{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I am at your orders, monseigneur.", "pos": 18503}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Very good", "pos": 18589}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The rules do not allow the governor to hear the prisoner’s confession.", "pos": 19668}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "What is it?", "pos": 21206}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You desired a confessor?", "pos": 21229}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 21272}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Because you were ill?", "pos": 21279}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 21303}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Very ill?", "pos": 21310}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "I thank you. I have seen you before. I am better.", "pos": 21381}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And so?", "pos": 21697}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "Why, then--being better, I have no longer the same need of a confessor, I think.", "pos": 21720}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Not even of the hair-cloth, which the note you found in your bread informed you of? Not even of the ecclesiastic from whom you were to hear an important revelation?", "pos": 21803}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "If it be so, it is different; I am listening.", "pos": 22058}
{"speaker": "the prisoner", "text": "Sit down, monsieur,", "pos": 22333}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "How does the Bastile agree with you? You do not suffer? You have nothing to regret? Not even your liberty? I call liberty, the flowers, the air, light, the stars, the happiness of going whithersoever the sinewy limbs of one-and-twenty chance to wish to carry you.", "pos": 22399}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "But the air! air is so necessary to life! Light I have! what is better than light?", "pos": 23580}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "As to the stars which are so delightful to view. So much, then, for the flowers, the air, the daylight, and the stars. Men! be it so; but it seems to me you are forgetting Heaven. Is not Heaven in everything? Say rather, at the end of everything, but let us return to our starting-point. I am your confessor. Well, then, you ought, as a penitent, to tell me the truth. Every prisoner has committed some crime for which he has been imprisoned. What crime, then, have you committed? And then, as now you evaded giving me an answer. Because this time I am your confessor. Then if you wish me to tell what crime I have committed, explain to me in what a crime consists. For as my conscience does not accuse me, I aver that I am not a criminal. We are often criminals in the sight of the great of the earth, not alone for having ourselves committed crimes, but because we know that crimes have been committed. Ah! then you know something. What do you say to yourself? Then--and then? You leave off? What? You are afraid of death? Oh, as you fear death, you know more about matters than you say. Are you ambitious? What do you mean by ambitious? Ambition, is the feeling which prompts a man to desire more--much more--than he possesses. An ambitious man, is one who covets that which is beyond his station. You lied the first time I saw you. I should say, you concealed from me what you knew of your infancy. True, ‘tis true; pardon me, but to-day do I still occupy the place of a chance-comer? I beseech you to reply, monseigneur. Oh, but if I dared, I would take your hand and kiss it! Why did you tell me, that you were happy here? Why, that you aspired to nothing? Why, in a word, by thus speaking, do you prevent me from being frank in my turn? You distrust me. And why say you so, monsieur? Oh, for a very simple reason; if you know what you ought to know, you ought to mistrust everybody. Oh, monseigneur! you drive me to despair. And, on my part, I do not comprehend you, monsieur. Well, then, try to understand me. Sometimes it seems to me, that I have before me the man whom I seek, and then-- Certainly. I have nothing further to say to a man who mistrusts me as you do. And I, monsieur, have nothing to say to a man who will not understand that a prisoner ought to be mistrustful of everybody. Even of his old friends. Oh, monseigneur, you are too prudent! Of my old friends?--you one of my old friends,--you? Do you no longer remember. Do you know the name of the village? Noisy-le-Sec, monseigneur. Go on. Stay, monseigneur,", "pos": 24852}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I promise you, to hear you without impatience. Only it appears to me that I have a right to repeat the question I have already asked, ‘Who are you?’ Do you remember, fifteen or eighteen years ago, seeing at Noisy-le-Sec a cavalier, accompanied by a lady in black silk, with flame-colored ribbons in her hair? Well, that musketeer and abbe, afterwards bishop of Vannes, is your confessor now. I know it; I recognized you. Then, monseigneur, if you know that, I must further add a fact of which you are ignorant--that if the king were to know this evening of the presence of this musketeer, this abbe, this bishop, this confessor, here--he, who has risked everything to visit you, to-morrow would behold the steely glitter of the executioner’s axe in a dungeon more gloomy, more obscure than yours. Yes. I remember perfectly. The woman of whom you speak came once with you, and twice afterwards with another. With another, who came to see you every month--is it not so, monseigneur? Do you know who this lady was? I am aware that she was one of the ladies of the court. You remember that lady well, do you not? Oh, my recollection can hardly be very confused on this head. Then you were in prison? If I am a prisoner here, then I was comparatively free, although in a very narrow sense--a house I never quitted, a garden surrounded with walls I could not climb, these constituted my residence, but you know it, as you have been there. In a word, being accustomed to live within these bounds, I never cared to leave them. And so you will understand, monsieur, that having never seen anything of the world, I have nothing left to care for; and therefore, if you relate anything, you will be obliged to explain each item to me as you go along. And I will do so, for it is my duty, monseigneur. Well, then, begin by telling me who was my tutor. A worthy and, above all, an honorable gentleman, monseigneur; fit guide for both body and soul. Had you ever any reason to complain of him? Oh, no; quite the contrary. But this gentleman of yours often used to tell me that my father and mother were dead. Did he deceive me, or did he speak the truth? He was compelled to comply with the orders given him. Then he lied? In one respect. Your father is dead. She is dead for you. But then she lives for others, does she not? And I--and I, then am compelled to live in the obscurity of a prison? Alas! I fear so. And that because my presence in the world would lead to the revelation of a great secret? Certainly, a very great secret. My enemy must indeed be powerful, to be able to shut up in the Bastile a child such as I then was. He is. More powerful than my mother, then? And why do you ask that? Because my mother would have taken my part. Yes, monseigneur; more powerful than your mother. Seeing, then, that my nurse and preceptor were carried off, and that I, also, was separated from them--either they were, or I am, very dangerous to my enemy? Yes; but you are alluding to a peril from which he freed himself, by causing the nurse and preceptor to disappear. Disappear! how did they disappear? they are dead.", "pos": 33194}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "Poison?", "pos": 37726}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Poison.", "pos": 37746}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "My enemy must indeed have been very cruel, or hard beset by necessity, to assassinate those two innocent people, my sole support; for the worthy gentleman and the poor nurse had never harmed a living being.", "pos": 37789}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In your family, monseigneur, necessity is stern. And so it is necessity which compels me, to my great regret, to tell you that this gentleman and the unhappy lady have been assassinated.", "pos": 37998}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Oh, you tell me nothing I am not aware of,", "pos": 38187}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "How?", "pos": 38271}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "I suspected it.", "pos": 38278}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Why?", "pos": 38296}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "I will tell you.", "pos": 38303}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Speak, monseigneur. I have already told you that by conversing with you I endanger my life. Little value as it has, I implore you to accept it as the ransom of your own.", "pos": 38629}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "Well,", "pos": 38801}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Whom you used to call your father?", "pos": 38902}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes; whom I called my father, but whose son I well knew I was not.", "pos": 38939}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Who caused you to suppose so?", "pos": 39008}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Just as you, monsieur, are too respectful for a friend, he was also too respectful for a father.", "pos": 39040}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I, however,", "pos": 39139}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "have no intention to disguise myself.", "pos": 39166}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Undoubtedly, I was not destined to perpetual seclusion,", "pos": 39249}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "This, then, is eight years ago?", "pos": 39972}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, nearly; but I have ceased to reckon time.", "pos": 40006}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Excuse me; but what did your tutor tell you, to encourage you to work?", "pos": 40055}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "He used to say that a man was bound to make for himself, in the world, that fortune which Heaven had refused him at his birth. He added that, being a poor, obscure orphan, I had no one but myself to look to; and that nobody either did, or ever would, take any interest in me. I was, then, in the hall I have spoken of, asleep from fatigue with long fencing. My preceptor was in his room on the first floor, just over me. Suddenly I heard him exclaim, and then he called: ‘Perronnette! Perronnette!’ It was my nurse whom he called.", "pos": 40128}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, I know it. Continue, monseigneur.", "pos": 40661}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Very likely she was in the garden; for my preceptor came hastily downstairs. I rose, anxious at seeing him anxious. He opened the garden-door, still crying out, ‘Perronnette! Perronnette!’ The windows of the hall looked into the court; the shutters were closed; but through a chink in them I saw my tutor draw near a large well, which was almost directly under the windows of his study. He stooped over the brim, looked into the well, and again cried out, and made wild and affrighted gestures. Where I was, I could not only see, but hear--and see and hear I did.", "pos": 40717}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Go on, I pray you,", "pos": 41283}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Dame Perronnette came running up, hearing the governor’s cries. He went to meet her, took her by the arm, and drew her quickly towards the edge; after which, as they both bent over it together, ‘Look, look,’ cried he, ‘what a misfortune!", "pos": 41317}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Calm yourself, calm yourself,", "pos": 41558}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "what is the matter?", "pos": 41608}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "The letter!", "pos": 41631}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "do you see that letter?", "pos": 41659}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What letter?", "pos": 41722}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "The letter you see down there; the last letter from the queen.", "pos": 41749}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "The queen’s last letter!", "pos": 41975}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "but how came it there?", "pos": 42109}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "A chance, Dame Perronnette--a singular chance. I was entering my room, and on opening the door, the window, too, being open, a puff of air came suddenly and carried off this paper--this letter of her majesty’s; I darted after it, and gained the window just in time to see it flutter a moment in the breeze and disappear down the well.", "pos": 42135}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well,", "pos": 42473}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "and if the letter has fallen into the well, ‘tis all the same as if it was burnt; and as the queen burns all her letters every time she comes--", "pos": 42504}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Doubtless, doubtless,", "pos": 42733}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "but this letter contained instructions--how can I follow them?", "pos": 42786}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Write immediately to her; give her a plain account of the accident, and the queen will no doubt write you another letter in place of this.", "pos": 42852}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! the queen would never believe the story,", "pos": 42994}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "she will imagine that I want to keep this letter instead of giving it up like the rest, so as to have a hold over her. She is so distrustful, and M. de Mazarin so--Yon devil of an Italian is capable of having us poisoned at the first breath of suspicion.", "pos": 43084}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "You know, Dame Perronnette, they are both so suspicious in all that concerns Philippe.", "pos": 43379}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, ‘tis no use hesitating,", "pos": 43526}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "somebody must go down the well.", "pos": 43581}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Of course; so that the person who goes down may read the paper as he is coming up.", "pos": 43616}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But let us choose some villager who cannot read, and then you will be at ease.", "pos": 43702}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Granted; but will not any one who descends guess that a paper must be important for which we risk a man’s life? However, you have given me an idea, Dame Perronnette; somebody shall go down the well, but that somebody shall be myself.", "pos": 43784}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And will you tell me what you read therein, monseigneur?", "pos": 47808}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Quite enough, monsieur, to see that my tutor was a man of noble rank, and that Perronnette, without being a lady of quality, was far better than a servant; and also to perceived that I must myself be high-born, since the queen, Anne of Austria, and Mazarin, the prime minister, commended me so earnestly to their care.", "pos": 47900}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What happened?", "pos": 48268}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "It happened, monsieur, that the workmen they had summoned found nothing in the well, after the closest search; that my governor perceived that the brink was all watery; that I was not so dried by the sun as to prevent Dame Perronnette spying that my garments were moist; and, lastly, that I was seized with a violent fever, owing to the chill and the excitement of my discovery, an attack of delirium supervening, during which I related the whole adventure; so that, guided by my avowal, my governor found the pieces of the queen’s letter inside the bolster where I had concealed them.", "pos": 48314}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah! now I understand.", "pos": 48902}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Beyond this, all is conjecture. Doubtless the unfortunate lady and gentleman, not daring to keep the occurrence secret, wrote of all this to the queen and sent back the torn letter.", "pos": 48941}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "After which,", "pos": 49125}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "you were arrested and removed to the Bastile.", "pos": 49153}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "As you see.", "pos": 49201}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Your two attendants disappeared?", "pos": 49215}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Alas!", "pos": 49250}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Let us not take up our time with the dead, but see what can be done with the living. You told me you were resigned.", "pos": 49258}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I repeat it.", "pos": 49376}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Without any desire for freedom?", "pos": 49391}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "As I told you.", "pos": 49425}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Without ambition, sorrow, or thought?", "pos": 49442}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I think I have spoken enough,", "pos": 49556}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "and that now it is your turn. I am weary.", "pos": 49611}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "One question,", "pos": 49842}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What is it? speak.", "pos": 49871}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In the house you inhabited there were neither looking-glasses nor mirrors?", "pos": 49892}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What are those two words, and what is their meaning?", "pos": 49969}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I have no sort of knowledge of them.", "pos": 50045}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "They designate two pieces of furniture which reflect objects; so that, for instance, you may see in them your own lineaments, as you see mine now, with the naked eye.", "pos": 50084}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "No; there was neither a glass nor a mirror in the house,", "pos": 50253}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Nor is there anything of the kind here, either, they have again taken the same precaution.", "pos": 50361}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "To what end?", "pos": 50465}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will know directly. Now, you have told me that you were instructed in mathematics, astronomy, fencing, and riding; but you have not said a word about history.", "pos": 50480}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "My tutor sometimes related to me the principal deeds of the king, St. Louis, King Francis I., and King Henry IV.", "pos": 50645}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Is that all?", "pos": 50760}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Very nearly.", "pos": 50775}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "This also was done by design, then; just as they deprived you of mirrors, which reflect the present, so they left you in ignorance of history, which reflects the past. Since your imprisonment, books have been forbidden you; so that you are unacquainted with a number of facts, by means of which you would be able to reconstruct the shattered mansion of your recollections and your hopes.", "pos": 50790}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "It is true,", "pos": 51180}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Listen, then; I will in a few words tell you what has passed in France during the last twenty-three or twenty-four years; that is, from the probable date of your birth; in a word, from the time that interests you.", "pos": 51214}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Say on.", "pos": 51430}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Do you know who was the son of Henry IV.?", "pos": 51502}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "At least I know who his successor was.", "pos": 51546}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "How?", "pos": 51587}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "By means of a coin dated 1610, which bears the effigy of Henry IV.; and another of 1612, bearing that of Louis XIII. So I presumed that, there being only two years between the two dates, Louis was Henry’s successor.", "pos": 51594}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Then,", "pos": 51812}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "you know that the last reigning monarch was Louis XIII.?", "pos": 51833}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I do,", "pos": 51892}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, he was a prince full of noble ideas and great projects, always, alas! deferred by the trouble of the times and the dread struggle that his minister Richelieu had to maintain against the great nobles of France. The king himself was of a feeble character, and died young and unhappy.", "pos": 51940}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I know it.", "pos": 52230}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He had been long anxious about having a heir; a care which weighs heavily on princes, who desire to leave behind them more than one pledge that their best thoughts and works will be continued.", "pos": 52243}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Did the king, then, die childless?", "pos": 52438}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No, but he was long without one, and for a long while thought he should be the last of his race. This idea had reduced him to the depths of despair, when suddenly, his wife, Anne of Austria-- Did you know,", "pos": 52504}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "that Louis XIII.’s wife was called Anne of Austria?", "pos": 52750}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Continue,", "pos": 52804}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "When suddenly,", "pos": 52870}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "the queen announced an interesting event. There was great joy at the intelligence, and all prayed for her happy delivery. On the 5th of September, 1638, she gave birth to a son. You are about to hear,", "pos": 52903}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "an account which few indeed could now avouch; for it refers to a secret which they imagined buried with the dead, entombed in the abyss of the confessional.", "pos": 53200}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And you will tell me this secret?", "pos": 53359}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! I do not know that I ought to risk this secret by intrusting it to one who has no desire to quit the Bastile.", "pos": 53415}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I hear you, monsieur.", "pos": 53574}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The queen, then, gave birth to a son. But while the court was rejoicing over the event, when the king had shown the new-born child to the nobility and people, and was sitting gayly down to table, to celebrate the event, the queen, who was alone in her room, was again taken ill and gave birth to a second son.", "pos": 53598}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh!", "pos": 53910}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I thought that Monsieur was only born in--", "pos": 54002}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Permit me to continue,", "pos": 54073}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes,", "pos": 54152}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "the queen had a second son, whom Dame Perronnette, the midwife, received in her arms.", "pos": 54172}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Dame Perronnette!", "pos": 54260}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "They ran at once to the banqueting-room, and whispered to the king what had happened; he rose and quitted the table. But this time it was no longer happiness that his face expressed, but something akin to terror. The birth of twins changed into bitterness the joy to which that of an only son had given rise, seeing that in France (a fact you are assuredly ignorant of) it is the oldest of the king’s sons who succeeds his father.", "pos": 54304}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I know it.", "pos": 54737}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And that the doctors and jurists assert that there is ground for doubting whether the son that first makes his appearance is the elder by the law of heaven and of nature.", "pos": 54750}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh, I understand!--I understand!", "pos": 55490}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, this is what they relate, what they declare; this is why one of the queen’s two sons, shamefully parted from his brother, shamefully sequestered, is buried in profound obscurity; this is why that second son has disappeared, and so completely, that not a soul in France, save his mother, is aware of his existence.", "pos": 55548}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Yes! his mother, who has cast him off,", "pos": 55890}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Except, also, the lady in the black dress; and, finally, excepting--", "pos": 55972}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Excepting yourself--is it not? You who come and relate all this; you, who rouse in my soul curiosity, hatred, ambition, and, perhaps, even the thirst of vengeance; except you, monsieur, who, if you are the man to whom I expect, whom the note I have received applies to, whom, in short, Heaven ought to send me, must possess about you--", "pos": 56061}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What?", "pos": 56399}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "A portrait of the king, Louis XIV., who at this moment reigns upon the throne of France.", "pos": 56421}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Here is the portrait. And now, monseigneur, here is a mirror.", "pos": 56512}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "So high!--so high!", "pos": 56856}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What do you think of it?", "pos": 56990}
{"speaker": "captive", "text": "I think that I am lost, the king will never set me free.", "pos": 57040}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And I--I demand to know. I demand to know which of these two is king; the one this miniature portrays, or whom the glass reflects?", "pos": 57122}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "The king, monsieur, is he who is on the throne, who is not in prison; and who, on the other hand, can cause others to be entombed there. Royalty means power; and you behold how powerless I am.", "pos": 57333}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monseigneur, the king, mark me, will, if you desire it, be the one that, quitting his dungeon, shall maintain himself upon the throne, on which his friends will place him.", "pos": 57559}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Tempt me not, monsieur,", "pos": 57794}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Be not weak, monseigneur. I have brought you all the proofs of your birth; consult them; satisfy yourself that you are a king’s son; it is for us to act.", "pos": 57852}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "No, no; it is impossible.", "pos": 58028}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Unless, indeed, it be the destiny of your race, that the brothers excluded from the throne should be always princes void of courage and honesty, as was your uncle, M. Gaston d’Orleans, who ten times conspired against his brother Louis XIII.", "pos": 58056}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "What! my uncle Gaston ‘conspired against his brother’; conspired to dethrone him?", "pos": 58332}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Exactly, monseigneur; for no other reason. I tell you the truth.", "pos": 58448}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And he had friends--devoted friends?", "pos": 58515}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "As much so as I am to you.", "pos": 58554}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And, after all, what did he do?--Failed!", "pos": 58583}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He failed, I admit; but always through his own fault; and, for the sake of purchasing--not his life--for the life of the king’s brother is sacred and inviolable--but his liberty, he sacrificed the lives of all his friends, one after another. And so, at this day, he is a very blot on history, the detestation of a hundred noble families in this kingdom.", "pos": 58626}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I understand, monsieur; either by weakness or treachery, my uncle slew his friends.", "pos": 58982}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "By weakness; which, in princes, is always treachery.", "pos": 59068}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And cannot a man fail, then, from incapacity and ignorance? Do you really believe it possible that a poor captive such as I, brought up, not only at a distance from the court, but even from the world--do you believe it possible that such a one could assist those of his friends who should attempt to serve him?", "pos": 59123}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "We are speaking of friends; but how can I have any friends--I, whom no one knows; and have neither liberty, money, nor influence, to gain any?", "pos": 59560}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I fancy I had the honor to offer myself to your royal highness.", "pos": 59705}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh, do not style me so, monsieur; ‘tis either treachery or cruelty. Bid me not think of aught beyond these prison-walls, which so grimly confine me; let me again love, or, at least, submit to my slavery and my obscurity.", "pos": 59771}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monseigneur, monseigneur; if you again utter these desperate words--if, after having received proof of your high birth, you still remain poor-spirited in body and soul, I will comply with your desire, I will depart, and renounce forever the service of a master, to whom so eagerly I came to devote my assistance and my life!", "pos": 59994}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "Monsieur, would it not have been better for you to have reflected, before telling me all that you have done, that you have broken my heart forever?", "pos": 60321}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And so I desire to do, monseigneur.", "pos": 60491}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "To talk to me about power, grandeur, eye, and to prate of thrones! Is a prison the fit place? You wish to make me believe in splendor, and we are lying lost in night; you boast of glory, and we are smothering our words in the curtains of this miserable bed; you give me glimpses of power absolute whilst I hear the footsteps of the every-watchful jailer in the corridor--that step which, after all, makes you tremble more than it does me. To render me somewhat less incredulous, free me from the Bastile; let me breathe the fresh air; give me my spurs and trusty sword, then we shall begin to understand each other.", "pos": 60529}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is precisely my intention to give you all this, monseigneur, and more; only, do you desire it?", "pos": 61147}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "A word more. I know there are guards in every gallery, bolts to every door, cannon and soldiery at every barrier. How will you overcome the sentries--spike the guns? How will you break through the bolts and bars?", "pos": 61247}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monseigneur,--how did you get the note which announced my arrival to you?", "pos": 61481}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "You can bribe a jailer for such a thing as a note.", "pos": 61557}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If we can corrupt one turnkey, we can corrupt ten.", "pos": 61610}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well; I admit that it may be possible to release a poor captive from the Bastile; possible so to conceal him that the king’s people shall not again ensnare him; possible, in some unknown retreat, to sustain the unhappy wretch in some suitable manner.", "pos": 61663}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monseigneur!", "pos": 61916}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I admit that, whoever would do this much for me, would seem more than mortal in my eyes; but as you tell me I am a prince, brother of the king, how can you restore me the rank and power which my mother and my brother have deprived me of? And as, to effect this, I must pass a life of war and hatred, how can you cause me to prevail in those combats--render me invulnerable by my enemies? Ah! monsieur, reflect on all this; place me, to-morrow, in some dark cavern at a mountain’s base; yield me the delight of hearing in freedom sounds of the river, plain and valley, of beholding in freedom the sun of the blue heavens, or the stormy sky, and it is enough. Promise me no more than this, for, indeed, more you cannot give, and it would be a crime to deceive me, since you call yourself my friend.", "pos": 61953}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monseigneur. I admire the firm, sound sense which dictates your words; I am happy to have discovered my monarch’s mind.", "pos": 62778}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "Again, again! oh, God! for mercy’s sake, do not play with me! I have no need to be a king to be the happiest of men.", "pos": 62943}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "But I, monseigneur, wish you to be a king for the good of humanity.", "pos": 63127}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "Ah! ah! with what, then, has humanity to reproach my brother?", "pos": 63197}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I forgot to say, monseigneur, that if you would allow me to guide you, and if you consent to become the most powerful monarch in Christendom, you will have promoted the interests of all the friends whom I devote to the success of your cause, and these friends are numerous.", "pos": 63322}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Numerous?", "pos": 63598}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Less numerous than powerful, monseigneur.", "pos": 63610}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Explain yourself.", "pos": 63654}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is impossible; I will explain, I swear before Heaven, on that day that I see you sitting on the throne of France.", "pos": 63674}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But my brother?", "pos": 63793}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You shall decree his fate. Do you pity him?", "pos": 63811}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Him, who leaves me to perish in a dungeon? No, no. For him I have no pity!", "pos": 63857}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "So much the better.", "pos": 63934}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "He might have himself come to this prison, have taken me by the hand, and have said, ‘My brother, Heaven created us to love, not to contend with one another. I come to you. A barbarous prejudice has condemned you to pass your days in obscurity, far from mankind, deprived of every joy. I will make you sit down beside me; I will buckle round your waist our father’s sword. Will you take advantage of this reconciliation to put down or restrain me? Will you employ that sword to spill my blood?’", "pos": 63956}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! never,", "pos": 64452}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I would have replied to him, ‘I look on you as my preserver, I will respect you as my master. You give me far more than Heaven bestowed; for through you I possess liberty and the privilege of loving and being loved in this world.’", "pos": 64464}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And you would have kept your word, monseigneur?", "pos": 64697}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "On my life! While now--now that I have guilty ones to punish--", "pos": 64747}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In what manner, monseigneur?", "pos": 64812}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What do you say as to the resemblance that Heaven has given me to my brother?", "pos": 64843}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I say that there was in that likeness a providential instruction which the king ought to have heeded; I say that your mother committed a crime in rendering those different in happiness and fortune whom nature created so startlingly alike, of her own flesh, and I conclude that the object of punishment should be only to restore the equilibrium.", "pos": 64923}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "By which you mean--", "pos": 65270}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That if I restore you to your place on your brother’s throne, he shall take yours in prison.", "pos": 65292}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Alas! there’s such infinity of suffering in prison, especially it would be so for one who has drunk so deeply of the cup of enjoyment.", "pos": 65387}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Your royal highness will always be free to act as you may desire; and if it seems good to you, after punishment, you will have it in your power to pardon.", "pos": 65524}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Good. And now, are you aware of one thing, monsieur?", "pos": 65681}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Tell me, my prince.", "pos": 65736}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "It is that I will hear nothing further from you till I am clear of the Bastile.", "pos": 65758}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I was going to say to your highness that I should only have the pleasure of seeing you once again.", "pos": 65840}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And when?", "pos": 65941}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The day when my prince leaves these gloomy walls.", "pos": 65953}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Heavens! how will you give me notice of it?", "pos": 66005}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "By myself coming to fetch you.", "pos": 66051}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yourself?", "pos": 66084}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My prince, do not leave this chamber save with me, or if in my absence you are compelled to do so, remember that I am not concerned in it.", "pos": 66096}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And so I am not to speak a word of this to any one whatever, save to you?", "pos": 66237}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Save only to me.", "pos": 66313}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "Monsieur, one word more, my last. If you have sought me for my destruction; if you are only a tool in the hands of my enemies; if from our conference, in which you have sounded the depths of my mind, anything worse than captivity result, that is to say, if death befall me, still receive my blessing, for you will have ended my troubles and given me repose from the tormenting fever that has preyed on me for eight long, weary years.", "pos": 66384}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monseigneur, wait the results ere you judge me,", "pos": 66869}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I say that, in such a case, I bless and forgive you. If, on the other hand, you are come to restore me to that position in the sunshine of fortune and glory to which I was destined by Heaven; if by your means I am enabled to live in the memory of man, and confer luster on my race by deeds of valor, or by solid benefits bestowed upon my people; if, from my present depths of sorrow, aided by your generous hand, I raise myself to the very height of honor, then to you, whom I thank with blessings, to you will I offer half my power and my glory: though you would still be but partly recompensed, and your share must always remain incomplete, since I could not divide with you the happiness received at your hands.", "pos": 66932}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monseigneur, the nobleness of your heart fills me with joy and admiration. It is not you who will have to thank me, but rather the nation whom you will render happy, the posterity whose name you will make glorious. Yes; I shall indeed have bestowed upon you more than life, I shall have given you immortality. It is the first act of homage paid to our future king. When I see you again, I shall say, ‘Good day, sire.’", "pos": 67649}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "Till then, till then, no more dreams, no more strain on my life--my heart would break! Oh, monsieur, how small is my prison--how low the window--how narrow are the doors! To think that so much pride, splendor, and happiness, should be able to enter in and to remain here!", "pos": 68230}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Your royal highness makes me proud, since you infer it is I who brought all this.", "pos": 68579}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "What a confessor! who would believe that a compulsory recluse, a man as though in the very jaws of death, could have committed crimes so numerous, and so long to tell of?", "pos": 68966}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Let us proceed to business, my dear governor,", "pos": 69362}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Alas!", "pos": 69423}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You have to ask me for my receipt for one hundred and fifty thousand livres,", "pos": 69451}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "And to pay over the first third of the sum,", "pos": 69547}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Here is the receipt,", "pos": 69679}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "And here is the money,", "pos": 69715}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The order instructed me only to give a receipt; it said nothing about receiving the money. Adieu, monsieur le governeur!", "pos": 69784}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! ah! ah! Here is D’Artagnan. I shall then get hold of an idea! Ah! you are always welcome, dear friend; but just now you are more welcome than ever.", "pos": 71928}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But you seem to have the megrims here!", "pos": 72617}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Well, then, tell me all about it, Porthos, my friend, unless it is a secret. In the first place, you know I have no secrets from you. This, then, is what saddens me.", "pos": 72731}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Wait a minute, Porthos; let me first get rid of all this litter of satin and velvet!", "pos": 72921}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh, never mind, it is all trash.", "pos": 73008}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Trash, Porthos! Cloth at twenty-five livres an ell! gorgeous satin! regal velvet!", "pos": 73075}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Then you think these clothes are--", "pos": 73159}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Splendid, Porthos, splendid! I’ll wager that you alone in France have so many; and suppose you never had any more made, and were to live to be a hundred years of age, which wouldn’t astonish me in the very least, you could still wear a new dress the day of your death, without being obliged to see the nose of a single tailor from now till then. Come, my friend, this unnatural melancholy in you frightens me. My dear Porthos, pray get it out, then. And the sooner the better.", "pos": 73196}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, my friend, so I will: if, indeed, it is possible.", "pos": 73719}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Perhaps you have received bad news from Bracieux?", "pos": 73776}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No: they have felled the wood, and it has yielded a third more than the estimate.", "pos": 73828}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Then there has been a falling-off in the pools of Pierrefonds?", "pos": 73912}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No, my friend: they have been fished, and there is enough left to stock all the pools in the neighborhood.", "pos": 73977}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Perhaps your estate at Vallon has been destroyed by an earthquake?", "pos": 74086}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No, my friend; on the contrary, the ground was struck with lightning a hundred paces from the chateau, and a fountain sprung up in a place entirely destitute of water.", "pos": 74155}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What in the world is the matter, then?", "pos": 74325}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "The fact is, I have received an invitation for the fete at Vaux,", "pos": 74366}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well! do you complain of that? The king has caused a hundred mortal heart-burnings among the courtiers by refusing invitations. And so, my dear friend, you are really going to Vaux?", "pos": 74477}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Indeed I am!", "pos": 74661}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You will see a magnificent sight.", "pos": 74676}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Alas! I doubt it, though.", "pos": 74712}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Everything that is grand in France will be brought together there!", "pos": 74740}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 74809}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Eh! good heavens, are you ill?", "pos": 74873}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I am as firm as the Pont-Neuf! It isn’t that.", "pos": 74924}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But what is it, then?", "pos": 74972}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "‘Tis that I have no clothes!", "pos": 74997}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No clothes! Porthos, no clothes! when I see at least fifty suits on the floor.", "pos": 75055}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Fifty, truly; but not one which fits me!", "pos": 75148}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What? not one that fits you? But are you not measured, then, when you give an order?", "pos": 75191}
