"I say not that I refuse to obey."

"Nevertheless, M. de Baisemeaux, what has pa.s.sed wears very much the air of resistance."

"Oh, no! monseigneur, no; I only wished to be certain."

"To be certain of what?" said Aramis, in a tone of supreme contempt.

"Of nothing at all, monseigneur." Baisemeaux lowered his voice, and bending before the prelate, said, "I am at all times and in all places at the disposal of my superiors, but--"

"Very good. I like you better thus, monsieur," said Aramis, as he resumed his seat, and put out his gla.s.s to Baisemeaux, whose hand trembled so that he could not fill it. "You were saying 'but'--"

continued Aramis.

"But," replied the unhappy man, "having received no notice, I was very far from expecting it."

"Does not the Gospel say, 'Watch, for the moment is known only of G.o.d?'

Do not the rules of the order say, 'Watch, for that which I will, you ought always to will also.' And what pretext will serve you now that you did not expect the confessor, M. de Baisemeaux?"

"Because, monseigneur, there is at present in the Bastile no prisoner ill."

Aramis shrugged his shoulders. "What do you know about that?" said he.

"But, nevertheless, it appears to me--"

"M. de Baisemeaux," said Aramis, turning round in his chair, "here is your servant, who wishes to speak with you;" and at this moment, De Baisemeaux's servant appeared at the threshold of the door.

"What is it?" asked Baisemeaux, sharply.

"Monsieur," said the man, "they are bringing you the doctor's return."

Aramis looked at De Baisemeaux with a calm and confident eye.

"Well," said he, "let the messenger enter."

The messenger entered, saluted, and handed in the report. Baisemeaux ran his eye over it, and raising his head, said in surprise, "No. 12 is ill!"

"How was it, then," said Aramis, carelessly, "that you told me everybody was well in your hotel, M. de Baisemeaux?" And he emptied his gla.s.s without removing his eyes from Baisemeaux.

The governor then made a sign to the messenger, and when he had quitted the room, said, still trembling, "I think that there is in the article, 'on the prisoner's demand.'"

"Yes, it is so," answered Aramis. "But see what it is they want with you now."

And that moment a sergeant put his head in at the door. "What do you want now?" cried Baisemeaux. "Can you not leave me in peace for ten minutes?"

"Monsieur," said the sergeant, "the sick man, No. 12, has commissioned the turnkey to request you to send him a confessor."

Baisemeaux very nearly sank on the floor; but Aramis disdained to rea.s.sure him, just as he had disdained to terrify him. "What must I answer?" inquired Baisemeaux.

"Just what you please," replied Aramis, compressing his lips; "that is your business. _I_ am not the governor of the Bastile."

"Tell the prisoner," cried Baisemeaux, quickly,--"tell the prisoner that his request is granted." The sergeant left the room. "Oh! monseigneur, monseigneur," murmured Baisemeaux, "how could I have suspected!--how could I have foreseen this!"

"Who requested you to suspect, and who besought you to foresee?"

contemptuously answered Aramis. "The order suspects; the order knows; the order foresees--is that not enough?"

"What is it you command?" added Baisemeaux.

"I?--nothing at all. I am nothing but a poor priest, a simple confessor.

Have I your orders to go and see the sufferer?"

"Oh, monseigneur, I do not order; I pray you to go."

"'Tis well; conduct me to him."

End of Louise de la Valliere. The last text in the series is The Man in the Iron Mask.

Footnotes:

[Footnote 1: "To err is human."]

[Footnote 2: Potatoes were not grown in France at that time. La Siecle insists that the error is theirs, and that Dumas meant "tomatoes."]

[Footnote 3: In the five-volume edition, Volume 3 ends here.]

[Footnote 4: "In your house."]

[Footnote 5: This alternate translation of the verse in this chapter:

"Oh! you who sadly are wandering alone, Come, come, and laugh with us."

---is closer to the original meaning.]

[Footnote 6: Marie de Mancini was a former love of the king's. He had to abandon her for the political advantages which the marriage to the Spanish Infanta, Maria Theresa, afforded. See The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Chapter XIII.]

[Footnote 7: "[A sun] not eclipsed by many suns." Louis's device was the sun.]

[Footnote 8: In the three-volume edition, Volume 2, ent.i.tled Louise de la Valliere, ends here.]

[Footnote 9: "To what heights may he not aspire?" Fouquet's motto.]

[Footnote 10: "A creature rare on earth."]

[Footnote 11: "With an eye always to the climax."]