
 fellow touched even the officer, who said : 
 
 "I appreciate all there is painful in what is commanded 
 you ; but you are a soldier, sir, and you should know that 
 a soldier's first duty is obedience." 
 
 " Still, take me to the King !" implored the young gentle- 
 man ; " I must speak to him, explain to him he will hearken 
 to my prayers and grant a delay." 
 
 "The King has retired for the night, and nobody is al- 
 lowed to see him until his hour of rising. At that hour, 
 you ought to be on the road to Freiburg." 
 
 " But would you have me take up the march in this dress?" 
 remonstrated Joel, glancing on his wedding garments. 
 
 Almada came forward to say : " My dear chevalier, in 
 your dressing room is a complete outfit for a chevalier, such 
 as a cornet would wear in the cavalry ; besides there is the 
 sword which you handed to the constables and which was 
 restored by them, an attention which is unusual in those 
 gentry and a surprise which I reserved to you." 
 
 " And the pick ot my horses in the stable is yours," added 
 Boislaurier. 
 
 "Alas!" said the ambassador, taking the husband's hand, 
 * You see me afflicted. Pardon an old man who is the 
 cause of all tins. Not suspecting that it would be so soon 
 brought to the test, it was I who had the unlucky idea of
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS, 909 
 
 bot sting to the King of the ardent zeal with which you burnt 
 to serve him. I must have been too eloquent in picturing how 
 impatient you are to prove your gallantry. I was wrong to 
 repeat these words you uttered on your wedding morn." 
 
 " O ), then, the chevalier has made an engagement," in 
 quired tiie young wife. 
 
 "To sacrifice everything to his King and country," replied 
 the diplomatist. The chevalier hung his head while the old 
 plotter continued: "Consequently the King, wanting a mes- 
 senger on whom he could rely, fixed on our friend, from my 
 language, to favor him with this token of his esteem." 
 
 The Breton looked up at him supplicatorily. But he went 
 *n, after a slight pause, "His Majesty cannot have calcu- 
 lated what such a separation would cost you at such a mo- 
 inent, although it is but temporary; and if it were allowed 
 we to make my voice heard, I am certain that he would re- 
 roke his decision. Unfortunately, we have no time to act 
 thus." 
 
 "Give me some advice," muttered Joel. 
 
 "My child," said the old noble, shaking his white head, **a 
 nan of heart and wits like yourself should at such times take 
 counsel of himself." 
 
 "To make a long matter short," interpolated the lieuten- 
 ant, "what am I to report to his Majesty ?" 
 
 "You will announce to him," Aurore took it upon herself 
 to reply, "mat his orders will be executed. Do you be- 
 lieve, Joel," she continued while her husband looked at her 
 in astonishment, "that I love you so little and take so little 
 pride in you that I would try to hold you back? Honor or- 
 ders and we must obey. This new parting will cost me many 
 tears, and heaven alone will know how sad and lonesome I 
 shall feel in your absence in this court where I shall be left. 
 But you offered your service to the King, and it is not 
 right that you should draw back when he requires them. 
 Go and make ready, therefore, without weakness or hesita- 
 tion. The thought that we are both doing our duty, you, on 
 the journey, I, in my solitude, will console us." 
 
 Half and hour subsequently, the actors in this domestic 
 tragedy, came down into the yard of the Boislaurier House 
 where a groom was holding a pair of horses by the bridle. The 
 wedded couple were arm-in-arm: the woman's eyes were dry 
 and her visage calm, foi she wept inwardly in order that
 
 304 THE S9N OF PORTHOS; OK, 
 
 she should not shake her husband's courage. He appeared 
 no less resigned. He looked handsome in his military har- 
 ness: a breastplate and buff gauntlets, a steel gorget, a blue 
 coat laced with silver at every seam, scarlet breeches, high 
 boots and a hat witfi a red plume. The sword of Porthos 
 again was in a fit place at his side. 
 
 "Chevalier, I have selected my best war-horse," observed 
 M. de Boislaurier. 
 
 "And as you will 'iv-ant a lackey," added Almada, "I give 
 you Esteban, one of my faithful Spaniards, who, however, 
 speaks French as well as any Parisian citizen. He is a brave, 
 skillful fellow who can help you in any work." 
 
 Joel bowed his thanks. 
 
 "If you please," said wfaupertuis, " I will accompany you 
 to the town's end, to give you instructions." 
 
 Joel leaped into the sadctle: the two married ones regarded 
 each other with deep melancholy but with supreme ser- 
 enity of heart. 
 
 "You are not traveling alone," breathed the young woman, 
 "for you take my soul with you." 
 
 ''Aurore, you are great and noble," whispered he, as she 
 held out her hand as if to point out his road. 
 
 "God will bring you home to your dear one again ! We 
 shall meet again ! Remember that you will find me what 
 you left me your wife, proud to wear your name, and 
 happy that we love one anotner." 
 
 The Son of Porthos leaned over and, catching her round 
 the waist, he lifted her upon his saddlebow without an ef- 
 fort 
 
 *' Yes, we shall meet again," he repeated : " God shield 
 fou, my adored wife, till then ;" and the last syllable of the 
 wish died away on their lips uniting in a kiss. 
 
 Already true to instructions, Joel rode straight to the of- 
 fices of the War Minister, but Louvois, who had been kept 
 late at St. Germain's overnight, would not receive any one 
 until noon. Thinking of the Widow of Scarron, the Knight 
 of Locmaria, heedless of a kind of remonstrance from Este- 
 ban, remounted and proceeded direct to the Gray House. 
 
 The lady welcomed him, thomrh her surprise was great 
 to see him in the soldierly attire. 
 
 " I am the King's soldier," he said, explaining what ha* 
 ecorred to him. " I come to say good-bye to you. our
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. *>5 
 
 good angel, our providence, and thank you for all yon hare 
 done for us both. You must have had a hand in the good 
 fortune showered on us, for I presume that it was due to 
 you that my wife obtained a footing in the court." 
 
 " Let me see : you are the Chevalier de Locmaria and 
 you have married Mdlle. du Tremblay ?" 
 
 "You know all this but with what an odd look you stare 
 at me ! any one would think that you ware not glad for my 
 happiness. It is true there are crosses with it," he went on, 
 shaking his head. " We had barely time to exchange half- 
 a-dozen words before an order from the King dropped on 
 us, and here I am, obliged to ride off in the first peep of the 
 honeymoon." 
 
 " Sit down there, M. Joel," said the Widow Scarron, in- 
 dicating a seat in front of hers, " and tell me the whole af- 
 fair with all the particulars. The sympathy you inspire 
 in me makes me curious to know to the least detail this event 
 which I so little anticipated." 
 
 When he had again but more fully related the story, the 
 lady, who had listened with religious silence, muttered to 
 herself : "He is speaking in good faith. Does your wife 
 love you ?" she inquired with abruptness. 
 
 The Breton burst into a peal of hearty laughter. 
 
 "That is a good joke," he replied, "certainly not more 
 than I love her. To doubt her love would be to offend the 
 most virtuous heart in the world. But I am at a loss to un- 
 derstand " he said, with surprise in which anxiety began to 
 show. 
 
 " Have you any reason to distrust this Duke of Almada, 
 the principal engineer in this match-making?"she interrupted 
 him. 
 
 "Why should I distrust a good old man like him ? He is 
 the best and most generous of men." 
 
 "You cannot suspect him of any wish to deceive you ?" 
 
 "To what end by what means under the sway of what 
 interest ?" 
 
 "Has Mdlle. du Tremblay ever spoken to you about th 
 King ?" proceeded Widow Scarron, after a silence. "I mean 
 in any peculiar way ?" 
 
 "Never ! what a funny question ! why do you put me to 
 the question thus ?" His voice was choked as by some sud- 
 den pain : not that he suffered any, but he feared he should
 
 206 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 through the premonition of misfortune. The lady scrutin* 
 ized him attentively, muttering to herself. 
 
 "Such a clear eye, honest features, frank speech, and this 
 real and sincere grief are not the traits of husbands who 
 traffic in their wives' honor. He may be a victim, but not a 
 guilty accomplice. My friend," she said to the chevalier, 
 "you do wrong to feel alarmed. I do not really know what 
 could have been in my head to pester you thus with my silly 
 questions. Forget them and pardon me- There are times when 
 the blue devils dance in one's brain and speak by one's mouth." 
 
 The Breton was yet boyish, as prompt to cool as to heat. 
 He sighed Heavily in relief at these final words. 
 
 " Good again !" he exclaimed in serenity. " You fright* 
 ened me, though, for I was going crazy, I believe. To think 
 that I was on the point of suspecting the most perfect ot 
 human creatures !" 
 
 *' Well, to punish yourself for that wicked doubt," return- 
 ed the royal governess, affectionately, " you must still more 
 dearly love her who is so worthy of your passion, consecrate 
 the whole of your life to her and watch over her happiness 
 as a miser does his treasure. Go away in confidence," she add- 
 ed, holding out her hand. " Go quickly, too, that you 
 may the sooner return." 
 
 " Thus did I determine," said our hero, rising. ** I am 
 in haste to get through with a disagreeable piece of business 
 before I quit Paris with all speed. But promise me one 
 thing before I leave you : in my absence, watch over my darl- 
 ing." 
 
 *'l will do better than hover around her I will keep by 
 her and confer with her about vou.'* 
 
 "You must yourself see that you are an angel !" 
 
 If any peril threatens her whom I call your treasure, I 
 will warn you of the plot so that you, whose duty it is, shall 
 defend her." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 THE BLACK VELVET MASK. 
 
 OM leaving the widow's, Joel proceeded to Bouloi Street, 
 to use up the hour before him until Louvois should receive
 
 THE DEATH 01- ARAM IS. **) 
 
 him, and to acquit himself of the mission Pierre Lesage had 
 entrusted to him. 
 
 The first person he met had pointed out the right road, 
 and he soon found the house in the street, where the ladies 
 of the court had gone to consult the oracle. By day the 
 whole scene was so different that Joel did not clearly recog- 
 nize that here he had defended Mdme. de Montespan and 
 hurled the confederate of the Manicarde into the gutter. 
 
 Even in the broad light, the dwelling had not a less mys- 
 terious appearance. But the fittings of the pythoness ha<J 
 been removed, and in the room where she had performed 
 her conjurations nothing was left but an old table, not worth 
 burning, at which was seated an old hag and a man was 
 standing. He had brought in a pot of wine and two pewter 
 goblets were there to receive its contents; they had been play- 
 ing cards and the winner had brought the liquor now at 
 hand. 
 
 The man was the Walton mentioned in the case of the 
 Poisoners and he was ruddy, red in hair as a fox, with large 
 teeth under a bristling moustache; his pale blue eyes seemed 
 of glass so cold and unfeeling. The world had acted like 
 Joel of late that is, kicked him into the gutter and kept 
 him there, for he was unkempt, dirty and tattered. 
 
 They were beginning to drink when they heard the stepi 
 of Joel, who had found the door ajar after the man's en- 
 trance and boldly intruded. 
 
 "Who can come in here like that ?'* demanded the man, 
 feeling for the sword which no doubt had been sold for old 
 iron. 
 
 "It is some horseman," replied the woman, " for I hear 
 the jingle of spurs and the scratching of the sword-scabbard 
 along the wall." 
 
 "This looks bad," muttered the other, "though I hoped 
 the matter had blown over, especially since Therese ran 
 away. She may have been taken and told of us, eh? How- 
 ever, they can get no proof against us. J have destroyed 
 what existed when I was caged, and then they could not 
 hold me." 
 
 The sound of steps approached, and a lusty voice began 
 to shout in the deserted corridor : "House, ho ! is there no- 
 body at home? let me see some Christian soul who will 
 ply a brother in a fog with enlightenment ?"
 
 o8 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 "Singular address," muttered Walton. "Yet it may be 
 spy of the police come to extract some clue to Therese 
 The Lord only knows what she may have dealt in with- 
 out my knowledge since I was knocked on the head by 
 that cowardly giant." He leaned towards the hag, saying : 
 "Mind what you say; I am the public-writer Latour, from 
 the corner : you are the sick-nurse Bosse, and we have just 
 moved in and know no more than Adam and Eve who were 
 the previous tenants." 
 
 With a few rapid turns of the hands he executed some 
 changes in the arrangement of his hair and moustache, and 
 awaited the new-comer. 
 
 The old woman rose and as she went to the door, she 
 Bcreamed: 
 
 "Do not be so noisy there, you ! here I am." 
 
 She opened the door without hastening so as to give her 
 companion time to finish his alteration in appearance. 
 
 Toel strode in without a pause. 
 
 Good people, excuse this riot, but I have not a minute 
 to lose. And your dark corridor is as difficult to navigate 
 as a sea of ink." 
 
 Walton stared at him with hate and rage, for he recog- 
 nized the tall man who had not only refused him assistance 
 to nab the three ladies, but had felled him to the mire. On 
 the other hand, the new soldier of the King did not give more 
 than a glance to the scamp who presented nothing to inter* 
 est him. 
 
 "Captain," said the two together, "we are at your or- 
 ders." 
 
 "I only want a little information : two words about a girl 
 or woman named Lesage Therese Lesage." 
 
 The man's face expressed surprise not to be concealed 
 though he was an adept at self-control : but he turned to the 
 woman, and said " Therese Lesage? do you know any one 
 of that name, Mother Bosse ?" 
 
 " We have only just moved in," was the hag's reply, "and 
 I do not know any of the neighbors or who was liring here 
 before we came." 
 
 '* You do not know who lived here ?" 
 
 " We do not want to know them : they were a bad lot, 
 who told fortunes and who sold drugs, and the police routed 
 them out. I never heard that name before, eh, Latour ?**
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 20p 
 
 '* Is there no other tenant, who has been here all along? 
 it seems a large house," persisted the inquirer. 
 
 " I am going to take lodgers I occupy the whole house," 
 returned the woman with a kind of pride. 
 
 Joel looked his defeat. 
 
 "I already knew that this person whom I have nevel 
 seen," he said, "may have strong reasons to keep concealed ; 
 but I do not wish her any evil. I do not come from any 
 enemy of hers, but from her father, who died a short time 
 ago, in the Bastille, almost under my eyes." 
 
 At the news of the death of Lesage, the pretended English- 
 man's glassy eyes flashed with a serpent's glitter, but Joel 
 did not notice it as he pursued : 
 
 " The unfortunate prisoner charged me to hand to her an 
 article which is of some value, I was given to understand 
 a locket in brass or gilt " 
 
 At these words, the fire of greed blazed up in the old wom- 
 an's eyes and she was about to speak, but with a terrifying 
 glance the man froze the words on her lips. 
 
 "This medallion," said Joel, "contains a paper said to be 
 of capital importance to this Lesage girl something like a 
 weapon of defence, if I clearly understood it. It is therefore 
 urgent that I should find her, so as to acquit myself of my 
 undertaking." 
 
 "Captain," replied the man in a cracked voice, "I should 
 be happy to help you in the matter, but it is no use my cud- 
 geling my brains, I cannot furnish you with the slightest clue. 
 But if she were one of the internal crew who held witches' 
 sabbaths in this house, I suggest that you should apply to the 
 police. The house of their Chief M. de Lareynie is only a few 
 doors off." 
 
 "This honest fellow is quite right," mused the inquirer. 
 "And Huguenin the jailer hit the nail on the head. She will 
 have left Paris, and perhaps the kingdom. This couple seem | 
 truthful, although they are not prepossessing and the man's 
 visage is a patent of rascality. Ought I question the neigh- 
 bors? no, for I have no time, since it is going on for midday, 
 and Minister Louvois will expect me. After calling on him, 
 1 must take the road. When I return from Freiburg I will 
 resume this errand, which weighs upon me, with more activi- 
 ity. And if I cannot reach the intended depository of tkic 
 locket, Faith ! I shall daatroy it, paper and all."
 
 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 To the joy of the couple, he proceeded towards the street 
 As he was crossing the threshold he almost ran against a 
 woman who was on the point of entering. She was 
 masked in black velvet, and \vas wrapped in a voluminous 
 black silk mantle. The gentleman stood aside to allow her 
 to pass. It seemed to him that she uttered a faint scream on 
 seeing him, but that might be only from the fear that there 
 would have been a collision. However, she plunged into the 
 dark passage with a light step, leaving behind her a cloud of 
 perfume, which had previously struck the provincial youth. 
 
 "Where did I smell that before? where have I seen that 
 tall and elegant figure ? where did I catch the glance of 
 that bold and fascinating eye?" 
 
 He turned round instinctively, but the lady had disap^ 
 peared in the very path which he had trodden. The way 
 was not wholly unfamiliar to her, but she missed the black boy 
 who had ushered her into the fortune-teller's presence, and 
 she stopped at the door of the room. 
 
 "He, in this den what business had he here ?" she said to 
 herself in astonishment. 
 
 While she was hesitating, the man and woman who had 
 received the squire so churlishly, were disputing. 
 
 "What a blunder you have made," reproached the hag: 
 "we might have 'nailed* that locket, and sold that secret 
 paper to whoever is most concerned to suppress it, and that 
 would have provided funds for our flight. If tnat game 
 would not work, we might have handed it to Therese, who 
 is as generous as the theif's daughter usually is, and one 
 way or the other we should have made a good thing of the 
 affair." 
 
 "Tnat is all right," returned the other, with a shrug of 
 the shoulders, "unless the whole thing is a. fable to trap us. 
 I know this fellow to be a prowler whom I mistook for one 
 of our kidney the night when I was following home the three 
 great ladies who would have been our reliance in a rainy day. 
 Instead of joining hands with me and despoiling the court 
 hussies, he upset me into the channel curses on him ! that 
 is more like a bully of the police than the gentleman of leis- 
 ure that he affects to be. Besides, who would be in, the Bas- 
 tille to see old Lesage kick the bucket, but apriso i guard or 
 such? The sleuth-hounds of Larevnie have so many faces that 
 We must be aways on our guard." He filled his cup from the
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 21% 
 
 pot, and continued: "We are the last of the old gang in 
 town. La Voisin was burnt alive: Pierre Lesage came to grief 
 as you heard that person tell us ;" he made a malignant 
 face ; " their daughter has crossed the frontier, waiting for 
 us to join her, especially me, her sweetheart; the rest are 
 scattered in fact,we are completely broken up. We expected 
 to be let alone, as we are thought small fry, not worth hauling 
 in by the net ; but we may be under the ban, and this is as 
 likely as not a spy " 
 
 "Spy or no spy, we have missed a chance. If only he 
 came again " grumbled the hag. 
 
 Three light taps were heard on the door, and caused the 
 couple to look at each other in the same anxiety as before. 
 The knocking was repeated, more loudly than at first and a 
 woman's voice articulated with a remarkable tone of author- 
 ity : 
 
 "Whoever is within, open this door : you are wanted." 
 
 The expression was that traditional \vith the police, but 
 the feminine voice had encouraged Walton, who smilingly 
 said : 
 
 "This is one of your customers to have the future told. 
 She falls in timely, by all that is good in wine, for I am kiln- 
 dry again and my red rag (the tongue) feels like an old kernel 
 in a last year's nut." 
 
 The woman ran to open the door, and let in the marked 
 lady. 
 
 Her eyes, glittering in the holes of her vizard, rapidly made 
 the circuit of the room, which sue failed to recognize from 
 its having being stripped of its adornments and furniture. 
 She scanned the countenances of the pair, as they bowed obse- 
 quiously. 
 
 "Are we three without hearers here ?" she demanded. 
 
 "Yes, noble lady," said the man, respectfully. 
 
 "On, is this you, Walton ?" she said as she approached the 
 table. "Hand me a chair." 
 
 "Do you know me ?" said the man starting. 
 
 "Since some time back, gossip. I need not know you by 
 name to guess what sort of a finished villain you are, to 
 inhabit the old haunt of the daughter of La Voisin." 
 
 She sat on tne stool which was presented to her. Her 
 nonchalant attitude contrasted with the rogues' trepidation 
 as much as her satin with the sordid aspect of the room,
 
 112 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 44 You are the sham Englishman whom the great lady 
 saved from the gallows. You are called 'the Author' by 
 the gang because you can write a good hand in various 
 styles, and have pretended to publish philosophical works. 
 You were latterly the factotum of La Voisin and Pierre 
 Lesage, whose daughter you have inveigled. It will not 
 conduce to the warmer intimacy between you if she should 
 be informed of the part you played in his sham escape, 
 which has resulted in his decease." 
 
 Both her hearers started at this accusation. 
 
 " As for you, Bosse, you were in the service of Lesage 
 before the band was dispersed. Am I sufficiently well in- 
 formed ? 
 
 " You know more than I know myself," returned Walton 
 brazingly, though there was as much dread as curiosity in 
 his tone. 
 
 " After the scandal died away, you thought to resume the 
 old craft, but anew the police became vigilant and the Le- 
 sage girl has thought fit to flee, it seems, for the parapherna- 
 lia of the so-called La Manicarde has disappeared. You 
 are under the ban: you are closely watched and you fear that 
 you may not even attempt to go lest you be arrested. In 
 short, you run the risk of dying of starvation in this house 
 where your confederates and masters made a fortune." 
 
 " Alack ! moaned the woman, " this is true. Our pow- 
 ders and salves no longer sell, and our pills and drafts go 
 begging. If our medicines were only harmless we would 
 be forced to live upon them." 
 
 " Bah !" growled her companion ; " one can get used to 
 doing without meat, but not without drink. It is the days 
 without a draft that are so hatefully hard and long." Walton 
 uttered the phrase with solemnity and his face was convulsed 
 with genuine horror. 
 
 "The great ladies are jMt - frightened as the common 
 folk," went on the hag : '* tiie fl tuies that consumed La Vois- 
 in have daunted them, and the lesser dames act like them 
 in the spirit of imitation." 
 
