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The Man in the Iron Mask, a novel by Alexandre Dumas |
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CHAPTER XVII - High Treason |
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_ The ungovernable fury which took possession of the king at the sight and at the perusal of Fouquet's letter to La Valliere by degrees subsided into a feeling of pain and extreme weariness. Youth, invigorated by health and lightness of spirits, requiring soon that what it loses should be immediately restored - youth knows not those endless, sleepless nights which enable us to realize the fable of the vulture unceasingly feeding on Prometheus. In cases where the man of middle life, in his acquired strength of will and purpose, and the old, in their state of natural exhaustion, find incessant augmentation of their bitter sorrow, a young man, surprised by the sudden appearance of misfortune, weakens himself in sighs, and groans, and tears, directly struggling with his grief, and is thereby far sooner overthrown by the inflexible enemy with whom he is engaged. Once overthrown, his struggles cease. Louis could not hold out more than a few minutes, at the end of which he had ceased to clench his hands, and scorch in fancy with his looks the invisible objects of his hatred; he soon ceased to attack with his violent imprecations not M. Fouquet alone, but even La Valliere herself; from fury he subsided into despair, and from despair to prostration. After he had thrown himself for a few minutes to and fro convulsively on his bed, his nerveless arms fell quietly down; his head lay languidly on his pillow; his limbs, exhausted with excessive emotion, still trembled occasionally, agitated by muscular contractions; while from his breast faint and infrequent sighs still issued. Morpheus, the tutelary deity of the apartment, towards whom Louis raised his eyes, wearied by his anger and reconciled by his tears, showered down upon him the sleep-inducing poppies with which his hands are ever filled; so presently the monarch closed his eyes and fell asleep. Then it seemed to him, as it often happens in that first sleep, so light and gentle, which raises the body above the couch, and the soul above the earth - it seemed to him, we say, as if the god Morpheus, painted on the ceiling, looked at him with eyes resembling human eyes; that something shone brightly, and moved to and fro in the dome above the sleeper; that the crowd of terrible dreams which thronged together in his brain, and which were interrupted for a moment, half revealed a human face, with a hand resting against the mouth, and in an attitude of deep and absorbed meditation. And strange enough, too, this man bore so wonderful a resemblance to the king himself, that Louis fancied he was looking at his own face reflected in a mirror; with the exception, however, that the face was saddened by a feeling of the profoundest pity. Then it seemed to him as if the dome gradually retired, escaping from his gaze, and that the figures and attributes painted by Lebrun became darker and darker as the distance became more and more remote. A gentle, easy movement, as regular as that by which a vessel plunges beneath the waves, had succeeded to the immovableness of the bed. Doubtless the king was dreaming, and in this dream the crown of gold, which fastened the curtains together, seemed to recede from his vision, just as the dome, to which it remained suspended, had done, so that the winged genius which, with both its hand, supported the crown, seemed, though vainly so, to call upon the king, who was fast disappearing from it. The bed still sunk. Louis, with his eyes open, could not resist the deception of this cruel hallucination. At last, as the light of the royal chamber faded away into darkness and gloom, something cold, gloomy, and inexplicable in its nature seemed to infect the air. No paintings, nor gold, nor velvet hangings, were visible any longer, nothing but walls of a dull gray color, which the increasing gloom made darker every moment. And yet the bed still continued to descend, and after a minute, which seemed in its duration almost an age to the king, it reached a stratum of air, black and chill as death, and then it stopped. The king could no longer see the light in his room, except as from the bottom of a well we can see the light of day. "I am under the influence of some atrocious dream," he thought. "It is time to awaken from it. Come! let me wake." Every one has experienced the sensation the above remark conveys; there "What is this, monsieur, and what is the meaning of this jest?" "It is no jest," replied in a deep voice the masked figure that held the "Do you belong to M. Fouquet?" inquired the king, greatly astonished at "It matters very little to whom we belong," said the phantom; "we are The king, more impatient than intimidated, turned to the other masked The second masked person to whom the king had addressed himself