{"speaker": "Mouston", "text": "To be sure he is, but unfortunately I have gotten stouter!", "pos": 75278}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What! you stouter!", "pos": 75359}
{"speaker": "Mouston", "text": "So much so that I am now bigger than the baron. Would you believe it, monsieur?", "pos": 75380}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Parbleu! it seems to me that is quite evident.", "pos": 75462}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "that is quite evident!", "pos": 75547}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Be still, my dear Porthos, I don’t understand why your clothes should not fit you, because Mouston has grown stouter.", "pos": 75623}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I am going to explain it. You remember having related to me the story of the Roman general Antony, who had always seven wild boars kept roasting, each cooked up to a different point; so that he might be able to have his dinner at any time of the day he chose to ask for it. Well, then, I resolved, as at any time I might be invited to court to spend a week, I resolved to have always seven suits ready for the occasion.", "pos": 75743}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Capitally reasoned, Porthos--only a man must have a fortune like yours to gratify such whims. Without counting the time lost in being measured, the fashions are always changing.", "pos": 76181}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "That is exactly the point,", "pos": 76361}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Tell me what it is; for I don’t doubt your genius.", "pos": 76482}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You remember what Mouston once was, then?", "pos": 76535}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; when he used to call himself Mousqueton.", "pos": 76579}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And you remember, too, the period when he began to grow fatter?", "pos": 76627}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, not exactly. I beg your pardon, my good Mouston.", "pos": 76693}
{"speaker": "Mouston", "text": "Oh! you are not in fault, monsieur. You were in Paris, and as for us, we were at Pierrefonds.", "pos": 76748}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, well, my dear Porthos; there was a time when Mouston began to grow fat. Is that what you wished to say?", "pos": 76872}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, my friend; and I greatly rejoice over the period.", "pos": 76984}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Indeed, I believe you do,", "pos": 77041}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You understand, what a world of trouble it spared for me.", "pos": 77091}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, I don’t--by any means.", "pos": 77172}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Look here, my friend. In the first place, as you have said, to be measured is a loss of time, even though it occur only once a fortnight. And then, one may be travelling; and then you wish to have seven suits always with you. In short, I have a horror of letting any one take my measure. Confound it! either one is a nobleman or not. To be scrutinized and scanned by a fellow who completely analyzes you, by inch and line--‘tis degrading! Here, they find you too hollow; there, too prominent. They recognize your strong and weak points. See, now, when we leave the measurer’s hands, we are like those strongholds whose angles and different thicknesses have been ascertained by a spy.", "pos": 77201}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In truth, my dear Porthos, you possess ideas entirely original.", "pos": 77887}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! you see when a man is an engineer--", "pos": 77953}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And has fortified Belle-Isle--‘tis natural, my friend.", "pos": 77995}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Well, I had an idea, which would doubtless have proved a good one, but for Mouston’s carelessness. I congratulated myself, then, at seeing Mouston get fat; and I did all I could, by means of substantial feeding, to make him stout--always in the hope that he would come to equal myself in girth, and could then be measured in my stead.", "pos": 78052}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 78558}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Consider my joy when, after a year and a half’s judicious feeding--for I used to feed him up myself--the fellow--", "pos": 78634}
{"speaker": "Mouston", "text": "Oh! I lent a good hand myself, monsieur,", "pos": 78750}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "That’s true. Consider my joy when, one morning, I perceived Mouston was obliged to squeeze in, as I once did myself, to get through the little secret door that those fools of architects had made in the chamber of the late Madame du Vallon, in the chateau of Pierrefonds. And, by the way, about that door, my friend, I should like to ask you, who know everything, why these wretches of architects, who ought to have the compasses run into them, just to remind them, came to make doorways through which nobody but thin people can pass?", "pos": 78815}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, those doors, were meant for gallants, and they have generally slight and slender figures.", "pos": 79351}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Madame du Vallon had no gallant!", "pos": 79470}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Perfectly true, my friend, but the architects were probably making their calculations on a basis of the probability of your marrying again.", "pos": 79537}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! that is possible. And now I have received an explanation of how it is that doorways are made too narrow, let us return to the subject of Mouston’s fatness. But see how the two things apply to each other. I have always noticed that people’s ideas run parallel. And so, observe this phenomenon, D’Artagnan. I was talking to you of Mouston, who is fat, and it led us on to Madame du Vallon--", "pos": 79701}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who was thin?", "pos": 80112}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Hum! Is it not marvelous?", "pos": 80128}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My dear friend, a savant of my acquaintance, M. Costar, has made the same observation as you have, and he calls the process by some Greek name which I forget.", "pos": 80156}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What! my remark is not then original?", "pos": 80317}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My friend, the fact was known before Aristotle’s days--that is to say, nearly two thousand years ago.", "pos": 80417}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Well, well, ‘tis no less true,", "pos": 80521}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Wonderfully--but suppose we return to Mouston. It seems to me, we have left him fattening under our very eyes.", "pos": 80685}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, monsieur. Well. Mouston fattened so well, that he gratified all my hopes, by reaching my standard; a fact of which I was well able to convince myself, by seeing the rascal, one day, in a waistcoat of mine, which he had turned into a coat--a waistcoat, the mere embroidery of which was worth a hundred pistoles.", "pos": 80798}
{"speaker": "Mouston", "text": "‘Twas only to try it on, monsieur,", "pos": 81149}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "From that moment I determined to put Mouston in communication with my tailors, and to have him measured instead of myself.", "pos": 81199}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "A capital idea, Porthos; but Mouston is a foot and a half shorter than you.", "pos": 81324}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Exactly! They measured him down to the ground, and the end of the skirt came just below my knee.", "pos": 81402}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What a marvelous man you are, Porthos! Such a thing could happen only to you.", "pos": 81501}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! yes; pay your compliments; you have ample grounds to go upon. It was exactly at that time--that is to say, nearly two years and a half ago--that I set out for Belle-Isle, instructing Mouston (so as always to have, in every event, a pattern of every fashion) to have a coat made for himself every month.", "pos": 81581}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And did Mouston neglect complying with your instructions? Ah! that was anything but right, Mouston.", "pos": 81890}
{"speaker": "Mouston", "text": "No, monsieur, quite the contrary; quite the contrary!", "pos": 81992}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No, he never forgot to have his coats made; but he forgot to inform me that he had got stouter!", "pos": 82048}
{"speaker": "Mouston", "text": "But it was not my fault, monsieur! your tailor never told me.", "pos": 82146}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And this to such an extent, monsieur, that the fellow in two years has gained eighteen inches in girth, and so my last dozen coats are all too large, from a foot to a foot and a half. They are no longer the fashion, my dear friend. Were I to put them on, I should look like a fresh arrival from Siam; and as though I had been two years away from court.", "pos": 82210}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I understand your difficulty. You have how many new suits? nine? thirty-six? and yet not one to wear. Well, you must have a thirty-seventh made, and give the thirty-six to Mouston.", "pos": 82658}
{"speaker": "Mouston", "text": "Ah! monsieur! The truth is, that monsieur has always been very generous to me.", "pos": 82841}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do you mean to insinuate that I hadn’t that idea, or that I was deterred by the expense? But it wants only two days to the fete; I received the invitation yesterday; made Mouston post hither with my wardrobe, and only this morning discovered my misfortune; and from now till the day after to-morrow, there isn’t a single fashionable tailor who will undertake to make me a suit.", "pos": 82960}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "That is to say, one covered all over with gold, isn’t it?", "pos": 83340}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I wish it so! undoubtedly, all over. Oh, we shall manage it. You won’t leave for three days. The invitations are for Wednesday, and this is only Sunday morning.", "pos": 83400}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "‘Tis true; but Aramis has strongly advised me to be at Vaux twenty-four hours beforehand.", "pos": 83566}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "How, Aramis?", "pos": 83657}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, it was Aramis who brought me the invitation.", "pos": 83672}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! to be sure, I see. You are invited on the part of M. Fouquet?", "pos": 83724}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "By no means! by the king, dear friend. The letter bears the following as large as life: ‘M. le Baron du Vallon is informed that the king has condescended to place him on the invitation list--’", "pos": 83792}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Very good; but you leave with M. Fouquet?", "pos": 83987}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And when I think, when I think I shall have no clothes, I am ready to burst with rage! I should like to strangle somebody or smash something!", "pos": 84031}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Neither strangle anybody nor smash anything, Porthos; I will manage it all; put on one of your thirty-six suits, and come with me to a tailor.", "pos": 84215}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Pooh! my agent has seen them all this morning.", "pos": 84360}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Even M. Percerin?", "pos": 84409}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Who is M. Percerin?", "pos": 84429}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! only the king’s tailor!", "pos": 84451}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh, ah, yes, to M. Percerin’s, by Jove! I was afraid he would be too busy.", "pos": 84481}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Doubtless he will be; but be at ease, Porthos; he will do for me what he wouldn’t do for another. Only you must allow yourself to be measured!", "pos": 84675}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! ‘tis vexatious, but what would you have me do?", "pos": 84820}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do? As others do; as the king does.", "pos": 84902}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What! do they measure the king, too? does he put up with it?", "pos": 84940}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The king is a beau, my good friend, and so are you, too, whatever you may say about it.", "pos": 85003}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Let us go to the king’s tailor, and since he measures the king, I think, by my faith, I may do worse than allow him to measure me!", "pos": 85122}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Take care, my good D’Artagnan, not to compromise the dignity of a man such as I am with the arrogance of this Percerin, who will, I expect, be very impertinent; for I give you notice, my friend, that if he is wanting in respect I will infallibly chastise him.", "pos": 91592}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Presented by me, you have nothing to fear, even though you were what you are not.", "pos": 91854}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! ‘tis because--", "pos": 91960}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What? Have you anything against Percerin, Porthos?", "pos": 91981}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I think that I once sent Mouston to a fellow of that name.", "pos": 92034}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And then?", "pos": 92095}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "The fellow refused to supply me.", "pos": 92107}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, a misunderstanding, no doubt, which it will be now exceedingly easy to set right. Mouston must have made a mistake.", "pos": 92142}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Perhaps.", "pos": 92264}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "He has confused the names.", "pos": 92275}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Possibly. That rascal Mouston never can remember names.", "pos": 92304}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I will take it all upon myself.", "pos": 92362}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Very good.", "pos": 92396}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Stop the carriage, Porthos; here we are.", "pos": 92409}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Here! how here? We are at the Halles; and you told me the house was at the corner of the Rue de l’Arbre Sec.", "pos": 92452}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "‘Tis true, but look.", "pos": 92564}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Well, I do look, and I see--", "pos": 92586}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What?", "pos": 92617}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Pardieu! that we are at the Halles!", "pos": 92625}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You do not, I suppose, want our horses to clamber up on the roof of the carriage in front of us?", "pos": 92663}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No.", "pos": 92762}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Nor the carriage in front of us to mount on top of the one in front of it. Nor that the second should be driven over the roofs of the thirty or forty others which have arrived before us.", "pos": 92768}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No, you are right, indeed. What a number of people! And what are they all about?", "pos": 92957}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "‘Tis very simple. They are waiting their turn.", "pos": 93041}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Bah! Have the comedians of the Hotel de Bourgogne shifted their quarters?", "pos": 93089}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No; their turn to obtain an entrance to M. Percerin’s house.", "pos": 93165}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And we are going to wait too?", "pos": 93228}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, we shall show ourselves prompter and not so proud.", "pos": 93260}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What are we to do, then?", "pos": 93317}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Get down, pass through the footmen and lackeys, and enter the tailor’s house, which I will answer for our doing, if you go first.", "pos": 93344}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Come along, then,", "pos": 93476}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The king’s order,", "pos": 94849}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Eh! and so you have become a tailor’s boy, Monsieur Moliere!", "pos": 96517}
{"speaker": "M. Moliere", "text": "Hush, M. d’Artagnan! you will make them recognize me.", "pos": 96612}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, and what harm?", "pos": 96695}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "The fact is, there is no harm, but--", "pos": 96718}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You were going to say there is no good in doing it either, is it not so?", "pos": 96757}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Alas! no; for I was occupied in examining some excellent figures.", "pos": 96832}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Go on--go on, Monsieur Moliere. I quite understand the interest you take in the plates--I will not disturb your studies.", "pos": 96900}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Thank you.", "pos": 97023}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But on one condition; that you tell me where M. Percerin really is.", "pos": 97036}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Oh! willingly; in his own room. Only--", "pos": 97106}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Only that one can’t enter it?", "pos": 97147}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Unapproachable.", "pos": 97179}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "For everybody?", "pos": 97197}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Everybody. He brought me here so that I might be at my ease to make my observations, and then he went away.", "pos": 97214}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, my dear Monsieur Moliere, but you will go and tell him I am here.", "pos": 97324}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "I! I disturb myself! Ah! Monsieur d’Artagnan, how hard you are upon me!", "pos": 97398}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "If you don’t go directly and tell M. Percerin that I am here, my dear Moliere. I warn you of one thing: that I won’t exhibit to you the friend I have brought with me.", "pos": 97585}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "This gentleman, is it not?", "pos": 97843}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 97872}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "The captain of the king’s musketeers will excuse me, I am sure, for I am engaged.", "pos": 98902}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Eh! yes, on the king’s costumes; I know that, my dear Monsieur Percerin. You are making three, they tell me.", "pos": 98986}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Five, my dear sir, five.", "pos": 99097}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Three or five, ‘tis all the same to me, my dear monsieur; and I know that you will make them most exquisitely.", "pos": 99124}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Yes, I know. Once made they will be the most beautiful in the world, I do not deny it; but that they may be the most beautiful in the word, they must first be made; and to do this, captain, I am pressed for time.", "pos": 99237}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, bah! there are two days yet; ‘tis much more than you require, Monsieur Percerin,", "pos": 99452}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Monsieur, if you will come with me, I will make them take your measure without touching you.", "pos": 102849}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! how do you make that out, my friend?", "pos": 102955}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "I say that they shall apply neither line nor rule to the seams of your dress. It is a new method we have invented for measuring people of quality, who are too sensitive to allow low-born fellows to touch them. We know some susceptible persons who will not put up with being measured, a process which, as I think, wounds the natural dignity of a man; and if perchance monsieur should be one of these--", "pos": 103014}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Corboeuf! I believe I am too!", "pos": 103417}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Well, that is a capital and most consolatory coincidence, and you shall have the benefit of our invention.", "pos": 103449}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "But how in the world can it be done?", "pos": 103558}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Monsieur, if you will deign to follow me, you will see.", "pos": 103623}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "A dress for you, also, is it not, my friend?", "pos": 104258}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No. I shall go, but without a new dress. You forget, dear D’Artagnan, that a poor bishop of Vannes is not rich enough to have new dresses for every fete.", "pos": 104320}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Bah! and do we write no more poems now, either?", "pos": 104519}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! D’Artagnan, I have long ago given up all such tomfoolery. Don’t you perceive", "pos": 104601}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! ah! Well, then, let us leave; I have no further business here, and if you are as disengaged as I, Aramis--", "pos": 104926}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No, not I--I wished--", "pos": 105123}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! you had something particular to say to M. Percerin? Why did you not tell me so at once?", "pos": 105147}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Something particular, certainly, but not for you, D’Artagnan. But, at the same time, I hope you will believe that I can never have anything so particular to say that a friend like you may not hear it.", "pos": 105241}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, no, no! I am going,", "pos": 105463}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Stay, by all means, this is what it is. My dear Percerin. I am even very happy that you are here, D’Artagnan.", "pos": 105964}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Ah, very good,", "pos": 106439}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "but why Lebrun?", "pos": 106476}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "And you wish that I should make him a dress, similar to those of the Epicureans?", "pos": 106583}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "it is written that our dear D’Artagnan shall know all our secrets this evening. Yes, friend, you have surely heard speak of M. Fouquet’s Epicureans, have you not?", "pos": 106907}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Undoubtedly. Is it not a kind of poetical society, of which La Fontaine, Loret, Pelisson, and Moliere are members, and which holds its sittings at Saint-Mande?", "pos": 107072}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Exactly so. Well, we are going to put our poets in uniform, and enroll them in a regiment for the king.", "pos": 107234}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, very well, I understand; a surprise M. Fouquet is getting up for the king. Be at ease; if that is the secret about M. Lebrun, I will not mention it.", "pos": 107340}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Always agreeable, my friend. No, Monsieur Lebrun has nothing to do with this part of it; the secret which concerns him is far more important than the other.", "pos": 107495}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Then, if it is so important as all that, I prefer not to know it,", "pos": 107654}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Come in, M. Lebrun, come in,", "pos": 107767}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "I’faith, I too, am quite in the dark,", "pos": 107895}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My dear M. de Percerin, you are making five dresses for the king, are you not? One in brocade; one in hunting-cloth; one in velvet; one in satin; and one in Florentine stuffs.", "pos": 108035}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Yes; but how--do you know all that, monseigneur?", "pos": 108213}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is all very simple, my dear monsieur; there will be a hunt, a banquet, concert, promenade and reception; these five kinds of dress are required by etiquette.", "pos": 108290}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "You know everything, monseigneur!", "pos": 108453}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And a thing or two in addition,", "pos": 108489}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "But, what you do not know, monseigneur--prince of the church though you are--what nobody will know--what only the king, Mademoiselle de la Vallière, and myself do know, is the color of the materials and nature of the ornaments, and the cut, the ensemble, the finish of it all!", "pos": 108576}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well,", "pos": 108855}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Ah, bah!", "pos": 108940}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "At the outset, I appear to be hazarding an absurd question, do I not?", "pos": 109357}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Let us see,", "pos": 109555}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Why, now, does M. Fouquet give the king a fete?--Is it not to please him?", "pos": 109793}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Assuredly. By delicate attentions? by some happy device? by a succession of surprises, like that of which we were talking?--the enrolment of our Epicureans. Admirable.", "pos": 109868}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, then; this is the surprise we intend. M. Lebrun here is a man who draws most excellently.", "pos": 110083}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Yes. I have seen his pictures, and observed that his dresses were highly elaborated. That is why I at once agreed to make him a costume--whether to agree with those of the Epicureans, or an original one.", "pos": 110181}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My dear monsieur, we accept your offer, and shall presently avail ourselves of it; but just now, M. Lebrun is not in want of the dresses you will make for himself, but of those you are making for the king.", "pos": 110404}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "The king’s dresses! Give the king’s dresses to any mortal whatever! Oh! for once, monseigneur, your grace is mad!", "pos": 110816}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Help me now, D’Artagnan. Help me now to persuade monsieur, for you understand; do you not?", "pos": 110968}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Eh! eh!--not exactly, I declare.", "pos": 111108}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What! you do not understand that M. Fouquet wishes to afford the king the surprise of finding his portrait on his arrival at Vaux; and that the portrait, which be a striking resemblance, ought to be dressed exactly as the king will be on the day it is shown?", "pos": 111143}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! yes, yes. Yes, my dear Aramis, you are right; it is a happy idea. I will wager it is one of your own, Aramis.", "pos": 111404}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, I don’t know, either mine or M. Fouquet’s. Well, Monsieur Percerin, what do you say to this?", "pos": 111593}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "I say, that--", "pos": 111794}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That you are, doubtless, free to refuse. I know well--and I by no means count upon compelling you, my dear monsieur. I will say more, I even understand all the delicacy you feel in taking up with M. Fouquet’s idea; you dread appearing to flatter the king. A noble spirit, M. Percerin, a noble spirit! It would, indeed, be a very pretty compliment to pay the young prince, if Percerin refuse, tell him that it will not at all lower him in my opinion, and I shall always esteem him, only--", "pos": 111810}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Only?", "pos": 112380}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Only. I shall be compelled to say to the king, you understand, my dear Monsieur Percerin, that these are M. Fouquet’s words,-- I shall be constrained to say to the king, “Sire, I had intended to present your majesty with your portrait, but owing to a feeling of delicacy, slightly exaggerated perhaps, although creditable, M. Percerin opposed the project.”", "pos": 112426}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Opposed! I to oppose the desire, the will of M. Fouquet when he is seeking to please the king! Oh, what a hateful word you have uttered, monseigneur. Oppose! Oh, ‘tis not I who said it, Heaven have mercy on me. I call the captain of the musketeers to witness it! Is it not true, Monsieur d’Artagnan, that I have opposed nothing?", "pos": 112810}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I think you have not quite got it, my dear Lebrun, your colors will deceive you, and on canvas we shall lack that exact resemblance which is absolutely requisite. Time is necessary for attentively observing the finer shades.", "pos": 114121}
{"speaker": "Percerin", "text": "Quite true, but time is wanting, and on that head, you will agree with me, monseigneur, I can do nothing.", "pos": 114359}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Then the affair will fail, and that because of a want of precision in the colors.", "pos": 114484}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What in the world, now, is the meaning of this imbroglio?", "pos": 114745}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That will never do. M. Lebrun, close your box, and roll up your canvas.", "pos": 114843}
{"speaker": "Lebrun", "text": "But, monsieur, the light is abominable here.", "pos": 114932}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "An idea, M. Lebrun, an idea! If we had a pattern of the materials, for example, and with time, and a better light--", "pos": 115006}
{"speaker": "Lebrun", "text": "Oh, then. I would answer for the effect.", "pos": 115124}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Good! this ought to be the knotty point of the whole thing; they want a pattern of each of the materials. Mordioux! Will this Percerin give in now?", "pos": 115183}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I like this better. That is your opinion, is it not?", "pos": 115514}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My dear Aramis, my opinion is that you are always the same.", "pos": 115596}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And, consequently, always your friend,", "pos": 115677}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, yes. If I am your dupe, double Jesuit that you are, I will not be your accomplice; and to prevent it, ‘tis time I left this place.--Adieu, Aramis, adieu; I am going to rejoin Porthos.", "pos": 115754}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Then wait for me, for I have done, and shall be glad to say a parting word to our dear old friend.", "pos": 116011}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, monsieur, will you come with me to Saint-Mande?", "pos": 117097}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "I will go anywhere you like, monseigneur,", "pos": 117164}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "To Saint-Mande! What, Aramis, are you going to take this gentleman to Saint-Mande?", "pos": 117226}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, our work is pressing.", "pos": 117414}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And besides, my dear Porthos. M. Moliere is not altogether what he seems.", "pos": 117467}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "In what way?", "pos": 117567}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Why, this gentleman is one of M. Percerin’s chief clerks, and is expected at Saint-Mande to try on the dresses which M. Fouquet has ordered for the Epicureans.", "pos": 117597}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "‘Tis precisely so. Yes, monsieur.", "pos": 117760}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Come, then, my dear M. Moliere, that is, if you have done with M. du Vallon.", "pos": 117811}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "We have finished,", "pos": 117905}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And you are satisfied?", "pos": 117942}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Completely so. Pray, monsieur, above all, be exact.", "pos": 117985}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "You will have your dress the day after to-morrow, monsieur le baron,", "pos": 118224}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What has this tailor done for you, my dear Porthos, that you are so pleased with him?", "pos": 118377}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What has he done for me, my friend! done for me!", "pos": 118477}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, I ask you, what has he done for you?", "pos": 118561}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "My friend, he has done that which no tailor ever yet accomplished: he has taken my measure without touching me!", "pos": 118605}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah, bah! tell me how he did it.", "pos": 118719}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "First, then, they went, I don’t know where, for a number of lay figures, of all heights and sizes, hoping there would be one to suit mine, but the largest--that of the drum-major of the Swiss guard--was two inches too short, and a half foot too narrow in the chest.", "pos": 118753}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Indeed!", "pos": 119021}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It is exactly as I tell you, D’Artagnan; but he is a great man, or at the very least a great tailor, is this M. Moliere. He was not at all put at fault by the circumstance.", "pos": 119031}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What did he do, then?", "pos": 119206}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! it is a very simple matter. I’faith, ‘tis an unheard-of thing that people should have been so stupid as not to have discovered this method from the first. What annoyance and humiliation they would have spared me!", "pos": 119230}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Not to mention of the costumes, my dear Porthos.", "pos": 119449}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, thirty dresses.", "pos": 119500}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, my dear Porthos, come, tell me M. Moliere’s plan.", "pos": 119523}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Moliere? You call him so, do you? I shall make a point of recollecting his name.", "pos": 119581}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; or Poquelin, if you prefer that.", "pos": 119664}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No; I like Moliere best. When I wish to recollect his name, I shall think of voliere ; and as I have one at Pierrefonds--", "pos": 119704}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Capital! And M. Moliere’s plan?", "pos": 119828}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "‘Tis this: instead of pulling me to pieces, as all these rascals do--of making me bend my back, and double my joints--all of them low and dishonorable practices-- ‘Monsieur,’ he said to me, a gentleman ought to measure himself. Do me the pleasure to draw near this glass; I must own I did not exactly understand what this good M. Voliere wanted with me.", "pos": 119886}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Moliere!", "pos": 120346}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! yes, Moliere--Moliere. And as the fear of being measured still possessed me, ‘Take care,’ said I to him, ‘what you are going to do with me; I am very ticklish, I warn you.’ Monsieur,’ said he, ‘that your dress may fit you well, it must be made according to your figure. Your figure is exactly reflected in this mirror. We shall take the measure of this reflection.", "pos": 120357}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In fact, you saw yourself in the glass; but where did they find one in which you could see your whole figure?", "pos": 120840}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "My good friend, it is the very glass in which the king is used to look to see himself.", "pos": 120971}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; but the king is a foot and a half shorter than you are.", "pos": 121060}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! well, I know not how that may be; it is, no doubt, a cunning way of flattering the king; but the looking-glass was too large for me. ‘Tis true that its height was made up of three Venetian plates of glass, placed one above another, and its breadth of three similar parallelograms in juxtaposition.", "pos": 121123}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, Porthos! what excellent words you have command of. Where in the word did you acquire such a voluminous vocabulary?", "pos": 121427}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "At Belle-Isle. Aramis and I had to use such words in our strategic studies and castramentative experiments.", "pos": 121548}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! very good. Let us return to the looking-glass, my friend.", "pos": 121758}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Then, this good M. Voliere--", "pos": 121822}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Moliere.", "pos": 121853}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes--Moliere--you are right. You will see now, my dear friend, that I shall recollect his name quite well. This excellent M. Moliere set to work tracing out lines on the mirror, with a piece of Spanish chalk, following in all the make of my arms and my shoulders, all the while expounding this maxim, which I thought admirable: ‘It is advisable that a dress should not incommode its wearer.’", "pos": 121864}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In reality, that is an excellent maxim, which is, unfortunately, seldom carried out in practice.", "pos": 122258}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "That is why I found it all the more astonishing, when he expatiated upon it.", "pos": 122376}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! he expatiated?", "pos": 122455}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Parbleu!", "pos": 122476}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Let me hear his theory.", "pos": 122487}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Seeing that,’ he continued, ‘one may, in awkward circumstances, or in a troublesome position, have one’s doublet on one’s shoulder, and not desire to take one’s doublet off--", "pos": 122514}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "True,", "pos": 122692}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "‘And so,’ continued M. Voliere--", "pos": 122718}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Moliere.", "pos": 122752}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Moliere, yes. ‘And so,’ went on M. Moliere, ‘you want to draw your sword, monsieur, and you have your doublet on your back. What do you do?’ ‘I take it off,’ I answered. ‘Well, no,’ he replied. How no? I say that the dress should be so well made, that it will in no way encumber you, even in drawing your sword. Ah, ah! ‘Throw yourself on guard,’ pursued he. I did it with such wondrous firmness, that two panes of glass burst out of the window. ’Tis nothing, nothing. Keep your position. I raised my left arm in the air, the forearm gracefully bent, the ruffle drooping, and my wrist curved, while my right arm, half extended, securely covered my wrist with the elbow, and my breast with the wrist.", "pos": 122763}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, ‘tis the true guard--the academic guard.", "pos": 123493}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You have said the very word, dear friend. In the meanwhile, Voliere--", "pos": 123560}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Moliere.", "pos": 123632}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Hold! I should certainly, after all, prefer to call him--what did you say his other name was?", "pos": 123643}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Poquelin.", "pos": 123739}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I prefer to call him Poquelin.", "pos": 123751}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And how will you remember this name better than the other?", "pos": 123784}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You understand, he calls himself Poquelin, does he not?", "pos": 123845}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 123903}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "If I were to call to mind Madame Coquenard.", "pos": 123910}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Good.", "pos": 123956}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And change Coc into Poc, nard into lin; and instead of Coquenard I shall have Poquelin.", "pos": 123964}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "‘Tis wonderful. Go on, my friend, I am listening to you with admiration.", "pos": 124055}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "This Coquelin sketched my arm on the glass.", "pos": 124160}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I beg your pardon--Poquelin.", "pos": 124206}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What did I say, then?", "pos": 124237}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You said Coquelin.", "pos": 124261}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! true. This Poquelin, then, sketched my arm on the glass; but he took his time over it; he kept looking at me a good deal. The fact is, that I must have been looking particularly handsome. ‘Does it weary you?’ he asked. A little,’ I replied, bending a little in my hands, ‘but I could hold out for an hour or so longer. No, no, I will not allow it; the willing fellows will make it a duty to support your arms, as of old, men supported those of the prophet. ‘Very good,’ I answered. That will not be humiliating to you? My friend,’ said I, ‘there is, I think, a great difference between being supported and being measured.", "pos": 124282}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The distinction is full of the soundest sense,", "pos": 124925}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Then, he made a sign: two lads approached; one supported my left arm, while the other, with infinite address, supported my right. Another, my man. Support monsieur by the waist,", "pos": 124998}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "So that you were at rest?", "pos": 125265}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Perfectly; and Pocquenard drew me on the glass.", "pos": 125311}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Poquelin, my friend.", "pos": 125361}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Poquelin--you are right. Stay, decidedly I prefer calling him Voliere.", "pos": 125384}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; and then it was over, wasn’t it?", "pos": 125457}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "During that time Voliere drew me as I appeared in the mirror.", "pos": 125497}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "‘Twas delicate in him.", "pos": 125562}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I much like the plan; it is respectful, and keeps every one in his place.", "pos": 125586}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And there it ended?", "pos": 125662}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Without a soul having touched me, my friend.", "pos": 125684}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Except the three garcons who supported you.", "pos": 125731}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Doubtless; but I have, I think, already explained to you the difference there is between supporting and measuring.", "pos": 125777}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "‘Tis true. I’faith, I greatly deceive myself, or I have been the means of a good windfall to that rascal Moliere, and we shall assuredly see the scene hit off to the life in some comedy or other. What are you laughing at?", "pos": 125895}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Must I confess? Well, I was laughing over my good fortune.", "pos": 126209}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, that is true; I don’t know a happier man than you. But what is this last piece of luck that has befallen you?’", "pos": 126270}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Well, my dear fellow, congratulate me.", "pos": 126386}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I desire nothing better.", "pos": 126427}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It seems that I am the first who has had his measure taken in that manner.", "pos": 126454}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Are you so sure of it?’", "pos": 126531}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Nearly so. Certain signs of intelligence which passed between Voliere and the other garcons showed me the fact.", "pos": 126556}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, my friend, that does not surprise me from Moliere,", "pos": 126670}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Voliere, my friend.", "pos": 126746}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, no, no, indeed! I am very willing to leave you to go on saying Voliere; but, as for me, I shall continued to say Moliere. Well, this, I was saying, does not surprise me, coming from Moliere, who is a very ingenious fellow, and inspired you with this grand idea.", "pos": 126768}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It will be of great use to him by and by, I am sure.", "pos": 127036}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Won’t it be of use to him, indeed? I believe you, it will, and that in the highest degree;--for you see my friend Moliere is of all known tailors the man who best clothes our barons, comtes, and marquises--according to their measure.", "pos": 127091}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "At least, La Fontaine, supply me with a rhyme, since you have the run of the gardens at Parnassus.", "pos": 129080}
{"speaker": "the Fabler", "text": "What rhyme do you want?", "pos": 129180}
{"speaker": "Loret", "text": "I want a rhyme to lumiere.", "pos": 129262}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Orniere,", "pos": 129291}
{"speaker": "Loret", "text": "Ah, but, my good friend, one cannot talk of wheel-ruts when celebrating the delights of Vaux,", "pos": 129324}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Besides, it doesn’t rhyme,", "pos": 129432}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "What! doesn’t rhyme!", "pos": 129480}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Yes; you have an abominable habit, my friend,--a habit which will ever prevent your becoming a poet of the first order. You rhyme in a slovenly manner.", "pos": 129535}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Oh, oh, you think so, do you, Pelisson?", "pos": 129689}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Yes, I do, indeed. Remember that a rhyme is never good so long as one can find a better.", "pos": 129731}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Then I will never write anything again save in prose. Ah! I often suspected I was nothing but a rascally poet! Yes, ‘tis the very truth.", "pos": 129822}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Do not say so; your remark is too sweeping, and there is much that is good in your ‘Fables.’", "pos": 130030}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "And to begin. I will go and burn a hundred verses I have just made.", "pos": 130125}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Where are your verses?", "pos": 130243}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "In my head.", "pos": 130268}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Well, if they are in your head you cannot burn them.", "pos": 130282}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "True,", "pos": 130337}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Well, what will happen if you do not burn them?", "pos": 130393}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "They will remain in my mind, and I shall never forget them!", "pos": 130443}
{"speaker": "Loret", "text": "The deuce! what a dangerous thing! One would go mad with it!", "pos": 130520}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "The deuce! the deuce! what can I do?", "pos": 130583}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "I have discovered the way. Write them first and burn them afterwards.", "pos": 130646}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "How simple! Well, I should never have discovered that. What a mind that devil of a Moliere has! Oh, thou wilt never be aught but an ass, Jean La Fontaine!", "pos": 130802}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "What are you saying there, my friend?", "pos": 131018}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "I say I shall never be aught but an ass. Yes, my friend, it seems that I rhyme in a slovenly manner.", "pos": 131124}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Oh, ‘tis wrong to say so.", "pos": 131323}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Nay, I am a poor creature!", "pos": 131351}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Who said so?", "pos": 131380}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Parbleu! ‘twas Pelisson; did you not, Pelisson?", "pos": 131395}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Pelisson has seriously offended you.", "pos": 131564}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Do you think so?", "pos": 131603}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Ah! I advise you, as you are a gentleman, not to leave an insult like that unpunished.", "pos": 131622}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "What!", "pos": 131711}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Did you ever fight?", "pos": 131742}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Once only, with a lieutenant in the light horse.", "pos": 131764}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "What wrong had he done you?", "pos": 131815}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "It seems he ran away with my wife.", "pos": 131845}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "And what was the result of the duel?", "pos": 132117}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "The result was, that on the ground my opponent disarmed me, and then made an apology, promising never again to set foot in my house.", "pos": 132156}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Not at all! on the contrary, I picked up my sword. ‘I beg your pardon, monsieur,’ I said, ‘I have not fought you because you were my wife’s friend, but because I was told I ought to fight. So, as I have never known any peace save since you made her acquaintance, do me the pleasure to continue your visits as heretofore, or morbleu! let us set to again.’ And so,", "pos": 132346}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "he was compelled to resume his friendship with madame, and I continue to be the happiest of husbands.", "pos": 132734}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "‘Tis all one. Pelisson has insulted you.", "pos": 133044}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Ah, truly! I had already forgotten it.", "pos": 133141}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "And I am going to challenge him on your behalf.", "pos": 133182}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Well, you can do so, if you think it indispensable.", "pos": 133232}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "I do think it indispensable, and I am going to--", "pos": 133286}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Stay. I want your advice.", "pos": 133337}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Upon what? this insult?", "pos": 133390}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "No; tell me really now whether lumiere does not rhyme with orniere.", "pos": 133416}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "I should make them rhyme.", "pos": 133486}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Ah! I knew you would.", "pos": 133514}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "And I have made a hundred thousand such rhymes in my time.", "pos": 133538}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "A hundred thousand! Four times as many as ‘La Pucelle,’ which M. Chaplain is meditating. Is it also on this subject, too, that you have composed a hundred thousand verses?", "pos": 133599}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Listen to me, you eternally absent-minded creature,", "pos": 133794}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "It is certain, legume, for instance, rhymes with posthume.", "pos": 133862}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "In the plural, above all.", "pos": 133953}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Yes, above all in the plural, seeing that then it rhymes not with three letters, but with four; as orniere does with lumiere. But give me ornieres and lumieres in the plural, my dear Pelisson, and they will rhyme.", "pos": 133981}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Hem!", "pos": 134305}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Moliere says so, and Moliere is a judge of such things; he declares he has himself made a hundred thousand verses.", "pos": 134330}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Come, he is off now.", "pos": 134447}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "It is like rivage, which rhymes admirably with herbage. I would take my oath of it.", "pos": 134496}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "But--", "pos": 134582}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "I tell you all this, because you are preparing a divertissement for Vaux, are you not?", "pos": 134604}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Yes, the ‘Facheux.’", "pos": 134718}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Ah, yes, the ‘Facheux;’ yes, I recollect. Well, I was thinking a prologue would admirably suit your divertissement.", "pos": 134740}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Doubtless it would suit capitally.", "pos": 134858}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Ah! you are of my opinion?", "pos": 134895}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "So much so, that I have asked you to write this very prologue.", "pos": 134924}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "You asked me to write it?", "pos": 134989}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Yes, you, and on your refusal begged you to ask Pelisson, who is engaged upon it at this moment.", "pos": 135017}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Ah! that is what Pelisson is doing, then? I’faith, my dear Moliere, you are indeed often right.", "pos": 135116}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "When?", "pos": 135214}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "When you call me absent-minded. It is a monstrous defect; I will cure myself of it, and do your prologue for you. Ah, true, miserable rascal that I am! Loret was indeed right in saying I was a poor creature.", "pos": 135222}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "It was not Loret who said so, my friend.", "pos": 135476}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Well, then, whoever said so, ‘tis the same to me! And so your divertissement is called the ‘Facheux?’ Well, can you make heureux rhyme with facheux?", "pos": 135519}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "If obliged, yes.", "pos": 135670}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "And even with capriceux.", "pos": 135689}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Oh, no, no.", "pos": 135716}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "It would be hazardous, and yet why so?", "pos": 135730}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "There is too great a difference in the cadences.", "pos": 135771}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "I was fancying,", "pos": 135822}
{"speaker": "Loret", "text": "What were you fancying? Make haste.", "pos": 135904}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "You are writing the prologue to the ‘Facheux,’ are you not?", "pos": 135985}
{"speaker": "Loret", "text": "No! mordieu! it is Pelisson.", "pos": 136047}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Ah, Pelisson. I was fancying,", "pos": 136078}
{"speaker": "Loret", "text": "The nymph of Vaux! thank you, La Fontaine; you have just given me the two concluding verses of my paper.", "pos": 136221}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Well, if you can rhyme so well, La Fontaine, tell me now in what way you would begin my prologue?", "pos": 136328}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "I should say, for instance, ‘Oh! nymph, who--’ After ‘who’ I should place a verb in the second person singular of the present indicative; and should go on thus: ‘this grot profound.’", "pos": 136445}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "But the verb, the verb?", "pos": 136630}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "To admire the greatest king of all kings round,", "pos": 136672}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "But the verb, the verb. This second person singular of the present indicative?", "pos": 136745}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Well, then; quittest: Oh, nymph, who quittest now this grot profound, To admire the greatest king of all kings round. You would not put ‘who quittest,’ would you?", "pos": 136859}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "‘Quittest,’ after ‘you who’?", "pos": 137039}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Ah! my dear fellow, you are a shocking pedant!", "pos": 137069}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Without counting, that the second verse, ‘king of all kings round,’ is very weak, my dear La Fontaine.", "pos": 137143}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Then you see clearly I am nothing but a poor creature,--a shuffler, as you said.", "pos": 137264}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "I never said so.", "pos": 137347}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Then, as Loret said.", "pos": 137366}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "And it was not Loret either; it was Pelisson.", "pos": 137389}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Well, Pelisson was right a hundred times over. But what annoys me more than anything, my dear Moliere, is, that I fear we shall not have our Epicurean dresses.", "pos": 137437}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "You expected yours, then, for the fete?", "pos": 137599}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Yes, for the fete, and then for after the fete. My housekeeper told me that my own is rather faded.", "pos": 137641}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Diable! your housekeeper is right; rather more than faded.", "pos": 137743}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "Ah, you see, the fact is, I left it on the floor in my room, and my cat--", "pos": 137804}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Well, your cat--", "pos": 137903}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "She made her nest upon it, which has rather changed its color.", "pos": 137922}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Remember, gentlemen, we leave to-morrow evening.", "pos": 139240}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "In that case, I must give notice at home.", "pos": 139302}
{"speaker": "Loret", "text": "Yes; poor Moliere!", "pos": 139360}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "‘He loves,’ yes, ‘He loves,’ that does not mean, they love him.", "pos": 139424}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "As for me, they love me at Chateau Thierry, I am very sure.", "pos": 139535}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Will any one go with me? I am going by Paris, after having passed a quarter of an hour with M. Fouquet. I offer my carriage.", "pos": 139669}
{"speaker": "Moliere", "text": "Good. I accept it. I am in a hurry.", "pos": 139808}
{"speaker": "Loret", "text": "I shall dine here. M. de Gourville has promised me some craw-fish. He has promised me some whitings. Find a rhyme for that, La Fontaine.", "pos": 139862}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "He has promised us some whitings, In return for these our writings.", "pos": 140183}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Oh, how they are laughing there! Do you not laugh, monseigneur? I laugh no longer now, M. d’Herblay. The fete is approaching; money is departing.", "pos": 140479}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Have I not told you that was my business?", "pos": 140658}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, you promised me millions.", "pos": 140702}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You shall have them the day after the king’s entree into Vaux. Why doubt me?", "pos": 140735}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Man of little faith! My dear M. d’Herblay, if I fall--", "pos": 141153}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well; if you ‘fall’?", "pos": 141250}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I shall, at least, fall from such a height, that I shall shatter myself in falling. Whence came you,", "pos": 141273}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "From Paris--from Percerin.", "pos": 141463}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And what have you been doing at Percerin’s, for I suppose you attach no great importance to our poets’ dresses?", "pos": 141492}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No; I went to prepare a surprise.", "pos": 141606}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Surprise?", "pos": 141642}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes; which you are going to give to the king.", "pos": 141654}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And will it cost much?", "pos": 141702}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! a hundred pistoles you will give Lebrun.", "pos": 141727}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "A painting?--Ah! all the better! And what is this painting to represent?", "pos": 141774}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I will tell you; then at the same time, whatever you may say or think of it, I went to see the dresses for our poets.", "pos": 141849}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Bah! and they will be rich and elegant?", "pos": 141969}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Splendid! There will be few great monseigneurs with so good. People will see the difference there is between the courtiers of wealth and those of friendship.", "pos": 142011}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ever generous and grateful, dear prelate.", "pos": 142171}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In your school.", "pos": 142215}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And where are you going?", "pos": 142259}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am off to Paris, when you shall have given a certain letter.", "pos": 142295}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "For whom?", "pos": 142360}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "M. de Lyonne.", "pos": 142372}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And what do you want with Lyonne?", "pos": 142388}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I wish to make him sign a lettre de cachet.", "pos": 142424}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "‘Lettre de cachet!’ Do you desire to put somebody in the Bastile?", "pos": 142471}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "On the contrary--to let somebody out.", "pos": 142538}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And who?", "pos": 142578}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A poor devil--a youth, a lad who has been Bastiled these ten years, for two Latin verses he made against the Jesuits.", "pos": 142589}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "‘Two Latin verses!’ and, for ‘two Latin verses,’ the miserable being has been in prison for ten years!", "pos": 142710}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes!", "pos": 142814}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And has committed no other crime?", "pos": 142821}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Beyond this, he is as innocent as you or I.", "pos": 142857}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "On your word?", "pos": 142903}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "On my honor!", "pos": 142919}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And his name is--", "pos": 142934}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Seldon.", "pos": 142954}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes.--But it is too bad. You knew this, and you never told me!", "pos": 142964}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "‘Twas only yesterday his mother applied to me, monseigneur.", "pos": 143030}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And the woman is poor!", "pos": 143091}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In the deepest misery.", "pos": 143116}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Heaven, sometimes bears with such injustice on earth, that I hardly wonder there are wretches who doubt of its existence. Stay, M. d’Herblay. Stay, set the son at liberty, and give this to the mother; but, above all, do not tell her--", "pos": 143141}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What, monseigneur?", "pos": 143652}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That she is ten thousand livres richer than I. She would say I am but a poor superintendent! Go! and I pray that God will bless those who are mindful of his poor!", "pos": 143673}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "So also do I pray, kissing Fouquet’s hand.", "pos": 143838}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monsieur, for indeed to-night I dare not call you monseigneur. By no means, call me monsieur; I am booted. Do you know, monsieur, of whom you remind me this evening? No! faith, but I hope I remind you of a capital guest. You remind me of two, monsieur. Francois, shut the window; the wind may annoy his greatness. And let him go. The supper is completely served, and we shall eat it very well without waiters. I like exceedingly to be tete-a-tete when I am with a friend. I like exceedingly, to help myself. Retire, Francois. I was saying that your greatness puts me in mind of two persons; one very illustrious, the late cardinal, the great Cardinal de la Rochelle, who wore boots like you. Indeed, and the other? The other was a certain musketeer, very handsome, very brave, very adventurous, very fortunate, who, from being abbe, turned musketeer, and from musketeer turned abbe. From abbe, bishop--and from bishop-- Ah! stay there, I beg. Enough, dear M. Baisemeaux. As you said, I have on the boots of a cavalier, but I do not intend, for all that, to embroil myself with the church this evening.", "pos": 146159}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But you have wicked intentions, nevertheless, monseigneur.", "pos": 147634}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh, yes, wicked, I own, as everything mundane is.", "pos": 147695}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "You traverse the town and the streets in disguise?", "pos": 147747}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "In disguise, as you say.", "pos": 147800}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And you still make use of your sword?", "pos": 147827}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, I should think so; but only when I am compelled. Do me the pleasure to summon Francois.", "pos": 147867}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Have you no wine there?", "pos": 147962}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "'Tis not for wine, but because it is hot here, and the window is shut.", "pos": 147989}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I shut the windows at supper-time so as not to hear the sounds or the arrival of couriers.", "pos": 148061}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Ah, yes. You hear them when the window is open?", "pos": 148154}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But too well, and that disturbs me. You understand?", "pos": 148204}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Nevertheless I am suffocated. Francois.", "pos": 148258}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Open the windows, I pray you, Master Francois. You will allow him, dear M. Baisemeaux?", "pos": 148318}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "You are at home here,", "pos": 148422}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Do you not think, that you will find yourself very lonely, now M. de la Fere has returned to his household gods at Blois? He is a very old friend, is he not?", "pos": 148492}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You know it as I do, Baisemeaux, seeing that you were in the musketeers with us.", "pos": 148677}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Bah! with my friends I reckon neither bottles of wine nor years.", "pos": 148760}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And you are right. But I do more than love M. de la Fere, dear Baisemeaux; I venerate him.", "pos": 148827}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "Well, for my part, though 'tis singular. I prefer M. d'Artagnan to him. There is a man for you, who drinks long and well! That kind of people allow you at least to penetrate their thoughts.", "pos": 148920}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Baisemeaux, make me tipsy to-night; let us have a merry time of it as of old, and if I have a trouble at the bottom of my heart, I promise you, you shall see it as you would a diamond at the bottom of your glass.", "pos": 149133}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Bravo!", "pos": 149348}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The devil take him,", "pos": 149819}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What! who? I hope 'tis neither the wine you drank nor he who is the cause of your drinking it.", "pos": 149854}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No; it is a horse, who is making noise enough in the court for a whole squadron.", "pos": 149971}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "Pooh! some courier or other. Yes; and may the devil take him, and so quickly that we shall never hear him speak more. Hurrah! hurrah!", "pos": 150054}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You forget me, Baisemeaux! my glass is empty,", "pos": 150262}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Upon my honor, you delight me. Francois, wine! Wine, fellow! and better.", "pos": 150361}
{"speaker": "Francois", "text": "Yes, monsieur, yes; but a courier has just arrived.", "pos": 150456}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Let him go to the devil, I say.", "pos": 150510}
{"speaker": "Francois", "text": "Yes, monsieur, but--", "pos": 150544}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Let him leave his news at the office; we will see to it to-morrow. To-morrow, there will be time to-morrow; there will be daylight,", "pos": 150567}
{"speaker": "Francois", "text": "Ah, monsieur, monsieur.", "pos": 150738}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Take care, take care!", "pos": 150818}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Of what? dear M. d'Herblay,", "pos": 150857}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The letter which the courier brings to the governor of a fortress is sometimes an order.", "pos": 150922}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Nearly always.", "pos": 151013}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Do not orders issue from the ministers?", "pos": 151030}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, undoubtedly; but--", "pos": 151072}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And what to these ministers do but countersign the signature of the king?", "pos": 151098}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Perhaps you are right. Nevertheless, 'tis very tiresome when you are sitting before a good table, tete-a-tete with a friend--Ah! I beg your pardon, monsieur; I forgot it is I who engage you at supper, and that I speak to a future cardinal.", "pos": 151174}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Let us pass over that, dear Baisemeaux, and return to our soldier, to Francois.", "pos": 151416}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Well, and what has Francois done?", "pos": 151498}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He has demurred!", "pos": 151534}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "He was wrong, then?", "pos": 151553}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "However, he has demurred, you see; 'tis because there is something extraordinary in this matter. It is very possible that it was not Francois who was wrong in demurring, but you, who are in the wrong in not listening to him.", "pos": 151575}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Wrong? I to be wrong before Francois? that seems rather hard.", "pos": 151802}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Pardon me, merely an irregularity. But I thought it my duty to make an observation which I deem important.", "pos": 151866}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Oh! perhaps you are right. The king's order is sacred; but as to orders that arrive when one is at supper, I repeat that the devil--", "pos": 151975}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If you had said as much to the great cardinal--hem! my dear Baisemeaux, and if his order had any importance.", "pos": 152134}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I do it that I may not disturb a bishop. Mordioux! am I not, then, excusable?", "pos": 152245}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Do not forget, Baisemeaux, that I have worn the soldier's coat, and I am accustomed to obedience everywhere.", "pos": 152325}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "You wish, then--", "pos": 152436}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I wish that you would do your duty, my friend; yes, at least before this soldier.", "pos": 152455}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "'Tis mathematically true. Let them send this order of the king's up to me. Do you know what it is? I will tell you something about as interesting as this. 'Beware of fire near the powder magazine;' or, 'Look close after such and such a one, who is clever at escaping,' Ah! if you only knew, monseigneur, how many times I have been suddenly awakened from the very sweetest, deepest slumber, by messengers arriving at full gallop to tell me, or rather, bring me a slip of paper containing these words: 'Monsieur de Baisemeaux, what news?' 'Tis clear enough that those who waste their time writing such orders have never slept in the Bastile. They would know better; they have never considered the thickness of my walls, the vigilance of my officers, the number of rounds we go. But, indeed, what can you expect, monseigneur? It is their business to write and torment me when I am at rest, and to trouble me when I am happy. Then let them do their business.", "pos": 152540}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And do you do yours,", "pos": 153644}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What was I just saying?", "pos": 153932}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What is it?", "pos": 153972}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "An order of release! There, now; excellent news indeed to disturb us!", "pos": 154004}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "Excellent news for him whom it concerns, you will at least agree, my dear governor!", "pos": 154076}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "And at eight o'clock in the evening!", "pos": 154162}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is charitable!", "pos": 154201}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Oh! charity is all very well, but it is for that fellow who says he is so weary and tired, but not for me who am amusing myself,", "pos": 154221}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Will you lose by him, then? And is the prisoner who is to be set at liberty a good payer?", "pos": 154382}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Oh, yes, indeed! a miserable, five-franc rat!", "pos": 154474}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Let me see it. It is no indiscretion?", "pos": 154522}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "By no means; read it.", "pos": 154584}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "There is 'Urgent,' on the paper; you have seen that, I suppose?", "pos": 154608}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Oh, admirable! 'Urgent!'--a man who has been there ten years! It is urgent to set him free to-day, this very evening, at eight o'clock!--urgent! They are fond of these tricks! Watch this fellow well. Keep him very strictly. Set him at liberty, urgent. You will own, my lord, ‘tis enough to make a man at dinner shrug his shoulders!", "pos": 154674}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What do you expect? It is for them to write, for you to execute the order.", "pos": 155446}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Good! good! execute it! Oh, patience! You must not imagine that I am a slave.", "pos": 155538}