 " I do not share this terror or those scruples, " coldly ob 
 erved the visitress ; *' and if you consent to serve me, I 
 shall pay your help never mind your conscience what is 
 it worth?? 
 
 " Speak, lady," said the man, more accustomed to such 
 negotiations than the woman. .."we arc ready to obey you."
 
 THE DEA TH 0* ARAM IS. Mf 
 
 *On more than one occasion," began the visitress, lower- 
 Ing her voice, "I had recourse to the talent of Lesage and 
 La Voisin ; are you as skillful as they in the art of fabricat- 
 ing that elixir which given in a carefully calculated dose, in- 
 vigorates ; in a larger one, plunges into sleep ; and in a 
 itiil larger one, or in a prolonged series of small portions, 
 causes the sleep without awaking ?" 
 
 " Madame, I was initiated into all these secrets and have 
 itudied with all the masters of my time : from them, and 
 perfected by myself, I hold the incomparable receipt, by 
 which I make the elixir to wihch you allude : it leaves in the 
 subject experimented upon all the semblance of life ; while it 
 is carrying into every article a stream of inevitable death." 
 
 " Enough ?" exclaimed the dame, " I see that you are the 
 man I want." 
 
 She dropped a heavy purse upon the table. " Bring out to 
 a follower of mine what you speak of, and if I be content with 
 you, you will be fully recompensed. You are watched, so do 
 not attract the attention of the Police." 
 
 "So I said," remarked Walton, turning to his confederate : 
 "that was one of Lareynie's spies." 
 
 "That officer that I met at the door ?" 
 
 "Oh, he was an officer, then ? At all events he did not 
 glean much here." 
 
 "What did he do ?" demanded the masked lady impera- 
 tively. "I want to know. Speak !" 
 
 Walton did not hesitate, but related briefly the inter view 
 with the Knight of Locmaria. From the commencement 
 the hearer violently trembled. Her brow frowned behind 
 ihe black velvet ; her eyes were surrounded by a brown ring, 
 and her feline glances explored vacancy. 
 
 "A locket ? what is a locket ? a token of affection to his 
 daughter on the eve of the death which he divined. There 
 is more in this wizard's craft than all acknowledge. Yet, 
 nothing was found upon him that incriminated me. He 
 would have never destroyed that letter of mine oh, that 
 letter," she muttered, pressing her head between her hands, 
 "what can have become of it ?" 
 
 Walton had heen straining his ear. On catching thest 
 last words, he made bold to speak. 
 
 "My ladv. the old fox passed the paper into the medal- 
 lion, and that over to ?> hand which he believed he could 
 trust* But oermit me to finisn my
 
 si* THE SON OF PORTHOS; OX, 
 
 He did so swiftly with the masked lady sileiu on her sea*. 
 Her features had become as still as though they were sculp- 
 tured in marble ; but her eyes blazed and her brain was work- 
 ing furiously. 
 
 So, so," she mused, "it is this intruder from Brittany who 
 stands in the way ; he repulsed my advances ; he is the as- 
 sociate, unconscious or otherwise, of this woman who is try- 
 ing to displace me beside the King ; he is now the master 
 of my secret and of my fate ! By my faith, he has gone too 
 far in braving me and being a fetter upon me. You arc 
 a spoil sport, Cnevalier Joel, and I begin to believe that you 
 will not arrive at Freiburg witnout some tnorn catching you 
 in the hedges. Friend," said she to Walton, "can you pro- 
 cure for me two stout swordsmen who will do any work set 
 to them, if they are roundly paid." 
 
 "When do you want them?" 
 
 'Immediately." 
 
 The sham Englishman reflected a moment, then slap* 
 ping the hag on the shoulder, as she was dozing or pretending 
 so to do, he said: 
 
 "Get you to the tavern of the Dry Well at the Croix Rouge, 
 Your brother, the Lock-breaker, should be carousing there; 
 bring him with another of his scamp, for there is gold to win 
 with their steel." 
 
 The tfoman shuffled out with a more nimble stem than 
 might have been expected of her, but there was the prospect 
 of many a revel 
 
 The acquaintance of Lock-breaker, the treacherous 
 lieutenant of Colonel Cordbuff, we have had the sad nec- 
 essity of making ; the comrade cut-throat whom he brought 
 was an ex-soldier of the royal guards, with a bully's face, bony 
 brazen and hardened, with his moustaches waxed and hooked 
 upwards on strong jaws. The pair saluted the masked lady, 
 with one hand on the sword hilt, the other to their moustache 
 curls. 
 
 ' You understand me clearly then," said she; "at present 
 this man is on the road to Lorraine. You should recognize 
 him from the description which I gave. YOU are to get 
 liorses and run him down. He carries a locket of which I 
 have need. Rid me of that gallant and bring me the token, 
 and I will give you a fortune.'' 
 
 "Fortune is a relative term." observed 
 **Ho\v much do we get lu
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 215 
 
 "Fifty pistoles, and you shall have three times as much af- 
 ter." 
 "Lady, it is a bargain." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 
 EVIL 10 THEM WHO EVIL PLAN* 
 
 AFTER receiving from Minister Louvois's own bands the 
 despatches for Marshal Cre*quy, the Knight of Locmaria left 
 Paris by the St. Martin's suburb. He was in warlike ar- 
 ray ; spurred with pistols in the holsters, and sharpened 
 sword by his side, and the horseman's cloak on his shoul- 
 ders. Esteban rode by him as his lackey. 
 
 The journey opened sadly, as, under his apparent resig- 
 nation, the newly married man quitted with regret the part 
 of earth where he had been about to be so happy. In the 
 ride from St. Germain to Paris, the beat of his horse's hoofs 
 carrying him away from that lot in paradise, had sounded 
 like a funeral knell. As the horizon enlarged, and the fu- 
 ture, full of mysteries, unfolded itself before him, he felt 
 the need to reason with himself, and be completely his mas- 
 ter to parry the eventualities and dangers of such a journey. 
 
 He rode now with a free spirit if not in gaiety, for the un- 
 confined breeze had refreshed his forehead. His broad chest 
 drank it to the fill of his lungs. The world seemed vast, and 
 he knew he lived and might hope. 
 
 In his recollection, Aurore was smiling, and all the more 
 charming a memory for that phase. 
 
 Two things annoyed him. First, the companionship of 
 Esteban, whose swarthy complexion, piercing eyes and hon- 
 eyed voice inspired in him scanty confidence. Again, he had 
 not had time to continue his leavetaking at the Blackamoor. 
 What had become of Host Bonlarron, with his sword as long 
 as Friquet was tall, and that brave lad himself, the jolly com- 
 panion so tender about his statue ? Never mind J he would 
 hunt them up on his return. 
 
 For he had but one thought : to distinguish himself before 
 Freiburg, and return as quickly as possible. Hence he had 
 decided to go twice the usual distance in one dav. He 
 planned to pass Chelles and sleep at Lagny. Unfortun ately,
 
 2i6 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OJf, 
 
 a. little before reaching the skirt of Bondy Forest, an they 
 were passing a little wayside blacksmith's, the man, who wa 
 hammering on his anvil, shouted : 
 
 "Cry you pardon, my gentleman, but your man's mare will 
 cast a shoe before she goes twenty lengths, for the off-hind 
 shoe hangs by only a couple of nails." 
 
 The remark was true, and they were obliged to stop. While 
 confounding the delay, Joel addressed the farrier who had 
 warned him ; "Friend, it is not enough to point out this 
 unlucky mishap ; but you must help us remedy it" 
 
 "Right willingly, master ; only I am run out of nails, and 
 must send to my brother-smith at Noisy for a supply ; but 
 it is only a skip, and I will fasten the shoe on in four blows 
 of the hammer." 
 
 "At Noisy ?" and the young traveler's brow became more 
 dark. "It is a good distance and the job will take a lot of 
 time." 
 
 "Why, no, for I have my bellows-boy here who has legs 
 tike a deer, and will get there in a short half-an-hour and 
 another to return, while it will only take me ten minutes to 
 do the job. In better than an hour you will be off and away 
 again." 
 
 "Yes, but this prevents my supping at Lagny." 
 
 "But you can have the supper at Chelles, at the Shield of 
 France inn, where they do not flay alive honest folk, and it 
 has not its like in all the county for roast duck in a paste." 
 
 "Send your prentice off at once," said the gentleman, dis- 
 mounting and walking into the smithy. "But how am I to kill 
 the time of wafting ?" he muttered, while Esteban led the 
 horses into a yard behind the forge. "Stay, 1 know. I will 
 send news to Aurore the darling will be uneasy, no doubt. 
 Let us prove that we do not let a moment pass without think- 
 ing of the adored wife. Master Vulcan," he called out, "can 
 you furnish me with writing materials ? and find me some 
 corner in your house where I can sit at a table, and not be 
 disturbed? I pay for any inconvenience 1 cause." 
 
 The peasant pointed to a ladder-like flight of steps leading 
 up from the smoked corner. 
 
 " Go up into my room, there. The paper, ink and quill 
 are there with which I make out my bills. And do not 
 Hurry yourself, for we will let you know when the job is 
 done."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 817 
 
 When the Breton had disappeared in the loft, Esteban 
 went up to the smith and made a sign to him. 
 
 " Your man is there ?" replied the blacksmith, pointing 
 iO the partitioned-off place where he stored his small coal. 
 
 A door creaked slightly on its hinges, and they saw the 
 hangdog visage, long body and hooked moustache of Col- 
 onel Condor de Cordbuff ; on coming forth from the hole, 
 he stretched his limbs like a wild cat leaving its lair. 
 
 " In good faith," grumbled he, " I was afraid that the 
 fresh orders would not arrive in time to you." 
 
 " It is plain," observed the lacky, "that if we had not 
 been made to dance attendance on the War Minister, up Jo 
 noon, his excellency's emissary would nol have met me in 
 Paris." In a confidential tone he resumed : " So my lord the 
 duke is bent upon finishing the affair straightway, eh ? Are we 
 not to go on to Freiburg ? is it here the journey comes to 
 an end ?" 
 
 The ex-colonel of the Royal Marauders pointed towards 
 the sombre forest line as he replied: "Twenty muskets lie be- 
 hind the outmost bushes ? ten a side. From each hand of the 
 road the lightning will flash." 
 
 A ferocious smile lit up the Spaniard's face, as he ap- 
 proved. 
 
 ''Caramba! I like to hear the guns speak, provided it is 
 not to me they have sharp things to say." 
 
 "But we must await nightfall," went on Cordbuff, "other- 
 wise this confounded Breton may perceive the glint of the 
 barrels under the leaves." 
 
 The Spaniard took a look at the sky. 
 
 "Waiting for nightfall when there is a gale in the air. I 
 have a seaman's eye for storms. Before an hour it will be as 
 black out there as in this forge chimney." 
 
 Condor rubbed his hands. 
 
 "That is wonderfully good! Though our lads blaze away 
 at random, thev will not do the worse work. After we do it, 
 each must shift for himself, leaving the bodies in the. mid- 
 dle of the road, so that whoever finds them will lay the blame 
 on the robber Vide-gousset, who infests this part round 
 Paris." 
 
 "Pardon me," interrupted the lackey, pricking up his ears: 
 "'You spoke of 'bodies' in the plural from some slip 
 tongue, I suppose. You meant the body."
 
 218 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "That's it," Cordbuff rectified the error, but biting hii 
 lip. "The body of the master and the carcase of his horse- 
 that is what I meant, for the beast will hardly go scot-free 
 from such a volley? But I must hurry to join the ambuscade. 
 This cursed fellow knows me from a brush I had with him 
 on tiie Saumur highway and the attack in Paris, and it would 
 never do for him to come down, for he would recognize 
 me." 
 
 "Stay, for one word. Take care that no bullet goes akew 
 in my direction, please, as I am quick to reply in kind. Re- 
 member that I shall be close behind him, and I do not want 
 any fatal blunder in a jest or by premeditated forgetfulness." 
 
 "How can you think of such a thing, my dear comrade ?" 
 
 Indeed the sky was clouding over. At the gallop sped 
 masses of storm-lined vapor, producng a changeable chaos 
 of liglit and shade. One of these eclipses of light prevented 
 Esteban remarking the perfidious intention wiiicn glistened 
 like the serpent's scales on the adventure's lips and in his 
 eyes while he said: 
 
 "It was the duke who gave the orders to my men. So no 
 mistake can be possible, and we shall carry them out." 
 
 In the meantime, Joel continued to write, on the upper 
 floor. His pen ran rapidly and he was hardly conscious how 
 time was coursing, too. He was speaking to his dear Aurore 
 whom he saw before him and expected to hear her speak. 
 On the sheets of blackened paper, the phrase "I love you,** 
 was often repeated. But it was time to come to an end ; 
 he folded up the epistle, and wrote the superscription. 
 
 "What a slowness they show in notifying me of the time to 
 start again," he muttered. " How dark it has become," he 
 added, with some astonishment. "Can it be dusk already, 
 or is it the weather turning bad ?" 
 
 He rose and went to the little window to verify his prognos- 
 tic, but he had barely cast a glance without before he re- 
 coiled like a man who does not want to be seen. 
 
 " Halloa !" he exclaimed to himself, "this is singular !" 
 
 The road took a curve before passing the smithy. One of 
 the branches, that travelled by our pair, led from the city ; 
 the other went into the Bondy Woods, at a few hundred- 
 pa'ces, yet to be threaded by them. The room window com- 
 manded the forest skirts, and the squire mechanically ex- 
 amined the brush. A sunbeam slanted through the slaty
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 219 
 
 gray clouds, and left the house in the shadow ; but, on the 
 other hand, it lighted up the thickets and penetrated the 
 foliage to some depth. Thus it came that the looker-out 
 thought he saw men in the coverts, and luminous points like 
 the glint of light upon polished metal. Keeping 'up his 
 scrutiny, but remaining hidden, Joel could count a score, ten 
 on each side of the road. 
 
 " The deuce, this looks like an ambush," he thought. 
 
 At this juncture, one man appeared among the glittering 
 dots and waved his hand, so that they faded out of sight : 
 evidently he had perceived the oversight and wanted to pre- 
 pare it, before he, too, vanished in the copse. 
 
 " Zounds 1" muttered the Breton, " if I had not smashed 
 that scoundrel Cordbuff on the Celestins wharf, I should 
 swear that he is yonder, organizing this little waylaying 
 enterprise. 
 
 But who would this party be arrayed against ? As the young 
 knight was putting this question to himself, he heard the 
 clatter of horses' hoofs on the road from Paris. On account 
 of the bend, the new-corners could not perceive the thicket 
 until they passed the forge. Besides, the sun did not shine 
 at this period, and tue whole sky was a mass of sable clouds. 
 The wind raised whirls of dust, and heavy raindrops began 
 to sprinkle the ground. 
 
 Tne sound rapidly drew near, and presently two men on 
 horseback rushed by the smithy at full gallop ; their steeds 
 were fleckered with foam, as if from a precipitous race. One 
 of them was no doubt better mounted than the other, for he 
 preceded him by three or four lengths. Both were press- 
 ing on without heeding the rain, or the dust which strove 
 to blind them between them. 
 
 Scarcely had they turned the elbow before the men in hid- 
 ing moved in the foliage and Joel saw them coming forward 
 to bring their guns to bear. 
 
 "How now?" muttered he; "can it be for me, or those fel- 
 lows that these warlike preparations are made ? In either 
 case, I cannot let the unsuspecting fall into the deadly trap." 
 He lifted his voice to call out to them, but it was lost in the 
 uproar, and in a trice, the cavalier- were out of earshot. 
 
 The brave knight rushed down the stairs, shouting? 
 
 "Our horses let us have our hordes quick!" 
 
 Thev stood ready befQCC. the forge. Near them was Este*
 
 330 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 ban, his saturnine countenance contracted by anger whicW 
 in the haste his master did not notice. 
 
 "Plague take those outsiders !" muttered the Spaniard, 
 "whom our bullies will mistake for us, and shoot them in- 
 stead of this new-fledged knight." 
 
 Joel had bounded into the saddle, crying: "At full speed 
 and have your sword drawn we must save those travelers 
 or at least lend them aid '" 
 
 But, us he dug his spurs into his steed's flanks, several 
 gunshots resounded. In spite of this, the chevalier dashed 
 off with the bridle between his teeth, and in his hands the 
 rapier and a pistol. The lackey followed at the same 
 pace. 
 
 "It looks as though I shall be obliged to put a bullet into the 
 back of his head," though he, streching out his hand to his 
 holsters. 
 
 But a few scattering shots whizzed about them like angry 
 hornets, and the servant of Aramis uttered a scream of pain: 
 a slug had broken his pistol-arm near the wrist and a bullet 
 had entered his throat. Uncontrolled, his frightened horse 
 carried him in the wake of his master's, which burst into the 
 wood like a hurricane. 
 
 Twenty paces within the skirt of the wood, between natural 
 hedges of undergrowth, two bleeding corpses were stretched, 
 at the side of which Joel with difficulty reined in. Into the 
 pool of blood wiiicn they had lost, Esteban was pitched, by 
 the sudden stoppage of his steed horrified by the blood and 
 the smell of powder. 
 
 The two dead men were those who had caught the volley 
 intended for the Son of Porthos. One of them was held 
 down under his horse, which had a broken thigh. The other's 
 horse was racing through the forest, which was becoming 
 hushed as though its glades were unpeopled once more. 
 But at a distance was audible the tramp of a troop of ir- 
 regular cavalry, fading away. It was the company of Cord- 
 buff, obeying the order to make off at will. 
 
 Joel hitched his charger to a tree, and examined the dead 
 before he attended to the dying, less interested in his own 
 man than he could account for. The strangers were beyond 
 hope : the first was slain outright as though struck bv light- 
 ning, and the other was riddled like a sieve. When the young 
 knight terminated this task, he saw that Esteban had
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. tti 
 
 to hfe senses, and, propped on the elbow of his uninjured 
 Arm, was curiously contemplating the two corpses. 
 
 "I see. 1 ' mattered he, careless whether he were overheard 
 or not: if I nad been riding behind the master, as I should 
 have been, I would have received all that shower of lead in 
 my body, instead of two pellets which, by all that is unlucky, 
 will do the trick, I fear me. Orders were out to slay the 
 valet along with the master : or Cordbuff sought to get rid 
 of a rival who hampered him in trying to enjoy my lord's 
 good graces. Be it as it may, the lesson comes too late for 
 me to profit by it. But I can be revenged," he continued, 
 with a scowl of evil augury. 
 
 Joel lifted him up into a sitting position, and propped him 
 against a tree. His wound had ceased to bleed outwardly, 
 but he held his unhurt hand to it as if choking. A deathly 
 perspiration bathed his livid brow ; his eyelids closed de- 
 spite his will, and a red froth bubbled about his mouth. 
 
 "Drink," moaned he. 
 
 Joel took a flask of wine from his saddlebow and held it 
 to the swaying head, of which the teeth chattered against 
 the cap, used as a cup; but he managed to gulp a mouth- 
 ful. 
 
 "The saints reward you," he gasped. 
 
 "Take courage," said his master. "I will ride to the smith's 
 or carry you thither." 
 
 An ironical smile flitted over the lackey's lips. 
 
 "Do nothing it is over I have my account settled." 
 
 His eyelids slowly opened, disclosing the vitreous orbs, 
 and his unsteady gaze wandered over the scene of slaughter; 
 suddenly, kindled by tne forerunning of his doom, it shone 
 with a fugitive lustre. "I trust you will revenge me. Oh, 
 that I had a priest ere I die but it is impossible here. Since 
 there is nothing else, you shall receive my confession, by 
 which you can profit to save yourself perhaps" 
 
 "You are wandering ! how save myself ?" 
 
 " This ambuscade was directed against you and me that 
 wretch of a Cordbuff would not have spared his accom- 
 plice. 
 
 "Cordbuff, do you say? then, it was he whom I spied. Has 
 that cut-nurse turned cut-throat ?" 
 
 " He is your mortal enemy and not the only one an$ 
 the others are more powerful and skillful They send
 
 ?22 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OX, 
 
 to Freiburg to be rid of you they wanted to kill you, lest 
 you might return." 
 
 " But why ? who are these enemies ? who longs for my 
 death ?" 
 
 " All is spinning round me," muttered the weakening suf- 
 ferer. " My very heart is melting within me. For pity's 
 sake, give me something to clear my swollen throat." 
 
 Joel offered him the wine again, and on ins swallowing 
 a few drops, a slight flame mounted to his ciieeks. 
 
 "Yes," said he, hastening as if he feared a crisis wouli 
 stop his revelation, " listen now, and grave these words on 
 your mind with the indications I give you. Those men fell 
 instead of us, but, you see, I was marked down. My mas- 
 ter, the Duke of Almada, has bought, on the margin ot Mar- 
 ly Woods, a summerhouse not far from the royal residence. 
 In the principle room of the house, on the left of the fire 
 place, is a secret panel, moving, if you press the spring, in 
 a brass knob concealea in the dado. This opens a way to 
 a subterranean gallery communicating with the palace, end- 
 ing in one of the rooms of the king's apartments." 
 
 ' But what is the good of these particulars ?" quered 
 Joel. " In what way do they concern me ? what use are 
 they ?" 
 
 " I see that you do not understand me," breathed the 
 wounded man with difficulty. " You think I am in delirium, 
 raving and out of my senses but you are wrong I see 
 clearly, and you will understand me later. That secret way 
 is to be used to arrive in time to outstrip the King and 
 prevent " 
 
 " Go on, go on ! prevent ?" 
 
 " Prevent the plot which I overheard arranged, being 
 brought to pass." 
 
 His breathing had grown hard, his vision dim, and he held 
 out his hand as his head fell backward. 
 
 " More drink !" he panted, " I am dying." 
 
