FRIENDLY ADVICE.
Fouquet was gone to bed, like a man who clings to life, and who
economizes as much as possible that slender tissue of existence of which
the shocks and angles of this world so quickly wear out the irreparable
tenuity. D'Artagnan appeared at the door of this chamber, and was
saluted by the surintendant with a very affable "good day."
"Bon jour! monseigneur," replied the musketeer, "how did you get through
the journey?"
"Tolerably well, thank you."
"And the fever?"
"But sadly. I drink, as you see. I am scarcely arrived, and I have
already levied a contribution of tisane upon Nantes."
"You should sleep first, monseigneur."
"Eh! corbleu! my dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, I should be very glad to
sleep."
"Who hinders you?"
"Why, you, in the first place."
"I? Ah, monseigneur!"
"No doubt you do. Is it at Nantes as it was at Paris, do you not come in
the king's name?"
"For Heaven's sake, monseigneur," replied the captain, "leave the king
alone! The day on which I shall come on the part of the king, for the
purpose you mean, take my word for it, I will not leave you long in
doubt. You will see me place my hand on my sword, according to the
ordonnance, and you will hear me say at once in my ceremonial voice,
'Monseigneur, in the name of the king, I arrest you!'"
"You promise me that frankness?" said the surintendant.
"Upon my honor! But we are not come to that, believe me."
"What makes you think that, M. d'Artagnan? For my part, I think quite
the contrary."
"I have heard speak of nothing of the kind," replied D'Artagnan.
"Eh! eh!" said Fouquet.
"Indeed, no. You are an agreeable man, in spite of your fever. The king
ought not, cannot help loving you, at the bottom of his heart."
Fouquet's face implied doubt. "But M. Colbert?" said he; "does M.
Colbert love me as much as you say?"
"I don't speak of M. Colbert," replied D'Artagnan. "He is an exceptional
man, is that M. Colbert. He does not love you; that is very possible;
but, mordioux! the squirrel can guard himself against the adder with
very little trouble."
"Do you know that you are speaking to me quite as a friend," replied
Fouquet; "and that, upon my life! I have never met with a man of your
intelligence, and your heart?"
"You are pleased to say so," replied D'Artagnan. "Why did you wait till
to-day, to pay me such a compliment?"
"Blind as we are!" murmured Fouquet.
"Your voice is getting hoarse," said D'Artagnan; "drink, monseigneur,
drink!" And he offered him a cup of tisane, with the most friendly
cordiality; Fouquet took it, and thanked him by a bland smile. "Such
things only happen to me," said the musketeer. "I have passed ten years
under your very beard, while you were rolling about tons of gold. You
were clearing an annual pension of four millions; you never observed
me; and you find out there is such a person in the world, just at the
moment--"
"I am about to fall," interrupted Fouquet. "That is true, my dear
Monsieur d'Artagnan."
"I did not say so."
"But you thought so; and that is the same thing. Well! if I fall, take
my word as truth, I shall not pass a single day without saying to
myself, as I strike my brow, 'Fool! fool!--stupid mortal! You had a
Monsieur d'Artagnan under your eye and hand, and you did not employ him,
you did not enrich him!'"
"You quite overwhelm me," said the captain. "I esteem you greatly."
"There exists another man, then, who does not think as M. Colbert does,"
said the surintendant.
"How this M. Colbert slicks in your stomach! He is worse than your
fever!"
"Oh! I have good cause," said Fouquet. "Judge for yourself." And he
related the details of the course of the lighters, and the hypocritical
persecution of Colbert. "Is not this a clear sign of my ruin?"
D'Artagnan became serious. "That is true," said he. "Yes: that has a bad
odor, as M. de Treville used to say." And he fixed upon M. Fouquet his
intelligent and significant look.
"Am I not clearly designated in that, captain? Is not the king bringing
me to Nantes to get me away from Paris, where I have so many creatures,
and to possess himself of Belle-Isle?"
"Where M. d'Herblay is," added D'Artagnan. Fouquet raised his head. "As
for me, monseigneur," continued D'Artagnan, "I can assure you the king
has said nothing to me against you."
"Indeed!"
"The king commanded me to set out for Nantes, it is true; and to say
nothing about it to M. de Gesvres."
"My friend."
"To M. de Gesvres, yes, monseigneur," continued the musketeer, whose
eyes did not cease to speak a language different from the language of
his lips. "The king, moreover, commanded me to take a brigade of
musketeers, which is apparently superfluous, as the country is quite
quiet."
"A brigade!" said Fouquet, raising himself upon his elbow.
"Ninety-six horsemen, yes, monseigneur. The same number as were employed
in arresting MM. de Chalais, de Cinq-Mars, and Montmorency."
Fouquet pricked up his ears at these words, pronounced without apparent
value. "And besides?" said he.
"Well! nothing but insignificant orders; such as guarding the castle,
guarding every lodging, allowing none of M. de Gesvres's guards to
occupy a single post.--M. de Gesvres, your friend."
"And for myself," cried Fouquet, "what orders had you?"