{"speaker": "M. Baisemeaux", "text": "Gracious Heaven! my very good M. Baisemeaux, who ever said so? Your independence is well known.", "pos": 155618}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Thank Heaven!", "pos": 155716}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "But your goodness of heart is also known.", "pos": 155732}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Ah! don't speak of it!", "pos": 155776}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And your obedience to your superiors. Once a soldier, you see, Baisemeaux, always a soldier.", "pos": 155801}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "And I shall directly obey; and to-morrow morning, at daybreak, the prisoner referred to shall be set free.", "pos": 155896}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To-morrow?", "pos": 156005}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "At dawn.", "pos": 156018}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Why not this evening, seeing that the lettre de cachet bears, both on the direction and inside, 'urgent'?", "pos": 156029}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Because this evening we are at supper, and our affairs are urgent, too!", "pos": 156137}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Dear Baisemeaux, booted though I be, I feel myself a priest, and charity has higher claims upon me than hunger and thirst. This unfortunate man has suffered long enough, since you have just told me that he has been your prisoner these ten years. Abridge his suffering. His good time has come; give him the benefit quickly. God will repay you in Paradise with years of felicity.", "pos": 156211}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "You wish it?", "pos": 156591}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I entreat you.", "pos": 156606}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What! in the very middle of our repast?", "pos": 156623}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I implore you; such an action is worth ten Benedicites.", "pos": 156665}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "It shall be as you desire, only our supper will get cold.", "pos": 156723}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! never heed that.", "pos": 156783}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "Francois, let the major come up here with the turnkeys of the Bertaudiere.", "pos": 156840}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Eh! but it is impossible!", "pos": 157687}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "How impossible? Give me a glimpse of this impossibility.", "pos": 157725}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "'Tis impossible to set a prisoner at liberty at such an hour. Where can he go to, a man so unacquainted with Paris?", "pos": 157800}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He will find a place wherever he can.", "pos": 157917}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "You see, now, one might as well set a blind man free!", "pos": 157957}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I have a carriage, and will take him wherever he wishes.", "pos": 158013}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "You have an answer for everything. Francois, tell monsieur le major to go and open the cell of M. Seldon, No. 3, Bertaudiere.", "pos": 158072}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Seldon! You said Seldon, I think?", "pos": 158200}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I said Seldon, of course. 'Tis the name of the man they set free.", "pos": 158272}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! you mean to say Marchiali?", "pos": 158340}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Marchiali? oh! yes, indeed. No, no, Seldon.", "pos": 158386}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I think you are making a mistake, Monsieur Baisemeaux.", "pos": 158432}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I have read the order.", "pos": 158489}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And I also.", "pos": 158514}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "And I saw 'Seldon' in letters as large as that,", "pos": 158528}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And I read 'Marchiali' in characters as large as this. I read 'Marchiali',", "pos": 158613}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "To the proof; let us throw a light on the matter. There is the paper, you have only to read it.", "pos": 158712}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I read ‘Marchiali,’ Look.", "pos": 158853}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, yes, yes, Marchiali. 'Tis plainly written Marchiali! Quite true!", "pos": 158975}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah!--", "pos": 159077}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "How? the man of whom we have talked so much? The man whom they are every day telling me to take such care of?", "pos": 159085}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "There is ‘Marchiali,’", "pos": 159197}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I must own it, monseigneur. But I understand nothing about it.", "pos": 159253}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You believe your eyes, at any rate.", "pos": 159318}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "To tell me very plainly there is 'Marchiali.'", "pos": 159356}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And in a good handwriting, too.", "pos": 159404}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "'Tis a wonder! I still see this order and the name of Seldon, Irishman. I see it. Ah! I even recollect that under this name there was a blot of ink.", "pos": 159439}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No, there is no ink; no, there is no blot.", "pos": 159589}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Oh! but there was, though; I know it, because I rubbed my finger--this very one--in the powder that was over the blot.", "pos": 159634}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In a word, be it how it may, dear M. Baisemeaux, and whatever you may have seen, the order is signed to release Marchiali, blot or no blot.", "pos": 159755}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "The order is signed to release Marchiali,", "pos": 159912}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And you are going to release this prisoner. If your heart dictates you to deliver Seldon also, I declare to you I will not oppose it the least in the world.", "pos": 160025}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Monseigneur, this Marchiali is the very same prisoner whom the other day a priest confessor of our order came to visit in so imperious and so secret a manner.", "pos": 160328}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I don't know that, monsieur,", "pos": 160500}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "'Tis no such long time ago, dear Monsieur d'Herblay.", "pos": 160552}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is true. But with us, monsieur, it is good that the man of to-day should no longer know what the man of yesterday did.", "pos": 160606}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "In any case, the visit of the Jesuit confessor must have given happiness to this man.", "pos": 160730}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Are you going to release Marchiali? What mellow, fragrant and delicious sherry this is, my dear governor.", "pos": 161272}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Monseigneur. I shall release the prisoner Marchiali when I have summoned the courier who brought the order, and above all, when, by interrogating him, I have satisfied myself.", "pos": 161391}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The order is sealed, and the courier is ignorant of the contents. What do you want to satisfy yourself about?", "pos": 161591}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Be it so, monseigneur; but I shall send to the ministry, and M. de Lyonne will either confirm or withdraw the order.", "pos": 161703}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What is the good of all that?", "pos": 161822}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What good?", "pos": 161876}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes; what is your object, I ask?", "pos": 161889}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "The object of never deceiving oneself, monseigneur; nor being wanting in the respect which a subaltern owes to his superior officers, nor infringing the duties of a service one has accepted of one's own free will.", "pos": 161924}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Very good; you have just spoken so eloquently, that I cannot but admire you. It is true that a subaltern owes respect to his superiors; he is guilty when he deceives himself, and he should be punished if he infringed either the duties or laws of his office. It follows, that you are going to ask advice, to put your conscience at ease in the matter?", "pos": 162140}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 162563}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And if a superior officer gives you orders, you will obey?", "pos": 162583}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Never doubt it, monseigneur.", "pos": 162644}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You know the king's signature well, M. de Baisemeaux?", "pos": 162675}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 162731}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Is it not on this order of release?", "pos": 162751}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "It is true, but it may--", "pos": 162789}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Be forged, you mean?", "pos": 162816}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "That is evident, monseigneur.", "pos": 162839}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are right. And that of M. de Lyonne?", "pos": 162871}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I see it plain enough on the order; but for the same reason that the king's signature may have been forged, so also, and with even greater probability, may M. de Lyonne's.", "pos": 162914}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Your logic has the stride of a giant, M. de Baisemeaux, and your reasoning is irresistible. But on what special grounds do you base your idea that these signatures are false?", "pos": 163088}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "On this: the absence of counter-signatures. Nothing checks his majesty's signature; and M. de Lyonne is not there to tell me he has signed.", "pos": 163280}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, Monsieur de Baisemeaux. I adopt so frankly your doubts, and your mode of clearing them up, that I will take a pen, if you will give me one. And a sheet of white paper. Now, I--I, also--I, here present--incontestably, I--am going to write an order to which I am certain you will give credence, incredulous as you are! A. M. D. G., to the greater glory of God; It is our pleasure that the order brought to M. de Baisemeaux de Montlezun, governor, for the king, of the castle of the Bastile, be held by him good and effectual, and be immediately carried into operation. General of the Order, by the grace of God.", "pos": 163422}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Come, come, do not lead me to believe, dear Baisemeaux, that the presence of the general of the order is as terrible as His, and that men die merely from having seen Him. Take courage, rouse yourself; give me your hand--obey.", "pos": 165539}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Immediately?", "pos": 165958}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh, there is no pressing haste, my host; take your place again, and do the honors over this beautiful dessert.", "pos": 165986}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Monseigneur, I shall never recover such a shock as this; I who have laughed, who have jested with you! I who have dared to treat you on a footing of equality!", "pos": 166099}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Say nothing about it, old comrade, say nothing about it. Let us each live in our own way; to you, my protection and my friendship; to me, your obedience. Having exactly fulfilled these two requirements, let us live happily. My dear Baisemeaux, you are a simpleton. Lose this habit of reflection when I give myself the trouble to think for you.", "pos": 166260}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "How shall I set about it?", "pos": 167058}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What is the process for releasing a prisoner?", "pos": 167095}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I have the regulations.", "pos": 167143}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, then, follow the regulations, my friend.", "pos": 167169}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I go with my major to the prisoner’s room, and conduct him, if he is a personage of importance.", "pos": 167218}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "But this Marchiali is not an important personage. I don’t know. Then if you don’t know it, I am right; so act towards Marchiali as you act towards one of obscure station.", "pos": 167316}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Good; the regulations so provide. They are to the effect that the turnkey, or one of the lower officials, shall bring the prisoner before the governor, in the office.", "pos": 167598}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, ‘tis very wise, that; and then?", "pos": 167767}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Then we return to the prisoner the valuables he wore at the time of his imprisonment, his clothes and papers, if the minister’s orders have not otherwise dictated.", "pos": 167807}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What was the minister’s order as to this Marchiali?", "pos": 167973}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Nothing; for the unhappy man arrived here without jewels, without papers, and almost without clothes.", "pos": 168027}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "See how simple, then, all is. Indeed, Baisemeaux, you make a mountain of everything. Remain here, and make them bring the prisoner to the governor’s house.", "pos": 168131}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Go and meet your men,", "pos": 168896}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "You will swear [‘tis the regulation that requires it), never to reveal anything that you have seen or heard in the Bastile. And now, monsieur, you are free. Whither do you intend going?", "pos": 169307}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am here, to render the gentleman whatever service he may please to ask.", "pos": 169756}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "God have you in his holy keeping,", "pos": 169939}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Does my order trouble you? Do you fear their finding it here, should they come to search?", "pos": 170150}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I desire to keep it, monseigneur. If they found it here, it would be a certain indication I should be lost, and in that case you would be a powerful and a last auxiliary for me.", "pos": 170242}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Being your accomplice, you mean? Adieu, Baisemeaux. Go on,", "pos": 170441}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What is the matter? The matter is, monseigneur, that before going further, it is necessary your royal highness and I should converse.", "pos": 172189}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I will await an opportunity, monsieur,", "pos": 172394}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We could not have a better, monseigneur. We are in the middle of a forest, and no one can hear us.", "pos": 172462}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "The postilion?", "pos": 172563}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The postilion of this relay is deaf and dumb, monseigneur.", "pos": 172580}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I am at your service, M. d’Herblay.", "pos": 172641}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Is it your pleasure to remain in the carriage?", "pos": 172679}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Yes; we are comfortably seated, and I like this carriage, for it has restored me to liberty.", "pos": 172728}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Wait, monseigneur; there is yet a precaution to be taken.", "pos": 172823}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "What?", "pos": 172883}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We are here on the highway; cavaliers or carriages traveling like ourselves might pass, and seeing us stopping, deem us in some difficulty. Let us avoid offers of assistance, which would embarrass us.", "pos": 172891}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Give the postilion orders to conceal the carriage in one of the side avenues.", "pos": 173094}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "‘Tis exactly what I wished to do, monseigneur.", "pos": 173175}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I am listening, but what are you doing there?", "pos": 173657}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am disarming myself of my pistols, of which we have no further need, monseigneur. My prince,", "pos": 173740}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I listen,", "pos": 174729}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monseigneur, you know the history of the government which to-day controls France. The king issued from an infancy imprisoned like yours, obscure as yours, and confined as yours; only, instead of ending, like yourself, this slavery in a prison, this obscurity in solitude, these straightened circumstances in concealment, he was fain to bear all these miseries, humiliations, and distresses, in full daylight, under the pitiless sun of royalty; on an elevation flooded with light, where every stain appears a blemish, every glory a stain. The king has suffered; it rankles in his mind; and he will avenge himself. He will be a bad king. I say not that he will pour out his people’s blood, like Louis XI., or Charles IX.; for he has no mortal injuries to avenge; but he will devour the means and substance of his people; for he has himself undergone wrongs in his own interest and money. In the first place, then, I acquit my conscience, when I consider openly the merits and the faults of this great prince; and if I condemn him, my conscience absolves me. All that Heaven does, Heaven does well, and I am so persuaded of it that I have long been thankful to have been chosen depositary of the secret which I have aided you to discover. To a just Providence was necessary an instrument, at once penetrating, persevering, and convinced, to accomplish a great work. I am this instrument. I possess penetration, perseverance, conviction; I govern a mysterious people, who has taken for its motto, the motto of God, ‘Patiens quia oeternus.’", "pos": 175333}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "You speak to me, of that religious order whose chief you are. For me, the result of your words is, that the day you desire to hurl down the man you shall have raised, the event will be accomplished; and that you will keep under your hand your creation of yesterday.", "pos": 178121}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Undeceive yourself, monseigneur. I should not take the trouble to play this terrible game with your royal highness, if I had not a double interest in gaining it. The day you are elevated, you are elevated forever; you will overturn the footstool, as you rise, and will send it rolling so far, that not even the sight of it will ever again recall to you its right to simple gratitude.", "pos": 178400}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Oh, monsieur!", "pos": 178808}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Your movement, monseigneur, arises from an excellent disposition. I thank you. Be well assured, I aspire to more than gratitude! I am convinced that, when arrived at the summit, you will judge me still more worthy to be your friend; and then, monseigneur, we two will do such great deeds, that ages hereafter shall long speak of them.", "pos": 178824}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Tell me plainly, monsieur--tell me without disguise--what I am to-day, and what you aim at my being to-morrow.", "pos": 179161}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I understand, my brother’s blood will not be shed, then.", "pos": 180536}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will be sole arbiter of his fate.", "pos": 180614}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "The secret of which they made an evil use against me?", "pos": 180654}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will employ it against him. What did he do to conceal it? He concealed you. Living image of himself, you will defeat the conspiracy of Mazarin and Anne of Austria. You, my prince, will have the same interest in concealing him, who will, as a prisoner, resemble you, as you will resemble him as a king.", "pos": 180710}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I fall back on what I was saying to you. Who will guard him?", "pos": 181018}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Who guarded you?", "pos": 181081}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "You know this secret--you have made use of it with regard to myself. Who else knows it?", "pos": 181100}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The queen-mother and Madame de Chevreuse.", "pos": 181190}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "What will they do?", "pos": 181234}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Nothing, if you choose.", "pos": 181255}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "How is that?", "pos": 181281}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "How can they recognize you, if you act in such a manner that no one can recognize you?", "pos": 181296}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "‘Tis true; but there are grave difficulties.", "pos": 181386}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "State them, prince.", "pos": 181432}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "My brother is married; I cannot take my brother’s wife.", "pos": 181454}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I will cause Spain to consent to a divorce; it is in the interest of your new policy; it is human morality. All that is really noble and really useful in this world will find its account therein.", "pos": 181512}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "The imprisoned king will speak.", "pos": 181710}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To whom do you think he will speak--to the walls?", "pos": 181744}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "You mean, by walls, the men in whom you put confidence.", "pos": 181796}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If need be, yes. And besides, your royal highness--", "pos": 181854}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Besides?", "pos": 181908}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I will exile the deposed king,", "pos": 183277}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "‘twill be more human. The king’s good pleasure will decide the point. But has the problem been well put? Have I brought out of the solution according to the wishes or the foresight of your royal highness?", "pos": 183338}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Yes, monsieur, yes; you have forgotten nothing--except, indeed, two things.", "pos": 183561}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The first?", "pos": 183639}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Let us speak of it at once, with the same frankness we have already conversed in. Let us speak of the causes which may bring about the ruin of all the hopes we have conceived. Let us speak of the risks we are running.", "pos": 183652}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "They would be immense, infinite, terrific, insurmountable, if, as I have said, all things did not concur to render them of absolutely no account. There is no danger either for you or for me, if the constancy and intrepidity of your royal highness are equal to that perfection of resemblance to your brother which nature has bestowed upon you. I repeat it, there are no dangers, only obstacles; a word, indeed, which I find in all languages, but have always ill-understood, and, were I king, would have obliterated as useless and absurd.", "pos": 183872}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, indeed, monsieur; there is a very serious obstacle, an insurmountable danger, which you are forgetting.", "pos": 184410}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 184521}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "There is conscience, which cries aloud; remorse, that never dies.", "pos": 184540}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "True, true, there is a weakness of heart of which you remind me. You are right, too, for that, indeed, is an immense obstacle. The horse afraid of the ditch, leaps into the middle of it, and is killed! The man who trembling crosses his sword with that of another leaves loopholes whereby his enemy has him in his power.", "pos": 184608}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "Have you a brother?", "pos": 184949}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am alone in the world,", "pos": 185001}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "But, surely, there is some one in the world whom you love?", "pos": 185069}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No one!--Yes, I love you. Monseigneur. I have not said all I had to say to your royal highness; I have not offered you all the salutary counsels and useful resources which I have at my disposal. It is useless to flash bright visions before the eyes of one who seeks and loves darkness: useless, too, is it to let the magnificence of the cannon’s roar make itself heard in the ears of one who loves repose and the quiet of the country. Monseigneur, I have your happiness spread out before me in my thoughts; listen to my words; precious they indeed are, in their import and their sense, for you who look with such tender regard upon the bright heavens, the verdant meadows, the pure air. I know a country instinct with delights of every kind, an unknown paradise, a secluded corner of the world--where alone, unfettered and unknown, in the thick covert of the woods, amidst flowers, and streams of rippling water, you will forget all the misery that human folly has so recently allotted you. Oh! listen to me, my prince. I do not jest. I have a heart, and mind, and soul, and can read your own,--aye, even to its depths. I will not take you unready for your task, in order to cast you into the crucible of my own desires, of my caprice, or my ambition. Let it be all or nothing. You are chilled and galled, sick at heart, overcome by excess of the emotions which but one hour’s liberty has produced in you. For me, that is a certain and unmistakable sign that you do not wish to continue at liberty. Would you prefer a more humble life, a life more suited to your strength? Heaven is my witness, that I wish your happiness to be the result of the trial to which I have exposed you.", "pos": 185146}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "Speak, speak,", "pos": 186972}
{"speaker": "prelate", "text": "I know, in the Bas-Poitou, a canton, of which no one in France suspects the existence. Twenty leagues of country is immense, is not? Twenty leagues, monseigneur, all covered with water and herbage, and reeds of the most luxuriant nature; the whole studded with islands covered with woods of the densest foliage. These large marshes, covered with reeds as with a thick mantle, sleep silently and calmly beneath the sun’s soft and genial rays. A few fishermen with their families indolently pass their lives away there, with their great living-rafts of poplar and alder, the flooring formed of reeds, and the roof woven out of thick rushes. These barks, these floating-houses, are wafted to and fro by the changing winds. Whenever they touch a bank, it is but by chance; and so gently, too, that the sleeping fisherman is not awakened by the shock. Should he wish to land, it is merely because he has seen a large flight of landrails or plovers, of wild ducks, teal, widgeon, or woodchucks, which fall an easy pray to net or gun. Silver shad, eels, greedy pike, red and gray mullet, swim in shoals into his nets; he has but to choose the finest and largest, and return the others to the waters. Never yet has the food of the stranger, be he soldier or simple citizen, never has any one, indeed, penetrated into that district. The sun’s rays there are soft and tempered: in plots of solid earth, whose soil is swart and fertile, grows the vine, nourishing with generous juice its purple, white, and golden grapes. Once a week, a boat is sent to deliver the bread which has been baked at an oven--the common property of all. There--like the seigneurs of early days--powerful in virtue of your dogs, your fishing-lines, your guns, and your beautiful reed-built house, would you live, rich in the produce of the chase, in plentitude of absolute secrecy. There would years of your life roll away, at the end of which, no longer recognizable, for you would have been perfectly transformed, you would have succeeded in acquiring a destiny accorded to you by Heaven. There are a thousand pistoles in this bag, monseigneur--more, far more, than sufficient to purchase the whole marsh of which I have spoken; more than enough to live there as many years as you have days to live; more than enough to constitute you the richest, the freest, and the happiest man in the country. Accept it, as I offer it you--sincerely, cheerfully. Forthwith, without a moment’s pause, I will unharness two of my horses, which are attached to the carriage yonder, and they, accompanied by my servant--my deaf and dumb attendant--shall conduct you--traveling throughout the night, sleeping during the day--to the locality I have described; and I shall, at least, have the satisfaction of knowing that I have rendered to my prince the major service he himself preferred. I shall have made one human being happy; and Heaven for that will hold me in better account than if I had made one man powerful; the former task is far more difficult. And now, monseigneur, your answer to this proposition? Here is the money. Nay, do not hesitate. At Poitou, you can risk nothing, except the chance of catching the fevers prevalent there; and even of them, the so-called wizards of the country will cure you, for the sake of your pistoles. If you play the other game, you run the chance of being assassinated on a throne, strangled in a prison-cell. Upon my soul, I assure you, now I begin to compare them together, I myself should hesitate which lot I should accept.", "pos": 187050}
{"speaker": "young prince", "text": "Monsieur, before I determine, let me alight from this carriage, walk on the ground, and consult that still voice within me, which Heaven bids us all to hearken to. Ten minutes is all I ask, and then you shall have your answer.", "pos": 190600}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "As you please, monseigneur,", "pos": 190857}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Lead me to where the crown of France is to be found.", "pos": 194862}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Is this your decision, monseigneur?", "pos": 194917}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "It is.", "pos": 194969}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Irrevocably so? Such looks are flashes of the hidden fire that betrays men’s character, you will be great, monseigneur, I will answer for that.", "pos": 194978}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Let us resume our conversation. I wished to discuss two points with you; in the first place the dangers, or the obstacles we may meet with. That point is decided. The other is the conditions you intend imposing on me. It is your turn to speak, M. d’Herblay.", "pos": 195334}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The conditions, monseigneur?", "pos": 195594}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Doubtless. You will not allow so mere a trifle to stop me, and you will not do me the injustice to suppose that I think you have no interest in this affair. Therefore, without subterfuge or hesitation, tell me the truth--", "pos": 195625}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I will do so, monseigneur. Once a king--", "pos": 195849}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "When will that be?", "pos": 195892}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To-morrow evening--I mean in the night.", "pos": 195913}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Explain yourself.", "pos": 195955}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "When I shall have asked your highness a question.", "pos": 195975}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Do so.", "pos": 196027}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I sent to your highness a man in my confidence with instructions to deliver some closely written notes, carefully drawn up, which will thoroughly acquaint your highness with the different persons who compose and will compose your court.", "pos": 196036}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I perused those notes.", "pos": 196275}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Attentively?", "pos": 196300}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I know them by heart.", "pos": 196315}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And understand them? Pardon me, but I may venture to ask that question of a poor, abandoned captive of the Bastile? In a week’s time it will not be requisite to further question a mind like yours. You will then be in full possession of liberty and power.", "pos": 196339}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Interrogate me, then, and I will be a scholar representing his lesson to his master.", "pos": 196596}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We will begin with your family, monseigneur.", "pos": 196683}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "My mother, Anne of Austria! all her sorrows, her painful malady. Oh! I know her--I know her.", "pos": 196730}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Your second brother?", "pos": 196825}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "To these notes, you have added portraits so faithfully painted, that I am able to recognize the persons whose characters, manners, and history you have so carefully portrayed. Monsieur, my brother, is a fine, dark young man, with a pale face; he does not love his wife, Henrietta, whom I, Louis XIV., loved a little, and still flirt with, even although she made me weep on the day she wished to dismiss Mademoiselle de la Vallière from her service in disgrace.", "pos": 196870}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will have to be careful with regard to the watchfulness of the latter, she is sincerely attached to the actual king. The eyes of a woman who loves are not easily deceived.", "pos": 197355}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "She is fair, has blue eyes, whose affectionate gaze reveals her identity. She halts slightly in her gait; she writes a letter every day, to which I have to send an answer by M. de Saint-Aignan.", "pos": 197548}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Do you know the latter?", "pos": 197744}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "As if I saw him, and I know the last verses he composed for me, as well as those I composed in answer to his.", "pos": 197770}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Very good. Do you know your ministers?", "pos": 197882}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Colbert, an ugly, dark-browed man, but intelligent enough, his hair covering his forehead, a large, heavy, full head; the mortal enemy of M. Fouquet.", "pos": 197923}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "As for the latter, we need not disturb ourselves about him.", "pos": 198075}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "No; because necessarily you will not require me to exile him, I suppose?", "pos": 198137}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will become very great, monseigneur.", "pos": 198264}
{"speaker": "prince", "text": "You see, that I know my lesson by heart, and with Heaven’s assistance, and yours afterwards, I shall seldom go wrong.", "pos": 198307}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You have still an awkward pair of eyes to deal with, monseigneur.", "pos": 198447}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Yes, the captain of the musketeers, M. d’Artagnan, your friend.", "pos": 198515}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes; I can well say ‘my friend.’", "pos": 198581}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "He who escorted La Vallière to Le Chaillot; he who delivered up Monk, cooped in an iron box, to Charles II.; he who so faithfully served my mother; he to whom the crown of France owes so much that it owes everything. Do you intend to ask me to exile him also?", "pos": 198616}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Never, sire. D’Artagnan is a man to whom, at a certain given time, I will undertake to reveal everything; but be on your guard with him, for if he discovers our plot before it is revealed to him, you or I will certainly be killed or taken. He is a bold and enterprising man.", "pos": 198878}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I will think it over. Now tell me about M. Fouquet; what do you wish to be done with regard to him?", "pos": 199155}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "One moment more, I entreat you, monseigneur; and forgive me, if I seem to fail in respect to questioning you further.", "pos": 199257}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "It is your duty to do so, nay, more than that, your right.", "pos": 199377}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Before we pass to M. Fouquet, I should very much regret forgetting another friend of mine.", "pos": 199438}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "M. du Vallon, the Hercules of France, you mean; oh! as far as he is concerned, his interests are more than safe.", "pos": 199531}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No; it is not he whom I intended to refer to.", "pos": 199646}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "The Comte de la Fere, then?", "pos": 199694}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And his son, the son of all four of us.", "pos": 199724}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "That poor boy who is dying of love for La Vallière, whom my brother so disloyally bereft him of? Be easy on that score. I shall know how to rehabilitate his happiness. Tell me only one thing, Monsieur d’Herblay; do men, when they love, forget the treachery that has been shown them? Can a man ever forgive the woman who has betrayed him? Is that a French custom, or is it one of the laws of the human heart?", "pos": 199766}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A man who loves deeply, as deeply as Raoul loves Mademoiselle de la Vallière, finishes by forgetting the fault or crime of the woman he loves; but I do not yet know whether Raoul will be able to forget.", "pos": 200176}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I will see after that. Have you anything further to say about your friend?", "pos": 200381}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No; that is all.", "pos": 200458}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Well, then, now for M. Fouquet. What do you wish me to do for him?", "pos": 200477}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To keep him on as surintendant, in the capacity in which he has hitherto acted, I entreat you.", "pos": 200546}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Be it so; but he is the first minister at present.", "pos": 200643}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Not quite so.", "pos": 200696}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "A king, ignorant and embarrassed as I shall be, will, as a matter of course, require a first minister of state.", "pos": 200712}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Your majesty will require a friend.", "pos": 200826}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I have only one, and that is yourself.", "pos": 200864}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will have many others by and by, but none so devoted, none so zealous for your glory.", "pos": 200905}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "You shall be my first minister of state.", "pos": 200997}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Not immediately, monseigneur, for that would give rise to too much suspicion and astonishment.", "pos": 201040}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "M. de Richelieu, the first minister of my grandmother, Marie de Medici, was simply bishop of Lucon, as you are bishop of Vannes.", "pos": 201137}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I perceive that your royal highness has studied my notes to great advantage; your amazing perspicacity overpowers me with delight.", "pos": 201268}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I am perfectly aware that M. de Richelieu, by means of the queen’s protection, soon became cardinal.", "pos": 201401}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It would be better, that I should not be appointed first minister until your royal highness has procured my nomination as cardinal.", "pos": 201504}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "You shall be nominated before two months are past, Monsieur d’Herblay. But that is a matter of very trifling moment; you would not offend me if you were to ask more than that, and you would cause me serious regret if you were to limit yourself to that.", "pos": 201661}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In that case, I have something still further to hope for, monseigneur.", "pos": 201916}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Speak! speak!", "pos": 201989}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "M. Fouquet will not keep long at the head of affairs, he will soon get old. He is fond of pleasure, consistently, I mean, with all his labors, thanks to the youthfulness he still retains; but this protracted youth will disappear at the approach of the first serious annoyance, or at the first illness he may experience. We will spare him the annoyance, because he is an agreeable and noble-hearted man; but we cannot save him from ill-health. So it is determined. When you shall have paid all M. Fouquet’s debts, and restored the finances to a sound condition, M. Fouquet will be able to remain the sovereign ruler in his little court of poets and painters,--we shall have made him rich. When that has been done, and I have become your royal highness’s prime minister, I shall be able to think of my own interests and yours. M. de Richelieu, of whom we were speaking just now, was very much to blame in the fixed idea he had of governing France alone, unaided. He allowed two kings, King Louis XIII. and himself, to be seated on the self-same throne, whilst he might have installed them more conveniently upon two separate and distinct thrones.", "pos": 202005}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "Upon two thrones?", "pos": 203195}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In fact, a cardinal, prime minister of France, assisted by the favor and by the countenance of his Most Christian Majesty the King of France, a cardinal to whom the king his master lends the treasures of the state, his army, his counsel, such a man would be acting with twofold injustice in applying these mighty resources to France alone. Besides, you will not be a king such as your father was, delicate in health, slow in judgment, whom all things wearied; you will be a king governing by your brain and by your sword; you will have in the government of the state no more than you will be able to manage unaided; I should only interfere with you. Besides, our friendship ought never to be, I do not say impaired, but in any degree affected, by a secret thought. I shall have given you the throne of France, you will confer on me the throne of St. Peter. Whenever your loyal, firm, and mailed hand should joined in ties of intimate association the hand of a pope such as I shall be, neither Charles V., who owned two-thirds of the habitable globe, nor Charlemagne, who possessed it entirely, will be able to reach to half your stature. I have no alliances, I have no predilections; I will not throw you into persecutions of heretics, nor will I cast you into the troubled waters of family dissension; I will simply say to you: The whole universe is our own; for me the minds of men, for you their bodies. And as I shall be the first to die, you will have my inheritance. What do you say of my plan, monseigneur?", "pos": 203249}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "I say that you render me happy and proud, for no other reason than that of having comprehended you thoroughly. Monsieur d’Herblay, you shall be cardinal, and when cardinal, my prime minister; and then you will point out to me the necessary steps to be taken to secure your election as pope, and I will take them. You can ask what guarantees from me you please.", "pos": 204808}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is useless. Never shall I act except in such a manner that you will be the gainer; I shall never ascend the ladder of fortune, fame, or position, until I have first seen you placed upon the round of the ladder immediately above me; I shall always hold myself sufficiently aloof from you to escape incurring your jealousy, sufficiently near to sustain your personal advantage and to watch over your friendship. All the contracts in the world are easily violated because the interests included in them incline more to one side than to another. With us, however, this will never be the case; I have no need of any guarantees.", "pos": 205171}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "And so--my dear brother--will disappear?", "pos": 205799}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Simply. We will remove him from his bed by means of a plank which yields to the pressure of the finger. Having retired to rest a crowned sovereign, he will awake a captive. Alone you will rule from that moment, and you will have no interest dearer and better than that of keeping me near you.", "pos": 205842}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "I believe it. There is my hand on it, Monsieur d’Herblay.", "pos": 206137}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Allow me to kneel before you, sire, most respectfully. We will embrace each other on the day we shall have upon our temples, you the crown, I the tiara.", "pos": 206197}