 The knight held out the flask this time, but he had hardly 
 more than carried it to his lips than he repulsed it so roughly 
 that it fell on the mossy ground, and he hoarsely uttered : 
 
 " No, would you send me drunk into the presence of my 
 Judge ?" 
 
 His features became broken up with frightful rapidity ; 
 his upturned eyeballs half disappeared under the distended
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 223 
 
 lids : the flaps of his nose sank, and the scum on his lips 
 changed to a yellow hue. 
 
 "What does all this signify?" demanded the Breton, lean- 
 ing over him ; "answer me ! what did you hear plotted ?" 
 
 "I know not I remember no more. The mist clouds my 
 eyes, and a bell seems booming in my brain. But that pas- 
 sage will be guarded. Cordbuff and his murderers will be 
 posted to dispute the entrance. Caramba ! crush them as 
 they did that pair there : and the old chief, too. Ah," he 
 shrank back as if to enter into the substance of the tree 
 against which he rested, "it is he who is coming, the sinister 
 white-beard ! he comes to strangle me lest I make the con- 
 fession !" he rose along the trunk as if to resist or flee from 
 a spectre ; his eyes widened with intense terror, and his un- 
 hurt hand again clawed at his throat. 
 
 "He has seized he is strangling me !" His skin turned 
 an ashen color ; from his swollen throat a hoarse gurgle is- 
 sued, and the froth on his mouth was a blackish red. 
 
 Joel grasped him, for he would have fallen full-length. 
 
 "Once more, Speak, I urge you ! I beg you I want to 
 know " 
 
 No reply came from the lackey, whose head dropped for- 
 ward on his chest, for he was dead : the wound had flowed 
 inward and his last words were stifled. 
 
 Meanwhile the storm had suddenly been appeased; a last 
 gust had cleared the sky and the sunset was clear and serene. 
 Joel gave a last look to the ghastly battlefield ; on the two 
 bravifto. saw the vile expression which death had not lessened, 
 but he could not guess that they were the hirelings of the 
 Marchionesss de Montespan, engaged to pursue him and 
 bring to her the locket in which Pierre Lesage had secreted 
 the incriminatory paper in her hand which he hoped to be 
 the weapon for his daughter's protection. To earn their pay, 
 the ancient lieutenant of Cordbuff and his partner had 
 started forthwith on the man-hunt. Tiiey had not spared the 
 spur to overtake the young knight, and had so strained them- 
 selves that they had shot in advance of him and received the 
 n.usketry discharge intended for their betters. 
 
 "Errare humanennest " which may be translated as "Evil 
 befals those who meditate evil." 
 
 Joel went to the blacksmith's for aid, but that worthy, 
 fearing that his complicity in the outrage might be suspected,
 
 234 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 had abandoned his house. The young man was therefore com- 
 pelled to leave the corpse, and take the two spare horses in 
 leash, to the bailiwick of Vitry, where he related the matter 
 to the lieutcnant-criminel. After signing his statement, the 
 King's messenger resumed the journey, less troubled by the 
 sanguinary scene than by Esteban's strange and incomplete 
 revelations. 
 
 Ought he take them seriously? or consider them the fancies 
 et cerebral derangement inherent to the passage from life to 
 death the ramblings of a mind filled with incoherences and 
 chimeras by the death throes? was there anything behind 
 the last words, with an enigmatic sense which the dying one 
 had no time to make clear? 
 
 What could signify this mysterious stuff about sliding 
 panels, assassins lying in wait, a summerhouse, the royal res- 
 idence? who were the powerful and skillful enemies who 
 threatened the days of the young knight and had already de- 
 livered one bow at those who had by chance been substituted 
 for their victims. What was the aim, and what the reasons? 
 
 The Duke of Almada could not be the "old man'' of whom 
 the Spaniard had passed away in such terror. He might 
 have let him moulder in the Bastille : but he had made him 
 the happiest of lovers, by uniting him to Mdlle. du Tremblay. 
 
 The King could not be an enemy. He had but to frown 
 to be disembarrassed of a dangerous subject or of one simply 
 importunate. In the case of the knight of Locmaria, he need 
 not have interfered with the march of justice : but he had 
 been great and good, and granted mercy. Besides, in what 
 way could a humble country squire have offended the most 
 Christian King or annoyed the ambassador of the Catholic 
 Majesty of Spain ? It is needless to say that no idea struck the 
 honest youth that Aurore had any part in the schemes woven 
 against him. The dying lackey and not spoken of the young 
 lady. So the newly married man was very deeply perplexed. 
 It was in bewilderment that he reached Nancy, where two 
 letters overtook him in kindness to his poor head : he 
 was obliged to stop a couple of days to rest his charger. , 
 One missive was from her. 
 
 Aurore was already beginning to feel impatience over the 
 return of the husband of her heart. She was in attendance on 
 the Queen at St. Germain's, her royal mistress manifesting 
 more and more affectionate kindness every day Her com*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 335, 
 
 panions seemed to like her. Those called "the wise owes," in 
 that frivolous court, surrounded her with attentions and de- 
 ference. The King was absorbed in the important ne 
 gociations at Nimwegen. He came seldom into his consort's 
 apartments. The writer added that she had seen nothing of 
 the Marchioness de Montespan, while she often met the Wid% 
 now Scarron, who was located at Pecq with her royal nursery. 
 
 " She is a friend whose great mind and heart I value mort 
 and more. Need I tell you that you are the topic of all our con- 
 versations ?and iiow she endeavors to comfort me, strengthen 
 me, and restore my faith in t'ne goodness of heaven and 
 hope in the future, when my thoughts, running before you on 
 the remote highways, look for you amid the horrors of a 
 siege, the fury of storming parties, and among the dead and 
 the wounded ! Oh, my dear and valiant Joel, take care of 
 yourself for the sake of her who lets no moment go by with- 
 out thinking that she is your wife. Be prudent as you are 
 brave. Preserve your life as I should your honor." 
 
 " How she loves me !" muttered the knight, " and how 
 deserving she is of love !" 
 
 He kissed the paper in a transport of delight. 
 
 The second message was from Widow Scarron. She stat- 
 ed to her correspondent that Aurore won admiration by her 
 candor, loftiness of character, and frank revulsion against 
 vice and wickedness. 
 
 " The King, whose confidence I sometimes have the hon- 
 or to enjoy, since I am nearer St. Germain, has declared to 
 me on several occasions, that none among the ladies of the 
 royal household better merits the tokens of esteem and sym- 
 pathy with which the Queen kindly favors her. Aurore is 
 yours, my friend, as the priest is wedded to heaven. You 
 must be the same towards her. Besides I keep my promise, 
 and I watch over this angel of perfection with the solicitude 
 which I have for the royal offspring confided to my care." 
 
 The words in both letters were a cordial to him. In neith- 
 er was there mention of the Duke of Almada. It was 
 clear that the agony and the fever of death had embroiled 
 the wits of Esteban when his heavy conscience was in tur 
 moil. 
 
 Hence our traveler resumed the journey with both head 
 and heart relieved of depression which had almost stifled 
 him.
 
 326 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 The roads were cut up by the wheels of the artillery, among 
 which he was glad to hear was the battery of the new engines of 
 war, the bombards, of which Friquet held himself the in- 
 ventor, and which it was understood would give the signal for 
 the grand attack on Freiburg. Besides, the roads were also 
 dangerous from the numbers of banditti, disbanded soldiers 
 and deserters from both sides who foraged for their own gain, 
 and put all the inhabitants of the Vosges to ransom. For 
 that matter, the chevalier would have preferred to face a 
 company of these highwaymen than ride with the black 
 thoughts which had harassed him before he received the let- 
 ters. 
 
 The night was clear when he reached the Black Forest^ 
 which had not stolen its name, for it was black as an oven in 
 the glades. Before him, after passing through a vale, dark 
 masses of pines covered the gloomy ridge of a hill. A light 
 sparkled there, of so much greater volume than a cottage 
 candle, that Joel believed it would be a rendezvous of soldiers 
 or an inn. 
 
 He was right in the latter conjecture, for he recognized by 
 the sign of a Cooked Crayfish and the general aspect that he 
 was before one of those humble houses of entertainment 
 which have earned this quarter in more recent ages the tik 
 tie of a land of hotels. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE MAID OF THE INN. 
 
 ALTHOUGH there was no welcome when Jflel rode up, he 
 
 dismounted on being assured by hearing voices within that it 
 was not deserted, and tying his horse to a ring in the wall, 
 strode boldly into the place. 
 
 It was composed of a common room, with a staircase at 
 the back, a table in the midst, and a fireplace where several 
 pieces of meat and some split crayfish were broiling and 
 baking. 
 
 A tall, brawny man sat by the window, cleaning one of 
 those long-barrelled fowling-pieces which are aod for any 
 kind of game. Before being an innkeeper, Kaspar Braun
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. MJ 
 
 j. soldier in the Thirty Years' War, devoted as now to 
 his Emperor and his country. When the French invaded 
 the country, his loyalty set him against him, but on the oth- 
 erhand his good fare and the sacred laws of hospitality 
 through which he had often saved a guest, earned him a 
 kind of truce. The excuse of his age sufficed, but his sun- 
 burned visage, breathing indomitable energy, and the mel- 
 ancholic gravity special to men living in the solitudes of nat- 
 ure, did not express the weakness of many years. Over his 
 green cloth vest and breeches, the uniform of a forester, he 
 wore a goatskin jacket with the hairy side inward ; his high 
 leggings of buckskin were tightly laced over iron spiked 
 shoes; and his hunting-knife hung at his belt. When he 
 rose to receive the guest, he showed the subdued ferocity of 
 a bulldog under restriction not to bite till further orders. 
 
 " What can one do for your service, my gentleman ?" he 
 challenged, with a slight bow, and using the French mixed 
 with German common on the border where the armies of both 
 powers so often warred. 
 
 " In faith, many things, my good man of the woods," 
 gaily rejoined the cavalier: "accommodation and food for 
 myself, and shelter and provender for my steed at the door. 
 I suppose a supper is possible ?" 
 
 The old forester smiled grimly. 
 
 "Everything is possible even now on the frontier, if the 
 money is forthcoming, and you give enough time." 
 
 "You shall take your own time, and as I have escaped 
 the knights of the road, I need not look to the expense." 
 
 "Arouse you, you sluggard wench from Paris," shouted 
 Braun. "Go and put the gentleman's horse in the stable antf 
 hurry back to do the cooking." 
 
 This was spoken in German, but the guest had already 
 acquired a smattering of the dialect and the result of the 
 peech enlightened him as to the meaning. To his surprise, 
 a recumbent figure which he had not suspected, rose in the 
 fireplace : but he did not utter the exclamation risen to his 
 lips as, while the German put his gun in a rack on the wall, 
 this woman laid her finger signifying caution on her mouth. 
 The word Pairs had been cue enough, for her person, small 
 and brisk, her manner, petulant, quick and restless, and 
 her saucy and brightly vulgar features spoke of the daughter 
 of Lutetia. In her peasant's dress she no more resembled
 
 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OX, 
 
 the buxom girls of the Rhenish inns that an actress the 
 countrywoman whom she personates in silks and costly 
 jewelry. Bui she nimbly crossed the room and disappeared 
 without. 
 
 "There is a basin of fresh water yonder," said the inn- 
 keeper, sullenly pointing to the farther end : "you may want 
 to get the dust of the road off you. And if your trappings 
 are in your way, I will hang them up. 
 
 Braun alluded to the guest's rapier and horse-pistols which 
 he had brought in with him, stuck in his belt. 
 
 " Thank you, my good friend," said Joel, without losing 
 his smile: "I amused to the articles and they do not incon- 
 venience me." 
 
 The other seemed vexed in a sulky way, but he spoke 
 calmly enough: "Just as you like, my master. Then, since 
 I can do nothing for you, let me go draw some wine," 
 
 He stole to the rear of the room and lifting a trapdoor, 
 
 descended by a short ladder into a place hallowed out in the 
 
 ock among the roots of the pinetrees which had contributed 
 
 heir substance to make this house. Hardly had he gone 
 
 han the young woman returned ; but she seemed afraid to 
 
 venture many words to the new-comer, to whom, as she 
 
 passed to blow up the fire, she gave a look meaning : "Be 
 
 careful. We are listened to." 
 
 To kill the time and give himself a countenance, the French- 
 man pretended to study the coarse prints stuck against the 
 wall to relieve the monotony of the plastering. They were 
 mostly pictures of saints, or battles. 
 
 "What can all this strange reception mean?" he wondered. 
 "A German host and a French servant, who is certainly not 
 his wife or his daughter, but in as much awe of him as though 
 she were either." 
 
 In the meantime, the man had returned and placed two 
 bottles of Rhine wine on the table, where the woman ar- 
 ranged a cloth, two china vases with woodland flowers, a 
 slice of cold roebuck with berry sauce, a hare pie, some 
 sliced smoked sausage, and a polished pewter goblet. While 
 busying herself at the board, she made the Son of Porthosa 
 sign which meant that he might drink without apprehension. 
 Then she returned to the revived fire, where she deftly and 
 rapidly cooked an omelet, and dished * rabbit stewing sine* 
 some hours.
 
 On sniffing the aroma of these warm edibles and icasting 
 his sight on the cold side-pieces already ranged on the board, 
 our hero flung his hat on a chair, and cried ! "To table !" 
 
 Braun darted an angry look upon the woman and said ; 
 "Well, do you not see that the gentleman's weapons are in 
 his way ?" 
 
 This return to the previous charge irritated the guest, who 
 vetorted testily : "Never mind ! I am learning to be a sol- 
 dier, and I am trying to get used to eating and drinking in> 
 my equipment." 
 
 "On, the gentleman is a soldier?" broke forth the inn- 
 keeper, in a voice which he tried to make more innocent 
 than it would have appeared to more experienced ears. 
 
 " Yes : though I am more of a despatch-bearer than, 
 unything at present time, being on my way from Paris t<f 
 Marshal Crequy." 
 
 The fact was, the good dinner was doing its softening 
 work and, besides, Joel was on the very verge of accomplish- 
 ing his mission, and he did not even feel a twinge at this too 
 frank admission of his errand in a debatable land where both 
 parties roved. 
 
 The innkeeper's face darkened as much as the strange 
 waitress's brightened at his refusal to lay aside his weapons. 
 Braun had reckoned on the influence of the meal and the 
 sex without success. The Breton showed the thickness of 
 his skull by drinking a bottle to the omelet, a second to the 
 vension and he called for a third to wash down the preserves, 
 the cheese and the fruit. 
 
 Night had fallen and lights were lit. 
 
 " How do you like the wine ? it is a little vintage of nay 
 own," said Braun, rather more amiably. 
 
 " It is exquisite. I shall like this country !" 
 
 The host proposed fetching some more, but at this time, 
 as the young soldier caught the eye of the servant, he saw 
 her simulate nodding off to sleep. That he had in this fel- 
 low-countrywomen a friend in the possibly hostile camp, he 
 did not doubt, and he took the hint. 
 
 " But it flies to the head," went on he, gaping frightfully; 
 11 either that or my long ride has made me desire rest. The 
 Sandman has got into my eves." 
 
 The landlord rose from his bench at a respectful distance 
 tnd took up a candle to light it with splinter at the fire*
 
 830 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 4.1 this *hance of gesticulating behind his back, the waitress 
 took a step or two, reeling as if it were she who had imbibed 
 too much wine. 
 
 "Right," thought the knight. "I shall conform to these 
 suggestions, which have a purpose." 
 
 And rising to take the candle, he tottered as if the floor 
 Were oscillating. 
 
 "Dash it all," he said, clutching at the table, "one would 
 tay that the wind is high in the hills and rocks your old 
 chalet like a ship at sea. Oh, it must be the little vintage 
 of which you brag. Satanic beverage I shall have a head- 
 ache for this if I do not sleep it off." 
 
 Braun laughed heartily. 
 
 "It is mild as milk," sneered he, putting the candlestick 
 in his hand, as if to prevent the servant seeing the guest to 
 his room. "Dr. Slumber will cure you. After a good night 
 you will not feel a bit of it. You will wake up to-morrovr 
 morning as gay as a woodpecker in a hollow tree. But let the 
 maid hang up your iron appendages. You see that even I 
 hang my gun up; we live in the peace of heaven, since the 
 French drove away the duke of Lorraine; and they shall be 
 cleaned like my old ducking-gun, when you don them in 
 the day." 
 
 The woman surreptitously shook her head, and as, with a 
 calmed face she extended her hand, Joel gallantly chucked 
 her under the chin and said: "Hold there ! the old priest 
 who taught me latin, told me a pretty tale of Venus in the ar- 
 mor of Mars but pooh! all has become mixed in my head 
 to bed, to bed!" 
 
 He had the heavy gesture, thick tongue and falsely spark- 
 ling eye of the cavalrist who has drunk too deeply. 
 
 "As you please, my honorable guest. It is only to oblige 
 you. Go right up there is but one room at the head of the 
 stairs. The bed is under the window. Do you want any- 
 thing more ?" 
 
 "No, I have lost my man along the road, and must get used 
 40 tucking myself in. Good-night, master, and my pretty 
 maid! Peace on all under your rooftree!" 
 
 Braun echoed the wish but in the tone of a funeral oration. 
 He fastened his eyes on the woman, who looked demure and 
 guileless, as both listened to the irregular tread of the stum- 
 bling youth, who reached the door in front of him on the-
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS 231 
 
 landing, kicked the door open and staggered to the bed, on 
 which he seemed to fall. The couch was heard to groan and 
 creak under the unusual weight, and soon a loud snore tlium- 
 dered in the loft. A sinister delight showed on the forester's 
 browned face and he muttered: 
 
 ".Drunk, tired and asleep. The cat is in the bag. A bear-* 
 er of despatches, eh? I must have a word with Walton o 
 that point before we settle him." 
 
 He took his gun down and put on his tall felt hat, adorned 
 with an eagle's wing. , 
 
 "Madame Therese," he went on in a low stern voice, "I 
 am going to meet Walton. If the man upstairs moves, blow 
 the cow's horn, and we will hasten to your aid." 
 
 Joel was listening overhead and as soon as he heard 
 the innkeeper depart, he quickly rose ; there was nothing 
 painful or uncertain in his steps and no vestige of the drunk- 
 enness or fatigue existed in his whole frame. He had no need 
 to be a soothsayer to divine that his money, his despatches 
 or his life were at stake. So he freshened his pistol prim- 
 ing and loosened his sword in its sheath. 
 
 At the end of a time that seemed long, he heard a light 
 but incautious step on the stair, and he opened the door sc 1 
 that he might have free swing to his sword and a broad- 
 opening for his shot. It was the petite figure of the woman 
 which appeared, and he lowered the weapons' point and 
 muzzle. 
 
 All was in darkness as he had prudently extinguished his 
 candle but his sight was accustomed to the gloom, and hef 
 eyes sparkled like gems. 
 
 " I hope you have come to explain ?" he began. 
 
 " To explain enough to satisfy you. We have an hour 
 before us as the man has gone to keep an appointment and 
 gather help, perchance. This estimable forester makes it 
 a practice to get soldiers and travelers drunk and do then* 
 to death in their sleep. Thus he serves his cause and gleans 
 secrets of military movements by which his employers profit.' 
 
 " Why did you not tell me at once, when I should have 
 cut him down on the eve of his abominable project ?" 
 
 The two were out on the landing now. 
 
 " Because I had my doubts of the outcome of the fright 
 Braun is a hardy old soldier. When he heard that you car- 
 ried despatches, he knew that you had a greater value than
 
 352 THE SON OF PORTHOS. OR, 
 
 a chance passer-by, and he goes to consult with one who it 
 
 A past master in rich secrets. Tiiey have suggested to mt 
 before, as I am French, that I should decoy young officers 
 and tnus deliver the generals' plans to our enemy." 
 " Well ?" 
 
 "The opportunity has not happened before this, and I 
 > 
 
 " Patriotism would make you repulse the suggestion?" 
 
 " I do not know this man whom Kaspar Braun has gone 
 to meet is my tyrant a demon. Have you never heard in 
 Paris of the criminal associate of La Voisin and Lesage, the 
 chief who contrived to escape after a temporary arrest the 
 'Englishman,' the 'Author ?' and author he is of many an 
 atrocity." 
 
 " I know little of Paris, but I learnt something of the af- 
 fair of the Poisoners." 
 
 " Hereafter, I will acquaint you with what he is: enough 
 that he is a thorough villain who will not need the whet of 
 your carrying despatches to ally himself with Kasper to kill 
 you in your bed. He had told me, on rejoining me from Paris, 
 whence I was a fugitive, that he must obtain information of 
 importance in order to sell it to Prince Charles for his pro* 
 tection, a shelter and money, so that he may gratify his hot- 
 rid ambition." 
 
 "This wretch is your gallant, then ?" 
 
 "My torturer the living reminder of a past of which tha 
 recollection sears me like a burning iron. Fate has chained 
 us together like two convicts in the galleys. Perhaps I adored 
 him once. To-day, I submit to him I am forced to serve 
 bim, but I hate him. Never mind me, though," she went 
 on, drawing nearer Joel, who towered above her on the stairs: 
 I repeat that the innkeeper will soon return with Walton or 
 another. In these frontier villages are plenty of deserters 
 whom a piece of gold converts into murderers. At need, 
 Walton would persuade Braun, who has some human weak- 
 ness in him, to join hands with the camp-followers and villag- 
 ers who throng the woods. " 
 
 "Let them come," muttered the youth, clapping his hand 
 on his swordhandle with a joyous, fearless gesture. 
 
 "Yes, I understand that you will defend yourself against 
 a score or more, but at the sound of the affray a scouting 
 patty of the Germans may run up and then you would be
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 933 
 
 overpowered. Besides, though Braun would attack fairly 
 enough, it is not the same with Walton who employs the 
 devil's weapon, fire, with all the devil's cunning. He is capa- 
 ble of setting fire to the house." 
 
