The Man in the Iron Mask. Александр Дюма

CHAPTER 14 A Gascon, and a Gascon and a Half.

      D’Artagnan had determined to lose no time, and in fact he never was in the habit of doing so. After having inquired for Aramis, he had looked for him in every direction until he had succeeded in finding him. Besides, no sooner had the king entered Vaux, than Aramis had retired to his own room, meditating, doubtless, some new piece of gallant attention for his majesty’s amusement. D’Artagnan desired the servants to announce him, and found on the second story (in a beautiful room called the Blue Chamber, on account of the color of its hangings) the bishop of Vannes in company with Porthos and several of the modern Epicureans. Aramis came forward to embrace his friend, and offered him the best seat. As it was after awhile generally remarked among those present that the musketeer was reserved, and wished for an opportunity for conversing secretly with Aramis, the Epicureans took their leave. Porthos, however, did not stir; for true it is that, having dined exceedingly well, he was fast asleep in his armchair; and the freedom of conversation therefore was not interrupted by a third person. Porthos had a deep, harmonious snore, and people might talk in the midst of its loud bass without fear of disturbing him. D’Artagnan felt that he was called upon to open the conversation.

      “Well, and so we have come to Vaux,” he said.

      “Why, yes, D’Artagnan. And how do you like the place?”

      “Very much, and I like M. Fouquet, also.”

      “Is he not a charming host?”

      “No one could be more so.”

      “I am told that the king began by showing great distance of manner towards M. Fouquet, but that his majesty grew much more cordial afterwards.”

      “You did not notice it, then, since you say you have been told so?”

      “No; I was engaged with the gentlemen who have just left the room about the theatrical performances and the tournaments which are to take place to-morrow.”

      “Ah, indeed! you are the comptroller-general of the fetes here, then?”

      “You know I am a friend of all kinds of amusement where the exercise of the imagination is called into activity; I have always been a poet in one way or another.”

      “Yes, I remember the verses you used to write, they were charming.”

      “I have forgotten them, but I am delighted to read the verses of others, when those others are known by the names of Moliere, Pelisson, La Fontaine, etc.”

      “Do you know what idea occurred to me this evening, Aramis?”

      “No; tell me what it was, for I should never be able to guess it, you have so many.”

      “Well, the idea occurred to me, that the true king of France is not Louis XIV.”

      “What!” said Aramis, involuntarily, looking the musketeer full in the eyes.

      “No, it is Monsieur Fouquet.”

      Aramis breathed again, and smiled. “Ah! you are like all the rest, jealous,” he said. “I would wager that it was M. Colbert who turned that pretty phrase.” D’Artagnan, in order to throw Aramis off his guard, related Colbert’s misadventures with regard to the vin de Melun.

      “He comes of a mean race, does Colbert,” said Aramis.

      “Quite true.”

      “When I think, too,” added the bishop, “that that fellow will be your minister within four months, and that you will serve him as blindly as you did Richelieu or Mazarin—”

      “And as you serve M. Fouquet,” said D’Artagnan.

      “With this difference, though, that M. Fouquet is not M. Colbert.”

      “True, true,” said D’Artagnan, as he pretended to become sad and full of reflection; and then, a moment after, he added, “Why do you tell me that M. Colbert will be minister in four months?”

      “Because M. Fouquet will have ceased to be so,” replied Aramis.

      “He will be ruined, you mean?” said D’Artagnan.

      “Completely so.”

      “Why does he give these fetes, then?” said the musketeer, in a tone so full of thoughtful consideration, and so well assumed, that the bishop was for the moment deceived by it. “Why did you not dissuade him from it?”

      The latter part of the phrase was just a little too much, and Aramis’s former suspicions were again aroused. “It is done with the object of humoring the king.”

      “By ruining himself?”

      “Yes, by ruining himself for the king.”

      “A most eccentric, one might say, sinister calculation, that.”

      “Necessity, necessity, my friend.”

      “I don’t see that, dear Aramis.”

      “Do you not? Have you not remarked M. Colbert’s daily increasing antagonism, and that he is doing his utmost to drive the king to get rid of the superintendent?”

      “One must be blind not to see it.”

      “And that a cabal is already armed against M. Fouquet?”

      “That is well known.”

      “What likelihood is there that the king would join a party formed against a man who will have spent everything he had to please him?”

      “True, true,” said D’Artagnan, slowly, hardly convinced, yet curious to broach another phase of the conversation. “There are follies, and follies,” he resumed, “and I do not like those you are committing.”

      “What do you allude to?”

      “As for the banquet, the ball, the concert, the theatricals, the tournaments, the cascades, the fireworks, the illuminations, and the presents—these are well and good, I grant; but why were not these expenses sufficient? Why was it necessary to have new liveries and costumes for your whole household?”

      “You are quite right. I told M. Fouquet that myself; he replied, that if he were rich enough he would offer the king a newly erected chateau, from the vanes at the houses to the very sub-cellars; completely new inside and out; and that, as soon as the king had left, he would burn the whole building and its contents, in order that it might not be made use of by any one else.”

      “How completely Spanish!”

      “I told him so, and he then added this: ‘Whoever advises me to spare expense, I shall look upon as my enemy.’”

      “It is positive madness; and that portrait, too!”

      “What portrait?” said Aramis.

      “That of the king, and the surprise as well.”

      “What surprise?”

      “The surprise you seem to have in view, and on account of which you took some specimens away, when I met you at Percerin’s.” D’Artagnan paused. The shaft was discharged, and all he had to do was to wait and watch its effect.

      “That is merely an act of graceful attention,” replied Aramis.

      D’Artagnan went up to his friend, took hold of both his hands, and looking him full in the eyes, said, “Aramis, do you still care for me a very little?”

      “What a question to ask!”

      “Very good. One favor, then. Why did you take some patterns of the king’s costumes at Percerin’s?”

      “Come with me and ask poor Lebrun, who has been working upon them for the last two days and nights.”

      “Aramis, that may be truth for everybody else, but for me—”

      “Upon