{"speaker": "the young man", "text": "Still embrace me this very day also, and be, for and towards me, more than great, more than skillful, more than sublime in genius; be kind and indulgent--be my father!", "pos": 206352}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "His father! yes, his Holy Father.", "pos": 206689}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In an hour--", "pos": 215678}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "In an hour!", "pos": 215717}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And the people who ask one another what is the good of these royal fetes!", "pos": 215760}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Alas! I, too, who am not the people, ask myself the same thing.", "pos": 215900}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I will answer you in four and twenty hours, monseigneur. Assume a cheerful countenance, for it should be a day of true rejoicing.", "pos": 215966}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Well, believe me or not, as you like, D’Herblay, he certainly loves me but very little, and I do not care much more for him; but I cannot tell you how it is, that since he is approaching my house--", "pos": 216098}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, what?", "pos": 216404}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Well, since I know he is on his way here, as my guest, he is more sacred than ever for me; he is my acknowledged sovereign, and as such is very dear to me.", "pos": 216418}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Dear? yes,", "pos": 216576}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Do not laugh, D’Herblay; I feel that, if he really seemed to wish it, I could love that young man.", "pos": 216683}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You should not say that to me, but rather to M. Colbert.", "pos": 216784}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "To M. Colbert! Why so?", "pos": 216862}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Because he would allow you a pension out of the king’s privy purse, as soon as he becomes surintendant,", "pos": 216908}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Where are you going?", "pos": 217086}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To my own apartment, in order to change my costume, monseigneur.", "pos": 217147}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Whereabouts are you lodging, D’Herblay?", "pos": 217214}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In the blue room on the second story.", "pos": 217256}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The room immediately over the king’s room?", "pos": 217296}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Precisely.", "pos": 217341}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You will be subject to very great restraint there. What an idea to condemn yourself to a room where you cannot stir or move about!", "pos": 217354}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "During the night, monseigneur, I sleep or read in my bed.", "pos": 217487}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And your servants?", "pos": 217547}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I have but one attendant with me. I find my reader quite sufficient. Adieu, monseigneur; do not overfatigue yourself; keep yourself fresh for the arrival of the king.", "pos": 217568}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "We shall see you by and by, I suppose, and shall see your friend Du Vallon also?", "pos": 217737}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He is lodging next to me, and is at this moment dressing.", "pos": 217820}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "With men of Aramis’s stamp, one is never the stronger except sword in hand. So long as Aramis continued a soldier, there was hope of getting the better of him; but since he has covered his cuirass with a stole, we are lost. But what can Aramis’s object possibly be? What does it matter to me, after all, if his only object is to overthrow M. Colbert? And what else can he be after?", "pos": 219687}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I will get him, between a couple of candles, suddenly, and when he least expects 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.", "pos": 220791}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "But why?", "pos": 221667}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "In order to show greater honor to M. Fouquet,", "pos": 221693}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Who was fool enough to occasion this delay?", "pos": 222170}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Not I, certainly, but I believe it was M. Colbert.", "pos": 222315}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "What was M. d’Artagnan good enough to say?", "pos": 222439}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I was good enough to remark that it was you who stopped the king’s progress, so that he might taste the vin de Brie. Was I right?", "pos": 222484}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Quite so, monsieur.", "pos": 222616}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In that case, then, it was you whom the king called some name or other.", "pos": 222638}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "What name?", "pos": 222712}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I hardly know; but wait a moment--idiot, I think it was--no, no, it was fool or dolt. Yes; his majesty said that the man who had thought of the vin de Melun was something of the sort. Mordioux! the king is going to have an attack of determination of blood to the head. Where the deuce did you get hold of that idea, Monsieur Colbert? You have no luck.", "pos": 222725}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Monsieur, my zeal for the king’s service inspired me with the idea.", "pos": 223402}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Bah!", "pos": 223514}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Monsieur, Melun is a city, an excellent city, which pays well, and which it would be imprudent to displease.", "pos": 223521}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "There, now! I, who do not pretend to be a financier, saw only one idea in your idea.", "pos": 223632}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "What was that, monsieur?", "pos": 223719}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That of causing a little annoyance to M. Fouquet, who is making himself quite giddy on his donjons yonder, in waiting for us.", "pos": 223746}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Is not the king going to sleep at Melun?", "pos": 224644}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire. M. Colbert has been asking me if your majesty does not intend to sleep at Melun.", "pos": 225359}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Sleep at Melun! What for? Sleep at Melun! Who, in Heaven’s name, can have thought of such a thing, when M. Fouquet is expecting us this evening?", "pos": 225459}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "It was simply, the fear of causing your majesty the least delay; for, according to established etiquette, you cannot enter any place, with the exception of your own royal residences, until the soldiers’ quarters have been marked out by the quartermaster, and the garrison properly distributed.", "pos": 225629}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "We will consult the queen,", "pos": 227011}
{"speaker": "Maria Theresa", "text": "I shall be delighted to do whatever your majesty wishes.", "pos": 227240}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "How long will it take us to get to Vaux?", "pos": 227299}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "An hour for your majesty’s carriages, the roads are tolerably good. And a quarter of an hour for the king,", "pos": 227463}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "We should arrive by daylight?", "pos": 227637}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "But the billeting of the king’s military escort, will make his majesty lose all the advantage of his speed, however quick he may be.", "pos": 227685}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Double ass that you are! If I were in the king’s place, I should, in going to M. Fouquet, leave my escort behind me; I should go to him as a friend; I should enter accompanied only by my captain of the guards; I should consider that I was acting more nobly, and should be invested with a still more sacred character by doing so.", "pos": 227848}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "That is indeed a very sensible suggestion. We will go to see a friend as friends; the gentlemen who are with the carriages can go slowly: but we who are mounted will ride on.", "pos": 228360}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I shall be quits, by getting 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.", "pos": 228648}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It is impossible, monsieur le surintendant, to dine better anywhere.", "pos": 235340}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I love you,", "pos": 236654}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "M. Fouquet,", "pos": 236739}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "is the man for me.", "pos": 237398}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I am sleepy, that is all.", "pos": 238509}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Does your majesty wish for your attendants at once?", "pos": 238537}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "No; I have to talk with a few persons first. Will you have the goodness to tell M. Colbert I wish to see him.", "pos": 238591}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, and so we have come to Vaux,", "pos": 240090}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Why, yes, D’Artagnan. And how do you like the place?", "pos": 240136}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Very much, and I like M. Fouquet, also.", "pos": 240191}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Is he not a charming host?", "pos": 240233}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No one could be more so.", "pos": 240262}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "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.", "pos": 240289}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You did not notice it, then, since you say you have been told so?", "pos": 240433}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "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.", "pos": 240501}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah, indeed! you are the comptroller-general of the fetes here, then?", "pos": 240657}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "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.", "pos": 240728}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, I remember the verses you used to write, they were charming.", "pos": 240891}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "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.", "pos": 240959}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do you know what idea occurred to me this evening, Aramis?", "pos": 241114}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No; tell me what it was, for I should never be able to guess it, you have so many.", "pos": 241175}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, the idea occurred to me, that the true king of France is not Louis XIV.", "pos": 241260}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What!", "pos": 241340}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, it is Monsieur Fouquet.", "pos": 241416}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah! you are like all the rest, jealous. I would wager that it was M. Colbert who turned that pretty phrase. He comes of a mean race, does Colbert,", "pos": 241481}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Quite true.", "pos": 241773}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "When I think, too, that that fellow will be your minister within four months, and that you will serve him as blindly as you did Richelieu or Mazarin--", "pos": 241807}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And as you serve M. Fouquet,", "pos": 241960}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "With this difference, though, that M. Fouquet is not M. Colbert.", "pos": 242008}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "True, true. Why do you tell me that M. Colbert will be minister in four months?", "pos": 242075}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Because M. Fouquet will have ceased to be so,", "pos": 242266}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "He will be ruined, you mean?", "pos": 242330}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Completely so.", "pos": 242378}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Why does he give these fetes, then?", "pos": 242395}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is done with the object of humoring the king.", "pos": 242721}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "By ruining himself?", "pos": 242772}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, by ruining himself for the king.", "pos": 242794}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "A most eccentric, one might say, sinister calculation, that.", "pos": 242834}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Necessity, necessity, my friend.", "pos": 242897}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I don’t see that, dear Aramis.", "pos": 242932}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "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?", "pos": 242965}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "One must be blind not to see it.", "pos": 243127}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And that a cabal is already armed against M. Fouquet?", "pos": 243162}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is well known.", "pos": 243218}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "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?", "pos": 243240}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "True, true. There are follies, and follies, and I do not like those you are committing.", "pos": 243374}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What do you allude to?", "pos": 243580}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "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?", "pos": 243605}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "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.", "pos": 243909}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "How completely Spanish!", "pos": 244287}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I told him so, and he then added this: ‘Whoever advises me to spare expense, I shall look upon as my enemy.’", "pos": 244313}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is positive madness; and that portrait, too!", "pos": 244424}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What portrait?", "pos": 244474}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That of the king, and the surprise as well.", "pos": 244504}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What surprise?", "pos": 244550}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "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.", "pos": 244567}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is merely an act of graceful attention,", "pos": 244792}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Aramis, do you still care for me a very little?", "pos": 244958}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What a question to ask!", "pos": 245008}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Very good. One favor, then. Why did you take some patterns of the king’s costumes at Percerin’s?", "pos": 245034}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Come with me and ask poor Lebrun, who has been working upon them for the last two days and nights.", "pos": 245133}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Aramis, that may be truth for everybody else, but for me--", "pos": 245234}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Upon my word, D’Artagnan, you astonish me.", "pos": 245295}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Be a little considerate. Tell me the exact truth; you would not like anything disagreeable to happen to me, would you?", "pos": 245340}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My dear friend, you are becoming quite incomprehensible. What suspicion can you have possibly got hold of?", "pos": 245461}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do you believe in my instinctive feelings? Formerly you used to have faith in them. Well, then, an instinct tells me that you have some concealed project on foot.", "pos": 245570}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I--a project?", "pos": 245735}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I am convinced of it.", "pos": 245751}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What nonsense!", "pos": 245775}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I am not only sure of it, but I would even swear it.", "pos": 245792}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Indeed, D'Artagnan, you cause me the greatest pain. Is it likely, if I have any project in hand that I ought to keep secret from you, I should tell you about it? If I had one that I could and ought to have revealed, should I not have long ago divulged it?", "pos": 245847}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, Aramis, no. There are certain projects which are never revealed until the favorable opportunity arrives.", "pos": 246105}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In that case, my dear fellow, the only thing now is, that the ‘opportunity’ has not yet arrived.", "pos": 246216}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, friendship, friendship! what an idle word you are! Here is a man who, if I were but to ask it, would suffer himself to be cut in pieces for my sake.", "pos": 246414}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are right,", "pos": 246569}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And this man, who would shed every drop of blood in his veins for me, will not open up before me the least corner in his heart. Friendship, I repeat, is nothing but an unsubstantial shadow--a lure, like everything else in this bright, dazzling world.", "pos": 246606}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is not thus you should speak of our friendship, for ours is not of the same nature as those of which you have been speaking.", "pos": 246859}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Look at us, Aramis; three out of the old ‘four.’ You are deceiving me; I suspect you; and Porthos is fast asleep. An admirable trio of friends, don’t you think so? What an affecting relic of the former dear old times!", "pos": 247037}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I can only tell you one thing, D'Artagnan, and I swear it on the Bible: I love you just as I used to do. If I ever suspect you, it is on account of others, and not on account of either of us. In everything I may do, and should happen to succeed in, you will find your fourth. Will you promise me the same favor?", "pos": 247257}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "If I am not mistaken, Aramis, your words--at the moment you pronounce them--are full of generous feeling.", "pos": 247571}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Such a thing is very possible.", "pos": 247679}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You are conspiring against M. Colbert. If that be all, mordioux, tell me so at once. I have the instrument in my own hand, and will pull out the tooth easily enough.", "pos": 247712}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And supposing that I were conspiring against Colbert, what harm would there be in that?", "pos": 247964}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, no; that would be too trifling a matter for you to take in hand, and it was not on that account you asked Percerin for those patterns of the king’s costumes. Oh! Aramis, we are not enemies, remember--we are brothers. Tell me what you wish to undertake, and, upon the word of a D’Artagnan, if I cannot help you, I will swear to remain neuter.", "pos": 248054}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am undertaking nothing,", "pos": 248402}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Aramis, a voice within me speaks and seems to trickle forth a rill of light within my darkness: it is a voice that has never yet deceived me. It is the king you are conspiring against.", "pos": 248443}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The king?", "pos": 248630}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your face will not convince me; the king, I repeat.", "pos": 248690}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Will you help me?", "pos": 248744}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Aramis, I will do more than help you--I will do more than remain neuter--I will save you.", "pos": 248797}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are mad, D'Artagnan.", "pos": 248889}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I am the wiser of the two, in this matter.", "pos": 248916}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You to suspect me of wishing to assassinate the king!", "pos": 248961}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who spoke of such a thing?", "pos": 249017}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, let us understand one another. I do not see what any one can do to a legitimate king as ours is, if he does not assassinate him. True. You are not in M. Fouquet’s house, but in your own.", "pos": 249068}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "True; but in spite of that, Aramis, grant me, for pity’s sake, one single word of a true friend.", "pos": 249373}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A true friend’s word is ever truth itself. If I think of touching, even with my finger, the son of Anne of Austria, the true king of this realm of France--if I have not the firm intention of prostrating myself before his throne--if in every idea I may entertain to-morrow, here at Vaux, will not be the most glorious day my king ever enjoyed--may Heaven’s lightning blast me where I stand!", "pos": 249472}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Are you going away?", "pos": 250493}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes. Duty summons me. I have to get the watch-word. It seems I am to be lodged in the king’s ante-room. Where does Porthos sleep?", "pos": 250587}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Take him away with you, if you like, for he rumbles through his sleepy nose like a park of artillery.", "pos": 250719}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! he does not stay with you, then?", "pos": 250823}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Not the least in the world. He has a chamber to himself, but I don’t know where.", "pos": 250879}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Very good!", "pos": 250962}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What, D’Artagnan, my dear fellow, is that you? What a lucky chance! Oh, yes--true; I have forgotten; I am at the fete at Vaux.", "pos": 251179}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; and your beautiful dress, too.", "pos": 251308}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, it was very attentive on the part of Monsieur Coquelin de Voliere, was it not?", "pos": 251346}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Hush! You are walking so heavily you will make the flooring give way.", "pos": 251432}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "True, this room is above the dome, I think.", "pos": 251519}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And I did not choose it for a fencing-room, I assure you. The ceiling of the king’s room has all the lightness and calm of wholesome sleep. Do not forget, therefore, that my flooring is merely the covering of his ceiling. Good night, my friends, and in ten minutes I shall be asleep myself. Monseigneur!--monseigneur!", "pos": 251587}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "M. d’Artagnan entertains a great many suspicions, it seems. Ah!--you recognized M. d’Artagnan, then?", "pos": 252225}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He is your captain of musketeers.", "pos": 252382}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "He is very devoted to me,", "pos": 252418}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "As faithful as a dog; but he bites sometimes. If D’Artagnan does not recognize you before the other has disappeared, rely upon D’Artagnan to the end of the world; for in that case, if he has seen nothing, he will keep his fidelity. If he sees, when it is too late, he is a Gascon, and will never admit that he has been deceived.", "pos": 252507}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I thought so. What are we to do, now?", "pos": 252838}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Sit in this folding-chair. I am going to push aside a portion of the flooring; you will look through the opening, which answers to one of the false windows made in the dome of the king’s apartment. Can you see?", "pos": 252878}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Yes. I see the king!", "pos": 253091}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What is he doing?", "pos": 253169}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "He seems to wish some man to sit down close to him.", "pos": 253189}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "M. Fouquet?", "pos": 253243}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "No, no; wait a moment--", "pos": 253257}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Look at the notes and the portraits, my prince.", "pos": 253283}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "The man whom the king wishes to sit down in his presence is M. Colbert.", "pos": 253333}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Colbert sit down in the king’s presence! It is impossible. Look. Yes. Colbert himself. Oh, monseigneur! what can we be going to hear--and what can result from this intimacy?", "pos": 253407}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Nothing good for M. Fouquet, at all events.", "pos": 253669}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Colbert, sit down.", "pos": 253792}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Does he accept?", "pos": 254138}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No, he remains standing. Let us listen, then.", "pos": 254169}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Colbert, you have annoyed me exceedingly to-day.", "pos": 254380}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I know it, sire.", "pos": 254431}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Very good; I like that answer. Yes, you knew it, and there was courage in the doing of it.", "pos": 254450}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I ran the risk of displeasing your majesty, but I risked, also, the concealment of your best interests.", "pos": 254543}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What! you were afraid of something on my account?", "pos": 254649}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I was, sire, even if it were nothing more than an indigestion,", "pos": 254701}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The truth is, that M. Fouquet has given me too good a meal. Tell me, Colbert, where does he get all the money required for this enormous expenditure,--can you tell?", "pos": 255122}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Yes, I do know, sire.", "pos": 255289}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Will you be able to prove it with tolerable certainty?", "pos": 255313}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Easily; and to the utmost farthing.", "pos": 255370}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I know you are very exact.", "pos": 255408}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Exactitude is the principal qualification required in an intendant of finances.", "pos": 255437}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "But all are not so.", "pos": 255519}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I thank you majesty for so flattering a compliment from your own lips.", "pos": 255541}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "M. Fouquet, therefore, is rich--very rich, and I suppose every man knows he is so.", "pos": 255614}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Every one, sire; the living as well as the dead.", "pos": 255699}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What does that mean, Monsieur Colbert?", "pos": 255750}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "The living are witnesses of M. Fouquet’s wealth,--they admire and applaud the result produced; but the dead, wiser and better informed than we are, know how that wealth was obtained--and they rise up in accusation.", "pos": 255791}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "So that M. Fouquet owes his wealth to some cause or other.", "pos": 256008}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "The occupation of an intendant very often favors those who practice it.", "pos": 256069}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You have something to say to me more confidentially, I perceive; do not be afraid, we are quite alone.", "pos": 256143}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I am never afraid of anything under the shelter of my own conscience, and under the protection of your majesty,", "pos": 256248}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "If the dead, therefore, were to speak--", "pos": 256384}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "They do speak sometimes, sire,--read.", "pos": 256426}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "since you are placed here, monseigneur, in order to learn your vocation of a king, listen to a piece of infamy--of a nature truly royal. You are about to be a witness of one of those scenes which the foul fiend alone conceives and executes. Listen attentively,--you will find your advantage in it.", "pos": 256569}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I do not quite understand,", "pos": 257447}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Your majesty has not acquired the utilitarian habit of checking the public accounts. I see that it refers to money that had been given to M. Fouquet.", "pos": 257511}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Thirteen millions. A tolerably good sum.", "pos": 257665}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes. Well, these thirteen millions are wanting to balance the total of the account. That is what I do not very well understand. How was this deficit possible?", "pos": 257708}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Possible I do not say; but there is no doubt about fact that it is really so.", "pos": 257869}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You say that these thirteen millions are found to be wanting in the accounts?", "pos": 257949}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I do not say so, but the registry does.", "pos": 258029}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And this letter of M. Mazarin indicates the employment of that sum and the name of the person with whom it was deposited?", "pos": 258070}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "As your majesty can judge for yourself.", "pos": 258194}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes; and the result is, then, that M. Fouquet has not yet restored the thirteen millions.", "pos": 258236}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "That results from the accounts, certainly, sire.", "pos": 258328}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well, and, consequently--", "pos": 258379}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, sire, in that case, inasmuch as M. Fouquet has not yet given back the thirteen millions, he must have appropriated them to his own purpose; and with those thirteen millions one could incur four times and a little more as much expense, and make four times as great a display, as your majesty was able to do at Fontainebleau, where we only spent three millions altogether, if you remember.", "pos": 258407}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Are you aware what is the usual and natural consequence of all this, Monsieur Colbert?", "pos": 259516}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "No, sire, I do not know.", "pos": 259653}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well, then, the fact of the appropriation of the thirteen millions, if it can be proved--", "pos": 259680}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "But it is so already.", "pos": 259772}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I mean if it were to be declared and certified, M. Colbert.", "pos": 259796}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I think it will be to-morrow, if your majesty--", "pos": 259858}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Were we not under M. Fouquet’s roof, you were going to say, perhaps,", "pos": 259908}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "The king is in his own palace wherever he may be--especially in houses which the royal money has constructed.", "pos": 260041}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I think, that the architect who planned this dome ought, anticipating the use it could be put to at a future opportunity, so to have contrived that it might be made to fall upon the heads of scoundrels such as M. Colbert.", "pos": 260153}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I think so too, but M. Colbert is so very near the king at this moment.", "pos": 260418}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "That is true, and that would open the succession.", "pos": 260510}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Of which your younger brother would reap all the advantage, monseigneur. But stay, let us keep quiet, and go on listening.", "pos": 260562}
{"speaker": "young prince", "text": "We shall not have long to listen,", "pos": 260687}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Why not, monseigneur?", "pos": 260746}
{"speaker": "young prince", "text": "Because, if I were king, I should make no further reply.", "pos": 260770}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And what would you do?", "pos": 260829}
{"speaker": "young prince", "text": "I should wait until to-morrow morning to give myself time for reflection.", "pos": 260854}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "M. Colbert, I perceive it is getting very late, and I shall now retire to bed. By to-morrow morning I shall have made up my mind.", "pos": 261070}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Very good, sire,", "pos": 261202}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "My attendants!", "pos": 261395}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A moment longer, what has just now taken place is only a detail, and to-morrow we shall have no occasion to think anything more about it; but the ceremony of the king’s retiring to rest, the etiquette observed in addressing the king, that indeed is of the greatest importance. Learn, sire, and study well how you ought to go to bed of a night. Look! look!", "pos": 261516}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And now, gentlemen, to the park.", "pos": 264269}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Mademoiselle, should I be guilty of an indiscretion if I were to inquire if you were indisposed? for you seem to breathe as if you were oppressed by some secret cause of uneasiness, and your eyes are filled with tears.", "pos": 266169}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Oh! sire, if I be indeed so, and if my eyes are indeed full of tears, I am sorrowful only at the sadness which seems to oppress your majesty.", "pos": 266408}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "My sadness? You are mistaken, mademoiselle; no, it is not sadness I experience.", "pos": 266552}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "What is it, then, sire?", "pos": 266634}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Humiliation.", "pos": 266660}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Humiliation? oh! sire, what a word for you to use!", "pos": 266675}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I mean, mademoiselle, that wherever I may happen to be, no one else ought to be the master. Well, then, look round you on every side, and judge whether I am not eclipsed--I, the king of France--before the monarch of these wide domains. Oh! when I think that this king--", "pos": 266728}
{"speaker": "Louise", "text": "Well, sire?", "pos": 267047}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "--That this king is a faithless, unworthy servant, who grows proud and self-sufficient upon the strength of property that belongs to me, and which he has stolen. And therefore I am about to change this impudent minister’s fete into sorrow and mourning, of which the nymph of Vaux, as the poets say, shall not soon lose the remembrance.", "pos": 267085}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Oh! your majesty--", "pos": 267423}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well, mademoiselle, are you about to take M. Fouquet’s part?", "pos": 267444}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "No, sire; I will only ask whether you are well informed. Your majesty has more than once learned the value of accusations made at court.", "pos": 267532}
{"speaker": "young prince", "text": "Speak, Monsieur Colbert, for I almost believe that Mademoiselle de la Vallière has need of your assistance before she can put any faith in the king’s word. Tell mademoiselle what M. Fouquet has done; and you, mademoiselle, will perhaps have the kindness to listen. It will not be long.", "pos": 267719}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Speak, monsieur, speak, since the king wishes me to listen to you. Tell me, what is the crime with which M. Fouquet is charged?", "pos": 268526}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Oh! not very heinous, mademoiselle, a mere abuse of confidence.", "pos": 268705}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Speak, speak, Colbert; and when you have related it, leave us, and go and inform M. d’Artagnan that I have certain orders to give him.", "pos": 268786}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "M. d’Artagnan, sire! but why send for M. d’Artagnan? I entreat you to tell me.", "pos": 268923}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Pardieu! in order to arrest this haughty, arrogant Titan who, true to his menace, threatens to scale my heaven.", "pos": 269029}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Arrest M. Fouquet, do you say?", "pos": 269143}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Ah! does that surprise you?", "pos": 269176}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "In his own house!", "pos": 269206}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Why not? If he be guilty, he is as guilty in his own house as anywhere else.", "pos": 269226}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "M. Fouquet, who at this moment is ruining himself for his sovereign.", "pos": 269305}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In plain truth, mademoiselle, it seems as if you were defending this traitor.", "pos": 269376}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Sire, it is not M. Fouquet I am defending; it is yourself.", "pos": 269552}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Me! you are defending me?", "pos": 269633}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Sire, you would dishonor yourself if you were to give such an order.", "pos": 269661}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Dishonor myself! In plain truth, mademoiselle, you show a strange persistence in what you say.", "pos": 269732}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "If I do, sire, my only motive is that of serving your majesty, for that I would risk, I would sacrifice my very life, without the least reserve. Monsieur, when the king acts well, whether, in doing so, he does either myself or those who belong to me an injury, I have nothing to say; but were the king to confer a benefit either upon me or mine, and if he acted badly, I should tell him so.", "pos": 269875}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "But it appears to me, mademoiselle, that I too love the king.", "pos": 270485}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Yes, monseigneur, we both love him, but each in a different manner. I love him so deeply, that the whole world is aware of it; so purely, that the king himself does not doubt my affection. He is my king and my master; I am the least of all his servants. But whoso touches his honor assails my life. Therefore, I repeat, that they dishonor the king who advise him to arrest M. Fouquet under his own roof.", "pos": 270576}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Mademoiselle, I have only one word to say.", "pos": 271205}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Do not say it, then, monsieur; for I would not listen to it. Besides, what could you have to tell me? That M. Fouquet has been guilty of certain crimes? I believe he has, because the king has said so; and, from the moment the king said, ‘I think so,’ I have no occasion for other lips to say, ‘I affirm it.’ But, were M. Fouquet the vilest of men, I should say aloud, ‘M. Fouquet’s person is sacred to the king because he is the guest of M. Fouquet. Were his house a den of thieves, were Vaux a cave of coiners or robbers, his home is sacred, his palace is inviolable, since his wife is living in it; and that is an asylum which even executioners would not dare to violate.’", "pos": 271250}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Mademoiselle, why do you decide against me? Do you know what this wretched fellow will do, if I give him time to breathe again?", "pos": 272281}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Is he not a prey which will always be within your grasp?", "pos": 272430}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Should he escape, and take to flight?", "pos": 272489}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Well, monsieur, it will always remain on record, to the king’s eternal honor, that he allowed M. Fouquet to flee; and the more guilty he may have been, the greater will the king’s honor and glory appear, compared with such unnecessary misery and shame.", "pos": 272548}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I am lost Oh! no, no, aha, old fox!--not yet,", "pos": 272860}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Leave me, Louise, for some one is coming.", "pos": 273664}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Mademoiselle, mademoiselle, some one is coming. Ah! Mademoiselle de la Vallière has let something fall.", "pos": 273719}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What is it?", "pos": 274053}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "A paper--a letter--something white; look there, sire.", "pos": 274086}