 "Who cares " 
 
 The young woman -grasped his sword-arm, saying in a 
 sweet voice: " But how about her ?" 
 
 "What 'her !' " 
 
 " The woman whom you love and who loves you whom 
 you left behind ?" 
 
 "Aurore !" 
 
 "Ah, her name is Aurore, is it .' I do not know anything 
 about her, but this is true a man who loves and is beloved 
 has no right to rush rashly into death." 
 
 "Aurore !" repeated the chevalier, with pendant head. 
 
 "If you were to get slain, what would become of her ? who 
 can tell but she may need your sword and arm one of these 
 days ! Again and yet again, think, oh, think of her ! Think 
 of me, too, for heaven's sake ! when that scoundrel learns that 
 I betrayed him and his accomplice to save you, my life will 
 no longer be my own. I do not want to be murdered be- 
 fore I have time to plead to the Judge on high by my repent- 
 ance " 
 
 The Breton felt overcome. 
 
 "In short, what do you ask ?" said he. 
 
 "I have not only kept the harness on your horse, which 
 will be rested, but I have equipped Walton's, on which pair 
 we may flee. All I beseech you is to place me in some asy- 
 lum where he may not penetrate a convent or the like 
 But follow me without sound " 
 
 "Run away before such scum ?" said Joel, with a rebellious 
 movement. 
 
 "I will show you how to meet him another time," said the 
 woman savagely. 
 
 He followed her down the stairs with as light a step as pos- 
 sible. They reached the inn door but Therese only stopped 
 there to listen to the sounds without. 
 
 "The better way is to leave by the rear door," murmured 
 she. "It seems to me that the rodd is not lonley. Come 
 on." 
 
 But on passing through a low, narrow door which gave the 
 Frenchman's robust body a squeeze, and finding themselves
 
 134 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 in a kitchen garden, where the vine flourished on trellises, 
 the guide suddenly seized her companion by the arm and 
 dragged him under a kind of bower : here, in the hot weather 
 boon-companions discussed the vintages of which Braun 
 boasted beneath the leaves of the vine which bore them. 
 
 Three dark figures entered the stableyard by the simple 
 process of striding the hedge at a gap. Joel recognized the 
 tallest as the innkeeper's ; he was accompanied by wearers 
 of cloaks and swords, but only one of them had a soldierly 
 bearing in keeping with the weapon. This one seemed treated 
 with respect by both the others. 
 
 "What meant that light going out as we came up ?" ques- 
 tioned this man in a voice trained to give orders. 
 
 "My lord, " answered Kaspar, "I should say that it was the 
 wife of this gentleman, who thought all was ended for the 
 night and she has gone to bed. But I can make sure " 
 
 Then, leaning towards the mute and cloaked third party, 
 he whispered : "Get through with your business with the 
 prince, that we may attend to this French officer. Con- 
 found it all, I fear that your wife may give an alarm." 
 
 "Fear nothing,' replied Walton in the same undertone ; 
 "she is as suppliant to my will as the cane which I wield." 
 
 He carried a cane with a horn head, like the gentleman of 
 fashion in town who wish always to be accustomed to hold- 
 ing a weapon. 
 
 The person addressed as a lord had impatiently waited for 
 this brief colloquy to come to a close. Thereupon he said : 
 " Disturb nobody. We can confer just as well in one of these 
 Arbors. As for you, Kaspar, go and stand guard at tne gap 
 on the road. There are too many prowlers about after dark 
 for precautions to be neglected, and as an old woodsman, I 
 know your eye can be relied upon." 
 
 At this, Joel shrank farther back behind the leafy screen. 
 
 Whether by instinct or that he had not the profound faith 
 in Therese which Walton manifested, Braun was reluctant to 
 take the designated post and he muttered : 
 
 "Will not your highness do his faithful servant the honor 
 of sitting within his doors after a few minutes to rid the 
 house of vermin and accept what I have in the cupboard 
 and the cellar?" 
 
 "Be easy, my dear Kaspar," said the prince affectionately 
 lapping him on the sturdy shoulder, "I will go into you*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 235. 
 
 home and sit at your board, but not until we shall have 
 cleared the land of these accursed foreigners, who have inn- 
 pudently come upon the imperial soil. Then , I promise you, 
 we will drink the best vintages of your Rhenish wine to the dis- 
 grace of the vanquished foe and the joy of Freiburg with the 
 raised." 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE INVOLUNTARY SPY. 
 
 "CAN this be the Duke Charles ?" said Joel In a low tone : 
 
 but he received no explanation from his companion : fright* 
 ened into stupor, she had sunk upon a seat in the arbor and 
 wrung her hands in muteness. 
 
 Braun, with a glance up at his house, quiet as if only the 
 dead were inmates, strode to his post to act the sentinel : the 
 other two, occupying the bower adjacent to that which con- 
 cealed the knight and his guide, began their dialogue. The 
 prince sat on the bench, leaning both hands on his knees, 
 and projecting his chest so as to study the face of his in- 
 terlocutor and not miss any words. The socalled English- 
 man remained standing, with his hat off, in a respectful at- 
 titude, and as the starlight out lined his features, the watche 
 was amazed: it was the man who had met him in the house 
 of the Manicarde in Bouloi Street and stopped his searches 
 for therese Lesage. The coincidence of the woman's name, 
 a common one, furnished no clue, but he could not help think- 
 ing that this meeting was strange : he had no time >to indulge 
 in trying to solve puzzles for the interesting dialogue had 
 commenced. They used the same border language as Braun 
 to the Chevalier de Locmaria, that is French peasant talk 
 with German words, but Walton spoke with choice phrases 
 here and there like one who had communed with the great. 
 
 " Yes, my lord," said Walton, " I have ridden all the way 
 from Paris to furnish your highness with news." 
 
 " Good or bad ?" 
 
 " Both, your highness." 
 
 * Let me hear the bad news at once, sir!" 
 
 "For the success of the campaign, no further reliance
 
 *3& THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 should be placed upon the Duke of Saxe-eisenach, who, af- 
 ter having shamefully retreated before Montclar', French 
 forces, stupidly let himself be cornered on an island in the 
 Rhine, by Strasburg, where he has surrendered." 
 
 "Yes," said the prince, turning pale, " you are right ; this 
 is bad news worse disartrous 1" He wiped his perspir- 
 ing forehead with the back of his hand. ' What next, sir ? 
 quick !" he said in a tone becoming steady by his will. 
 
 "Well, my lord, you must not count on the sixty thousand 
 men with whom you promised to relieve Freiburg and re-en- 
 ter Lorraine " 
 
 "How is this ?" 
 
 "His Imperial Majesty, from whom you expected this 
 succor, requires all his troops to put down the insurrection 
 in Hungary." 
 
 "Ah !" 
 
 "Besides, his ministers judge the position of France so 
 strong that they have resolved to accept without discussion 
 She conditions, which that power imposes at the treaty-con 
 gress held at Nimwegen." 
 
 His hearer was whiter than the handkerchief with which 
 he wiped his face as the cloaked spy continued : 
 
 "The fact is that the army which collected under Basle, 
 and which you were to take the command of and relievu 
 Freiburg before a forward movement, has started this very 
 morning for Vienna, with orders to march quickly so as to 
 deal with the rebels." 
 
 " Ugh !" growled the prince, gnawing his fists, " so fade 
 my hopes and expectations ! Fie on this Prince of Saxe-Eis- 
 enach and this Leopold, suggested to be my brother-in-law ! 
 two Varuses one, a coward and the other, a perjurier ! 
 who will restore me their legions ?" he rose and stood in a 
 shaking fit of rage. He breathed hard, and opened his coat as 
 if to bare his breast to his dagger. Is there nothing good 
 left on the earth ? nothing that men hold in respect ? gone 
 are plighted faith, the ties of family and the soldier's honor !" 
 
 He seemed choking ; but mastering his emotion after fall- 
 ing upon the seat, he said with a wearied gesture : 
 
 " Have you some more gall from that cask to pour out to 
 me?'' 
 
 " My lord, I have finished with the bad news." 
 
 44 It is true you said some was good. Well, speak, my
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. aj? 
 
 Man. Please heaven, what is to come is not so disagreeable !" 
 
 " Your highness is the judge. In the first place, Your 
 highness is aware that the French are short of artillery before 
 Freiburg." 
 
 " But it is being Mat thm : I hear of a bMtery being 1 
 planted-" 
 
 " Of guns on a new system and of recent iaveirtion?" 
 
 " Precisely ; of terrible execution." 
 
 " Possibly ; but it will be a long time before this battery 
 comes into play." 
 
 " Do you think so .'" 
 
 "I know so, my lord, because the pieces are useless with- 
 out the proper powder and projectiles, which are loaded in 
 wagons, mired down on this side of the Vosges Mountains ; 
 it will have taken days to dig and haul them out ; and 
 though they are due to-morrow night they will not arrive if 
 they are cut off." 
 
 " Eh ?" 
 
 " The wagons will be escorted by dragoons ; say, some 
 thirty men at most enough in a safe country, and your reg- 
 ular soldiers are withdrawn ; but I have had a chat with an 
 old freelance captain, and he has a band of fifty desperadoes 
 waiting at Coimar to intercept them." 
 
 " Did you order this ?" 
 
 " They await ray word, my lord. And I have done bet- 
 ter than that as I came along. On hearing that peace will 
 be si^.ied at Niraewegen, a number of brave lads who dote 
 on warfare, for what profit it brings them, have deserted from 
 all armies so as to co-operate with fellows of the same stripe, 
 and there they are at Oppenau, upwards of eight thousand 
 strong." 
 
 " Eight thousand rough soldiers at Oppenau, only a few 
 leagues away ?" 
 
 " I, who knew most of their leaders when we campaigned 
 in Flanders, had the idea of enrolling; them under your high- 
 ness's colors. Your highness has this extra legion, then, to 
 lead to victory and booty or death." 
 
 The prince frowned. 
 
 " Is it partisan war that you propose to me, sirrah ?" 
 
 " All kinds of war are feasible when it serves one'i 
 gain" 
 
 " I am a general of armies, not a captain of plunderers."
 
 5J38 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 " But a general is none, when he has no army !" returned 
 Walton with rare boldness, at which Joel conceived a higher 
 opinion of him. 
 
 " Fellow !" 
 
 "Pshaw ! I imagine your highness to have a mind too su- 
 perior to cavil at mere words. Come to this pass, what were 
 the companions of Romulus ? a handful of blackguards 
 scooped up along the highway for the organised robbery 
 called conquest ! what the grand companies of free- 
 lances which Duguesclin gathered to fight the King of Nav- 
 arre? what the knights who helped William the Conqueror to 
 take England? Adverturers all! Allow these desperate sold- 
 iers to place you once more in possession of your states. 
 You can discipline them into regiments and their captains 
 will make as good a figure in history, I warrant you, as those 
 who burnt towns under Marshal Turenne, pillaged Lorraine 
 under Crequy, ravaged Germany under Gustavus Adolphus, 
 and nearly upset your Emperor under Wallenstein. Besides, 
 your highness has no time to be dainty. The hour is decis- 
 ive for you. The capture of Freiburg by the French will mean 
 your impotence to fly to the help of those whom you led to 
 ruin all Europe will see this clearly and pitying you to-day, 
 it will scorn you to-morrow and repudiate you thereafter. Do 
 you wish to act over again the part your uncle Charles IV. 
 palyed vagabond, dispossessed, and starved and which you 
 have had some experience in? do you want Louis XIV. to cast 
 you a slice of teritory as a crust is tossed to a dog? Would you 
 like 'to rule over the three Bishoprics, with Toul for a cap- 
 ital that hencoop! If you be this kind of sovereign and 
 commander, I am your servant who takes his leave. Con- 
 sider that I never came so far to seek you out; and that I 
 sounded the secrets of the intriguers in Paris for another con- 
 fidant than you. Think you that I have pretended to sell drugs 
 with the risk of being burnt alive, for the purse of gold they 
 earned, now and then? No? I will go straight to link my 
 fortune to some one's more ambitious, more audacious and 
 more enteprising than your highness." 
 
 "The Author" had found a hearer if not his opportunity 
 at last: be sure that Joel listened to the whole with avidity. 
 Therese had heard some such sentences before, and the elo- 
 quence was wasted on her : sitting on the bench, she hid 
 her eyes in her hands and w* 1 ^ . a vlently.
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAM IS. 239 
 
 The Prince of Lorraine meditated : he vaa a well-read 
 jnan, and he muttered : 
 
 "Quijacet in terra non habet unde cadat" 
 
 Whicti meant on iiis lips that he was on the ground and 
 had no farther falls to dread. If he moved, he might risk 
 all to win all. While he reflected, the tempter regarded him 
 covertly, dusting his fine boots, which he owed to the bounty 
 of Mdme. de Montespan, as well as his suit of riding clothes.! 
 
 "But," said Duke Charles, finally raising his head, "Suppo* 
 sing that I consent to use the soldiers whom you offer me, do 
 you fancy that they will have any chance to vanquish an 
 army full of bravery, discipline and cohesion like Cre"quy's ?" 
 
 "Yes, if the Freiburg garrison, also good regular troops, 
 makes a general sortie at the same time as these irregulars, 
 not so irregular in movements as in morals, attacks them in 
 the rear." 
 
 "It may be." 
 
 "That is not all. I should want this day of attack to be 
 Jthat when the French made an assault in force on the strong- 
 hold. I am told that a secret mine is ready loaded for such 
 a storming party. I would lure the enemy upon the wall so 
 undermined and apply the torch when a simulated retreat 
 brought them over the volcano. Then, when the most daring 
 spirits of the foe were hurled into atoms, I would have the 
 free companies charge with your regulars and the garrison 
 issue by the other gates to rout the demoralized foe." 
 
 "This implies that you are to be inside the fort?" 
 
 " I must, in order to notify your lordship when to make 
 the attack with the combined forces." 
 
 " You would enter the place ?" 
 
 " I shall be inside in a day or two." 
 
 "But you must pass through the French camp ?" 
 
 " I am French, though born in London: I see no difficulty 
 in this it is my business: I shall find some pretext, some* 
 disguise, some means. Trust to one who has an inventive, 
 wit when I decide on anything, the devil, somewhat related 
 to me, I believe, never fails to assist me to carry out the 
 scheme." 
 
 " If success crowns your efforts, sir, I shall lie under great 
 obligations to you." 
 
 " In working for your highness," said Walton, "I am work- 
 ing for myself. I bulk up t fortune in Paris, but as I was
 
 240 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OX. 
 
 putting on the roof, a gale arose, and all has tumbled in. j 
 have fled with my mistress, my lord, and I come to your 
 highness, because we are birds of a feather I mean in the 
 like straits. 
 
 Lorraine frowned, as this resemblance did not more than 
 half please him. 
 
 "But," went on the other, understanding this rep.ignance; 
 '* let the more pressing case be attended to. Is your high- 
 ness willing to take measures in connection with the plan 1 
 have the favor to propose ? May I know on what day he would 
 give battle to the French marshal ? " 
 
 The duke reflected, before replying in a determined tone : 
 
 " This is Monday. To- morrow I shall go over to Op- 
 penau to put myself at the head of your part sans ; on Friday 
 night we will rush upon the besiegers. May this day repay 
 us for that at Consarbruck when we were defeated ! But,'* 
 he resumed, turning to the other, " I repeat to you, this ul- 
 timate effort has only the hops of success in the concurrence 
 of the garrison, the explosion of the mine beneath the storm- 
 ing party, and of the population of the town." 
 
 " I say again ; the storming party shall be lured to the 
 s ; te of destruction, for 1 shall be within Freiburg to-morrow. 
 On the fixed night, signal to me that you are ready to fall 
 on." 
 
 " A rocket from this house should forewarn you that we are 
 about to attack," 
 
 " A rocket : that will do ; hold it as certain then, that all 
 the men able to carry arms will sally out to crush the French 
 between them and your army like two branches of pincers. 
 Rely on me, my lord, for our aims are alike." 
 
 The duke rose to the relief of Joel, to point out that the in- 
 ter view was over, but Walton did not budge. 
 
 " Still a few minutes, my lord ! all is not settled between us. 
 Your highness has apparently omitted one essential point.'* 
 
 " Hem ! " said Lorraine, * I have forgotten that all services 
 must be paid for and that we have not yet fixed the price 
 which you have the right to claim for yours." 
 
 " You r Mghness is wrong," returned Walton, shaking his 
 head. When success has come, then your highness may 
 value It in proportion to the gains." 
 
 " Deuce take him !" muttered the general. "He asks for 
 coining, and so his terms will be terribly dear."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 141 
 
 "A last point, ray lord : it is settled that I am to enter 
 the town. Ought I not have some credentials to present to. 
 the governor on which he will obey the instructions which 
 I carry from your highness, and show me the mine, which I 
 want to fire with my own hand," said he with a fiendish grin 
 which caused the warrior to shudder. "Otherwise the wor- 
 thy officer will see in me only a spy, a secret agent of ihe 
 French Marshal, and he will apply to me the expeditious 
 methods of the laws of war which will not sensibly ad- 
 vance your highness's affairs. 
 
 The duke pondered. 
 
 " You are right," he said, taking out a note-book, of which 
 every page was stamped with his cipher so as to be recog- 
 nized by his military officers. " Braun answers for you to/ 
 me, and I can answer for you to others to a certain degree. 
 I will furnish you with the pass you desire." He wrote or* 
 the page with pencil and read these lines aloud. 
 
 " To Colonel Schutz, our Military Governor of Freiburg 
 Castle and town. Colonel : We desire you to receive the 
 bearer of the present note with the attentions due an envoy 
 of ours and to favor him with all he may wish for the good 
 of our service and the defence of the place." 
 
 44 Wonderfully good !'* observed Walton. 
 
 ** Wait !" said the Lorraine prince, who resumed 
 
 *If however this said envoy proffers the advice to surren. 
 der the 8*id place, or he appears to commit any act hurtful to 
 the defence, or seems to be in collusion with the enemy, do 
 not hesitate to punish him straightway ^ with the penalties 
 prescribed by the law for spies and traitors. Watch him 
 carefully and at the first suspicious move, hang him for me 
 or wash his head with some ounces of lead. This is out 
 express wilL" 
 
 He looked at the traitor fixedly and asked : 
 
 "Have you understood this writing ?" 
 
 "Yes, my lord," rejoined Walton, who indeed followed the 
 text with a clearer head than Joel, brought to the task of 
 comprehending German. 
 
 The duke signed and detached the toftf.
 
 342 THE SON OP PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 "'The colonel knows ray hand," said he, "and consequently 
 the authenticity will not be disputed. I warn you that 
 he is the sort of man to execute the orders though he had to 
 do so with his own hand." 
 
 Walton snapped his fingers, so naturally that the prince was 
 deceived. He held out the paper, saying : 
 
 "Take it, and take heed that it is not found upon you, if 
 you run up against the soldiers of Marshal Cre*quy." 
 
 "I must come near to him, my lord, since I reckon on him 
 to help me into Freiburg." 
 
 "Ah ?" 
 
 "I shall call on him, as the bearer of despatches from the 
 War Minister Louvois. I left Paris with the hope of securing 
 them ; I have distanced the messenger on the road, and I 
 know where to lay my hand on them." 
 
 Joel shuddered in the ambush, to think that he might have 
 been sleeping at this hour, unconscious of his impending 
 doom. 
 
 "I shall transmit to your highness a copy of the documents, 
 and as for this pass, I have a secret receptacle here in which 
 I defy the cunning ones to perceive the real hollow." 
 
 He unscrewed the head of his cane and showed that it 
 was innocent enough of preparation ; he detached the fer- 
 ule, and the stick sounded solid to the rap of the nail ; but 
 about half way down, one of the ornamental knots, whence 
 the twigs were trimmed, proved to be fictitious and disclosed 
 a pocket. He rolled up the paper and inserted it therein. 
 Fastening the pieces together, he cut the air with it and 
 said jauntily : "It is done, my lord. It is not the French 
 who will ferret out the tablet of your highness." 
 
 The chevalier had missed no detail of the manoeuvre. 
 Duke Charles V. and his ally proceeded towards the door 
 of the stableyard and exchanged some words with Braun, 
 who had stood like a statue, surveying the road. 
 
 The prince's features were depressed with lassitude, dis- 
 gust and repugnance as he went out to join his escort in a 
 hollow. 
 
 "What a great shame and pity that a prince of my race, 
 related to the most illustrious houses of Europe, should be re- 
 duced, to fight destiny, to ally himselt with the accomplice 
 of the Poisoners of Paris ! " 
 
 "What a pity ! " sighed Joel in his ambush, "that I can*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS^ 245 
 
 not make this capture the Lorraine prince, the <nvpiatcable 
 adversary of Marshal Crequy, his Majesty and France ! 1 
 must let him fly away when I had but to put my finger oo 
 him. The marshal would have congratulated me before the 
 whole army; the King would have called me home to over- 
 whelm me with honors, riches, and decorations but all is 
 lost ! it is not so sure that I shall capture this renegade." 
 
 Indeed, the sham Englishman and Braun were speaking 
 by the hole in the hedge. The silence in the house gave 
 them a twinge of suspicion. 
 
 "Bah ! " said Walton, at last, as he preceded the German 
 on the way to the house, " I am sure of the woman. We 
 will send her up to see if the man is asleep, as you assert, 
 and as he answers or is silent, we will charge to make an end 
 of it. Did you hear ? those papers he carries must be my 
 passport into the presence of Marshal Crequy. He will be 
 (oo glad to get them to look closely at my story of how I 
 met the bearer, wounded to the death by bandits, and con- 
 fiding them to mr , He will welcome the Frenchman who 
 did his duty and would not try to sell them to the Prince of 
 Lorraine. " 
 
 He drew his sword, and with the innkeeper armed with 
 his knife, he entered the house. 
 