was a man "We do not answer you, my good monsieur," said the giant, in a stentorian "At least, tell me what you want," exclaimed Louis, folding his arms with "You will know by and by," replied the man who held the lamp. "In the meantime tell me where I am." "Look." Louis looked all round him; but by the light of the lamp which the masked "No, a subterranean passage." "Which leads - ?" "Will you be good enough to follow us?" "I shall not stir from hence!" cried the king. "If you are obstinate, my dear young friend," replied the taller of the As he said this, he disengaged from beneath his cloak a hand of which Neither of the men answered a word to this remark. The one who carried "Another blow," said the king, turning towards the one who had just had "Try to forget that word," replied the man with the lamp, in a tone which "You deserve to be broken on the wheel for the words that you have just Louis, at that threat, made so sudden a movement that it seemed as if he "Come," replied the former of the two men, with a kind of respect in his The carriage was completely concealed amid the trees. Two horses, with "Get in," said the same man, opening the carriage-door and letting down With the exception of this voice, which might have been heard at the The man with the lantern opened the carriage-door, and said two or three "And fire at once if he speaks!" added aloud the man who alighted from "Very good," replied his companion, without another remark. With this recommendation, the person who had accompanied the king in the "Hush!" said Aramis. "Let us go into your room." "Good heavens! what brings you here at this hour?" "A mistake, my dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux," Aramis replied, quietly. "What about?" inquired the governor. "About the order of release, my dear friend." "Tell me what you mean, monsieur - no, monseigneur," said the governor, "It is a very simple affair: you remember, dear M. de Baisemeaux, that an "Yes, for Marchiali." "Very good! we both thought that it was for Marchiali?" "Certainly; you will recollect, however, that I would not credit it, but "Oh! Baisemeaux, my good fellow, what a word to make use of! - strongly "Strongly recommended, yes; strongly recommended to give him up to you; "Well, my dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux, it was a mistake; it was "Seldon! are you sure this time?" "Well, read it yourself," added Aramis, handing him the order. "Why," said Baisemeaux, "this order is the very same that has already "Indeed?" "It is the very one I assured you I saw the other evening. _Parbleu!_ I "I do not know whether it is that; but all I know is, that I bring it for "But then, what about the other?" "What other?" "Marchiali." "I have got him here with me." "But that is not enough for me. I require a new order to take him back "Don't talk such nonsense, my dear Baisemeaux; you talk like a child! Baisemeaux ran to his iron chest and took it out. Aramis seized hold of "Look at your position quietly, my good governor," said Aramis, with "I am a lost man!" "Far from it, my good fellow, since I have brought Marchiali back to you, "Ah!" said the governor, completely overcome by terror. "Plain enough, you see; and you will go and shut him up immediately." "I should think so, indeed." "And you will hand over this Seldon to me, whose liberation is authorized "I - I - " "You do understand, I see," said Aramis. "Very good." Baisemeaux "But why, at all events, after having taken Marchiali away from me, do "For a friend such as you are," said Aramis - "for so devoted a servant, "And the king? - yes!" "Very good; the first use that Marchiali made of his liberty was to "How is it likely I should guess?" "To persist in saying that he was king of France; to dress himself up in "Gracious heavens!" "That is the reason why I have brought him back again, my dear friend. "What is to be done, then?" "That is very simple; let no one hold any communication with him. You "You need not ask me whether I understand." "And now, let us go down, and conduct this poor devil back to his dungeon "What would be the good of that?" "It would be better, perhaps, to enter his name in the prison-book at "Of course, certainly; not a doubt of it." "In that case, have him up." Baisemeaux ordered the drums to be beaten and the bell to be rung, as a "So that," said Aramis, "you would not have been deceived by the "What a question!" "You are a most valuable fellow, Baisemeaux," said Aramis; "and now, set "Oh, yes. I was going to forget that. I will go and give orders at "Bah! to-morrow will be time enough." "To-morrow! - oh, no. This very minute." "Well; go off to your affairs, I will go away to mine. But it is quite "What 'is quite understood'?" "That no one is to enter the prisoner's cell, expect with an order from "Quite so. Adieu, monseigneur." Aramis returned to his companion. "Now, Porthos, my good fellow, back "A man is light and easy enough, when he has faithfully served his king; |