{"speaker": "superintendent", "text": "What is the matter, sire?", "pos": 277248}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Nothing.", "pos": 277403}
{"speaker": "superintendent", "text": "I am afraid your majesty is suffering?", "pos": 277414}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I am suffering, and have already told you so, monsieur; but it is nothing.", "pos": 277455}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "M. Fouquet, you shall hear from me. Be good enough to desire M. d’Artagnan to come here.", "pos": 278853}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Take care. Take care that no one enters here.", "pos": 279843}
{"speaker": "captain", "text": "Very good, sire. Is there something fresh the matter, your majesty?", "pos": 279897}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "How many men have you here?", "pos": 280164}
{"speaker": "captain", "text": "What for, sire?", "pos": 280278}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "How many men have you, I say?", "pos": 280296}
{"speaker": "captain", "text": "I have the musketeers.", "pos": 280387}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well; and what others?", "pos": 280412}
{"speaker": "captain", "text": "Twenty guards and thirteen Swiss.", "pos": 280437}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "How many men will be required to--", "pos": 280473}
{"speaker": "musketeer", "text": "To do what, sire?", "pos": 280510}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "To arrest M. Fouquet.", "pos": 280583}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "To arrest M. Fouquet!", "pos": 280636}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Are you going to tell me that it is impossible?", "pos": 280676}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I never say that anything is impossible,", "pos": 280784}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Very well; do it, then.", "pos": 280869}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your majesty will forgive me, but, in order to effect this arrest, I should like written directions.", "pos": 281080}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "For what purpose--and since when has the king’s word been insufficient for you?", "pos": 281183}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Because the word of a king, when it springs from a feeling of anger, may possibly change when the feeling changes.", "pos": 281265}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "A truce to set phrases, monsieur; you have another thought besides that?", "pos": 281382}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, I, at least, have certain thoughts and ideas, which, unfortunately, others have not,", "pos": 281457}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What is your thought?", "pos": 281786}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "This, sire, you cause a man to be arrested when you are still under his roof; and passion is alone the cause of that. When your anger shall have passed, you will regret what you have done; and then I wish to be in a position to show you your signature. If that, however, should fail to be a reparation, it will at least show us that the king was wrong to lose his temper.", "pos": 281824}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Wrong to lose his temper! Did not my father, my grandfathers, too, before me, lose their temper at times, in Heaven’s name?", "pos": 282220}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The king your father and the king your grandfather never lost their temper except when under the protection of their own palace.", "pos": 282393}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The king is master wherever he may be.", "pos": 282524}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is a flattering, complimentary phrase which cannot proceed from any one but M. Colbert; but it happens not to be the truth. The king is at home in every man’s house when he has driven its owner out of it. Can it be possible? here is a man who is positively ruining himself in order to please you, and you wish to have him arrested! Mordioux! Sire, if my name was Fouquet, and people treated me in that manner, I would swallow at a single gulp all sorts of fireworks and other things, and I would set fire to them, and send myself and everybody else in blown-up atoms to the sky. But it is all the same; it is your wish, and it shall be done.", "pos": 282565}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Go, but have you men enough?", "pos": 283276}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do you suppose I am going to take a whole host to help me? Arrest M. Fouquet! why, that is so easy that a very child might do it! It is like drinking a glass of wormwood; one makes an ugly face, and that is all.", "pos": 283324}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "If he defends himself?", "pos": 283538}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "He! it is not at all likely. Defend himself when such extreme harshness as you are going to practice makes the man a very martyr! Nay, I am sure that if he has a million of francs left, which I very much doubt, he would be willing enough to give it in order to have such a termination as this. But what does that matter? it shall be done at once.", "pos": 283563}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Stay, do not make his arrest a public affair.", "pos": 283912}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That will be more difficult.", "pos": 283977}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Why so?", "pos": 284008}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Because nothing is easier than to go up to M. Fouquet in the midst of a thousand enthusiastic guests who surround him, and say, ‘In the king’s name, I arrest you.’ But to go up to him, to turn him first one way and then another, to drive him up into one of the corners of the chess-board, in such a way that he cannot escape; to take him away from his guests, and keep him a prisoner for you, without one of them, alas! having heard anything about it; that, indeed, is a genuine difficulty, the greatest of all, in truth; and I hardly see how it is to be done.", "pos": 284018}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You had better say it is impossible, and you will have finished much sooner. Heaven help me, but I seem to be surrounded by people who prevent me doing what I wish.", "pos": 284581}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I do not prevent your doing anything. Have you indeed decided?", "pos": 284748}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Take care of M. Fouquet, until I shall have made up my mind by to-morrow morning.", "pos": 284813}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That shall be done, sire.", "pos": 284897}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And return, when I rise in the morning, for further orders; and now leave me to myself.", "pos": 284925}
{"speaker": "musketeer", "text": "You do not even want M. Colbert, then?", "pos": 285015}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "No, no one, no one here! Leave me. Miserable wretch that he is! not only does he squander my finances, but with his ill-gotten plunder he corrupts secretaries, friends, generals, artists, and all, and tries to rob me of the one to whom I am most attached. This is the reason that perfidious girl so boldly took his part! Gratitude! and who can tell whether it was not a stronger feeling--love itself? A satyr! A man who has never found opposition or resistance in any one, who lavishes his gold and jewels in every direction, and who retains his staff of painters in order to take the portraits of his mistresses in the costume of goddesses. He pollutes and profanes everything that belongs to me! He destroys everything that is mine. He will be my death at last, I know. That man is too much for me; he is my mortal enemy, but he shall forthwith fall! I hate him--I hate him--I hate him! To-morrow! to-morrow! oh, happy day! when the sun rises, no other rival shall that brilliant king of space possess but me. That man shall fall so low that when people look at the abject ruin my anger shall have wrought, they will be forced to confess at last and at least that I am indeed greater than he.", "pos": 285253}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I am under the influence of some atrocious dream. It is time to awaken from it. Come! let me wake. It is nothing but a dream, after all. Come, come! wake up,", "pos": 291945}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What is this, monsieur, and what is the meaning of this jest?", "pos": 293172}
{"speaker": "masked figure", "text": "It is no jest,", "pos": 293236}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Do you belong to M. Fouquet?", "pos": 293318}
{"speaker": "phantom", "text": "It matters very little to whom we belong, we are your masters now, that is sufficient.", "pos": 293405}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "If this is a comedy, you will tell M. Fouquet that I find it unseemly and improper, and that I command it should cease. Well! you do not answer!", "pos": 293592}
{"speaker": "giant", "text": "We do not answer you, my good monsieur, because there is nothing to say.", "pos": 293964}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "At least, tell me what you want,", "pos": 294080}
{"speaker": "man who held the lamp", "text": "You will know by and by,", "pos": 294176}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In the meantime tell me where I am.", "pos": 294238}
{"speaker": "man who held the lamp", "text": "Look.", "pos": 294276}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Oh--oh!--a dungeon,", "pos": 294501}
{"speaker": "man who held the lamp", "text": "No, a subterranean passage. Which leads--? Will you be good enough to follow us?", "pos": 294539}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I shall not stir from hence!", "pos": 294626}
{"speaker": "taller of the two", "text": "If you are obstinate, my dear young friend. I will lift you up in my arms, and roll you up in your own cloak, and if you should happen to be stifled, why--so much the worse for you.", "pos": 294673}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It seems I have fallen into the hands of a couple of assassins. Move on, then.", "pos": 295342}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Another blow, what do you intend to do with the king of France?", "pos": 296379}
{"speaker": "the man with the lamp", "text": "Try to forget that word,", "pos": 296540}
{"speaker": "the giant", "text": "You deserve to be broken on the wheel for the words that you have just made use of, but the king is too kind-hearted.", "pos": 296683}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "But tell me, at least, where we are going,", "pos": 297071}
{"speaker": "the man with the lamp", "text": "Come. Get in,", "pos": 297131}
{"speaker": "the driver", "text": "By the king’s order,", "pos": 298331}
{"speaker": "the coachman", "text": "Go and wake the governor,", "pos": 298605}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What is the matter now? and whom have you brought me there?", "pos": 298946}
{"speaker": "the man who alighted from the carriage", "text": "And fire at once if he speaks!", "pos": 299271}
{"speaker": "his companion", "text": "Very good,", "pos": 299356}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Monsieur d’Herblay!", "pos": 299579}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Hush! Let us go into your room.", "pos": 299618}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Good heavens! what brings you here at this hour?", "pos": 299667}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A mistake, my dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux. It appears that you were quite right the other day.", "pos": 299718}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What about?", "pos": 299842}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "About the order of release, my dear friend.", "pos": 299879}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, for Marchiali.", "pos": 300147}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Very good! we both thought that it was for Marchiali?", "pos": 300169}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Certainly; you will recollect, however, that I would not credit it, but that you compelled me to believe it.", "pos": 300225}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! Baisemeaux, my good fellow, what a word to make use of!--strongly recommended, that was all.", "pos": 300336}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Strongly recommended, yes; strongly recommended to give him up to you; and that you carried him off with you in your carriage.", "pos": 300435}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, my dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux, it was a mistake; it was discovered at the ministry, so that I now bring you an order from the king to set at liberty Seldon,--that poor Seldon fellow, you know.", "pos": 300564}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Seldon! are you sure this time?", "pos": 300766}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, read it yourself,", "pos": 300800}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Why, this order is the very same that has already passed through my hands.", "pos": 300863}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Indeed?", "pos": 300959}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "It is the very one I assured you I saw the other evening. Parbleu! I recognize it by the blot of ink.", "pos": 300969}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I do not know whether it is that; but all I know is, that I bring it for you.", "pos": 301073}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "But then, what about the other?", "pos": 301153}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What other?", "pos": 301187}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Marchiali.", "pos": 301201}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I have got him here with me.", "pos": 301214}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "But that is not enough for me. I require a new order to take him back again.", "pos": 301245}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Don’t talk such nonsense, my dear Baisemeaux; you talk like a child! Where is the order you received respecting Marchiali?", "pos": 301324}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I am a lost man!", "pos": 301900}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Far from it, my good fellow, since I have brought Marchiali back to you, and all accordingly is just the same as if he had never left.", "pos": 301919}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 302056}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Plain enough, you see; and you will go and shut him up immediately.", "pos": 302112}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I should think so, indeed.", "pos": 302182}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And you will hand over this Seldon to me, whose liberation is authorized by this order. Do you understand?", "pos": 302211}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I--I--", "pos": 302320}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You do understand, I see. Very good.", "pos": 302329}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "But why, at all events, after having taken Marchiali away from me, do you bring him back again?", "pos": 302422}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "For a friend such as you are, for so devoted a servant, I have no secrets; you know the resemblance between that unfortunate fellow, and--", "pos": 302601}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "And the king?--yes!", "pos": 302843}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Very good; the first use that Marchiali made of his liberty was to persist--Can you guess what?", "pos": 302865}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "How is it likely I should guess?", "pos": 302963}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To persist in saying that he was king of France; to dress himself up in clothes like those of the king; and then pretend to assume that he was the king himself.", "pos": 302998}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Gracious heavens!", "pos": 303161}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is the reason why I have brought him back again, my dear friend. He is mad and lets every one see how mad he is.", "pos": 303181}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What is to be done, then?", "pos": 303301}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is very simple; let no one hold any communication with him. You understand that when his peculiar style of madness came to the king’s ears, the king, who had pitied his terrible affliction, and saw that all his kindness had been repaid by black ingratitude, became perfectly furious; so that, now--and remember this very distinctly, dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux, for it concerns you most closely--so that there is now, I repeat, sentence of death pronounced against all those who may allow him to communicate with any one else but me or the king himself. You understand, Baisemeaux, sentence of death!", "pos": 303329}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "You need not ask me whether I understand.", "pos": 303937}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And now, let us go down, and conduct this poor devil back to his dungeon again, unless you prefer he should come up here.", "pos": 303981}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What would be the good of that?", "pos": 304105}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It would be better, perhaps, to enter his name in the prison-book at once!", "pos": 304139}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Of course, certainly; not a doubt of it.", "pos": 304216}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In that case, have him up.", "pos": 304259}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Ah! is that you, miserable wretch? Very good, very good.", "pos": 304678}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "It is quite true, that he bears a striking resemblance to the king; but less so than you said.", "pos": 305316}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "So that, you would not have been deceived by the substitution of the one for the other?", "pos": 305439}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What a question!", "pos": 305544}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are a most valuable fellow, Baisemeaux, and now, set Seldon free.", "pos": 305563}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Oh, yes. I was going to forget that. I will go and give orders at once.", "pos": 305650}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Bah! to-morrow will be time enough.", "pos": 305724}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "To-morrow!--oh, no. This very minute.", "pos": 305762}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well; go off to your affairs, I will go away to mine. But it is quite understood, is it not?", "pos": 305802}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "What ‘is quite understood’?", "pos": 305897}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That no one is to enter the prisoner’s cell, expect with an order from the king; an order which I will myself bring.", "pos": 305927}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Quite so. Adieu, monseigneur.", "pos": 306046}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Now, Porthos, my good fellow, back again to Vaux, and as fast as possible. A man is light and easy enough, when he has faithfully served his king; and, in serving him, saved his country. The horses will be as light as if our tissues were constructed of the wind of heaven. So let us be off.", "pos": 306112}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Is this what is termed eternity--hell? How can I have died? The bed might have been let down by some artificial means? But no! I do not remember to have felt a bruise, nor any shock either. Would they not rather have poisoned me at my meals, or with the fumes of wax, as they did my ancestress, Jeanne d’Albret? I have seen my father lying dead upon his funeral couch, in his regal robes. That pale face, so calm and worn; those hands, once so skillful, lying nerveless by his side; those limbs stiffened by the icy grasp of death; nothing there betokened a sleep that was disturbed by dreams. And yet, how numerous were the dreams which Heaven might have sent that royal corpse--him whom so many others had preceded, hurried away by him into eternal death! No, that king was still the king: he was enthroned still upon that funeral couch, as upon a velvet armchair; he had not abdicated one title of his majesty. God, who had not punished him, cannot, will not punish me, who have done nothing.", "pos": 308460}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "A prisoner! I--I, a prisoner! There are no bells in the Bastile, and it is in the Bastile I am imprisoned. In what way can I have been made a prisoner? It must have been owing to a conspiracy of M. Fouquet. I have been drawn to Vaux, as to a snare. M. Fouquet cannot be acting alone in this affair. His agent--That voice that I but just now heard was M. d’Herblay’s; I recognized it. Colbert was right, then. But what is Fouquet’s object? To reign in my place and stead?--Impossible. Yet who knows! Perhaps my brother, the Duc d’Orleans, is doing that which my uncle wished to do during the whole of his life against my father. But the queen?--My mother, too? And La Vallière? Oh! La Vallière, she will have been abandoned to Madame. Dear, dear girl! Yes, it is--it must be so. They have shut her up as they have me. We are separated forever! There is a governor in this place. I will speak to him, I will summon him to me.", "pos": 310619}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Are you mad?", "pos": 313933}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What is the matter with you this morning?", "pos": 313975}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "This morning! Monsieur, are you the governor of the Bastile?", "pos": 314019}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "My good fellow, your head is out of sorts,", "pos": 314131}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "but that is no reason why you should make such a terrible disturbance. Be quiet; mordioux!", "pos": 314195}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Are you the governor?", "pos": 314288}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "A moment will come when the food which is given to the prisoners will be brought to me. I shall then see some one, I shall speak to him, and get an answer.", "pos": 315470}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Heaven is right. Heaven acts wisely. It would be cowardly to pray to Heaven for that which I have so often refused my own fellow-creatures.", "pos": 316546}
{"speaker": "Jailer", "text": "Ah! you have broken your chair. I said you had done so! Why, you have gone quite mad.", "pos": 317449}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur, be careful what you say; it will be a very serious affair for you.", "pos": 317556}
{"speaker": "Jailer", "text": "What do you say?", "pos": 317732}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Desire the governor to come to me,", "pos": 317760}
{"speaker": "Turnkey", "text": "Come, my boy, you have always been very quiet and reasonable, but you are getting vicious, it seems, and I wish you to know it in time. You have broken your chair, and made a great disturbance; that is an offense punishable by imprisonment in one of the lower dungeons. Promise me not to begin over again, and I will not say a word about it to the governor.", "pos": 317850}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I wish to see the governor,", "pos": 318230}
{"speaker": "Turnkey", "text": "He will send you off to one of the dungeons, I tell you; so take care.", "pos": 318308}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I insist upon it, do you hear?", "pos": 318381}
{"speaker": "Jailer", "text": "Ah! ah! your eyes are becoming wild again. Very good! I shall take away your knife.", "pos": 318414}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "And then, really, an ordinary prisoner is already unhappy enough in being a prisoner; he suffers quite enough, indeed, to induce one to hope, charitably enough, that his death may not be far distant. With still greater reason, accordingly, when the prisoner has gone mad, and might bite and make a terrible disturbance in the Bastile; why, in such a case, it is not simply an act of mere charity to wish him dead; it would be almost a good and even commendable action, quietly to have him put out of his misery.", "pos": 320218}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well. I seem now to be mixed up historically with the destinies of the king and of the minister; it will be written, that M. d’Artagnan, a younger son of a Gascon family, placed his hand on the shoulder of M. Nicolas Fouquet, the surintendant of the finances of France. My descendants, if I have any, will flatter themselves with the distinction which this arrest will confer, just as the members of the De Luynes family have done with regard to the estates of the poor Marechal d’Ancre. But the thing is, how best to execute the king’s directions in a proper manner. Any man would know how to say to M. Fouquet, ‘Your sword, monsieur.’ But it is not every one who would be able to take care of M. Fouquet without others knowing anything about it. How am I to manage, then, so that M. le surintendant pass from the height of favor to the direst disgrace; that Vaux be turned into a dungeon for him; that after having been steeped to his lips, as it were, in all the perfumes and incense of Ahasuerus, he is transferred to the gallows of Haman; in other words, of Enguerrand de Marigny? It almost seems, that if I am not a poor, mean, miserable fellow, I should let M. Fouquet know the opinion the king has about him. Yet, if I betray my master’s secret, I shall be a false-hearted, treacherous knave, a traitor, too, a crime provided for and punishable by military laws--so much so, indeed, that twenty times, in former days when wars were rife, I have seen many a miserable fellow strung up to a tree for doing, in but a small degree, what my scruples counsel me to undertake upon a great scale now. No, I think that a man of true readiness of wit ought to get out of this difficulty with more skill than that. And now, let us admit that I do possess a little readiness of invention; it is not at all certain, though, for, after having for forty years absorbed so large a quantity, I shall be lucky if there were to be a pistole’s-worth left. What can be the reason of M. Fouquet’s disgrace? There seem to be three good ones: the first, because M. Colbert doesn’t like him; the second, because he wished to fall in love with Mademoiselle de la Vallière; and lastly, because the king likes M. Colbert and loves Mademoiselle de la Vallière. Oh! he is lost! But shall I put my foot on his neck, I, of all men, when he is falling a prey to the intrigues of a pack of women and clerks? For shame! If he be dangerous, I will lay him low enough; if, however, he be only persecuted, I will look on. I have come to such a decisive determination, that neither king nor living man shall change my mind. If Athos were here, he would do as I have done. Therefore, instead of going, in cold blood, up to M. Fouquet, and arresting him off-hand and shutting him up altogether, I will try and conduct myself like a man who understands what good manners are. People will talk about it, of course; but they shall talk well of it, I am determined.", "pos": 321638}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What! M. d’Artagnan?", "pos": 327202}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "At your service,", "pos": 327309}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Come in, my dear M. d’Artagnan.", "pos": 327351}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Thank you.", "pos": 327385}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Have you come to criticise the fete? You are ingenious enough in your criticisms, I know.", "pos": 327398}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "By no means.", "pos": 327490}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Are not your men looked after properly?", "pos": 327505}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In every way.", "pos": 327547}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You are not comfortably lodged, perhaps?", "pos": 327563}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Nothing could be better.", "pos": 327606}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "In that case, I have to thank you for being so amiably disposed, and I must not fail to express my obligations to you for all your flattering kindness.", "pos": 327633}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Are you going to bed already?", "pos": 327964}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes; have you anything to say to me?", "pos": 328027}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Nothing, monsieur, nothing at all. You sleep in this room, then?", "pos": 328066}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes; as you see.", "pos": 328133}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You have given a most charming fete to the king.", "pos": 328152}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Do you think so?", "pos": 328203}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! beautiful!", "pos": 328222}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Is the king pleased?", "pos": 328239}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Enchanted.", "pos": 328262}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Did he desire you to say as much to me?", "pos": 328275}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "He would not choose so unworthy a messenger, monseigneur.", "pos": 328317}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You do not do yourself justice, Monsieur d’Artagnan.", "pos": 328377}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Is that your bed, there?", "pos": 328432}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes; but why do you ask? Are you not satisfied with your own?", "pos": 328459}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My I speak frankly to you?", "pos": 328523}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Most assuredly.", "pos": 328552}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, then, I am not.", "pos": 328570}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Will you take my room, Monsieur d’Artagnan?", "pos": 328629}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What! deprive you of it, monseigneur? never!", "pos": 328675}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What am I to do, then?", "pos": 328722}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Allow me to share yours with you.", "pos": 328747}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ah! ah! you have just left the king.", "pos": 328824}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I have, monseigneur.", "pos": 328874}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And the king wishes you to pass the night in my room?", "pos": 328897}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monseigneur--", "pos": 328953}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Very well, Monsieur d’Artagnan, very well. You are the master here.", "pos": 328969}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I assure you, monseigneur, that I do not wish to abuse--", "pos": 329039}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Leave us. You have something to say to me?", "pos": 329137}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I?", "pos": 329230}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "A man of your superior intelligence cannot have come to talk with a man like myself, at such an hour as the present, without grave motives.", "pos": 329235}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do not interrogate me.", "pos": 329377}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "On the contrary. What do you want with me?", "pos": 329402}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Nothing more than the pleasure of your society.", "pos": 329447}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Come into the garden, then, or into the park.", "pos": 329497}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, no.", "pos": 329581}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Why?", "pos": 329625}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The fresh air--", "pos": 329632}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Come, admit at once that you arrest me,", "pos": 329650}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Never!", "pos": 329732}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You intend to look after me, then?", "pos": 329758}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, monseigneur, I do, upon my honor.", "pos": 329795}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Upon your honor--ah! that is quite another thing! So I am to be arrested in my own house.", "pos": 329836}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do not say such a thing.", "pos": 329928}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "On the contrary, I will proclaim it aloud. If you do so, I shall be compelled to request you to be silent. Very good! Violence towards me, and in my own house, too. We do not seem to understand one another at all. Stay a moment; there is a chess-board there; we will have a game, if you have no objections. Monsieur d’Artagnan, I am in disgrace, then?", "pos": 329955}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Not at all; but--", "pos": 330316}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I am prohibited, I suppose, from withdrawing from your sight.", "pos": 330336}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I do not understand a word you are saying, monseigneur; and if you wish me to withdraw, tell me so.", "pos": 330400}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "My dear Monsieur d’Artagnan, your mode of action is enough to drive me mad; I was almost sinking for want of sleep, but you have completely awakened me.", "pos": 330502}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I shall never forgive myself, I am sure; and if you wish to reconcile me with myself, why, go to sleep in your bed in my presence; and I shall be delighted.", "pos": 330657}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I am under surveillance, I see.", "pos": 330816}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I will leave the room if you say any such thing.", "pos": 330850}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You are beyond my comprehension.", "pos": 330901}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Good night, monseigneur,", "pos": 330936}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will not lie down. Seriously, and since you refuse to treat me as a man, and since you finesse with me, I will try and set you at bay, as a hunter does a wild boar.", "pos": 331032}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Bah!", "pos": 331212}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I shall order my horses, and set off for Paris,", "pos": 331258}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "If that be the case, monseigneur, it is very difficult.", "pos": 331362}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You will arrest me, then?", "pos": 331420}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, but I shall go along with you.", "pos": 331448}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That is quite sufficient, Monsieur d’Artagnan. It was not for nothing you acquired your reputation as a man of intelligence and resource; but with me all this is quite superfluous. Let us come to the point. Do me a service. Why do you arrest me? What have I done?", "pos": 331485}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! I know nothing about what you may have done; but I do not arrest you--this evening, at least!", "pos": 331779}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "This evening! but to-morrow?", "pos": 331879}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is not to-morrow just yet, monseigneur. Who can ever answer for the morrow?", "pos": 331940}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Quick, quick, captain! let me speak to M. d’Herblay.", "pos": 332021}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Alas! that is quite impossible, monseigneur. I have strict orders to see that you hold no communication with any one.", "pos": 332076}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "With M. d’Herblay, captain--with your friend!", "pos": 332196}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monseigneur, is M. d’Herblay the only person with whom you ought to be prevented holding any communication?", "pos": 332244}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You are right, monsieur; you have taught me a lesson I ought not to have evoked. A fallen man cannot assert his right to anything, even from those whose fortunes he may have made; for a still stronger reason, he cannot claim anything from those to whom he may never have had the happiness of doing a service.", "pos": 332421}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monseigneur!", "pos": 332732}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It is perfectly true, Monsieur d’Artagnan; you have always acted in the most admirable manner towards me--in such a manner, indeed, as most becomes the man who is destined to arrest me. You, at least, have never asked me anything.", "pos": 332747}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, will you--I ask it as a favor--pledge me your word as a man of honor that you will not leave this room?", "pos": 332980}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What is the use of it, dear Monsieur d’Artagnan, since you keep watch and ward over me? Do you suppose I should contend against the most valiant sword in the kingdom?", "pos": 333167}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is not that, at all, monseigneur; but that I am going to look for M. d’Herblay, and, consequently, to leave you alone.", "pos": 333336}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "To look for M. d’Herblay! to leave me alone!", "pos": 333507}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Which is M. d’Herblay’s room? The blue room is it not?", "pos": 333597}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, my friend, yes.", "pos": 333654}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your friend! thank you for that word, monseigneur; you confer it upon me to-day, at least, if you have never done so before.", "pos": 333677}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ah! you have saved me.", "pos": 333804}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It will take a good ten minutes to go from hence to the blue room, and to return?", "pos": 333829}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Nearly so.", "pos": 333930}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And then to wake Aramis, who sleeps very soundly, when he is asleep, I put that down at another five minutes; making a total of fifteen minutes’ absence. And now, monseigneur, give me your word that you will not in any way attempt to make your escape, and that when I return I shall find you here again.", "pos": 333943}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I give it, monsieur,", "pos": 334249}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Well! and M. d’Herblay?", "pos": 336163}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Upon my word, monseigneur. M. d’Herblay must be desperately fond of walking out at night, and composing verses by moonlight in the park of Vaux, with some of your poets, in all probability, for he is not in his own room.", "pos": 