 "Now is our time, " whispered the woman, who had been 
 electrified by the nearness of her persecutor. 
 
 They ran to the stable : the large door was on the jar, and: 
 the two had the horses out in a twinkling. Joel swung him- 
 self into the saddle and helped the woman into hers ; the 
 saddle was not suited to the feminine mode, but there was 
 no time to rectify it, and she mounted as best she might. To 
 add spurs to their flight, they heard in the inn angry words, 
 oaths, and shouts, and divined that their absence was dis- 
 covered. 
 
 Side by side the two horses leaped the hedge at the gap 
 and Joel, half-turning, asked: 
 
 "What direction do we take?" 
 
 "To the French camp at Freiburg, of course." 
 
 "No, the very one they will pursue us upon: did you not 
 hear that the roads which lead thither are infested by camp- 
 followers. Loss of time is nothing compared with the loss 
 of my despatches. Let us take some bridle path and let 
 them give chase as they may at random."
 
 244 THE SON OF POKrHOS; OR, 
 
 You are right. They will also try to throw themselves 
 between us and the only bridge, while we can cross at an- 
 other spot, by a ferryman's boat. We are sure to reach it 
 by keeping to the riverside as soon as we strike it." 
 
 "Forward then, into the woods; but I am sorry not to have 
 given the traitors a taste of my steel and to have exchanged 
 shots with the villainous innkeeper, he, with his long gun, I, 
 with my pistols, which I am glad to retain in my girdle." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 A TRICK OF WAR. 
 
 JOEL and his new companion were riding through the 
 wood as the false dawn peeped: but it was gloomy under the 
 trees ; their horses were fatigued by the soft soil of rotted 
 leaves and the vines which caught at their fetlocks. 
 
 "Alas," the young woman continued her revelation, " one 
 may not choose one's parents, and my mother God forgive 
 her ! one whose name will ever arouse a shiver of terror and 
 horror. She was a midwife when she fell in with my father, 
 who under the pretence of teaching her black rnagic for 
 she practiced white magic and told fortunes to ladies in- 
 structed her to manufacture poisons, among them the super- 
 fine powder which floats about so that the maker must wean 
 a glass mask, and the elixir which is distilled from the jewe>' 
 in the toad's head. My parents kept a store where all vices 
 and passions could find help and satisfaction, and they had 
 numerous customers wives whose husbands were a clog up- 
 on them, husbands whose wives were their incubi, high-born 
 dames who were hampered by a rival, heirs to estate who had 
 run through their patrimony, ambitious statesmen impatient 
 to be promoted, place-hunters, enemies who flocked hither 
 to buy the means of rapidly contenting their interests and 
 wicked propensities." 
 
 "Hearken:" interrupted Joel, as he heard in the distance 
 the passing of a troop of horse. 
 
 In the silence of the morning, the hoofs on the clayey soil 
 of the highway could be heai<i distinct as blows of a ham- 
 mer.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 245 
 
 *They are our pursuers," continued he: "they are at 
 about the spot where we turned out of the main road: tkey 
 are going on they have gone on." 
 
 The sound indeed lessened and soon died entirely away. ' 
 
 " It was there that I first saw that man Walton," pro- 
 ceeded Therese. "He went by the name of the Englishman, 
 kecause he was born in London of gipsy parents. He is 
 cowardly, perfidious, cruel, rapacious, and abominably per- 
 verted : but he is active, intelligent, educated, and of good- 
 manners and artful language. It was he whom the band em- 
 ployed to negotiate with the Marchioness de Montespan, 
 through her maids, when she purposed compassing the King's 
 removal." 
 
 "The King's removal ?" repeated Joel, starting in the sad- 
 dle. 
 
 "At the period," went on the woman,emphatically, "when 
 the Beautiful Fontanges was preferred to her by Louis, for 
 the moment " 
 
 "Such a crime is impossible," protested the knight, "and 
 by the favorite of the King ?" 
 
 "She would not have hesitated to sacrifice her royal lover 
 
 o the pain, and wrath, and shame of seeing him ensnared 
 
 by another. Besides, the proof of what I assert exists, couched 
 
 at full length in a letter written by the marchioness to my father 
 
 to ask for the poison." 
 
 Joel did not hear this last sentence, as he was listening to 
 a sound in another quarter. A rumble was heard and a damp 
 chilly wind came to fan their cheeks, hot with the riding. 
 
 "It is the river," said Joel. 
 
 Ten minutes after, they came out on the bank of an arm 
 of the Rhine, swollen by rain and spread widely ; the moon 
 slanted as it paled before the aurora and made the willow* 
 seem an army of spectres. As they followed the water at a slow 
 pace, the woman pursued : 
 
 "How was I entangled by such a miscreant? Can I exJ 
 plain the infatuation otherwise than by the circle in which I 
 was brought up ? Fanderers and witches, sham priests and 
 homicidal chemists, who professed nothing but the cult of evil, 
 feared nothing but the police officers, and were ignorant of 
 a conscience. In short, he became my master, to the ap- 
 plause of my mother, for I was a reproach to her as long 
 as I remained honest ; my father, however, who loved me as
 
 146 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 the tiger loves his young master, alone tried to wrest QRO 
 from the claws of this devil. 
 
 "He will kill you some day," he warned me. 
 
 " At least, he beat me, robbed and deceived me, but I 
 adored him all '.he same " 
 
 "Is not that the house you meant!" inquired Joel. 
 
 While listening to the tale, he continued to scat, the 
 ground, and as he spoke he stretched out his hand to a 
 cabin of logs and rudely shaped timber by the riverside, on a 
 knoll. A boat was bobbing up and down on the tumultuous 
 tide among the reeds, at the end of a chain attached to a 
 stake. Leaping down from his horse, the chevalier knocked 
 on the door, until a man's voice hallow'd from within : 
 
 " Who are you, and what do you want ?" 
 
 " Friend, we are in want of your help," replied the Bre- 
 ton. 
 
 " We will pay anything you ask for your services," added 
 the woman also alighting. 
 
 They heard the clicking of flint and steel as the fisher, 
 man struck a light. The door opened warily, and the ferry, 
 man made his appearance on the sill: an old thickset man, 
 with a tanned complexion, who held up a lantern to examine 
 the visitors, and in the other hand held a boathook to de- 
 fend his home. 
 
 " Goodman," said Joel, " we want to be put on the othet 
 side." 
 
 " It is not easy in the morning fog ; the current is swift 
 and my flat boat is leaky." 
 
 "Service of the King," returned Joel, " and if we are 
 drowned the price will not be exacted of you. And on my 
 own service, you must obey or I shall be forced to deal 
 with you summarily. Steel or silver take your choice," 
 And he slapped his sword-pommel. 
 
 " If it comes to that," replied the other, frightened, "I 
 will do my best with a nail, a scrap of tarred canvas and a 
 plug " 
 
 "How much time is this work to take ?" 
 
 "Not more than twenty minutes, I suppose." 
 
 "Be it so,'' said the young officer, with a stern tone that 
 was terrifying: " if in half-an-hour at the farthest, we are not 
 in the middle of the stream, you will be going down to the 
 bottom of it, with a stone round your neck."
 
 THE DBA TH OF ARAMIS. 24? 
 
 While the old man hurriedly made the repairs to fit the 
 boat for the three to cross, by the lantern light, the pair 
 entered the cabin and sat on a pile of rushes. 
 
 "How did you come from Paris to this part of Lorraine 
 and Alsace ?" 
 
 "Alas," said the daughter of La Voisin, "what was fated 
 came to pass. Divine clemency was worn out, and human 
 justice was goaded on. One morning, M. Lareynie had all 
 of us arrested, and the Chambre Ardent took up our case. 
 My unhappy mother was condemned to capital punishment 
 and was executed on the Execution-place with over thirty 
 of her accomplices. My father was kept in prison, by the 
 royal order : a form equivalent to perpetual imprisonment. 
 I was benefitted by my youth, and my lover by his turn- 
 ing evidence. We were banished, but, after a tour in England, 
 we slipped back into Paris where I carried on the harmless 
 par of my mother's trade in the Bouloi Street, under the name 
 of the Manicarde. I was soon fashionable, as I had my moth- 
 er's craft at my finger's ends and Walton knew all the stories 
 of court and city ladies. But I was in fear of a descent of 
 the police, and, unnerved, sick of the business, I made a 
 bold step and took to flight. I came in {his direction be- 
 cause I thought that war would be a bar to justice. I hoped, 
 too, that my lover would never meet me. In this I was 
 wrong, for he overtook me at Brisach and the bond was fas- 
 tened on me again. He talked of entering into the pay of 
 Duke Charles, sure to welcome any enemy of France. If we 
 had nothing to sell him, he proposed Pushing on to Vienna, 
 where he expected me to dupe some court lady and obtain 
 state secrets which we might dispose of to the highest bidder. 
 In short, we might thus return to Paris, to resume the old 
 trade. But this time the scales fell from my eyes. I un- 
 derstood that this man was an enemy of our race, and shame 
 drove out of me the mad passion for him. But I am a woman, 
 feeble, and seeking an aid you came across my path 
 
 and 
 
 "Unfortunately, I cannot take you into the camp," objected 
 the chevalier. 
 
 "It matters not, I have already spoken of the convent. 
 Well, I have jewels to pay for my entrance into some holy 
 house; I am eager for oblivion and repose. I wish to sink 
 Into the protective shadow of the cross, where I will knee}
 
 THE SON OF PORTHOSi OR. 
 
 to implore pardon for my faults. I wish to repent and pray 
 pray for my mother, who has expiated her crimes upom 
 the pyre, and for my father, who will expiate his in some 
 dungeon " 
 
 "You have spoken some names, but I do not formally know 
 what are those of your father and mother." 
 
 "It costs me something to utter them, before which the 
 Parisians cross themselves as at sight of an infernal appari- 
 tion. Nevertheless, if you insist " 
 
 "Do not believe that it is mere curiosity which impels me. 
 My persistancy has another cause and another aim. I am 
 charged with a deposit, and you may be the very person for 
 whom it is intended." 
 
 "What deposit what person speak!" 
 
 If he had spoken, she would not have heard, for louder 
 than his voice sounded one on the bank: 
 
 "There the are! I recognize my horse, tied to that tree. 
 Ten crowns to whoever will dash down and prevent them 
 mounting." 
 
 The boat," shouted Joel, springing oat of t'he cabin. 
 
 "It is fit. Step in ! I am in haste to put off." 
 
 The chevalier took the woman up in his arms and placed 
 her in she boat. But the old man lost his wits as the enemy 
 came down the bank, forced to dismount and lead their hors- 
 es, and threatening to reach them in a mass. His trembling 
 hand made a blunder in detaching the rope on the stake and 
 he gasped : "Holy Mother !" without any progress. 
 
 *' Never mind that get to your pole to push her off," said 
 Joelf and seizing the stake, driven deeply into the bank, he 
 pfucked it up as easily as a gardener draws a radish from fh 
 soil. 
 
 "Take care chevalier, take care !" screamed the woman 
 
 Three of the ruffians whom the prisoner had already picked 
 up on the road, ventured to ride down the steep bank. 
 Two had their swords flourished, the other held a pistol 
 in hand. On the water's edge, they reined in, pulling 
 up their horses on their haunches, and encircled the young 
 office! He had in his grasp the stake, a pile fit to be 
 driven under a bridge. He swung it round like a mace, 
 and for a minute the medley was dreadful of the crushing 
 blows, the crash of falls, the shrieks, the oaths, and the neighs 
 f horses. All three reiters were hurled from the saddles
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMlz. 549 
 
 the two swords flung fifteen paces off, and the pistol im- 
 bedded in the fist of the man who had discharged it , he 
 Jay on his back in the ooze, senseless. His comrades had 
 a broken arm and a broken jaw. The victor's cheek was 
 black with powder and his luxuriant locks were singed, but, 
 unharmed, he stepped into the boat and with a vigorous 
 push of the stake, he sent it off into the flood. 
 
 When the rest of the ruffians reached the verge, the scow 
 was out of reach. Walton and Braun foamed at the mouth 
 with ire. He urged his horse into the water as if to swim 
 it after the fugitives; and shook his cane at the Son of Por- 
 thos, as he road in the stirrups, yelling: 
 
 "Ah, you dog!" 
 
 At this insult, Joel's temper was ruffled, and snatching a 
 pistol from his belt, he fired at the speaker. But at that 
 moment, the horse floundered in a raudhole and Walton's 
 head was at a lower level. It was Braun who received the 
 large bullet in the chest and he staggered back and slowly 
 slipped down out of the saddle. 
 
 "Go no farther," said one of the party to Walton: "The 
 river is treacherous if your horse loses footing in the 
 deeper places, you " 
 
 The scoundrel did not hear: green with bile and anger, 
 with a bloodshot eye and a quivering lip, he hissed: 
 
 "They are escaping no, they shall not escape me!" 
 
 The second shot from Joel cut off one of his lovelocks as 
 clean as though scissors had clipped it, and left a red seam 
 along side his temple. The pain only maddened him and he 
 roared: 
 
 "You have your muskets. Fire on them, comrades, fire 
 on all in the boat !" 
 
 The scow was but slowly leaving the bank as the rapid 
 current was full of eddies, and it went badly in spite of Joel, 
 laying down his empty pistol and taking the pole to assist 
 the old man in punting. 
 
 The reiters hastened to unhook their guns from the saddle 
 horns. 
 
 "Lie down," commanded Joel to the woman while he 
 placed himself like a bulwark to the boatman. Thus they 
 awaited the discharge of about half the battery already in 
 position. 
 
 Six or seven shots souv>d4, and the bullets whizzed
 
 350 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 around the flatboat : the fisher peeped back, but at this, a 
 whirl swung the boat so that he was left uncovered by Joel, 
 and a straggling bullet pierced his brain by the ear, after 
 grazing the Breton the unfortunate man lost his balance 
 and fell over the low side, still convulsirely clutching the 
 pole. This loss was hailed by a shout of coarse exultation 
 by the rude soldiers on the shore, and those who had not 
 fired, levelled to obey Walton's order. He on his horse were 
 swimming in the wake of the boat, of which Joel took both 
 oars to try to navigate it across the channel. 
 
 " Down, down 1" cried he to Therese, who had lifted her 
 head, but the caution came too late. 
 
 " Aim low," Walton had shouted, hoping that the boat 
 would be injured if no one in it were hit : and most of the 
 missiles flew along the surface of the stream 
 
 Again the volley was followed by a straggling shot or two, 
 and tiie woman, who had thought that the general discharge 
 was all to be feared and who rose a little to make sure tbt 
 her defender were uninjured, was struck : she rolled in the 
 hollow of the scow, murmuring : 
 
 " Lord, have pity on me have pity on the daughter of 
 Therese Lesage and La Voisin !" 
 
 What deepened her pain was to see the stalwart form of 
 the chevalier reel like a tree to the trunk of which an ax had 
 been vigorously laid : he let the oars drop, but inside the gun- 
 nel, and was soon extended across the thwarts without a tre- 
 mor. 
 
 "Hussa !" laughed Walton, who had fallen into the cur- 
 rent and was being sped towards the scow, itself turning 
 round and round on its centre in a whirlpool. " Cease fir- 
 ing, or you will hit me I can deal with them now." 
 
 But again the conflicting flows played a trick: one current 
 caught the boat and spun it towards the opposite bank at 
 good speed which made the next shots unlikely to fall true : 
 besides, the same flux carried Walton and his horse into the 
 line of fire. 
 
 The dawn had fully come, and objects began to be defined 
 as the mists rolled away. 
 
 The sham Englishman laughed as he beat his horse 'co 
 swim more fleetly. Then, shifting the cane into his left hand, 
 he extended the other to seize the gunnel of the flat: he 
 gloated on the splashes of blood, on the pale and still fig*
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 251 
 
 re of the woman and on the huge body of the Breton, who 
 had baffled his schemes. All his triumph was in hand's 
 reach, indeed. 
 
 "I have them/' he called out. 
 
 At the same moment his exhausted horse failed him, and 
 as he felt it sinking from between his legs he grasped the 
 edge of the boat with both hands: the cane fell within the 
 side. To his horror, Joel rose with a turn upon his knees 
 and made his hands encircle his throat with a grip impossi- 
 ble for a man thrice his strength to disengage. 
 
 "Pray your last," said the Breton, "the French dog gives 
 deadly bite!" 
 
 Then rising, he held up the strangled adventurer in clear 
 View of his friends on the opposite bank and contemptuously 
 hurled him into the stream in their direction. A shower 
 of bullets played ducks and drakes on the surface about 
 him, but he was out of range. In another instant the boat 
 came to a stop, in shoals by the edge. Joel lifted the motion- 
 less body of the woman in his arms and bounded upon 
 ffche shore. 
 
 He was climbing the ridge when a body of armed men 
 appeared on horses and with musketoons ready for use held 
 iby the thigh. 
 
 "Who goes there ?" was their challenge in French. 
 
 It was a French patrol. 
 
 "France !" replied our hero, who felt in safety. 
 
 "Drop weapons and advance !" 
 
 As the bearer of Therese obeyed, the sun rose behind the 
 forest, the whole scene was suddenly illumined, arid a flood 
 of exclamations broke out on both sides : 
 
 "What a meeting ! The Breton of St. Fiacre's Oak ! the 
 adversary of our Corporal Bregy !" 
 
 "What a providential chance," said Joel, no less aston- 
 ished. "My Musketeers of St. Germain Forest Messieurs' 
 de Gace, Escrivaux, Hericourt and Champagnac." 
 
 The cavaliers poured question upon question on him : 
 
 "Where do you spring from, in this dress, and loaded with 
 this blood-sprinkled corpse ?" 
 
 "Gentlemen, I will explain all later," rejoined the young 
 knight, " but let us think of this hapless woman now. In 
 heaven's name help to what ike needs shelter, a bed and 
 uuccor !"
 
 H2 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 "Hump," coughed the old officer commanding the patrol 
 "it is my opinion that the sufferer has more call for a con- 
 fessor than a doctor, but, never mind, let us do the usua\ 
 thing. Those gentlemen may help you to carry her to the 
 first house on the road to camp, while I attend to this knot 
 of rough-looking gentry on the other bank." 
 
 With the oars a litter was improvised, and wrapped in a 
 horseman's cloak, the woman was transported to a farm- 
 house. In the meantime the rioters had decamped on see- 
 ing the armed force able to exchange shot for shot. They 
 had no wish to stop under fire to fish for the body of Walton, 
 doomed to feed the fish of the Rhine. 
 
 The farmer's wife undressed the woman and put her to 
 bed. Temporary dressing was applied with lint and band- 
 ages, but the wound left little hope : the projectile had gone 
 clear through the body. On her sniffing vinegar and rubbing 
 her temples with it, she appeared at last to recover life. A 
 fleeting color tinted her cheeks, while her lips fluttered and 
 her eyes opened. She cast a dim look around her, vacil- 
 lating and without brightness. 
 
 Toel, who had not quitted her, bent over her. 
 ' Do you know me ?" he inquired. 
 
 The gaze brightened in token of recognition. 
 
 " Can you hear and understand me ? " he further ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 The eyes made the same response : and he turned to the 
 bystanders, saying : " Leave me alone for a space with her, 
 as I must speak to her." 
 
 Everybody went out. leaving the man beside the pillow : 
 he held one of her icy hands in his. 
 
 " So you are the daughter of Pierre Lesage and La Voii- 
 in?" 
 
 "Yes," she nodded, ashamed, and using a voice scarcely 
 above a breath. "I horrify you, do I not?" she said with 
 pain and with an effort. 
 
 " I have been looking for you, my poor Therese, in order 
 to hand you this object," and he drew the locket from his 
 bosom and presented it to her. Her eyes dilated with as- 
 tonishment as she recognized the memento from prisoner 
 141. 
 
 Yes, I know this trinket it ^belonged to nay father. 
 How did it come into your possession ?"
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMiS. 253 
 
 **I had it from the rightful owner Pierre Lesage ** 
 
 " You have seen him ?" she faintly screamed, 
 
 "I have seen him and spoken to him, in the Bastille** 
 
 " Was he detained there ? I thought it was in Vincennes 
 Castle. Good heavens ! how long may he not be imprisoned 
 there ?" 
 
 "He has already left it more than six weeks ago, he 
 died." 
 
 He related his meeting with his fellow-prisoner and how 
 he had a doubt about the sincerity of the provision of means 
 to escape which he owed to Walton 
 
 "The villain how right I was to quit him. He alone es- 
 caped the quick doom of the transgressor." 
 
 " Not so : he was drowned in the river," said Joel 
 
 " All have gone to the other world," muttered the woman, 
 " after their strange destinies here. How will the heavenly 
 Judge receive my father and my mother ? How will their 
 daughter be received ?" 
 
 She repulsed the locket. 
 
 "Keep it,'* said she. "It is a talisman, which will bring 
 to the bearer who knows how to use it, all that human ambi- 
 tion can dream of : riches, credit, honors, and power ! it is a 
 letter which proves what I affirmed to you in the boatman's 
 hut, but which you refused to believe. In this the Marchion- 
 ess de Montespan, furious at the King casting her off in 
 favor of La Fontanges, asks Pierre Lesage and LaVoisin for 
 poison with which to rid herself of her rival and revenge her- 
 self upon her lover. This avowal is complete and signed. 
 She must have been love-sick to have made such a confession, 
 monstrous imprudence ! but is it not written that they whom 
 heaven would destroy is first made mad ? However that 
 maybe, that scrawl placed under King Louis* eyes, may 
 send the proud marchioness into Lesage's prison or to La 
 Voisin's pyre ! Either he or she will buy it at any price, 
 for though the sovereign escaped, pooi Fontanges lies in the 
 grave. From one or the other, you see, the holder is sure to 
 obtain whatever he likes to demand. I give you this paper 
 and the locket** 
 
 " To me ?" 
 
