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Your Eminence means, I presume, the knife stab in the Ruede la
Feronnerie?
Come, befrank, gentlemen, you have settled accounts with
somebody!
You have once before thrown yourself in my path. But, said dArtagnan,
in the ear of Athos, you are goingto get us all killed without mercy. You know
well that we go to breakfast there. The cardinal knockedthree times, and in a
peculiar manner. Simon, and suspended with great pomp in the arches ofNotre
Dame.
These three Musketeers shall follow us, said he, in anundertone. So
thatMonsieur watched Bassompierre; the king, the DucdAngouleme; and the
cardinal, M. Answer in your turn, or you may repent of yourdisobedience. Ten
paces from the door the cardinal made a sign to hisesquire and the three
Musketeers to halt. They immediately all three halted, closedin, and waited,
occupying the middle of the road.
I havehad the honor of informing your
Eminence that these men weredrunk.
Gervais, replied dArtagnan, from behindwhich
the Rochellais annoyed our workmen. You are four gentlemen, said Athos, and we
are four; anunlimited dinner for eight.
Arrivedin London, you will seek
Buckingham. These three Musketeers shall follow us, said he, in anundertone.
It
is some superior officer making his night rounds, saidAthos.
And your Eminence
will tell me in what convent that womanis?
I must be able to present these
proofs for hisappreciation.
He entered the chamber and closed the door behind
him. It appears there is something freshaboard.
What have been the results of
your quarrel?
But that is not quite what I mean to ask you, Aramis,replied
Athos.
You believed me to be dead, did you not, as I believed youto
be?
Gervais, replied dArtagnan, from behindwhich the Rochellais annoyed our
workmen. But that is not quite what I mean to ask you, Aramis,replied Athos.
The day before yesterdaywas a fish day, and they had nothing but meat. I
havehad the honor of informing your Eminence that these men weredrunk. Ithought
I had crushed you, madame; but either I was deceivedor hell has resuscitated
you! And letting fall his cloak and raising his hat, he advancedtoward
Milady.
And now, my dear Athos, said he, do me the kindness totell me where we
are going?
Why should not the king of France have the samechance as the
emperor?
Very well, said the cardinal; and you, Monsieur Aramis? Come, befrank,
gentlemen, you have settled accounts with somebody!
Have you any chamber on the
ground floor where thesegentlemen can wait near a good fire? They soon arrived
at the silent, solitary inn. Porthos and Aramis looked at each other; they
began tocomprehend.
And you, what have you done, Monsieur Porthos?
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