336226}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What! not in his own room?", "pos": 336471}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Or, indeed, if he is in his own room, he has very good reasons for not answering.", "pos": 336708}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But surely you did not call him in such a manner that he could have heard you?", "pos": 336816}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You can hardly suppose, monseigneur, that having already exceeded my orders, which forbade me leaving you a single moment--you can hardly suppose, I say, that I should have been mad enough to rouse the whole house and allow myself to be seen in the corridor of the bishop of Vannes, in order that M. Colbert might state with positive certainty that I gave you time to burn your papers.", "pos": 336897}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "My papers?", "pos": 337285}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Of course; at least that is what I should have done in your place. When any one opens a door for me I always avail myself of it.", "pos": 337298}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, yes, and I thank you, for I have availed myself of it.", "pos": 337429}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And you have done perfectly right. Every man has his own peculiar secrets with which others have nothing to do. But let us return to Aramis, monseigneur.", "pos": 337491}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Well, then, I tell you, you could not have called loud enough, or Aramis would have heard you.", "pos": 337647}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "However softly any one may call Aramis, monseigneur, Aramis always hears when he has an interest in hearing. I repeat what I said before--Aramis was not in his own room, or Aramis had certain reasons for not recognizing my voice, of which I am ignorant, and of which you may be even ignorant yourself, notwithstanding your liege-man is His Greatness the Lord Bishop of Vannes. I have seen a good many men arrested in my life. I have seen both M. de Cinq-Mars and M. de Chalais arrested, though I was very young then. I have seen M. de Conde arrested with the princes; I have seen M. de Retz arrested; I have seen M. Broussel arrested. Stay a moment, monseigneur, it is disagreeable to have to say, but the very one of all those whom you most resemble at this moment was that poor fellow Broussel. You were very near doing as he did, putting your dinner napkin in your portfolio, and wiping your mouth with your papers. Mordioux! Monseigneur Fouquet, a man like you ought not to be dejected in this manner. Suppose your friends saw you?", "pos": 337744}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, you do not understand me; it is precisely because my friends are not looking on, that I am as you see me now. I do not live, exist even, isolated from others; I am nothing when left to myself. Understand that throughout my whole life I have passed every moment of my time in making friends, whom I hoped to render my stay and support. In times of prosperity, all these cheerful, happy voices--rendered so through and by my means--formed in my honor a concert of praise and kindly actions. In the least disfavor, these humbler voices accompanied in harmonious accents the murmur of my own heart. Isolation I have never yet known. Poverty (a phantom I have sometimes beheld, clad in rags, awaiting me at the end of my journey through life)--poverty has been the specter with which many of my own friends have trifled for years past, which they poetize and caress, and which has attracted me towards them. Poverty! I accept it, acknowledge it, receive it, as a disinherited sister; for poverty is neither solitude, nor exile, nor imprisonment. Is it likely I shall ever be poor, with such friends as Pelisson, as La Fontaine, as Moliere? with such a mistress as--Oh! if you knew how utterly lonely and desolate I feel at this moment, and how you, who separate me from all I love, seem to resemble the image of solitude, of annihilation--death itself.", "pos": 339116}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But I have already told you, Monsieur Fouquet, that you are woefully exaggerating. The king likes you.", "pos": 340549}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "No, no,", "pos": 340709}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "M. Colbert hates you.", "pos": 340751}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "M. Colbert! What does that matter to me?", "pos": 340775}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "He will ruin you.", "pos": 340818}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ah! I defy him to do that, for I am ruined already. What can be done with such wealth of substance as surrounds us, when a man can no longer cultivate his taste for the magnificent? Do you know what good the greater part of the wealth and the possessions which we rich enjoy, confer upon us? merely to disgust us, by their very splendor even, with everything which does not equal it! Vaux! you will say, and the wonders of Vaux! What of it? What boot these wonders? If I am ruined, how shall I fill with water the urns which my Naiads bear in their arms, or force the air into the lungs of my Tritons? To be rich enough, Monsieur d’Artagnan, a man must be too rich. Oh! I know very well what you think. If Vaux were yours, you would sell it, and would purchase an estate in the country; an estate which should have woods, orchards, and land attached, so that the estate should be made to support its master. With forty millions you might--", "pos": 340838}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ten millions,", "pos": 342029}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Not a million, my dear captain. No one in France is rich enough to give two millions for Vaux, and to continue to maintain it as I have done; no one could do it, no one would know how.", "pos": 342069}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, in any case, a million is not abject misery.", "pos": 342256}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It is not far from it, my dear monsieur. But you do not understand me. No; I will not sell my residence at Vaux; I will give it to you, if you like;", "pos": 342328}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Give it to the king; you will make a better bargain.", "pos": 342595}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The king does not require me to give it to him, he will take it away from me with the most absolute ease and grace, if it pleases him to do so; and that is the very reason I should prefer to see it perish. Do you know, Monsieur d’Artagnan, that if the king did not happen to be under my roof, I would take this candle, go straight to the dome, and set fire to a couple of huge chests of fusees and fireworks which are in reserve there, and would reduce my palace to ashes.", "pos": 342650}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Bah! At all events, you would not be able to burn the gardens, and that is the finest feature of the place.", "pos": 343141}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And yet, what was I saying? Great heavens! burn Vaux! destroy my palace! But Vaux is not mine; these wonderful creations are, it is true, the property, as far as sense of enjoyment goes, of the man who has paid for them; but as far as duration is concerned, they belong to those who created them. Vaux belongs to Lebrun, to Lenotre, to Pelisson, to Levau, to La Fontaine, to Moliere; Vaux belongs to posterity, in fact. You see, Monsieur d’Artagnan, that my very house has ceased to be my own.", "pos": 343286}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is all well and good, the idea is agreeable enough, and I recognize M. Fouquet himself in it. That idea, indeed, makes me forget that poor fellow Broussel altogether; and I now fail to recognize in you the whining complaints of that old Frondeur. If you are ruined, monsieur, look at the affair manfully, for you too, mordioux! belong to posterity, and have no right to lessen yourself in any way. Stay a moment; look at me, I who seem to exercise in some degree a kind of superiority over you, because I am arresting you; fate, which distributes their different parts to the comedians of this world, accorded me a less agreeable and less advantageous part to fill than yours has been. I am one of those who think that the parts which kings and powerful nobles are called upon to act are infinitely of more worth than the parts of beggars or lackeys. It is far better on the stage--on the stage, I mean, of another theater than the theater of this world--it is far better to wear a fine coat and to talk a fine language, than to walk the boards shod with a pair of old shoes, or to get one’s backbone gently polished by a hearty dressing with a stick. In one word, you have been a prodigal with money, you have ordered and been obeyed--have been steeped to the lips in enjoyment; while I have dragged my tether after me, have been commanded and have obeyed, and have drudged my life away. Well, although I may seem of such trifling importance beside you, monseigneur, I do declare to you, that the recollection of what I have done serves me as a spur, and prevents me from bowing my old head too soon. I shall remain unto the very end a trooper; and when my turn comes, I shall fall perfectly straight, all in a heap, still alive, after having selected my place beforehand. Do as I do, Monsieur Fouquet, you will not find yourself the worse for it; a fall happens only once in a lifetime to men like yourself, and the chief thing is, to take it gracefully when the chance presents itself. There is a Latin proverb--the words have escaped me, but I remember the sense of it very well, for I have thought over it more than once--which says, ‘The end crowns the work!’", "pos": 343815}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "An excellent homily,", "pos": 346159}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "A soldier’s, monseigneur.", "pos": 346215}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You have a regard for me, in telling me all that.", "pos": 346243}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Perhaps.", "pos": 346295}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Where can M. d’Herblay be? I dare not ask you to send for him.", "pos": 346389}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You would not ask me, because I would not do it, Monsieur Fouquet. People would learn it, and Aramis, who is not mixed up with the affair, might possibly be compromised and included in your disgrace.", "pos": 346454}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will wait here till daylight,", "pos": 346656}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; that is best.", "pos": 346704}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What shall we do when daylight comes?", "pos": 346725}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I know nothing at all about it, monseigneur.", "pos": 346765}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, will you do me a favor?", "pos": 346812}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Most willingly.", "pos": 346859}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You guard me, I remain; you are acting in the full discharge of your duty, I suppose?", "pos": 346877}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Certainly.", "pos": 346965}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Very good, then; remain as close to me as my shadow if you like; and I infinitely prefer such a shadow to any one else. But, forget that you are Monsieur d’Artagnan, captain of the musketeers; forget that I am Monsieur Fouquet, surintendant of the finances; and let us talk about my affairs.", "pos": 346978}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is rather a delicate subject.", "pos": 347310}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Indeed?", "pos": 347347}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; but, for your sake, Monsieur Fouquet, I will do what may almost be regarded as an impossibility.", "pos": 347357}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Thank you. What did the king say to you?", "pos": 347461}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Nothing.", "pos": 347504}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ah! is that the way you talk?", "pos": 347515}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The deuce!", "pos": 347547}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What do you think of my situation?", "pos": 347560}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I do not know.", "pos": 347597}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "However, unless you have some ill feeling against me--", "pos": 347614}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your position is a difficult one.", "pos": 347671}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "In what respect?", "pos": 347707}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Because you are under your own roof.", "pos": 347726}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "However difficult it may be, I understand it very well.", "pos": 347764}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do you suppose that, with any one else but yourself, I should have shown so much frankness?", "pos": 347822}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What! so much frankness, do you say? you, who refuse to tell me the slightest thing?", "pos": 347916}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "At all events, then, so much ceremony and consideration.", "pos": 348003}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ah! I have nothing to say in that respect.", "pos": 348062}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "One moment, monseigneur: let me tell you how I should have behaved towards any one but yourself. It might be that I happened to arrive at your door just as your guests or your friends had left you--or, if they had not gone yet, I should wait until they were leaving, and should then catch them one after the other, like rabbits; I should lock them up quietly enough, I should steal softly along the carpet of your corridor, and with one hand upon you, before you suspected the slightest thing amiss, I should keep you safely until my master’s breakfast in the morning. In this way, I should just the same have avoided all publicity, all disturbance, all opposition; but there would also have been no warning for M. Fouquet, no consideration for his feelings, none of those delicate concessions which are shown by persons who are essentially courteous in their natures, whenever the decisive moment may arrive. Are you satisfied with the plan?", "pos": 348107}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "It makes me shudder.", "pos": 349052}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I thought you would not like it. It would have been very disagreeable to have made my appearance to-morrow, without any preparation, and to have asked you to deliver up your sword.", "pos": 349075}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! monsieur, I should have died of shame and anger.", "pos": 349258}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Your gratitude is too eloquently expressed. I have not done enough to deserve it, I assure you.", "pos": 349313}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Most certainly, monsieur, you will never get me to believe that.", "pos": 349411}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, then, monseigneur, if you are satisfied with what I have done, and have somewhat recovered from the shock which I prepared you for as much as I possibly could, let us allow the few hours that remain to pass away undisturbed. You are harassed, and should arrange your thoughts; I beg you, therefore, go to sleep, or pretend to go to sleep, either on your bed, or in your bed; I will sleep in this armchair; and when I fall asleep, my rest is so sound that a cannon would not wake me.", "pos": 349478}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I expect, however,", "pos": 349985}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan,", "pos": 350682}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "you are certainly the most witty and the most courteous man I ever met with; and you will leave me only one regret, that of having made your acquaintance so late.", "pos": 350719}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I am face to face with my destiny. Is it likely to be more terrifying than my captivity has been sad and gloomy? Though I am compelled to follow out, at every moment, the sovereign power and authority I have usurped, shall I cease to listen to the scruples of my heart? Yes! the king has lain on this bed; it is indeed his head that has left its impression on this pillow; his bitter tears that have stained this handkerchief: and yet, I hesitate to throw myself on the bed, or to press in my hand the handkerchief which is embroidered with my brother’s arms. Away with such weakness; let me imitate M. d’Herblay, who asserts that a man’s action should be always one degree above his thoughts; let me imitate M. d’Herblay, whose thoughts are of and for himself alone, who regards himself as a man of honor, so long as he injures or betrays his enemies only. I, I alone, should have occupied this bed, if Louis XIV. had not, owing to my mother’s criminal abandonment, stood in my way; and this handkerchief, embroidered with the arms of France, would in right and justice belong to me alone, if, as M. d’Herblay observes, I had been left my royal cradle. Philippe, son of France, take your place on that bed; Philippe, sole king of France, resume the blazonry that is yours! Philippe, sole heir presumptive to Louis XIII., your father, show yourself without pity or mercy for the usurper who, at this moment, has not even to suffer the agony of the remorse of all that you have had to submit to.", "pos": 354025}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, M. d’Herblay?", "pos": 357141}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, sire, all is accomplished.", "pos": 357163}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "How?", "pos": 357198}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Exactly as we expected.", "pos": 357205}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Did he resist?", "pos": 357231}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Terribly! tears and entreaties.", "pos": 357248}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And then?", "pos": 357282}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "A perfect stupor.", "pos": 357294}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But at last?", "pos": 357314}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! at last, a complete victory, and absolute silence.", "pos": 357329}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Did the governor of the Bastile suspect anything?", "pos": 357386}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Nothing.", "pos": 357438}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "The resemblance, however--", "pos": 357449}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Was the cause of the success.", "pos": 357478}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But the prisoner cannot fail to explain himself. Think well of that. I have myself been able to do as much as that, on former occasion.", "pos": 357510}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I have already provided for every chance. In a few days, sooner if necessary, we will take the captive out of his prison, and will send him out of the country, to a place of exile so remote--", "pos": 357648}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "People can return from their exile, Monsieur d’Herblay.", "pos": 357842}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "To a place of exile so distant, I was going to say, that human strength and the duration of human life would not be enough for his return.", "pos": 357900}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And M. du Vallon?", "pos": 358121}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "He will be presented to you to-day, and confidentially will congratulate you on the danger which that conspirator has made you run.", "pos": 358193}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What is to be done with him?", "pos": 358327}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "With M. du Vallon?", "pos": 358358}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes; confer a dukedom on him, I suppose.", "pos": 358379}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "A dukedom,", "pos": 358422}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Why do you laugh, Monsieur d’Herblay?", "pos": 358484}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I laugh at the extreme caution of your idea.", "pos": 358524}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Cautious, why so?", "pos": 358571}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Your majesty is doubtless afraid that poor Porthos may possible become a troublesome witness, and you wish to get rid of him.", "pos": 358591}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What! in making him a duke?", "pos": 358719}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Certainly; you would assuredly kill him, for he would die from joy, and the secret would die with him.", "pos": 358749}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Good heavens!", "pos": 358854}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes,", "pos": 358870}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What is that?", "pos": 359166}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "The dawn, sire.", "pos": 359197}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well?", "pos": 359215}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, before you retired to bed last night, you probably decided to do something this morning at break of day.", "pos": 359223}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, I told my captain of the musketeers,", "pos": 359336}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "that I should expect him.", "pos": 359413}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "If you told him that, he will certainly be here, for he is a most punctual man.", "pos": 359441}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I hear a step in the vestibule.", "pos": 359523}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "It must be he.", "pos": 359557}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Come, let us begin the attack,", "pos": 359574}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Be cautious for Heaven’s sake. To begin the attack, and with D’Artagnan, would be madness. D’Artagnan knows nothing, he has seen nothing; he is a hundred miles from suspecting our mystery in the slightest degree, but if he comes into this room the first this morning, he will be sure to detect something of what has taken place, and which he would imagine it his business to occupy himself about. Before we allow D’Artagnan to penetrate into this room, we must air the room thoroughly, or introduce so many people into it, that the keenest scent in the whole kingdom may be deceived by the traces of twenty different persons.", "pos": 359639}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But how can I send him away, since I have given him a rendezvous?", "pos": 360267}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I will take care of that,", "pos": 360419}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "and in order to begin, I am going to strike a blow which will completely stupefy our man.", "pos": 360467}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "He, too, is striking a blow, for I hear him at the door,", "pos": 360559}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Are you going out?", "pos": 361218}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, monseigneur. And you?", "pos": 361253}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I shall remain.", "pos": 361282}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "You pledge your word?", "pos": 361300}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Certainly.", "pos": 361324}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Very good. Besides, my only reason for going out is to try and get that reply,--you know what I mean?", "pos": 361337}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "That sentence, you mean--", "pos": 361441}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Stay, I have something of the old Roman in me. This morning, when I got up, I remarked that my sword had got caught in one of the aiguillettes, and that my shoulder-belt had slipped quite off. That is an infallible sign.", "pos": 361469}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Of prosperity?", "pos": 361692}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, be sure of it; for every time that that confounded belt of mine stuck fast to my back, it always signified a punishment from M. de Treville, or a refusal of money by M. de Mazarin. Every time my sword hung fast to my shoulder-belt, it always predicted some disagreeable commission or another for me to execute, and I have had showers of them all my life through. Every time, too, my sword danced about in its sheath, a duel, fortunate in its result, was sure to follow: whenever it dangled about the calves of my legs, it signified a slight wound; every time it fell completely out of the scabbard, I was booked, and made up my mind that I should have to remain on the field of battle, with two or three months under surgical bandages into the bargain.", "pos": 361709}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I did not know your sword kept you so well informed,", "pos": 362469}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Is your sword bewitched, or under the influence of some imperial charm?", "pos": 362619}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Why, you must know that my sword may almost be regarded as part of my own body. I have heard that certain men seem to have warnings given them by feeling something the matter with their legs, or a throbbing of their temples. With me, it is my sword that warns me. Well, it told me of nothing this morning. But, stay a moment--look here, it has just fallen of its own accord into the last hole of the belt. Do you know what that is a warning of?", "pos": 362693}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "No.", "pos": 363140}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, that tells me of an arrest that will have to be made this very day.", "pos": 363146}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well,", "pos": 363222}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "if there is nothing disagreeable predicted to you by your sword, I am to conclude that it is not disagreeable for you to arrest me.", "pos": 363301}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "You! arrest you!", "pos": 363435}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Of course. The warning--", "pos": 363454}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Does not concern you, since you have been arrested ever since yesterday. It is not you I shall have to arrest, be assured of that. That is the reason why I am delighted, and also the reason why I said that my day will be a happy one.", "pos": 363481}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "One last mark of kindness.", "pos": 363934}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What is it, monseigneur?", "pos": 363963}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "M. d’Herblay; let me see Monsieur d’Herblay.", "pos": 363990}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I am going to try and get him to come to you.", "pos": 364037}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Aramis!", "pos": 364782}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Good morning, dear D’Artagnan,", "pos": 364801}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "You here!", "pos": 364863}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "His majesty desires you to report that he is still sleeping, after having been greatly fatigued during the whole night.", "pos": 364904}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 365026}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Moreover, you will be good enough, monsieur le capitaine des mousquetaires, to allow those only to pass into the king’s room this morning who have special permission. His majesty does not wish to be disturbed just yet.", "pos": 365748}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But, but, monsieur l’eveque, his majesty gave me a rendezvous for this morning.", "pos": 365993}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Later, later,", "pos": 366254}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And then, as an answer to what you were coming to ask the king, my dear D’Artagnan, here is an order of his majesty, which you will be good enough to attend to forthwith, for it concerns M. Fouquet.", "pos": 366536}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "To be set at liberty! Ah!", "pos": 366814}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am going with you,", "pos": 367449}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Where to?", "pos": 367489}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To M. Fouquet; I wish to be a witness of his delight.", "pos": 367501}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! Aramis, how you puzzled me just now!", "pos": 367557}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "But you understand now, I suppose?", "pos": 367623}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Of course I understand. No, no, I do not understand yet. But it is all the same, for here is the order for it. I will lead the way, monseigneur,", "pos": 367660}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Well, captain, so you have brought M. d’Herblay to me.", "pos": 368791}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And something better still, monseigneur.", "pos": 368848}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What is that?", "pos": 368891}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Liberty.", "pos": 368907}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I am free!", "pos": 368918}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; by the king’s order. Oh! yes, you can thank M. l’eveque de Vannes, for it is indeed to him that you owe the change that has taken place in the king.", "pos": 368931}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Oh!", "pos": 369193}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But you, you, who have become M. Fouquet’s protector and patron, can you not do something for me?", "pos": 369274}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Anything in the wide world you like, my friend,", "pos": 369417}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "One thing only, then, and I shall be perfectly satisfied. How on earth did you manage to become the favorite of the king, you who have never spoken to him more than twice in your life?", "pos": 369509}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "From a friend such as you are. I cannot conceal anything.", "pos": 369696}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! very good, tell me, then.", "pos": 369771}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Very well. You think that I have seen the king only twice, whilst the fact is I have seen him more than a hundred times; only we have kept it very secret, that is all. Monseigneur, the king desires me to inform you that he is more than ever your friend, and that your beautiful fete, so generously offered by you on his behalf, has touched him to the very heart.", "pos": 369803}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will not forget, my friend, the king’s order respecting those whom he intends to receive this morning on rising.", "pos": 371044}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "My dear D’Herblay, I think it now high time you should explain all that has passed, for, in plain and honest truth, I do not understand anything.", "pos": 371538}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We will explain all that to you. Where shall I begin?", "pos": 371686}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "With this first of all. Why does the king set me at liberty?", "pos": 371805}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You ought rather to ask me what his reason was for having you arrested.", "pos": 371868}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Since my arrest, I have had time to think over it, and my idea is that it arises out of some slight feeling of jealousy. My fete put M. Colbert out of temper, and M. Colbert discovered some cause of complaint against me; Belle-Isle, for instance.", "pos": 371942}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No; there is no question at all just now of Belle-Isle.", "pos": 372191}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What is it, then?", "pos": 372249}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Do you remember those receipts for thirteen millions which M. de Mazarin contrived to steal from you?", "pos": 372269}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, of course!", "pos": 372373}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, you are pronounced a public robber.", "pos": 372391}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Good heavens!", "pos": 372435}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! that is not all. Do you also remember that letter you wrote to La Vallière?", "pos": 372451}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Alas! yes.", "pos": 372533}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And that proclaims you a traitor and a suborner.", "pos": 372546}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Why should he have pardoned me, then?", "pos": 372597}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We have not yet arrived at that part of our argument. I wish you to be quite convinced of the fact itself. Observe this well: the king knows you to be guilty of an appropriation of public funds. Oh! of course I know that you have done nothing of the kind; but, at all events, the king has seen the receipts, and he can do no other than believe you are incriminated.", "pos": 372637}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I beg your pardon, I do not see--", "pos": 373005}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will see presently, though. The king, moreover, having read your love-letter to La Vallière, and the offers you there made her, cannot retain any doubt of your intentions with regard to that young lady; you will admit that, I suppose?", "pos": 373041}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Certainly. Pray conclude.", "pos": 373282}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In the fewest words. The king, we may henceforth assume, is your powerful, implacable, and eternal enemy.", "pos": 373310}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Agreed. But am I, then, so powerful, that he has not dared to sacrifice me, notwithstanding his hatred, with all the means which my weakness, or my misfortunes, may have given him as a hold upon me?", "pos": 373418}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is clear, beyond all doubt, that the king has quarreled with you--irreconcilably.", "pos": 373619}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But, since he has absolved me--", "pos": 373732}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Do you believe it likely?", "pos": 373766}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Without believing in his sincerity, I believe it in the accomplished fact. But why, then, should Louis XIV. have commissioned you to tell me what you have just stated?", "pos": 373835}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The king charged me with no message for you.", "pos": 374047}
{"speaker": "superintendent", "text": "With nothing! But, that order--", "pos": 374094}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! yes. You are quite right. There is an order, certainly;", "pos": 374166}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You are concealing something from me, I see. What is it? Does the king exile me?", "pos": 374332}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Do not act as if you were playing at the game children play at when they have to try and guess where a thing has been hidden, and are informed, by a bell being rung, when they are approaching near to it, or going away from it.", "pos": 374489}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Speak, then.", "pos": 374718}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Guess.", "pos": 374733}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You alarm me.", "pos": 374742}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Bah! that is because you have not guessed, then.", "pos": 374758}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What did the king say to you? In the name of our friendship, do not deceive me.", "pos": 374809}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The king has not said one word to me.", "pos": 374891}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You are killing me with impatience, D’Herblay. Am I still superintendent?", "pos": 374931}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "As long as you like.", "pos": 375007}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But what extraordinary empire have you so suddenly acquired over his majesty’s mind?", "pos": 375030}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah! that’s the point.", "pos": 375117}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "He does your bidding?", "pos": 375141}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I believe so.", "pos": 375165}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It is hardly credible.", "pos": 375181}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "So any one would say.", "pos": 375206}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "D’Herblay, by our alliance, by our friendship, by everything you hold dearest in the world, speak openly, I implore you. By what means have you succeeded in overcoming Louis XIV.’s prejudices, for he did not like you, I am certain.", "pos": 375230}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The king will like me now,", "pos": 375464}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You have something particular, then, between you?", "pos": 375540}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 375592}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "A secret, perhaps?", "pos": 375599}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A secret.", "pos": 375620}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "A secret of such a nature as to change his majesty’s interests?", "pos": 375632}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are, indeed, a man of superior intelligence, monseigneur, and have made a particularly accurate guess. I have, in fact, discovered a secret, of a nature to change the interests of the king of France.", "pos": 375698}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 375904}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And you shall judge of it yourself, and you shall tell me if I am mistaken with regard to the importance of this secret.", "pos": 375995}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I am listening, since you are good enough to unbosom yourself to me; only do not forget that I have asked you about nothing which it may be indiscreet in you to communicate. Do not speak! there is still time enough.", "pos": 376136}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Do you remember, the birth of Louis XIV.?", "pos": 376435}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "As if it were yesterday.", "pos": 376521}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Have you ever heard anything particular respecting his birth?", "pos": 376548}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Nothing; except that the king was not really the son of Louis XIII.", "pos": 376612}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That does not matter to us, or the kingdom either; he is the son of his father, says the French law, whose father is recognized by law.", "pos": 376682}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "True; but it is a grave matter, when the quality of races is called into question.", "pos": 376820}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A merely secondary question, after all. So that, in fact, you have never learned or heard anything in particular?", "pos": 376905}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Nothing.", "pos": 377021}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is where my secret begins. The queen, you must know, instead of being delivered of a son, was delivered of twins.", "pos": 377032}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And the second is dead?", "pos": 377195}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will see. These twins seemed likely to be regarded as the pride of their mother, and the hope of France; but the weak nature of the king, his superstitious feelings, made him apprehend a series of conflicts between two children whose rights were equal; so he put out of the way--he suppressed--one of the twins.", "pos": 377221}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Suppressed, do you say?", "pos": 377539}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Have patience. Both the children grew up; the one on the throne, whose minister you are--the other, who is my friend, in gloom and isolation.", "pos": 377565}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Good heavens! What are you saying, Monsieur d’Herblay? And what is this poor prince doing?", "pos": 377709}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ask me, rather, what has he done.", "pos": 377802}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, yes.", "pos": 377838}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He was brought up in the country, and then thrown into a fortress which goes by the name of the Bastile.", "pos": 377850}