 "To him who witnesses my last moments, as you almost 
 Witnessed those of my poor father." 
 
 "What would you have me do with this poisoned weapom?
 
 2$4 THE SON OF PORTHQS ; OR, 
 
 I am not of the school of the Montespans. Beside^ sh* 
 has retired from the court in disgrace." 
 
 Something like a smile flitted over the dying one's lips. 
 
 "Oh, chevalier, it is plain that you are a novice in court 
 matters ! A favorite never falls so low that she may not on 
 the wings of evil soar to the point whence she fell. Time 
 and again she seemed to have lost her power, but each time 
 she retook her place and marked her return with cruel blow 
 of revenge." 
 
 " But deuce take me if I hardly more than know your mar- 
 chioness !" returned Joel, animatedly. " I am neither hev 
 liege nor her enemy. Why should I be armed against her?" 
 
 The woman raised upon him eyes in which were the dark 
 depths of the eternal night. With a tone that seemed that 
 of a spirit of another world, she said : 
 
 " The veil over the future is rent for those about to die ; 
 and moreover, I have the gift of second sight. I see that you 
 must struggle with that woman for your dear ones " 
 
 Joel started, for a vision of Aurore rushed across a scent 
 and his heart felt a pang. 
 
 " Keep the locket preserve it for her guard to save 
 her !" persisted Therese in a weakening voice. " And as a 
 keepsake from me, who would have loved you with all hei 
 soul had you been free and I not unworthy of you !" 
 
 As though ashamed of the avowal escaping her, she seized 
 the sheet with both hands and tried to cover her face ; but 
 her arms relaxed and then stiffened. The linen fell, and 
 her eyes closed as the door opened to admit the doctor who 
 had been sent for. He looked for a moment on the white 
 face, idealized by death to the extreme of human beauty, and 
 taking off his hat with a grave movement, he said : 
 
 " This woman is beyond our cares." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 TO WIN HIS WIFE! 
 
 THE town of Freiburg was a difficult place from its strength 
 of position and sorely teased the rough and fierce captain 
 who beleaguered it, when Ensign Joel de Locmaria arrived 
 at last before it.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 35 J 
 
 His new friends had accompanied him as mourners when 
 Therese Lesage was borne to her grave in Alt-Brisach cem- 
 etery, leave having been accorded by their captain of light 
 horse, M. de la Berange, although every man was wanted in 
 the trenches. On their reaching Waldau, they found that 
 Marsual Crequy had left his head quarters for a reconnais- 
 sance in force, and they persuaded Joel to await his return. 
 
 As they approached the trenches freshly dug before the 
 Herdern suburb, they saw a tumult among the soldiers: light 
 cavalry men hadalignted, tied up their horses and surround- 
 ed a gioup of officers wnona they were threatening with voice 
 and fist. The friends of Joel rode up with him, also dis- 
 mounted and hitched their horses, and ran up. 
 
 " What is the matter r" they inquired. 
 
 " It is the marshi'.,"" ^^ a bowman. ~ He is making 
 fools of us. Not content with using us as footsoldiers, he 
 wants us to go into the trenches and use the pick and spade 
 like sappers and miners." 
 
 In the t;hick of the riot, Captain Beranges's voice arose;, 
 addressed to someone whom the Breton could not perceiv*. 
 
 *'You see, sir," he said, "that my soldiers refuse to lend a 
 band in such dirty work. I will try to dissuade the marshal 
 from requiring it in the meantime, pray seek the diggers 
 and delvers somewhere else. " 
 
 "But I tell you again, captain," replied another voice, " that 
 Major-general Basset of the Artillery has given me orders to 
 take fifty of your men to help finish this trench and mount 
 my mortars and by all the gods ! take them I will ? though 
 I have to grasp them by the collar and drag them to the 
 work. " 
 
 "I beg to advise you to try nothing of the sort, as my men 
 are very excited and they may forget the rules of the ser- 
 vice. " 
 
 "How now ?" muttered the Breton, "do my can deceirt 
 me ? I seem to have heard that captious voice before and 
 that style of carrying all before him ! " 
 
 Meanwhile the disputatious officer, picking out one of thf 
 light horsemen, said : 
 
 "I say, you with your elongated body, begin by taking 
 that mattock and set an example to your comrades." 
 
 The person addressed did not move. 
 
 ''Did you not hear me ? "
 
 i*6 THE SON Of PORTHOSi OR. 
 
 *M neard you plain enough,** 
 
 "Obey then, or " 
 
 "1 obey only my own officers, gentlemen who wear my 
 uniform and who measure more than a span from the crowq 
 to the sole !" 
 
 There was general laughter and the officer grew more angry 
 
 "You rascal !" he said. 
 
 *' Softly, softly, Master Bombardier," returned the cav- 
 alryman jokingly, "Do not rush at me like that you might 
 stumble into the funnel-tops of your boots and it would be 
 the devil's own work to find you in them !" 
 
 The hilarity increased, and the exasperated bombardier 
 called out : 
 
 "Sergeant Bonlarron !" 
 
 "Present" and a tall old fellow in. a steel cap, scrambled 
 out of the trench. 
 
 "Sergeant, take hold of this saucebox of exaggerated di 
 mensions for a light horseman the one who is laughing so 
 loudly and take him to the provost-marshal to be correcte4 
 with the strappado." 
 
 "Very well, sir !' and the tall soldier strode towards the 
 horseman designated: but when he stretched out his hand to 
 seize him, he diew back and laid his hand on his sword, growl- 
 ing : 
 
 You mud-splasher ( footsoldier ) I don't dare to finger 
 me!" 
 
 "Beware, sir," said Berange, "I warn you that my men 
 will not allow their comrade to be pulled about." 
 
 "Not by a mannikin !" 
 
 "Mannikin ! these insults ureet not be borne. Here, my 
 bombardiers." 
 
 The gunners darted out of the trench, brandishing their 
 digging implements. 
 
 "Sir, I shall hold you responsible for any bloodshed," said 
 the cavalry officer. 
 
 "And I shall hold you responsible for the disobedience and 
 insolence of your soldiers mutineers whom I shall chastise 
 hang, draw and quarter for their abuse. At them, my lads, 
 and well flog the foul-mouths ! " He whipped out his sword, 
 in which act he was imitated by his sergeant and men. 
 
 "Come, come," muttered Joel, ' it is high time that * 
 cool head intervened."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 157 
 
 He plunged into the riot and appeared among the flashing 
 blades, picks and spades raised in attack and defence. 
 
 "My friend Joel!" "My lodger of the Blakamoor." 
 
 So exclaimed the bombardier captain and his sergeant, 
 whom the Breton cordially saluted. 
 
 "But put up your swords! I must say that you are both 
 wrong. You in the first place, my comrade," he went on 
 to Friquet, "with such bullying, imperious and aggressive 
 manners in asking even for a proper thing that one is always 
 tempted to send you to the deuce with 'our touchy, quarrel- 
 some temper. Hang it all! it is not the tault of his Majesty's 
 lighthorse-men that they should stand a head and shoulders 
 above you. Overlook this accidental superiority and com- 
 fort yourself with the old saying that the best things are done 
 up in the smallest packets." 
 
 *'That is certain," grumbled the pigmy, sheathing his rapier, 
 "and the ladies always give the preference to the neat, little, 
 dapper gallants who never attain the bulk of your Olympian 
 Jupiters." 
 
 Joel had turned to Berange and said: "Captain, in all defer- 
 ence allow me to observe that it would have been handsomer 
 of you to carry out the King's orders, for you are no less his 
 man because you have a horse between your legs. What are 
 we all sent here for but to take Freiburg: and to do so, a 
 blow with the pick is as good as a cut of the sword. There is 
 as much honor in being shot at while digging a ditch as in 
 galloping across the field." 
 
 At that instant, as though to give point to the speech, a 
 puff of white smoke rose on one of the bastions of the strong- 
 hold. A cannon shot resounded, and the ball buried itself 
 in one of the sandbags covering the trench's t^?.ulement. 
 The bag was burst and Joel disappeared in a shower of dirt: 
 emerging and dusting himself, he continued calmly: "Now 
 you will see the utility of this work." 
 
 A second explosion was heard, and this time it was fol- 
 lowed by a deathcry, for a splash of blood half covered the 
 speaker: the besieged had improved on their aim at the crowd, 
 and the ball had struck Captain Berange in the chest. A 
 terrible clamor uprose from the men in dread as the captain 
 expired. Champagnac threw a cloak over him, while the rest 
 looked on in silence, pale and awed. 
 
 " Had the front of that trench been opened," said our
 
 358 'THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 hero coldly, " that brave gentleman would still be 
 
 Without a further word, he picked up a spade and set to 
 filling a gabion. Everybody followed his example, as if 
 fever moved all. Light-horsemen and artillerists, officers and 
 privates, they ran for tools and to fall into working order. 
 A furious cannonade from the enemy did not throw a damper 
 on this ardor, so that by nightfall tne cutting was a fit lodg- 
 ment and strongly occupied. 
 
 "'Sblood!" exclaimed Friquet, as he and Bonlarron felici- 
 tated Joel, "this is fabulous, stupefying and pyramidical ! to 
 renew old acquaintance undsr the enemy's cannon fire 1 Oh, 
 my vajiant, faithful Joel 1" 
 
 " But only look at this," went on the sergeant, " he sportu 
 the uniform of our regiment with the officer's insignia ht 
 must be the ensign we were expecting to see !" 
 
 There was an exchange of stories. Bonlarron had sold oui 
 by reason of the police having plagued the Blackamoor since 
 the substitution of Friquet for the duellist, and he had en . 
 listed under the flag of the new corps of bombardiers which 
 Friquet had the appointment to command. 
 
 "As for you we can see that you have found your sire 
 and the happy Porthos has procured his son a grade suitable 
 to his birth and rank " 
 
 Joel felt his heart smart as if burning. Violent color, a 
 hot flush mounted to his cheek and he stammered in embar- 
 rassment : 
 
 "No, it is not as you think I have not had that great 
 good fortune " 
 
 His confusion was interrupted by Captain Friquet being 
 called away by the major-general of the artillery. Silence and 
 rest presided over the camp and town at night. In the out- 
 posts nobody was awake save the sentinels and Joel. H 
 could not sleep from the remorse which Friquet's words had 
 aroused in his bosom. Was he acting right in what he waa 
 doing? conscience answered no! He had not quitted his na 
 live place to be a happy man ; to win the love of Aurore dw 
 Tremblay and marry her for a life of peace, no more than to 
 lead one of war : but to seek out the unknown. On her death-- 
 bed his mother had imposed this task upon him, and hu 
 had promised to devote his entire life unto it. He said to 
 himself that he should not have acquired the right to enioy 
 bis bliss until he found it impossible to ascertain the fat, of
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARA^fS. 259 
 
 the companion of Athos, Aramis and d'Artagnan. His res- 
 olution was taken in a minute. He would lay the case before 
 Marshal Cre"quy, who would no doubt excuse him from lin- 
 gering out ius time at a siege which was a work of duration 
 in those days. He would return to Paris and apply to that 
 old man of such experience and wisdom, the Dude of Almada. 
 Surely he would point out the means for the young man to 
 recommence and carry his investigation to the end. 
 
 This course debated and settled within himself, he wa 
 tranquillized and could slumber, awaiting the morrow. He 
 was tight at first in his conjectures for, on reading the des- 
 patches, the general gave the bearer a kindly glance. Un- 
 fortunately there was a postscript to the paper recommend* 
 ingthe young cornet, and the signature of ** Louis the King,' 
 made the veteran start. He read it over again with delib- 
 eration, like one who has a cipher despatch under his eye and 
 fears he is missing some hidden mearrng. At intervals he 
 observed the officer as the latter was preparing to utter his 
 petition to be sent back to the capital. 
 
 "Chevalier," said the marshal, "the King asks me to 
 keep you by me to the end of the campaign to spare you 
 not any occasions to distinguish yourself. You have cora- 
 menced very well by bringing your messages through, over a 
 very dangerous route. Still I shall conform to his Majesty's 
 desires, as he wants you to return to the ladies of the court 
 like a Cyrus. Achilles or Hector." 
 
 Alackaday ! all the young officer's hopes were blown to 
 shreds. He could not think of quitting the army, as the 
 King had written to the contrary and he must obey. 
 
 " Meanwhile," said Cre*quy, "if I can do anything special 
 
 for you " 
 
 " Forsooth, general, I have a great favor to solicit of yout 
 bounty ; but I comprehend that it would be taxing too far, 
 and I shall content myself by doing my duty, in the company 
 to which his Majesty appointed me ensign. ' 
 
 **The new cannoneers, I believe! I will recommend you to 
 
 the captain " 
 
 " Captain Friquet and I are old friends we once met in 
 a duel. But all I wanted was a piece of information, a 
 clue to the length of the campaign and if I dared to ask on 
 
 what it depends " 
 
 Crequy stretched out his hand towards the town, say- 
 ing:
 
 260 THE SON OF PUR THUS; UJi. 
 
 ''Therefis the end of the campaign. That is the eyrie fronr 
 which Duke Charles reckons to swoop to tear Lorraine from 
 us; that imperial fortress is the sword of Damocles, impend- 
 ing over our Alsace his foothold when he springs forward 
 in attack, his rest when he wants to recruit, his line of re- 
 treat in case of defeat. Freiburg taken, young man, is the 
 key to Vienna in our grasp : the ruin of the LorrainePrince's 
 hopes : the proof to the Emperor Leopold of the rash- 
 ness and invanity of his plighted brother-in-law's enterprises 
 against France and a preliminary to his repudiation of 
 him. That is why I am bound to take Freiburg," he conclud- 
 ed, after a pause." 
 
 "Why not at once," cried Joel, with eye ablaze. 
 
 "Young man, you are too hasty," said the old war-dog, 
 "it is meet to be brave but one must take heed not to be pre- 
 sumptious. Do you not see that citadel encrusted in the 
 mountain the Castle. Do you talk of taking that, withou* 
 my having hippogriffs on which to mount you young gentle- 
 men? I might reach that point with the loss of half my men 
 but, then, there would be that fortalice to take ! a gar- 
 ison to subdue and the population who would fight behind 
 walls and use against us fire, stone, water and iron! No, no, 
 dash it all! let us be patient, and play the mole, with sap and 
 mine ! When the beach is open, your old general will show 
 you the way." 
 
 "1 see," thought the young ensign, "since it is to be a duel 
 at long shots, I will jog Friquet to hurry up matters, other- 
 wise " 
 
 "What would happen otherwise?" questioned the marshal 
 who had overheard the monologue. 
 
 "Well, I shall have to take the citadel myself," rejoined 
 the Son of Porthos without hesitation. 
 
 "Whew !" and the old marshal joined in the laugh of the 
 aid-de-eamps and the officers : "go ahead then, my boy, and 
 do not wait for me : If you have an idea, you may have the 
 means to put it into execution. I authorize you at need to 
 make a suolime madman of yourself." 
 
 "You are looking quite radiant," said Friquet when his 
 new officer returned from the visit to the commander-in 
 chief. 
 
 "Yes, I shall soon be going to win my wife !" replied tin 
 Son of Porthos with gladness and fervent belief.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. a6l 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 JOEL'S IDEA. 
 
 HERR SCHUTZ, the governor of Freiburg, ate and drank 
 heartily but he slept with one eye open. He was sheltered 
 behind thick walls ; he had food in abundance ; more guns 
 than were set against him and munitions to spare. The 
 townspeople were devoted to the Emperor ; Duke Charles 
 had promised to come to his relief, and tiie prince had never 
 been known to break his word. From ail these reasons the 
 corpulent colonel had been but slightly uneasy about the 
 investment of the place. But he kept up a good guard, and 
 he ceased not to pound away at the entrenchments advanc- 
 ing towards him. He was going to begin a meal when an 
 orderly announced the arrival of an extraordinary messenger 
 from the Duke of Lorraine. This news made him swallow 
 some of a glass of Moselle the wrong way. 
 
 " A messenger from Prince Charles ?" he repeated ; " how 
 the devil could he get to us ? I cannot imagine that the en- 
 emy would let him penetrate their lines at his ease. Un- 
 less he fell out of the skies or came riding astraddle of a 
 comet " 
 
 " Colonel," said an officer, "we spied him running towards 
 us, pursued by the shots of the French and our pickets treat- 
 ed him to pepper out of similar castors but he stood the 
 double fire finely, and jumped into our moat, shouting : 
 'Freund !' so that I cast him a rope and he hauled himself up 
 on the rampart. He is now in the guardhouse drying him- 
 self as you may expect after a bath of that kind." 
 
 " What is he ?" 
 
 " Not a Frenchman more like a Saxon a giant of a fel- 
 low who would cut up into half-a-dozen frog-eaters. It is my 
 opinion that they could have caught him if they had tried, 
 but none of them had the bravery to get near enough to In'm." 
 
 " Let him be brought before me at once. I will inter- 
 rogate him while taking a bite : and if anything double-faced 
 appears nn his tale " He snapped off the end of a sausage 
 between his stumpy teeth with ferocity of ill omen. 
 
 Ten minutes afterwards, the personage announced was e*
 
 262 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 corted into his presence between four imperial fusileers, tall 
 fellows whom, however, he towered above by half a head. 
 He had black moustaches streaked with grey, strongly out- 
 lined creases on the face as from age and a hard life in mill, 
 tary harness, but an eye of inextinguishable youth. In this 
 feature alone would Aurore herself have recognized her lover, 
 whose disguise was the work of art of the hairdresser of the 
 young Duke de Villars, who had associated himself with 
 our hero in this enterprise. Needless to say that the cane of 
 Walton, picked up by the patrol and brought to Joel, had re- 
 minded him of his idea and furnished a means to commence 
 it auspiciously. . 
 
 "Are you German?" brusquely demanded Colonel Schutz. 
 
 "No, colonel, I am a Lorrainer, from Oppenau." 
 
 "You say you are charged with an errand by Prince 
 Charles ?" 
 
 And with the assistance of a soldier who used his bayonet 
 as a knife, he extracted from a seam of his cothes a paper 
 which was nothing else than the note confided to Walton by 
 Duke Charles in the garden of Kaspar's inn. The governor 
 read it over twice and carefully examined it. 
 
 "Well, it is right enough ; it is my lord's memorandum- 
 paper, branded with his cipher." 
 
 There was no doubting the note, but he had still a rem- 
 nant of distrust as he inquired : "How did you manage to 
 cut through the enemy's lines?" 
 
 "I went into the marshal's camp under pretence of selling 
 cherry brandv of my own make, out of a cask I had in a 
 cart. At a chance that was given me I slipped into the 
 trench. Unfortunately," with a rough laugh, "my bulk be- 
 trayed me among those midgets of French in the ditches and 
 the hue-and-cry was raised. I jumped out and ran for your 
 works. The rest happened under the eyes of your men and 
 they can tell you all about it. I am glad that they do not 
 shoot as straight at your friends as they should at the enemy 
 to repulse them." 
 
 Schutz drew a wry face. 
 
 "What are you bringing me news ?" 
 
 "Instructions from my lord, private, precise and confi* 
 dential." 
 
 "Verbal, do you mean ?" 
 
 M i should say so ! what I carried in my vest was enough
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 263 
 
 to have me hanged but the duke would not let his liege 
 carry, save in his head, the plan by the means of which Frei- 
 burg is to be delivered in three days." 
 
 He pointed to the soldiers, whom Schutz dismissed with 
 a jerk of the thumb. 
 
 *' Now, unfold yourself, man," he said when they were 
 alone. "I will listen while I eat my breakfast is my heartiest 
 repast." 
 
 Word for word the mock Lorrainer repeated what he had 
 heard Walton and the general arrange in the inn garden. 
 The colonel approved as he laid it open. 
 
 " That was good !" he said, clacking his tongue. " A 
 rocket as the signal that was better ! the double attack at 
 one time the prince and his troops on the one hand, and I, 
 with the garrison and the people on the other. Ah, Cre*quy 
 and his men will not be able to stand that, ha, ha!" He 
 crushed the wing of a fowl between his ponderous jaws, 
 coming together like a portcullis. "By the way, comrade," 
 he added, eyeing the jolly old Lorrainer who was still 
 echoing his laugh, "do you chance to guess what was in that 
 note about you ?" 
 
 "Ay," said Joel tranquilly, with the grim merriment of a 
 peasant, " my lord advised you to make a bullet-pouch of 
 my head or halter me with a new rope if any thing in my 
 behavior struck your excellency as suspicious." And he 
 \aughed again, as though this doubt of him were the cream 
 if good-jests. 
 
 " Oh, you knew it, did you ?" and he snapped his piggish 
 ;yes on each side of his high-colored and fleshly ncse. 
 
 "His highness kindly read the lines out to me vith stress 
 on those concerning yours faithfully." 
 
 "Then remember, landsman" said the colonel, thumping 
 the board with his glass, " that Colonel Schutz has never 
 broken his word. And may the thunder-weather crush me 
 if I do not carry out the duke's orders, though I have to 
 blow your brains out with my own hand or wind the noose 
 round your neck." 
 
 "Pshaw!" returned Joel with the same serenitv, "there is 
 a plain wav of making sure that I walk straight in doing my 
 duty to my prince and my country keep me by you so that 
 you can read my very thoughts " 
 
 The colonel caught the ball on the bound, so to say.
 
 264 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 *Dcr Tcufel! the very tiling I had decided upon. From 
 this moment forward, my watch over you will not be taken oft 
 you, and you are to be rivetted to me as the shadow to the 
 body." 
 
