The Man in the Iron Mask
The Wine of Melun.
The king had, in point of fact, entered Melun with the of through the city. The was most for amusements; only twice the had he been able to catch a of La Valliere, and, that his only opportunity of speaking to her would be after nightfall, in the gardens, and after the of had been gone through, he had been very to arrive at Vaux as early as possible. But he without his captain of the musketeers, and without M. Colbert. Like Calypso, who not be at the of Ulysses, our Gascon not himself for not having why Aramis had asked Percerin to him the king’s new costumes. “There is not a doubt,” he said to himself, “that my friend the of Vannes had some in that;” and then he to his most uselessly. D’Artagnan, so with all the intrigues, who the position of Fouquet than Fouquet himself did, had the and at the of the fete, which would have a man, and which impossible, even, for a man so as he was. And then, the presence of Aramis, who had returned from Belle-Isle, and been by Monsieur Fouquet inspector-general of all the arrangements; his in mixing himself up with all the surintendant’s affairs; his visits to Baisemeaux; all this of had and D’Artagnan the last two weeks.
“With men of Aramis’s stamp,” he said, “one is the in hand. So long as Aramis a soldier, there was of the of him; but since he has his with a stole, we are lost. But what can Aramis’s object possibly be?” And D’Artagnan again into thought. “What it to me, after all,” he continued, “if his only object is to M. Colbert? And what else can he be after?” And D’Artagnan his forehead—that land, the of his had up so many and such ideas in his time. He, at first, of talking the over with Colbert, but his for Aramis, the of days, him too strictly. He at the idea of such a thing, and, besides, he the too cordially. Then, again, he to his mind to the king; but yet the king would not be able to the which had not a of at their base. He to address himself to Aramis, direct, the time he met him. “I will him,” said the musketeer, “between a of candles, suddenly, and when he least it, I will place my hand upon his heart, and he will tell me—What will he tell me? Yes, he will tell me something, for mordioux! there is something in it, I know.”
Somewhat calmer, D’Artagnan every for the journey, and took the that the of the king, as yet very in numbers, should be well and well in its and limited proportions. The result was that, through the captain’s arrangements, the king, on at Melun, saw himself at the of the and Swiss guards, as well as a of the French guards. It might almost have been called a small army. M. Colbert looked at the with great delight: he they had been a third more in number.
“But why?” said the king.
“In order to to M. Fouquet,” Colbert.
“In order to him the sooner,” D’Artagnan.
When this little army appeared Melun, the came out to meet the king, and to present him with the keys of the city, and him to enter the Hotel de Ville, in order to of the of honor. The king, who to pass through the city and to to Vaux without delay, red in the from vexation.
“Who was to occasion this delay?” the king, his teeth, as the was in the middle of a long address.
“Not I, certainly,” D’Artagnan, “but I it was M. Colbert.”
Colbert, having his name pronounced, said, “What was M. d’Artagnan good to say?”
“I was good to that it was you who stopped the king’s progress, so that he might taste the de Brie. Was I right?”
“Quite so, monsieur.”
“In that case, then, it was you the king called some name or other.”
“What name?”
“I know; but wait a moment—idiot, I think it was—no, no, it was or dolt. Yes; his said that the man who had of the de Melun was something of the sort.”
D’Artagnan, after this broadside, his mustache; M. Colbert’s large to larger and larger than ever. D’Artagnan, how anger him, did not stop half-way. The still on with his speech, while the king’s color was visibly increasing.
“Mordioux!” said the musketeer, coolly, “the king is going to have an attack of of blood to the head. Where the did you of that idea, Monsieur Colbert? You have no luck.”
“Monsieur,” said the financier, himself up, “my for the king’s service me with the idea.”
“Bah!”
“Monsieur, Melun is a city, an excellent city, which pays well, and which it would be to displease.”
“There, now! I, who do not to be a financier, saw only one idea in your idea.”
“What was that, monsieur?”
“That of a little to M. Fouquet, who is making himself on his yonder, in waiting for us.”
This was a home-stroke, hard in all conscience. Colbert was out of the by it, and retired, discomfited. Fortunately, the speech was now at an end; the king the which was presented to him, and then every one the progress through the city. The king his in anger, for the was in, and all of a walk with La Valliere was at an end. In order that the whole of the king’s should enter Vaux, four hours at least were necessary, to the different arrangements. The king, therefore, who was with impatience, as much as possible, in order to it nightfall. But, at the moment he was setting off again, other and fresh arose.
“Is not the king going to sleep at Melun?” said Colbert, in a low of voice, to D’Artagnan.
M. Colbert must have been that day, to address himself in that manner to the of the musketeers; for the that the king’s was very from that of where he was. D’Artagnan would not allow him to enter Vaux he were well and accompanied; and that his would not enter with all the escort. On the other hand, he that these would that measure. In what way he possibly these difficulties? D’Artagnan took up Colbert’s remark, and to it to the king.
“Sire,” he said, “M. Colbert has been asking me if your not to sleep at Melun.”
“Sleep at Melun! What for?” Louis XIV. “Sleep at Melun! Who, in Heaven’s name, can have of such a thing, when M. Fouquet is us this evening?”
“It was simply,” Colbert, quickly, “the of your the least delay; for, according to etiquette, you cannot enter any place, with the of your own residences, until the soldiers’ have been marked out by the quartermaster, and the properly distributed.”
D’Artagnan with the attention, his to his vexation; and the were not less interested. They were fatigued, and would have to go to without any farther; more especially, in order to prevent the king walking about in the with M. de Saint-Aignan and the ladies of the court, for, if the to their own rooms, the ladies of honor, as soon as they had performed the services of them, had no restrictions upon them, but were at to walk about as they pleased. It will easily be that all these interests, together in vapors, necessarily produced clouds, and that the clouds were likely to be by a tempest. The king had no to gnaw, and therefore the of his instead, with ill-concealed impatience. How he out of it? D’Artagnan looked as as possible, and Colbert as as he could. Who was there he in a with?
“We will the queen,” said Louis XIV., to the ladies. And this of Maria Theresa’s heart, who, being of a and disposition, when left to her own free-will, replied:
“I shall be to do your wishes.”
“How long will it take us to to Vaux?” Anne of Austria, in slow and accents, her hand upon her bosom, where the seat of her pain lay.
“An hour for your majesty’s carriages,” said D’Artagnan; “the are good.”
The king looked at him. “And a of an hour for the king,” he to add.
“We should arrive by daylight?” said Louis XIV.
“But the of the king’s escort,” Colbert, softly, “will make his all the of his speed, quick he may be.”
“Double that you are!” D’Artagnan; “if I had any or in your with the king, I do it in ten minutes. If I were in the king’s place,” he added aloud, “I should, in going to M. Fouquet, my me; I should go to him as a friend; I should enter only by my captain of the guards; I should that I was acting more nobly, and should be with a still more by doing so.”
Delight in the king’s eyes. “That is a very suggestion. We will go to see a friend as friends; the who are with the can go slowly: but we who are will on.” And he off, by all those who were mounted. Colbert his his horse’s neck.
“I shall be quits,” said D’Artagnan, as he along, “by a little talk with Aramis this evening. And then, M. Fouquet is a man of honor. Mordioux! I have said so, and it must be so.”
And this was the way how, seven o’clock in the evening, without announcing his by the of trumpets, and without his guard, without out-riders or musketeers, the king presented himself the gate of Vaux, where Fouquet, who had been of his guest’s approach, had been waiting for the last half-hour, with his uncovered, by his and his friends.