"For you, monseigneur?--not the smallest word."
"Monsieur d'Artagnan, the safety of my honor, and, perhaps, of my life,
is at stake. You would not deceive me?"
"I?--and to what end? Are you threatened? Only there really is an order
with respect to carriages and boats--"
"'An order?'"
"Yes; but it cannot concern you--a simple measure of police."
"What is it, captain--what is it?"
"To forbid all horses or boats to leave Nantes, without a pass, signed
by the king."
"Great God! but--"
D'Artagnan began to laugh. "All that is not to be put into execution
before the arrival of the king at Nantes. So that you see plainly,
monseigneur, the order in no wise concerns you."
Fouquet became thoughtful, and D'Artagnan feigned not to observe his
preoccupation--"It is evident, by my thus confiding to you the orders
which have been given to me, that I am friendly toward you, and that I
endeavor to prove to you, that none of them are directed against you."
"Without doubt!--without doubt!" said Fouquet, still absent.
"Let us recapitulate," said the captain, his glance beaming with
earnestness. "A special and severe guard of the castle, in which your
lodging is to be--is it not?"
"Do you know that castle?"
"Ah! monseigneur, a true prison! The total absence of M. de Gesvres, who
has the honor of being one of your friends. The closing of the gates of
the city, and of the river without a pass; but, only when the king shall
have arrived.
"Please to observe, Monsieur Fouquet, that if, instead of speaking to a
man like you, who are one of the first in the kingdom, I were speaking
to a troubled, uneasy conscience--I should compromise myself forever!
What a fine opportunity for any one who wished to be free! No police, no
guards, no orders; the water free, the roads free, Monsieur d'Artagnan
obliged to lend his horses, if required! All this ought to reassure you,
Monsieur Fouquet, for the king would not have left me thus independent,
if he had had any evil designs. In truth. Monsieur Fouquet, ask me
whatever you like, I am at your service; and in return, if you will
consent to it, render me a service, that of offering my compliments to
Aramis and Porthos, in case you embark for Belle-Isle, as you have a
right to do, without changing your dress, immediately, in your
_robe-de-chambre_--just as you are." Saying these words, and with a
profound bow, the musketeer, whose looks had lost none of their
intelligent kindness, left the apartment. He had not reached the steps
of the vestibule, when Fouquet, quite beside himself, hung to the
bell-rope, and shouted, "My horses!--my lighter!" But nobody answered!
The surintendant dressed himself with everything that came to hand.
"Gourville! Gourville!" cried he, while slipping his watch into his
pocket. And the bell sounded again, while Fouquet repeated,
"Gourville!--Gourville!"
Gourville at length appeared, breathless and pale.
"Let us be gone! Let us be gone!" cried Fouquet, as soon as he saw him.
"It is too late!" said the surintendant's poor friend.
"Too late--why?"
"Listen!" And they heard the sounds trumpets and drums in front of the
castle.
"What does that mean, Gourville?"
"It is the king coming, monseigneur."
"The king!"
"The king, who has ridden double stages, who has killed horses, and who
is eight hours in advance of your calculation."
"We are lost?" murmured Fouquet. "Brave D'Artagnan, all is over, thou
hast spoken to me too late!"
The king, in fact, was entering the city, which soon resounded with the
cannon from the ramparts, and from a vessel which replied from the lower
parts of the river. Fouquet's brow darkened; he called his
valets-de-chambre, and dressed in ceremonial costume. From his window,
behind the curtains, he could see the eagerness of the people, and the
movement of a large troop, which had followed the prince, without its
being to be guessed how. The king was conducted to the castle with great
pomp, and Fouquet saw him dismount under the portcullis, and speak
something in the ear of D'Artagnan, who held his stirrup. D'Artagnan,
when the king had passed under the arch, directed his steps toward the
house Fouquet was in; but so slowly, and stopping so frequently to speak
to his musketeers, drawn up as a hedge, that it might be said he was
counting the seconds or the steps, before accomplishing his message.
Fouquet opened the window to speak to him in the court.
"Ah!" cried D'Artagnan, on perceiving him, "are you still there,
monseigneur?"
And that word _still_ completed the proof to Fouquet of how much
information, and how many useful counsels were contained in the first
visit the musketeer had paid him. The surintendant sighed deeply. "Good
heavens! yes, monsieur," replied he. "The arrival of the king has
interrupted me in the projects I had formed."
"Oh! then you know that the king is arrived?"
"Yes, monsieur, I have seen him; and this time you come from him--"
"To inquire after you, monseigneur; and, if your health is not too bad,
to beg you to have the kindness to repair to the castle."
"Directly, Monsieur d'Artagnan, directly!"
"Ah! _dam_!" said the captain, "now the king is come, there is no more
walking for anybody--no more free-will; the password governs all now,
you as well as me, me as well as you."
Fouquet heaved a last sigh, got into his carriage, so great was his
weakness, and went to the castle, escorted by D'Artagnan, whose
politeness was not less terrifying this time, than it had but just
before been consoling and cheerful.