 The pretended envoy of Prince Charles gravely said: " I 
 am glad to become, if only for a while, the shadow of the 
 eminent warrior, Colonel Schutz, whose prudence, valor 
 and military science are a house-hold word among the sold- 
 iers of Europe." 
 
 This blunt flattery operated a fresh change in the colonel. 
 His face showed amiability in the highest power. 
 
 "1 like you," he said with gruff good humor. "In fact, we 
 are old war-dogs together about the same age, I judge. 
 What grade did you hold in the army?" 
 
 "1 have long retired to cultivate the patch of pine woods 
 I wrested from the forest but I was a sergeant in the Vau- 
 demont regiment when we fought at Rocroy for the right 
 rause. Only," with another broad guffaw, "the right cause 
 was well thumped that day. Herr Gott! how our allies the 
 Spaniards were threshed by that mere greenhorn the Duke 
 of Enghien!" 
 
 Colonel Schutz joined in the laugh, 
 
 "What did you say your name was? v 
 
 "Niklas Hummer, at your orders." 
 
 "Then, Major Hummer," said Schut, holding out his 
 hand, "Not only shall you accompany me when I go forth on 
 the requirements of duty, but you shall share my board, and 
 sleep in the inner room of my own bedchamber. I will see 
 that you fare well. Can you eat well can you drink?" 
 
 "Try me !" responded Joel, who never felt any where more 
 at home than when this proposition was put, and opening his 
 mouth to show a set of teeth, which, spite of his assumed 
 age, seemed fit to devour a wiii boar at three sittings. 
 
 The governor soon seemed enchanted with his guest, who 
 not only was his shadow, as has been well said, in his round 
 on the rampart, and in the inspection of the barracks and 
 the works, to say nothing of the n \nes, including the famous 
 one which was to overwhelem the French if they made a 
 grand assault, but at his copious I anquets. 
 
 All Freiburz feasted likewise. The people had wind of 
 the approaching deliverance, though there was no suspicious 
 babbling of the plan from the pretended envoy. The/
 
 THE DEATH OF AR AMIS. 265 
 
 made preparations to receive the prince when the French 
 should nave been driven away. 
 
 Tue governor's suit of rooms was on the ground floor an 
 old guardroom converted for his pleasure: in spite of the low, 
 vaulted ceiling, short columns supporting it, and the dark 
 walls covered with armor and trophies, it was gay when the 
 two carousing companions, as Joel and the colonel had be- 
 come, entered on the second dozen bottles of the pure juice 
 of the grape. 
 
 Nine o'clock was ringing from the cathedral tower when 
 an officer intruded on them to get the word and countersign. 
 Herr Schutz raised his enflarned, puffed and mottled face and 
 made a beckoning sign for the officer to stoop to have the 
 word whispered to him. But he forgot to alter his voice to 
 the proper key and almost roared in his subordinates's ear: 
 *Vater and Land Voter-land, did you catch them ?" 
 
 "Very well, governor," said the officer, departing. 
 
 Another officer succeeded him who brought a bunch of 
 Jceys to his superior, as was the usage, every evening after the 
 tattoo was beat. Not the keys of the town gates, which were 
 locked, bolted and barred, with the portcullis lowered and 
 the drawbridge hauled up since the beginning of the siege ; 
 but of the citadel, communicating with the town, as well as 
 a grated door, preventing access to the stairs leading up to 
 the castle roof. On receiving them and stuffing them into 
 his pocket, Schutz asked if he had any news. 
 
 " Nothing to see, colonel : the night is as black as the 
 muzzle of an uncleaned gun and the rain is beginning to 
 fail." 
 
 " So much the easier for the watchers," said the head offi- 
 cer with a guttural laugh: "those jackshapes of Cre'quy's will 
 not venture forth for fear of taking the curl out of their 
 feathers and the starch out of their lace. Go and get to bed," 
 he added to the two soldiers who had brought in the meal, as 
 soon as the officers had retired. "We do not want you to pull 
 the caps off these ladies "alluding to the sealed bottles. 
 "When I drink, I do not like folks looking over my shoul- 
 der to count how many glasses I took." 
 
 The soldiers obeyed. 
 
 " Now it goes between ourselves, dear Major Hummer ! 
 Much as I hate the men of France, so much I love their 
 wines. There they stand off with their heads, jolly fellow I
 
 366 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR, 
 
 down with the wines of France !" Seizing a bottle he 
 wrenched out the cork and began to fill the two glasses. 
 
 " Let us drink," said Joel, knocking off two necks of 
 bottles, one ueld in each hand, against another with the dex- 
 terity of a juggler. 
 
 So commenced the bout; to the mild wines succeeded the 
 heavy ones: and the liquors followed. They sang while 
 they drank, and to Schutz's muffled ears, the Breton ballad 
 was good enough Lorraine dialect to ex<;iie no comment. 
 Soon, though, the musical notes were merged into snores. Both 
 guests seemed to sleep, but at the end of twenty minutes as the 
 church bell sounded eleven o'clock, one of the drowsy ones 
 made a move. It was "Major Niklas Humm,;r," who lifted 
 his head warily and let his eyes wander to find Colonel 
 Schutz. The host was leaning back in his armchair, letting 
 sound rumble through his immeasurably opened mouth whicii 
 defied the trombone to imitate. He was deeply wrapped 
 in a heavy sleep. The Frenchman scanned him, witnout 
 any tokens of drunkenness on his part. 
 
 ' To think of his expecting to drink me under the table! 
 and with wines of my own country, too ! Intoxicate one 
 whose head lias mocked at home cider and the wine of Bon- 
 larron !" listening to the churchbells striking after that of 
 the cathedral which had given the cue, he sad : "I have 
 just an hour before me. More than I want." 
 
 Schutz snored more loudly than ever and with his bared 
 throat, a sanguinary enemy might have been tempted to spoil 
 his gullet for wine bibbing : but Joel shook his head. 
 
 "All I want is his bunch of keys," he said : "and they 
 are there." The keys puffed out the governor's pocket and 
 were not easily extracted, but Joel accomplished it, as he was 
 not pressed for time. He also borrowed the governor's hat 
 with a black and a yellow feather and his gold-laced mantle, 
 from the chair where they had been flung, and arrayed him- 
 self in them. He took down a sword from the wall pegs, 
 and left the room. 
 
 The vestiblule led him into a gallery, where he was stopped 
 by a grating across tiie way to a spiral staircase. 
 
 One of the abstracted keys opened the lock of this grating, 
 and our hero entered on the stairs. The chief defence of 
 the Schloss was the principal tower roof, over two hundred 
 feet above the moat ; it communicated with the town by
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. &j 
 
 rery narrow way. While all the troops were placed at points 
 along the circumvallation, one battalion of the imperial regi- 
 ment guarded the tower. It was not supposable that the en- 
 emy would attack a part reputed impregnable, and *o reach 
 which the whole of the fire from elsewhere would have to be 
 endured. Still there stood on the tower top, six heavy pivot 
 guns which could be turned against the town, once the castle 
 were captured. In a stone watchbox on the roof was a sen- 
 tinel who could survey the country roundabout. Here also 
 Schutz had posted a squad of twenty men, under an ensign 
 who was charged to watch the French. 
 
 Where the stairs came out on the platform a sentry was 
 walking up and down. 
 
 " Wer da? who is there ?" be challenged, as he heard steps 
 coming up, stopping and lowering niv bayonet 
 
 Joel had not neglected his recent opportunity ip ac- 
 companying Herr Schutz on service, to acquire at least many 
 phrases of military German. 
 
 "Officer going his round," replied he, in a deep voice wor- 
 thy of his stature. 
 
 The slouch hat concealed his face in the mist, and the 
 jiloak mantled his shape. He stooped a little as he went up to 
 the man and said : 
 
 "Vater !" to which the soldier replied " Land:" as he 
 raised his musket to the present. 
 
 "Soldier," said Joel abruptly, "who posted you here ?" 
 
 The anspessade officer." 
 
 "Anspessade idiot! lumpen hund! sentinel mid staircase! 
 go, finish rest of service there!" The broken sentences might 
 pass for those of a man who had sat too long over the wine 
 and beer. Without rejoinder, the soldier let the pretended) 
 officer go by while he descended the stairs. 
 
 The rain began to fall in torrents and it was cold at this' 
 height: the wind roared as a gale. In the wooden shelter 
 serving as guardhouse, the officer and his score of men 
 were sleeping on the plank bed. In his watchbox the special 
 lookout was dozing, but on hearing the new-comer, he 
 peered out. Thinking he knew the person by the hat and 
 cloak, he let the false Schutz come up. 
 
 "Vater " 
 
 As the German was about to return the password, Joel's 
 resistless hands fell upon hir tn-oat and hisvvaistbelt: he lugged
 
 268 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OK, 
 
 the wretch bodily out of the box and hurled him over the 
 battlements. His strangled shriek was indistinguishable 
 among the many curious noises made by the wind around the 
 stone parapets. 
 
 4 'One less to deal with," muttered he, "I hope, though, that 
 Jie has not fell on any of our boys!" 
 
 He alluded to his friends whom he had arranged to meet 
 him on the main tower at midnight. 
 
 "I had no choice in the matter. Besides, it is one way of 
 notifying them that I am at work." 
 
 The bells began to ring for twelve o'clock. 
 
 He hid behind the watchbox, and through the loophole 
 in the wall lowered a rope, which he had worn coiled around 
 him under his clothes and which had given him the roundness 
 of corporation which had excited Schutz's fellow feeling for 
 a lover of good cheer. 
 
 Weighted with a loose stone tied to the end, this rope slowly 
 descended: but in time Joel felt the weight removed ; then 
 a shake was given and as he drew upwards, he found that 
 another and increasing load had been attached. 
 
 "A rope-ladder," he thought tugging at the burden which 
 few men could have pulled so far, but he "walked" it along, 
 hand over hand, like a sailor. At length he had the end 
 in hand, to which a bar of iron was bound crosswise. This 
 bar he placed within the battlements so that it would not 
 slip and shook the rope. Bending over the profundity, he 
 soon descried a string of shadows ascending, and with the 
 reckless levity of the old soldiers, whose manners he was 
 prompt to adopt with the imitativeness of youth, he muttered: 
 
 "Passengers for heaven, this is the way!" 
 
 In twelve to fifteen minutes he had the majority of the 
 thirty men, under Friquet and Bonlarron, around him. 
 
 "In the first place," he said, pointing to the guardhouse, 
 "Make sure of the fellows in that shed. They sleep, so you 
 need not flash a weapon, but blind them with their belts and 
 gag them with their pompons. Do not fire a shot, whatevei' 
 you do." 
 
 The little party, shod with strips of blankets over their 
 
 boots, proceeded to the spot. The ensign was aroused, butjoel 
 
 caught him in the left hand as he recoiled from this columa 
 
 of silent phantom's and pointing the sword at his eyes, said: 
 
 Not a breath or you die!"
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAM IS. 269 
 
 The officer saw by the frown on the face that the wisest 
 course was to obey and he remained, flattened against the 
 wall like an owl nailed to a barndoor. 
 
 "Only a sentry on the stairs is left. I will attend to him. 
 Reverse the guns." And Joel descended the tower steps. A 
 few minutes after, they saw him reappear, carrying under his 
 arm the soldier who had been given no time to snap the trig- 
 ger at him. 
 
 Meanwhile, the six privet guns were turned round to 
 bear on the town, and threaten it with a torrent of flame and 
 iron. 
 
 Joel looked round with a proud and gladdened eye. 
 
 Up with our flag said he. 
 
 There was nothing more for them to do but conduct the 
 water from the tank where it was stored against fire, to the 
 receptacle for the great mine, which was inundated during 
 the hours before dawn. 
 
 Immense was the joyous surprise in the French camp, and 
 equal that of another kind, of the town, in the morning, 
 when the white standard with the gold lily-flowers, was seen 
 waving in ttie sun over the main tower of the citadel. 
 
 As the signal to their friends, the French fired one of the 
 guns trained upon the town and the ball decapitated one of 
 the statues in front of the cathedral : the town was at the 
 mercy of the party who held the tower top : 
 
 ''The French the French advance ! " was the cry, as they 
 saw the army of the marshal leaving his lines in three col- 
 umns. But before they came under fire, a sphere of iron, 
 with side pieces which gave it a peculiar rotary movement 
 and an awful sound, rose from the French battery of Cap- 
 tain Friquet, and described a trajectory which landed it on 
 the City Hall square, where it crushed several in the vast 
 crowd assembled in agitation. It was the precursor of the 
 Little Parisian's infernal work, for three more bombs spread 
 destruction and carnage. 
 
 Under these shooting stars, the enemy continued to ad- 
 vance. There was no hope of entrapping them at the under- 
 mined wall as it was discovered that the powder was swamped. 
 On the other hand, a fourth shell exploded in the magazine 
 and the only thought f everybody was to escape this fire 
 raining from heaven. 
 
 At the height of a panic, Ci cquy sent the order to cease the
 
 270 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 bombardment, which Friquet had witnessed from the height. 
 At nine o'clock, the French general made his entrance good 
 into the place. 
 
 He threw his arms about the neck of the Son of Porthos as 
 the latter presented him with the keys. 
 
 "It is to you, my lad, that we owe the opening of the plac 
 to the King's arms." 
 
 He called Friquet to him and complimented him and Bon- 
 larron. 
 
 Here they brought him the flags taken from the enemy : 
 that of the imperial regiment, the Kornach and the town 
 guards. 
 
 "Chevalier de Locmaria," resumed he, "I charge you to 
 convey these trophies to St. Germain, to be placed at the 
 King's feet. I shall acquaint his Majesty with the large 
 share you had in the capture, in my report. Captain Friq- 
 uet and Sergeant Bonaventure will accompany you ; having 
 shared the peril, it is right they should share the glory. Take 
 the keys and the flags, gentlemen. I have no need to say 
 that I am proud to command lads of mettle like yourselves 
 and I am your friend whenever you want one." 
 
 That same evening, the three friends set out. All three 
 had active bodies, free minds and contented hearts. They 
 passed joyfully over the returning way. Everywhere the 
 news ran before them so that they were proclaimed as the 
 heroes of Freiburg. Thus they were hailed at St. Dizier, 
 where they put up at the Cross of Lorraine Inn, when a man 
 ran out of the mob towards JoeL 
 
 "The chevalier !" 
 
 "Honorin !" exclaimed the knight at seeing the old serv- 
 ingfc-man of the Widow Scarron. 
 
 " I was coming after you, with this message from my mis- 
 tress." 
 
 Our hero took the paper and read these two lines : 
 
 " Come home without losing a minute. Aurore's life and 
 honor are in danger. YOUR FRIEND." 
 
 " Halloa, my horse !" he shouted. " Join me later I must 
 make straight for Paris, though I had to walk there nay, 
 drag myself on my kn^es You may join me there if I be 
 still alire."
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. /l 
 
 " But the flags ?" suggested Bonlarron. 
 
 "And the King ?" added the Parisian. 
 
 " 'Sblood !" ejaculated the Son of Porthos, with a snap of 
 the fingers in mighty disdain, " it matters little about king* 
 and flags. My wife is in question. My wife, do you hear, 
 whom they want to rob me of or kill !" 
 
 He leaped into the saddle, and, getting ready to drive in 
 the spurs, he shouted : 
 
 " Farewell ! if you love me, say a prayer for me for I 
 know not what kind of devil I have to fight 1" 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE SALARY OF SILENCE. 
 
 THE hunting horns sounded the start in the courtyards of 
 St. Germain Palace, and on the place in front and the streets 
 where the royal hunting party were to pass, there was a 
 noisy affluence of people, insatiable to gaze at so many car- 
 riages, horses, plumes and golden decorations. 
 
 The brilliant cavalcade paraded the town and left it by the 
 slope which leads to the deeper parts of the Forest. There 
 were non-equivocal tokens of storm, but all the orders were 
 given out, and the King would not pospone an engagement 
 which concerted with a secret arrangement with the Duke 
 of Almada. But the order was given to make haste and the 
 tfhole cavalcade dashed off at the gallop. 
 
 When all had disappeared in whirls of dust, the multitude 
 dispersed, and the good town subsided into its usual state 
 when its mighty lords and ladies were absent as silent, dull 
 and deserted as at the present day. 
 
 Towards dusk, as the clouds immensely enlarged and their 
 line of battle, outlined on the slatey sky, borrowed some pur- 
 ," tints from the setting sun, which made the hue more ! 
 gu jrious the shoes of a horse ridden at the *op of speed, 
 sirote fire out of the courtyard paving-stones. It was the 
 SOA of Porthos, with dusty clothes, flaming countenance, hair 
 dropping perspiration, and bloody spurs, who was stopped 
 by the sentry at the gates, lowering his partisan to bar hif 
 way.
 
 aja THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 "Courier from Marshal Cre"quy, " said the Breton from the 
 height of his saddle and his own superior stature, as he 
 waved the Swiss guardsman aside with an imperious gest- 
 ure. 
 
 The officer at the gates ran up. 
 
 "Do you come from Freiburg, sir?" he queried eagerly." 
 
 "Yes, sir, and all haste, as you may perceive.'" 
 
 "But his Majesty has gone hunting at Marly, and will prob- 
 ably spend the night there as usual." 
 
 "How is Mdme. de Locmaria ?" demanded Joel after a 
 frown in disappointment. "My wife, that is one of the 
 Queen's ladies. There has been no mishap to her, I trust?" 
 
 *'I have not the honor to know Mdme. de Locmaria per- 
 sonally ; but I have not heard of any accident to any lady of 
 the household. The Queen has gone with the hunt, and 
 takes all her attendants with her." 
 
 "The road to Marly ?" said Joel curtly, and on its being 
 pointed out, he darted off in the direction followed by the 
 King and the court in the morning. Our enfavored rider 
 recked little of the dust, the wind and the storm overhead : all 
 he thought of was Aurore, who might at that very instant be 
 in need of his arm and his sword. He hurried his course : hia 
 saddle burned him,, his steed, with sides furrowed by the 
 rowels, neighed with pain as it whitened its bit with foam. 
 He thus went two leagues in fifteen minutes. 
 
 Distant flourishes of the hunting-horns guided him. 
 
 Suddenly a black curtain, drawn across his path, was 
 ripped by a blade of steel-like color it was the lightning 
 signalling the downpour of a torrent. He was in the woods, 
 but the old trees seemed a frail defence to the shower. The 
 horse Was almost broken down by this new disaster, bul the 
 rider was invulnerable. He had taken one of the bridlepaths 
 which seemed to lead to the centre where the horns now 
 sounding the rally. The storm had spoilt the sport. This alley 
 ledto a clearing where ancient oaks surrounded a natural cir- 
 cus. At the instant when Joel's foundered horse stopped, 
 dead beat, at this space, a singular party crossed it. Two of 
 three men carried a burden which seemed to be a dead body; 
 the third guided them : he bore a resemblance to M. de 
 Boislaurier. By a flash of lightning, this confused mass be- 
 came defined and the cavalier recognized that the apparent 
 corps* was a woman's. Fainted or dead what was more te
 
 THE DEA TH OF A RA MIS. 275 
 
 the purpose, and drew from him an outcry which was an ap- 
 peal, a sob and a roar of wrath it was his wife ! 
 
 But all sank back into gloom. Standing up in the stirrups, 
 Joel stretched his arms towards the vanished vision. Un- 
 fortunately, in this movement of despair and entreaty, his 
 hand let go the reins. At that, another flash of lightning 
 zigzagged the foliage and the thunderbolt fell on a tree which 
 it split, with such a detonation that the echoes seemed afraid 
 for a space to repeat the roar. The frightened horse reared 
 violently, and the unsaddled rider was thrown so that his 
 head struck the foot of a birch tree where he remained 
 stunned. 
 
 For nearly an hour he was left unconscious until the cold 
 and the wet restored him. The storm was as short as it had 
 been tremendous. He rose painfully to his feet. His intel- 
 ligence triumphed, not without an effort, over his bewilder- 
 ment, and one memory surged up above the whirl in his 
 brain that of the strangers carrying off his wife. He wished 
 to spring off in chase of the wretches, catch them, tear their 
 prey from them, if yet she lived, and kill them to a man, ex- 
 acting blood for blood ! 
 
 Yes : but to what side had they turned where was he to 
 begin the hunt ? Time had gone on and they had a start. 
 The Breton was utterly unacquainted with the woods. 
 His horse had disappeared. He went on at random, stag- 
 gering as if intoxicated : his limbs were benumbed and he 
 did not feel his heart beat. 
 
 Suddenly, at the end of a windfall row, he spied a light. 
 
 He instantly directed his steps to this beacon; it was buin- 
 ing in old ruins, thatched, dilapidated, with a door hanging 
 by one hinge, and with a small window like a loophole. He 
 approached the latter, and looked in, before knocking at the 
 door, from some unaccountable reason. It was easy to see 
 the inside, as there was no blind or curtain, and the wind 
 freely circulated from the absence of a pane of glass. A 
 kind of murmur came through it, such as is made by a priest 
 reciting prayers. 
 
 Despite the anxiety mastering him, Joel was deeply at- 
 tracted by this singularity. He stood on the grass to deaden 
 the sound of his spurred heels, glided up to the wall, and 
 stretching his neck, peered into t^e gap with uneasy curiosity. 
 
 In the room with naked walls* was a table covered with a
 
 374 THE SON OF POXTffOSf OR t 
 
 black <loth which after a fashion resembled an altar. At 
 each corner burnt a wax candle. On the cloth, holy books 
 were placed exactly the reverse and contrary to their proper 
 positions. To complete this burlesque sacrifice, a cross was 
 placed foot upwards, with a long knife and a brass basin. 
 
 Before this mock altar stood a woman, dressed as a priest, 
 whom Joel recognized as the hag he had met in Paris, asso- 
 ciated with Walton in barring his way to reach Therese 
 Lesage. Her chasuble was worn inside out, and she was 
 reciting prayers backwards. Two kneeling women were 
 making responses in a whining way. Still another, wear- 
 ing a Spanish mantilla, stood in an expectant attitude. 
 
 The veiled woman was the Marchioness de Montespan 
 the two kneeling ones, her maids. 
 
 At the period of the consecration, La Bosse took tht 
 brazen bowl to raise it above her head as the priest does 
 the chalice, but in turning it upside down, she shook out 
 an enormous toad. 
 
 The marchioness stepped forward, threw aside her veil, 
 and appeared like Medea, with a deep and feverish eye, the 
 tresses of her purple hair winding among the crown of ver- 
 vain, ivy sprays from graves and the violets of death. The 
 toad was hopping upon the altar as she caught up the knife 
 and with one sharp stroke beheaded the unclean animal. 
 The viscid blood daubed her patrician hands. 
 
 "By this sacrifice," said she in a strong,grave voice, "I ask 
 lor the love of the King to return to me and to remain ever 
 mine; for my obtaining from him all I want for myself and 
 my kin; for my friends and servants to be cherished by him; 
 myself respected by the lords, whom I may call into the 
 councils of his Majesty, and who are to let me know what 
 happens there: in short, that his love shall grow above what 
 it was in the past. Let Louis cast off this exercrable Aurora 
 as he did Louise de Vallidre, and let me marry Louis when 
 he repudiates his Queen or she dies!" 
 
 "Madame," said La Bosse, "it is time to proceed to the 
 evocation." 
 
 The lady turned her back to the altar. Her hair twisted 
 as though serpents were writhing in it and gave her 
 forehead the aspect of the Omenides. With quivering lips, 
 and panting bosom, she called out three times: 
 
 "Satan! Satan! Sa "
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 275 
 
 But the last syllable of the Cursed Angel's name was lost 
 in a terrible shriek from herself and her trio of accomplices. 
 The door was dashed in with violence, as a tall figure whose 
 proportions were exaggerated by the dubious moonbeams, 
 stood, silent but threatening on the threshold. The officia- 
 tress and the maid servants flung themselves down with their 
 faces 10 the ground while their mistress shrank up to the 
 wall. 
 
 Had the prince of Darkness responded to the impious vo- 
 cation ? 
 
 The colossus entered ; with a wave of the hand he dis- 
 missed the minor sacriligists, and the wretches did not ask 
 for him to repeat the stern : " Begone !" They scrambled to 
 their feet and darted out into the forest like three owls hur- 
 rying to their nests. 
 
 The intruder walked up to the marchioness, and stopping 
 before her and folding his arms on his breast, he said: 
 
 " Woman, what have you done with my wife, Auiore de 
 Locmaria ?" 
 
 The lady stared at him in stupor and drawing back her 
 head to shun the double jet of flame from his eyes, she mur- 
 mured: 
 
 " Oh, is this his spirit ? do the dead come out of the grave ? 
 or has Satan taken his shape to manifest himself ?" 
 
 He grasped her wrist roughly. 
 
 " Madame," said he, "no falsehood or trickery. I am 
 alive, indeed. I must be answered promptly. Minutes are 
 worth hours in such an emergency. What have you done with 
 my wife ?" 
 
 By the grip the royal favorite felt that she was not deal- 
 ing with a phantom and her courage came back, so that she 
 tried to combat. 
 
 " I do not know what you are talking about," she replied. 
 
 " You lie !" retorted Joel. " You uttered my name just 
 now in your abominable practice of sorcery. I saw two men 
 in your hire, no doubt, not long ago, carrying her in a swoon 
 through the forest. By all tnat is holy, you will tell me 
 without delay, or" 
 
 " Would you lay your hand on a woman ?" sneered Athen* 
 ais in bravado. 
 
 "Well, no, I will leave the executioner's to do that !** 
 
 " The executioner V
 
 #6 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR. 
 
 " Is it not he who will deal out justice to the poisoner ?** 
 
 " I say to you now that you lie !" 
 
 "Mademoiselle de Fontanges stood in the way of your am 
 bilious projects, and you slew Mademoiselle de Fontanges ; 
 I hold the proof in this locket, enclosing your own death war 
 rant, your confession your order for the poison of Pierre 
 Lesage." 
 
 At sight of the trinket, she recoiled as if for a leap. 
 
 " Madame," he said coldly, reading the intention in her 
 dark eyes, " Let me tell you that, in my country, 1 once 
 strangled with these hands a wolf that sprang upon me. Now, 
 let us finish this. Tell me where my wife is and I will give you 
 impunity by restoring to you this paper. If you hold yout 
 tongue,! swear to God that I will with my own hand place 
 this before the King to-morrow, after having shouted out 
 the story so loudly and widely over Paris that all the world, 
 nobles and people, will demand that the special tribunal shail 
 send you into Lesage's dungeon until they light the fire agaii 
 which consumed La Voisin to ashes !" 
 
 "But, I have not had Mdme. de Locmaria abducted. Gi 
 and ask the Spanish ambassador for her, who in this matter 
 is rather the agent of our King he projects to make her the 
 mistress of the King." 
 
 "My patron the King where is the King where is Al- 
 mada where is Aurore ?" 
 
 "All three are probably in the Chateau of Marly. The 
 tady fell ill during the hunt, and the duke ordered her to be 
 carried to a summerhouse he owns next the chateau." 
 
 "Enough !" interrupted Joel. "I know all that you could 
 tell me." 
 
 He remembered the dying words of Esteban, and as be re- 
 called the details he recovered self-command. 
 
 ''The road to this summerhouse?" 
 
 "The path by those rocks in twenty minutes** 
 
 "I thank you I" 
 
 He tore from his neck and flung down the medallion, say* 
 ing: "There is your salary, madame." 
 
 He drew his sword and he marched forth without heedinj 
 the marchioness. He went at a good pace, firm yet quick, 
 and as he shook his locks as the lion does his mane, he might 
 be heard to say : 
 
 "We^three will fight this out I^thc King and the duke !*
 
 THE DBA TH OF ARAAflS. 377 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE DEATH OF ARAMIS. 
 
 THE King was supping at Marly, sitting at a small table 
 higher than the others for his guests. But let us leave him 
 and the courtiers discussing the delicate storm which broke 
 up the hunting-party, while we enter those private apart- 
 ments which were prohibited to the frequenters of the pal- 
 ace. In this sanctuary the King ceased to be anything more 
 than a mortal man. 
 
 Here we shall find Aurore again. At the cold collation 
 on the turf, which had preceded the letting slip of the buck- 
 hounds, the Duke of Almada had stepped up to Mdme. de- 
 Locmaria. 
 
 " What ails you, dear child ? " he asked with affectionate 
 interest : "You appear to be in pain. Are you not well ?" 
 
 "Not very. But do not busy yourself about me, as it is 
 but a passing indisposition. " 
 
 "Then you must take some stimulant not to mar the sport. 
 A. dash of malvoisie " 
 
 He beckoned to a butler. 
 
 "Will you not drink to the good health and speedy return 
 of our friend Joel ? " 
 
 "With all my heart, my lord. " 
 
 Thus she had accepted the drugged wine he offered her. 
 A. few hours afterwards, the storm burst and the frightened 
 Queen ordered her ladies to return in all haste to St Ger- 
 main. 
 
 Aurore tried to keep up with the riders, but a sudden 
 weakness overcame her. She had not strength to guide her 
 horse or to step him. Her cry for help died in her throat. 
 She wrestled with serious depression. She was slipping out 
 of the saddle when Boislaurier ran up from the distance 
 where he was watching her, and, with the help of two valets, 
 caught her in his arms. 
 
 Now she reposed in a huge bed, with a plumed dome, heavy 
 hlue velvet curtains, with clasps and tassels of bullion, 
 while a gilded rail separated it from the rest of the room. It 
 ras lighted by a silver lamp on a table, by which the Duke
 
 278 THE SON OF PORTHOS ; OR. 
 
 of Almada sat At length he rose and taking the lamp, went 
 up to view her. 
 
 " A lovely statue in rose marble," he muttered. He re- 
 turned to his seat. " In an hour the operation of my narcotic 
 will be exhausted. On my faith, the King is slow to come. 
 Will he never have done with that supper ? It appears that 
 Joel is still alive and has written to his wife. It is certain that 
 ae worships her and it is no less certain that my future favor- 
 ite would give him the last drop in her veins. This does not 
 displease me, for by threatening to reveal her shame to her 
 ousband " 
 
 He interrupted himself as though to reply to the objection 
 of an invisible objector : 
 
 " Granted that this is vile and odious ! Against the indig- 
 nity of the act and the scoundrelism in its execution, would 
 revolt the lofty gentlemaniiness of Athos, the simple honesty 
 of Porthos and d'Artagnan's valiant uprightness. D'Artag- 
 nan would swear with all the oaths in his Gascon vocabulary 
 that what I do is of the meanest rascality. With the curl of his 
 oisd lincul lip, Athos would let the one word fall : 'Fie !' The 
 good Porthos would say nothing, but his frank visage would 
 broaden with amaze to see his comrade of the Bastion St. 
 Gervais and the Locmaria sea-cave Aramis the Musketeer, 
 the prelate and the conspirator ; the man who has juggled 
 with the crown and sceptre of France and with royal persons 
 and destinies acting the spider the panderer " 
 
 Disgust contracted his features, which had remained hand- 
 some and noble in spite of age and intrigue ravaging them. 
 He took a crystal phial from his breast, hidden at the end of 
 a gold chain amid the lace, and sipped a drop. His eye 
 was brighter and his voice refreshed as he proceeded : 
 
 "Everything is interwoven. This woman must become 
 the royal love so that, as her master, I may put into Louis's 
 hand the pen that will strike out Heresy on the book of the 
 Rights of Man. Then with the order of which I am the 
 head remain erect over its prostrated foes, my numerous, in- 
 vincible, disciplined army, and when I command from the 
 chair of St. Peter " 
 
 Again he was hoarse, and he had recourse to the elixir. 
 
 "\Vhy not ? are not my shoulders strong enough to sup- 
 port the pontifical purple ? would not the tiara become my 
 silver hairs, and is there not in me the making of a Gregory.
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 379 
 
 a Leo, or a Julius ? The end justifies the means. What docs 
 the mud in the road or the twig snapped under foot 
 matter to him who has scaled the mount ? What value is 
 the virtue of one woman, the happiness of one man, when 
 their loss ensures the triumph of religion ? Well, no! these 
 4fe sophisms with which I vainly try to lull my conscience. 
 Religion is not in this game I am playing it for my ambi- 
 tion solely." He laughed more like one of the drolls oi 
 an Italian comedy than the great pontiffs whom he had 
 mentioned. " Basta! who cares? Has not the Holy Father 
 power to absolve all crimes ? When I am Pope, I shall clear 
 myself." 
 
 He had barely expressed this ironical jest when a violent 
 surprise was manifested upon his features. 
 
 "What is that i" he muttered, half rising in his chair, am. 
 extending his neck as he listened. 
 
 "I can't be mistaken," he said with growing astonish- 
 nent. "Some one is in the underground passage." He rose 
 fully. "Tush! no doubt it is Boislaurier it can be nobody 
 else: but what can he want? What can have happened so 
 important that he comes after me 1" 
 
 He went to a door so artfully secreted in the woodwork 
 that the most expert eye could not have espied it. He touched/ 
 a brass knob concealed among the ornaments with the same 
 care. A spring worked, the panel opened,and, master of him- 
 lelf as was Aramis, he could not help exclaiming in affright, 
 
 In the square opening, pale, solemn and threatening, ap- 
 peared with a drawn sword, smeared with fresh blood, the 
 Son of Porthos ! 
 
 Almada receded to the table. This apparition was the 
 one he least expected: it scattered his plans like the bombs 
 Friquet's gunners had flung into Freiburg. But the former 
 Musketeer was not to be discomfited so easily. Had a bomb- 
 shell really fallen at his feet, he would have plucked out 
 the lighted fuse. His first feeling was of surprise, but it 
 lasted only a moment,and this redoubtable wrestler quickly 
 recalled his wits and collected his powers. 
 
 "Chevalier, how came you here ? you have a post in th( 
 army desertion is a grave offense." 
 
 "Sir," replied the Breton with terrible calm, "I havenotk, 
 ing to do with the army Freiburg is taken by me ! \ 
 bring Marshal Cr6quy's report attesting that, in my
 
 2fo THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR, 
 
 But that is not our business. You want to know how it is that 
 I come upon you by the secret stairs? I have no time to go 
 into particulars. Suffice it that Boislaurier is dead so is 
 your chief of cut-throats, Condor Cordbuff executions 
 which I will account for to those who have the right to ques. 
 tion me on the point. Now it is for us to settle accounts." 
 
 The ambassador remained cool, like the wild beast in 
 his lair, who watches with apparently indifferent eye the 
 movements of the hunter : 
 
 "Ha!" he haughtily said, "Have we an account to settle? I 
 leave such matters to my servants. This is neither the time 
 nor the place for such trifles. This is the King's home ? Do 
 you not know that ?" 
 
 "To be sure I do, since I come here to regain my wife." 
 
 "Your wife ?" 
 
 Toel stretched out his unweaponed hand. 
 
 'My wife who lies there, on the couch of which you have 
 not even drawn the curtains, so surely did my visit deprive 
 you of prudence and precaution. You put her to sleep with 
 a potion so that she should not know of what crime yo\i 
 would be guilty a potion such as you finger there " 
 
 Aramis so felt the necessity of strengthening his nerves ths* 
 he had indeed drawn his elixir from its nesting-place. 
 
 "Mdme. de Locmaria is dead," said the old man drily. 
 
 The other laughed menacingly in his face. 
 
 "If I believed that, you would already be in the lower re- 
 gion with your myrmidons. But your greed is my insurance 
 the King will not pay you for a dead body." 
 
 "What, do you know ?" and Aramis blushed slightly. 
 
 "I know that you found me that wife in order that I should 
 be the mate of the King's favorite! that you sent me to Frei- 
 burg in the hope that I should never return that the Ger- 
 man bullets were hoped to do the work in which your sec- 
 retaries failed " 
 
 " Young man," returned the ambassador, shaking his bold 
 head. " if you knew so much, you should have had the wit 
 to be silent. Do you think that I am going lightly to re- 
 nounce the prospective gains of what you term my infamy ? 
 let us share, or I take all ! Come, my boy," went on the pre- 
 late, assuming the most unctuously paternal tone, "reflect 
 that the highest state reasons constrain me to play this part : 
 the sacrifice I require is necessary to political combinations
 
 THE DEA TH OF ARAMIS. 28 1 
 
 * 
 
 which concern the peace of the world. You are a lad of 
 wit, who must understand and without plain speech : sheath 
 your rapier, cease to roll your furious eyes, and get you 
 gone " 
 
 " I go with my wife." 
 
 "Oho!" snarled the duke, his eye blazing with choler and 
 the effects of the cordial which he had sipped : " You are 
 wearying my patience. Yet I do not wish you harm, Away 
 or I shall kill you." 
 
 " Who have you to help, old man ?" You forget that 1 
 have swept the earth clear of your scoundrels. You are 
 nearer the grave than I." 
 
 Aurore made a movement, and Joel took a step towards 
 her. But Aramis, who had drawn his courtsword, sprang 
 in between with the factitious activity of the elixir : 
 
 '* With that toothpick do you talk of killing me ?" 
 
 " Defend her, and yourself !" 
 
 Joel thought that he might soon dispose of an adversary 
 of this age, and he did not lose time in"trying" him, but almost 
 at once delivered a straight thrust, rapid and flashing as a 
 lightning stroke. The lunge was parried with a strength, 
 ease and agility the Breton had not expected to meet in that 
 trail body. So were met the others he gave, and however 
 fleetly this long blade described circles, the thin feil followed 
 it closely as the magnet the iron, twisting and hissing like a 
 viper. The young man comprehended that he was pitted 
 against a fencer of the first class, and that caused him to 
 moderate his mode. Aramis plied the steel with a vivacity 
 akin to that he must have displayed in his youth. It was 
 in vain that the soldier multiplied his attacks : he found no 
 weariness in this antagonist. His wrist seemed of steel 
 while the other, fatigued by his long rides, his fall, tho 
 events of the day and his conflict in the subterranean with the 
 duke's bravoes, became daunted by his inferiority. The blood 
 lew to his head, and his arm lost its usual vigor and liveli- 
 ness. 
 
 At this moment, Aurore gave a sigh. The Breton heard 
 it and it was the signal for a truce. Joel looked at his wife, 
 while the old duke again sipped at the phial, doubling the 
 dose. When he resumed the action, it was he who attacked/ 
 and with a fire which astounded the adversary. 
 
 'You are caught, my fighting-cock," said he, with a sini*
 
 Sl3 THE SON OF PORTHOS; OR t 
 
 ter smile, "and I shall serve you out with the favante 
 thrust of my frind Porthos " 
 
 By a strange coincidence, the same way of ending the con- 
 flict had occurred to both swordsmen. As a consequence, 
 the swords glided along one another to the hilts, where the 
 slighter blade snapped off short. But the defenceless state 
 of Aramis did not matter at this juncture, for the name had 
 caused Joel to utter an exclamation: 
 
 "Porthos he was my father!" 
 
 "Your father? Then I was his friend I am Aramis! 
 
 The old man recoiled and flung down the stump of his 
 sword. Before him he thought he saw, as the false life and 
 warmth of the elixir faded away, the phantom of the friend 
 of his youth the Porthos with simple grandeur of soul, and 
 real superiority of heart more mighty than splendor of 
 mind. Sublime in vigor, courage and disinterestedness- 
 smiling, open, unconquerable the strongest of the Four 
 Companions, and yet the first to die; to die, because he the 
 Chevalier d' Herbly, had drawn him, innocently and unwit- 
 tingly, into the tragical adventure.of the Chateau of Vaux. 
 
 At last, his gigantic shade had come out of the tomb, and 
 with it was ranged the spirits of Athos and d'Artagnan. 
 They seemed to adopt their old friend's son, and stood 
 ready to defend him. But there was no cause for them to 
 Stand between. After the flame which had coursed through 
 the old man's veins and made him lose the weight of eighty 
 years, a chilliness had crept over him. But in an instant, 
 wherever the dangerous liquid had mingled with the blood, 
 all the channels ached and seemed to be consumed. 
 
 "I am deceived," he muttered, staggering to the nearesf 
 chair and leaving the way clear to Joel who bounded over 
 the rail to his wife's side. " The liquor of long life is 
 ephemeral and I have but hastened my death. Oh, I so 
 wished to live to reign to have all the world for one, and 
 that one I " 
 
 When Joel, carrying his wife in his arms with her heart 
 again beating in unison with his own, passed the old man. 
 he saw but a bent, gathered-up form in the chair. Aramis 
 had died, without consciousness that he was, an accom- 
 plished courtier, committing the unpardonable sin, '"* 
 thrusting deat^ beJDe the eyes of a king.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 A fortnight later, on the deck of a sailing vessel crossing 
 from Croisic to Bell-Islle, some of our characters would 
 have been seen again. 
 
 With an emotion which thrilled every fibre, our hero saw 
 once more the sombre girdle of rocks rise on the sea-line 
 where his infancy had past. His young wife, lovelier than 
 ever, leaned against him and watched him smile again as he 
 heard the grumblings of Friquet to Sergeant Bonaventure. 
 
 "Our prince is a curmudgeon: not a bit of ribbon, medal 
 or gold lace not a coin with which to drink his health. 
 Death of my life ! what a joke it is to call him Louis the 
 Great who is anything but tall." 
 
 The rising sun gilded the boat as it ran into the port of 
 Locmaria under full sail. A cannon shot from the fort salut- 
 ed the arrival. Instantly the drums beat in the castle, and 
 the beils in the parish were set ringing. When they disem- 
 barked, they found the garrison ranged in battle array on 
 the strand; the soldiers had bunches of flowers in their mus- 
 kets, and streamers of ribbons to their halberds. Behind 
 them were all the inhabitants in their best clothes, the 
 women and children carrying flowers by the armsful. The 
 wen waved hats and caps, and all vociferated: 
 
 *' Long live the count ! long live my lady ! long live our 
 new lord !" 
 
 "A deucedly civilized country," said Friquet, "just look, 
 sergeant, how the pretty girls perk up as we come along." 
 
 An officer came up, hat in hand. 
 
 " May I ask for M. Joel of Locmaria ?" 
 
 "It is I," responded our hero, with the same civility. 
 
 Drawing his sword, the officer made a sign with it, on 
 which the drums beat, the soldiers presented arms and the 
 principal inhabitants advanced with bows. 
 
 " Welcome to the Count of Locmaria, Governor and 
 Lord of the Manor of Locmaria !" was the universal shout. 
 
 There was news for Friquet at the Townhall to which the 
 new-comers were escorted. He was appointed commander 
 of the fleet of bomb-ketches to be sent to ruin Algiers; 
 Bonlaron was named lieutenant in the same expedition.
 
 fHE SON OF PORTHOS; O*. 
 
 the other documents, confirming the boons of tht 
 generous King not to call his act of reparation was alettei 
 from Widow Scarron. It announced that she had been the 
 bearer of the order to the Marchioness of Montespan that she 
 must confine herself to a nunnery. Her place was taken by 
 the governess, to whom Louis gave a large sum to buy the 
 marquisate of Maintenon, and support her in that title. 
 
 u I shall start soon to take command of my fleet," said tht 
 Little Parisian, an inch taller as the Admiral of the Bombar- 
 diers Navy. 
 
 "And I am with you,"jsaid Bonaventure, who had renewed 
 his liking for the soldier's life. 
 
 " I shall stay here," said Joel, turning towards his wif>, 
 ^beside my father's grave " 
 
 44 And the home of our children," added Aurora blushinjh 
 
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