{"speaker": "surintendant", "text": "Is it possible?", "pos": 377957}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The one was the most fortunate of men: the other the most unhappy and miserable of all living beings.", "pos": 378019}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Does his mother not know this?", "pos": 378123}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Anne of Austria knows it all.", "pos": 378156}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And the king?", "pos": 378188}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Knows absolutely nothing.", "pos": 378204}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "So much the better. I beg your pardon; I interrupted you,", "pos": 378232}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I was saying, that this poor prince was the unhappiest of human beings, when Heaven, whose thoughts are over all His creatures, undertook to come to his assistance.", "pos": 378449}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Oh! in what way? Tell me.", "pos": 378634}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will see. The reigning king--I say the reigning king--you can guess very well why?", "pos": 378662}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "No. Why?", "pos": 378751}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Because both of them, being legitimate princes, ought to have been kings. Is not that your opinion?", "pos": 378762}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It is, certainly.", "pos": 378864}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Unreservedly?", "pos": 378884}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Most unreservedly; twins are one person in two bodies.", "pos": 378900}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am pleased that a legist of your learning and authority should have pronounced such an opinion. It is agreed, then, that each of them possessed equal rights, is it not?", "pos": 378957}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Incontestably! but, gracious heavens, what an extraordinary circumstance!", "pos": 379130}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We are not at the end of it yet.--Patience.", "pos": 379206}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Oh! I shall find ‘patience’ enough.", "pos": 379252}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Heaven wished to raise up for that oppressed child an avenger, or a supporter, or vindicator, if you prefer it. It happened that the reigning king, the usurper--you are quite of my opinion, I believe, that it is an act of usurpation quietly to enjoy, and selfishly to assume the right over, an inheritance to which a man has only half a right?", "pos": 379290}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, usurpation is the word.", "pos": 379636}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In that case, I continue. It was Heaven’s will that the usurper should possess, in the person of his first minister, a man of great talent, of large and generous nature.", "pos": 379667}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Well, well. I understand you; you have relied upon me to repair the wrong which has been done to this unhappy brother of Louis XIV. You have thought well; I will help you. I thank you, D’Herblay, I thank you.", "pos": 379839}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh, no, it is not that at all; you have not allowed me to finish,", "pos": 380066}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will not say another word, then.", "pos": 380166}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "M. Fouquet, I was observing, the minister of the reigning sovereign, was suddenly taken into the greatest aversion, and menaced with the ruin of his fortune, loss of liberty, loss of life even, by intrigue and personal hatred, to which the king gave too readily an attentive ear. But Heaven permits (still, however, out of consideration for the unhappy prince who had been sacrificed) that M. Fouquet should in his turn have a devoted friend who knew this state secret, and felt that he possessed strength and courage enough to divulge this secret, after having had the strength to carry it locked up in his own heart for twenty years.", "pos": 380203}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Go no farther. I understand you, and can guess everything now. You went to see the king when the intelligence of my arrest reached you; you implored him, he refused to listen to you; then you threatened him with that secret, threatened to reveal it, and Louis XIV., alarmed at the risk of its betrayal, granted to the terror of your indiscretion what he refused to your generous intercession. I understand, I understand; you have the king in your power; I understand.", "pos": 380840}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You understand nothing--as yet, and again you interrupt me. Then, too, allow me to observe that you pay no attention to logical reasoning, and seem to forget what you ought most to remember.", "pos": 381353}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What do you mean?", "pos": 381564}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You know upon what I laid the greatest stress at the beginning of our conversation?", "pos": 381584}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, his majesty’s hate, invincible hate for me; yes, but what feeling of hate could resist the threat of such a revelation?", "pos": 381670}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Such a revelation, do you say? that is the very point where your logic fails you. What! do you suppose that if I had made such a revelation to the king, I should have been alive now?", "pos": 381797}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It is not ten minutes ago that you were with the king.", "pos": 381982}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That may be. He might not have had the time to get me killed outright, but he would have had the time to get me gagged and thrown in a dungeon. Come, come, show a little consistency in your reasoning, mordieu! And then, should I be the man I really am, should I be the true friend you believe me, if I were to expose you, whom the king already hates so bitterly, to a feeling more than ever to be dreaded in that young man? To have robbed him, is nothing; to have addressed the woman he loves, is not much; but to hold in your keeping both his crown and his honor, why, he would pluck out your heart with his own hands.", "pos": 382039}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You have not allowed him to penetrate your secret, then?", "pos": 383003}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I would sooner, far sooner, have swallowed at one draught all the poisons that Mithridates drank in twenty years, in order to try and avoid death, than have betrayed my secret to the king.", "pos": 383062}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What have you done, then?", "pos": 383253}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah! now we are coming to the point, monseigneur. I think I shall not fail to excite in you a little interest. You are listening, I hope.", "pos": 383281}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "How can you ask me if I am listening? Go on.", "pos": 383420}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I forgot to tell you. I forgot to mention a most remarkable circumstance respecting these twins, namely, that God had formed them so startlingly, so miraculously, like each other, that it would be utterly impossible to distinguish the one from the other. Their own mother would not be able to distinguish them.", "pos": 383726}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Is it possible?", "pos": 384141}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The same noble character in their features, the same carriage, the same stature, the same voice.", "pos": 384178}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But their thoughts? degree of intelligence? their knowledge of human life?", "pos": 384277}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "There is inequality there, I admit, monseigneur. Yes; for the prisoner of the Bastile is, most incontestably, superior in every way to his brother; and if, from his prison, this unhappy victim were to pass to the throne, France would not, from the earliest period of its history, perhaps, have had a master more powerful in genius and nobility of character. There is a further inequality, an inequality which concerns yourself, monseigneur, between the twins, both sons of Louis XIII., namely, the last comer does not know M. Colbert.", "pos": 384354}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I understand you, you are proposing a conspiracy to me?", "pos": 385213}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Something like it.", "pos": 385292}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "One of those attempts which, as you said at the beginning of this conversation, alters the fate of empires?", "pos": 385313}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And of superintendents, too; yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 385423}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "In a word, you propose that I should agree to the substitution of the son of Louis XIII., who is now a prisoner in the Bastile, for the son of Louis XIII., who is at this moment asleep in the Chamber of Morpheus?", "pos": 385472}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Exactly,", "pos": 385791}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Have you thought that we must assemble the nobility, the clergy, and the third estate of the realm; that we shall have to depose the reigning sovereign, to disturb by so frightful a scandal the tomb of their dead father, to sacrifice the life, the honor of a woman, Anne of Austria, the life and peace of mind and heart of another woman, Maria Theresa; and suppose that it were all done, if we were to succeed in doing it--", "pos": 386074}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I do not understand you. There is not a single syllable of sense in all you have just said.", "pos": 386500}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What! a man like you refuse to view the practical bearing of the case! Do you confine yourself to the childish delight of a political illusion, and neglect the chances of its being carried into execution; in other words, the reality itself, is it possible?", "pos": 386660}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My friend, what does Heaven do in order to substitute one king for another?", "pos": 386994}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Heaven! Heaven gives directions to its agent, who seizes upon the doomed victim, hurries him away, and seats the triumphant rival on the empty throne. But you forget that this agent is called death. Oh! Monsieur d’Herblay, in Heaven’s name, tell me if you have had the idea--", "pos": 387093}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "There is no question of that, monseigneur; you are going beyond the object in view. Who spoke of Louis XIV.’s death? who spoke of adopting the example which Heaven sets in following out the strict execution of its decrees? No, I wish you to understand that Heaven effects its purposes without confusion or disturbance, without exciting comment or remark, without difficulty or exertion; and that men, inspired by Heaven, succeed like Heaven itself, in all their undertakings, in all they attempt, in all they do.", "pos": 387371}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What do you mean?", "pos": 387886}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I mean, my friend, that if there has been any confusion, scandal, and even effort in the substitution of the prisoner for the king, I defy you to prove it.", "pos": 388018}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What!", "pos": 388176}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Go to the king’s apartment, and you who know the mystery, I defy even you to perceive that the prisoner of the Bastile is lying in his brother’s bed.", "pos": 388312}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But the king,", "pos": 388464}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What king? the one who hates you, or the one who likes you?", "pos": 388576}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The king--of--yesterday.", "pos": 388638}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The king of yesterday! be quite easy on that score; he has gone to take the place in the Bastile which his victim occupied for so many years.", "pos": 388665}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Great God! And who took him there?", "pos": 388809}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I.", "pos": 388846}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You?", "pos": 388851}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, and in the simplest way. I carried him away last night. While he was descending into midnight, the other was ascending into day. I do not think there has been any disturbance whatever. A flash of lightning without thunder awakens nobody.", "pos": 388858}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You did that?", "pos": 389255}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Cleverly enough, too; what do you think of it?", "pos": 389271}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You dethroned the king? imprisoned him, too?", "pos": 389320}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, that has been done.", "pos": 389367}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And such an action was committed here, at Vaux?", "pos": 389394}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, here, at Vaux, in the Chamber of Morpheus. It would almost seem that it had been built in anticipation of such an act.", "pos": 389444}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And at what time did it occur?", "pos": 389570}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Last night, between twelve and one o’clock.", "pos": 389603}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "At Vaux; under my roof!", "pos": 389749}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I believe so! for it is still your house, and it is likely to continue so, since M. Colbert cannot rob you of it now.", "pos": 389811}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It was under my roof, then, monsieur, that you committed this crime?", "pos": 389931}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "This crime?", "pos": 390002}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "This abominable crime! this crime more execrable than an assassination! this crime which dishonors my name forever, and entails upon me the horror of posterity.", "pos": 390091}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are not in your senses, monsieur; you are speaking too loudly; take care!", "pos": 390254}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will call out so loudly, that the whole world shall hear me.", "pos": 390384}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monsieur Fouquet, take care!", "pos": 390449}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You have dishonored me, in committing so foul an act of treason, so heinous a crime upon my guest, upon one who was peacefully reposing beneath my roof. Oh! woe, woe is me!", "pos": 390569}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Woe to the man, rather, who beneath your roof meditated the ruin of your fortune, your life. Do you forget that?", "pos": 390744}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "He was my guest, my sovereign.", "pos": 390859}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Have I a man out of his senses to deal with?", "pos": 390969}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You have an honorable man to deal with.", "pos": 391025}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are mad.", "pos": 391067}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "A man who will prevent you consummating your crime.", "pos": 391082}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are mad, I say.", "pos": 391136}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "A man who would sooner, oh! far sooner, die; who would kill you even, rather than allow you to complete his dishonor. Monsieur, I would sooner die here on the spot than survive this terrible disgrace; and if you have any pity left for me, I entreat you to take my life.", "pos": 391158}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Reflect, monseigneur, upon everything we have to expect. As the matter now stands, the king is still alive, and his imprisonment saves your life.", "pos": 392044}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, you may have been acting on my behalf, but I will not, do not, accept your services. But, first of all, I do not wish your ruin. You will leave this house.", "pos": 392211}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am hospitable towards all who are dwellers beneath my roof; you will not be more fatally lost than he whose ruin you have consummated. You will be so, you will be so, believe me.", "pos": 392444}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I accept the augury, Monsieur d’Herblay; but nothing shall prevent me, nothing shall stop me. You will leave Vaux--you must leave France; I give you four hours to place yourself out of the king’s reach.", "pos": 392733}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Four hours?", "pos": 392938}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Upon the word of Fouquet, no one shall follow you before the expiration of that time. You will therefore have four hours’ advance of those whom the king may wish to dispatch after you.", "pos": 392995}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Four hours!", "pos": 393182}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It is more than you will need to get on board a vessel and flee to Belle-Isle, which I give you as a place of refuge.", "pos": 393242}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 393362}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Belle-Isle is as much mine for you, as Vaux is mine for the king. Go, D’Herblay, go! as long as I live, not a hair of your head shall be injured.", "pos": 393385}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Thank you,", "pos": 393533}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Go at once, then, and give me your hand, before we both hasten away; you to save your life, I to save my honor.", "pos": 393588}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I had no arms,", "pos": 394074}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We leave immediately.", "pos": 396727}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 396764}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We shall go mounted, and faster than we have ever gone in our lives.", "pos": 396788}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! Dress yourself, my friend.", "pos": 396859}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Have you seen M. Fouquet?", "pos": 397517}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, this very minute, in a carriage.", "pos": 397572}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What did he say to you?", "pos": 397612}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "‘Adieu;’ nothing more.", "pos": 397639}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Was that all?", "pos": 397663}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What else do you think he could say? Am I worth anything now, since you have got into such high favor?", "pos": 397679}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Listen, your good times are returning again. You will have no occasion to be jealous of any one.", "pos": 397824}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! bah!", "pos": 397923}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I predict that something will happen to you to-day which will increase your importance more than ever.", "pos": 397934}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Really?", "pos": 398039}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You know that I know all the news?", "pos": 398049}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, yes!", "pos": 398086}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Come, Porthos, come. Come, Porthos, are you ready? Let us go.", "pos": 398097}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I am quite ready, Aramis.", "pos": 398140}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Let us embrace D’Artagnan first.", "pos": 398168}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Most certainly.", "pos": 398203}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "But the horses?", "pos": 398221}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! there is no want of them here. Will you have mine?", "pos": 398239}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No; Porthos has his own stud. So adieu! adieu!", "pos": 398296}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "On any other occasion, I should say that those gentlemen were making their escape; but in these days politics seem so changed that such an exit is termed going on a mission. I have no objection; let me attend to my own affairs, that is more than enough for me.", "pos": 398545}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What must have been the youth of those extraordinary men, who, even as age is stealing fast upon them, are still able to conceive such gigantic plans, and carry them through without a tremor?", "pos": 399086}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "In this way, prisoner or not, I shall have performed the duty that I owe my honor. The orders will not reach them until after my return, if I should return free, and consequently they will not have been unsealed. I shall take them back again. If I am delayed; it will be because some misfortune will have befallen me; and in that case assistance will be sent for me as well as for the king.", "pos": 399869}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Mordieu! you are an absolute set of fools.", "pos": 401265}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Ah! monseigneur, how can I excuse--", "pos": 402821}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Monsieur. I congratulate you. Your watch and ward are admirably kept. There are twenty pistoles for the sentinel, and fifty for the officer. Pray receive my compliments, gentlemen. I will not fail to speak to his majesty about you. And now, M. Baisemeaux, a word with you. You have seen M. d’Herblay this morning?", "pos": 402875}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 403960}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And are you not horrified at the crime of which you have made yourself an accomplice?", "pos": 403980}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Well, good so far; But what crime, monseigneur, do you allude to?", "pos": 404068}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That for which you can be quartered alive, monsieur--do not forget that! But this is not a time to show anger. Conduct me immediately to the prisoner.", "pos": 404186}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "To what prisoner?", "pos": 404339}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You pretend to be ignorant? Very good--it is the best plan for you, perhaps; for if, in fact, you were to admit your participation in such a crime, it would be all over with you. I wish, therefore, to seem to believe in your assumption of ignorance.", "pos": 404387}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I entreat you, monseigneur--", "pos": 404639}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That will do. Lead me to the prisoner.", "pos": 404670}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "To Marchiali?", "pos": 404711}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Who is Marchiali?", "pos": 404727}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "The prisoner who was brought back this morning by M. d’Herblay.", "pos": 404747}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "He is called Marchiali?", "pos": 404813}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, monseigneur; that is the name under which he was inscribed here.", "pos": 404924}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It is the prisoner whom M. d’Herblay carried away the day before yesterday?", "pos": 405345}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 405458}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And whom he brought back this morning?", "pos": 405478}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Precisely, monseigneur.", "pos": 405605}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And his name is Marchiali, you say?", "pos": 405631}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Yes, Marchiali. If monseigneur has come here to remove him, so much the better, for I was going to write about him.", "pos": 405669}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What has he done, then?", "pos": 405787}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Ever since this morning he has annoyed me extremely. He has had such terrible fits of passion, as almost to make me believe that he would bring the Bastile itself down about our ears.", "pos": 405813}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will soon relieve you of his possession,", "pos": 405999}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Ah! so much the better.", "pos": 406058}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Conduct me to his prison.", "pos": 406084}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Will monseigneur give me the order?", "pos": 406112}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What order?", "pos": 406150}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "An order from the king.", "pos": 406164}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Wait until I sign you one.", "pos": 406190}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "That will not be sufficient, monseigneur. I must have an order from the king.", "pos": 406219}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "As you are so scrupulous, with regard to allowing prisoners to leave, show me the order by which this one was set at liberty. Very good, but Seldon is not Marchiali.", "pos": 406340}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "But Marchiali is not at liberty, monseigneur; he is here.", "pos": 406588}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But you said that M. d’Herblay carried him away and brought him back again.", "pos": 406648}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I did not say so.", "pos": 406726}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "So surely did you say it, that I almost seem to hear it now.", "pos": 406746}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "It was a slip of my tongue, then, monseigneur.", "pos": 406809}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Take care, M. Baisemeaux, take care.", "pos": 406858}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I have nothing to fear, monseigneur; I am acting according to the very strictest regulation.", "pos": 406897}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Do you dare to say so?", "pos": 406992}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I would say so in the presence of one of the apostles. M. d’Herblay brought me an order to set Seldon at liberty. Seldon is free.", "pos": 407017}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I tell you that Marchiali has left the Bastile.", "pos": 407149}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "You must prove that, monseigneur.", "pos": 407199}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Let me see him.", "pos": 407235}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "You, monseigneur, who govern this kingdom, know very well that no one can see any of the prisoners without an express order from the king.", "pos": 407253}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "M. d’Herblay has entered, however.", "pos": 407394}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "That remains to be proved, monseigneur.", "pos": 407431}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "M. de Baisemeaux, once more I warn you to pay particular attention to what you are saying.", "pos": 407473}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "All the documents are there, monseigneur.", "pos": 407566}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "M. d’Herblay is overthrown.", "pos": 407610}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Overthrown?--M. d’Herblay! Impossible!", "pos": 407640}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You see that he has undoubtedly influenced you.", "pos": 407681}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "No, monseigneur; what does, in fact, influence me, is the king’s service. I am doing my duty. Give me an order from him, and you shall enter.", "pos": 407731}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Stay, M. le gouverneur, I give you my word that if you allow me to see the prisoner, I will give you an order from the king at once.", "pos": 407875}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Give it to me now, monseigneur.", "pos": 408010}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And that, if you refuse me, I will have you and all your officers arrested on the spot.", "pos": 408044}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Before you commit such an act of violence, monseigneur, you will reflect, that we will only obey an order signed by the king; and that it will be just as easy for you to obtain one to see Marchiali as to obtain one to do me so much injury; me, too, who am perfectly innocent.", "pos": 408134}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "True. True! perfectly true. M. de Baisemeaux, do you know why I am so anxious to speak to the prisoner?", "pos": 408457}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "No, monseigneur; and allow me to observe that you are terrifying me out of my senses; I am trembling all over--in fact, I feel as though I were about to faint.", "pos": 408666}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You will stand a better chance of fainting outright, Monsieur Baisemeaux, when I return here at the head of ten thousand men and thirty pieces of cannon.", "pos": 408828}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Good heavens, monseigneur, you are losing your senses.", "pos": 408984}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "When I have roused the whole population of Paris against you and your accursed towers, and have battered open the gates of this place, and hanged you to the topmost tree of yonder pinnacle!", "pos": 409041}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Monseigneur! monseigneur! for pity’s sake!", "pos": 409233}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I give you ten minutes to make up your mind. I will sit down here, in this armchair, and wait for you; if, in ten minutes’ time, you still persist, I leave this place, and you may think me as mad as you like. Then--you shall see! Order for M. le Prevot des Marchands to assemble the municipal guard and to march upon the Bastile on the king’s immediate service. Order for the Duc de Bouillon and M. le Prince de Conde to assume the command of the Swiss guards, of the king’s guards, and to march upon the Bastile on the king’s immediate service. Order for every soldier, citizen, or gentleman to seize and apprehend, wherever he may be found, le Chevalier d’Herblay, Eveque de Vannes, and his accomplices, who are: first, M. de Baisemeaux, governor of the Bastile, suspected of the crimes of high treason and rebellion--", "pos": 409278}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Stop, monseigneur! I do not understand a single jot of the whole matter; but so many misfortunes, even were it madness itself that had set them at their awful work, might happen here in a couple of hours, that the king, by whom I must be judged, will see whether I have been wrong in withdrawing the countersign before this flood of imminent catastrophes. Come with me to the keep, monseigneur, you shall see Marchiali.", "pos": 410401}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What a terrible morning! what a disgrace for me! Walk faster. Let the man remain here; take the keys yourself, and show me the way. Not a single person, do you understand, must hear what is going to take place here.", "pos": 410942}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 411373}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Again!", "pos": 411407}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "Ah! say ‘no’ at once, and I will leave the Bastile and will myself carry my own dispatches. What is that? That is your Marchiali, this is the way these madmen scream. Ah!", "pos": 411434}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "did not say a word about that. Give me the keys at once! Which is the key of the door I am to open?", "pos": 412329}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "That one.", "pos": 412478}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Leave this place,", "pos": 412598}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "I ask nothing better. There will be a couple of madmen face to face, and the one will kill the other, I am sure.", "pos": 412669}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Go! If you place your foot on this staircase before I call you, remember that you shall take the place of the meanest prisoner in the Bastile.", "pos": 412819}
{"speaker": "Baisemeaux", "text": "This job will kill me, I am sure it will, as he withdrew with tottering steps.", "pos": 412984}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Help, help! I am the king. It was M. Fouquet who brought me here. Help me against M. Fouquet! I am the king! Help the king against M. Fouquet! Death to Fouquet! death to the traitor Fouquet! Have you come to assassinate me, monsieur? The king in this state!", "pos": 413367}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Sire, do you not recognize the most faithful of your friends?", "pos": 415156}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "A friend--you!", "pos": 415271}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The most respectful of your servants. My king, my child, how you must have suffered! Come, sire, you are free.", "pos": 415392}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Free? Oh! you set me at liberty, then, after having dared to lift up your hand against me.", "pos": 416140}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You do not believe that! you cannot believe me to be guilty of such an act.", "pos": 416254}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur, this double birth is a falsehood; it is impossible--you cannot have been the dupe of it. It is impossible, I tell you, that the honor, the virtue of my mother can be suspected, and my first minister has not yet done justice on the criminals!", "pos": 416724}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Reflect, sire, before you are hurried away by anger. The birth of your brother--", "pos": 417020}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I have only one brother--and that is Monsieur. You know it as well as myself. There is a plot, I tell you, beginning with the governor of the Bastile.", "pos": 417122}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Be careful, sire, for this man has been deceived as every one else has by the prince’s likeness to yourself.", "pos": 417275}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Likeness? Absurd!", "pos": 417386}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "This Marchiali must be singularly like your majesty, to be able to deceive every one’s eye,", "pos": 417406}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Ridiculous!", "pos": 417519}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Do not say so, sire; those who had prepared everything in order to face and deceive your ministers, your mother, your officers of state, the members of your family, must be quite confident of the resemblance between you.", "pos": 417533}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "But where are these persons, then?", "pos": 417756}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "At Vaux.", "pos": 417812}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "At Vaux! and you suffer them to remain there!", "pos": 417823}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "My most instant duty appeared to me to be your majesty’s release. I have accomplished that duty; and now, whatever your majesty may command, shall be done. I await your orders.", "pos": 417871}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Muster all the troops in Paris,", "pos": 418085}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "All the necessary orders are given for that purpose,", "pos": 418128}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You have given orders!", "pos": 418200}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "For that purpose, yes, sire; your majesty will be at the head of ten thousand men in less than an hour.", "pos": 418245}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And with these troops, we shall go at once and besiege in your house the rebels who by this time will have established and intrenched themselves therein.", "pos": 418611}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I should be surprised if that were the case,", "pos": 418778}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Why?", "pos": 418842}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Because their chief--the very soul of the enterprise--having been unmasked by me, the whole plan seems to me to have miscarried.", "pos": 418849}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You have unmasked this false prince also?", "pos": 418980}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "No, I have not seen him.", "pos": 419024}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Whom have you seen, then?", "pos": 419051}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The leader of the enterprise, not that unhappy young man; the latter is merely an instrument, destined through his whole life to wretchedness, I plainly perceive.", "pos": 419079}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Most certainly.", "pos": 419244}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It is M. l’Abbe d’Herblay, Eveque de Vannes.", "pos": 419262}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Your friend?", "pos": 419309}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "He was my friend, sire,", "pos": 419324}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "An unfortunate circumstance for you,", "pos": 419374}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Such friendships, sire, had nothing dishonorable in them so long as I was ignorant of the crime.", "pos": 419462}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You should have foreseen it.", "pos": 419561}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "If I am guilty, I place myself in your majesty’s hands.", "pos": 419592}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Ah! Monsieur Fouquet, it was not that I meant. Well! I assure you that, notwithstanding the mask with which the villain covered his face, I had something like a vague suspicion that he was the very man. But with this chief of the enterprise there was a man of prodigious strength, the one who menaced me with a force almost herculean; what is he?", "pos": 419650}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "It must be his friend the Baron du Vallon, formerly one of the musketeers.", "pos": 420088}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The friend of D’Artagnan? the friend of the Comte de la Fere? Ah! we must not forget the connection that existed between the conspirators and M. de Bragelonne.", "pos": 420165}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Sire, sire, do not go too far. M. de la Fere is the most honorable man in France. Be satisfied with those whom I deliver up to you.", "pos": 420389}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "With those whom you deliver up to me, you say? Very good, for you will deliver up those who are guilty to me.", "pos": 420523}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What does your majesty understand by that?", "pos": 420635}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I understand, that we shall soon arrive at Vaux with a large body of troops, that we will lay violent hands upon that nest of vipers, and that not a soul shall escape.", "pos": 420698}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Your majesty will put these men to death!", "pos": 420888}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "To the very meanest of them.", "pos": 420947}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Oh! sire.", "pos": 420978}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Let us understand one another, Monsieur Fouquet. We no longer live in times when assassination was the only and the last resource kings held in reservation at extremity. No, Heaven be praised! I have parliaments who sit and judge in my name, and I have scaffolds on which supreme authority is carried out.", "pos": 420990}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will take the liberty of observing to your majesty, that any proceedings instituted respecting these matters would bring down the greatest scandal upon the dignity of the throne. The august name of Anne of Austria must never be allowed to pass the lips of the people accompanied by a smile.", "pos": 421346}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Justice must be done, however, monsieur.", "pos": 421641}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Good, sire; but royal blood must not be shed upon a scaffold.", "pos": 421684}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "The royal blood! you believe that!", "pos": 421748}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "This double birth is an invention; and in that invention, particularly, do I see M. d’Herblay’s crime. It is the crime I wish to punish rather than the violence, or the insult.", "pos": 421857}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And punish it with death, sire?", "pos": 422036}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "With death; yes, monsieur, I have said it.", "pos": 422070}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Sire, your majesty will take the life, if you please, of your brother Philippe of France; that concerns you alone, and you will doubtless consult the queen-mother upon the subject. Whatever she may command will be perfectly correct. I do not wish to mix myself up in it, not even for the honor of your crown, but I have a favor to ask of you, and I beg to submit it to you.", "pos": 422115}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Speak,", "pos": 422562}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What do you require?", "pos": 422645}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The pardon of M. d’Herblay and of M. du Vallon.", "pos": 422668}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "My assassins?", "pos": 422718}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Two rebels, sire, that is all.", "pos": 422734}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! I understand, then, you ask me to forgive your friends.", "pos": 422767}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "My friends!", "pos": 422829}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Your friends, certainly; but the safety of the state requires that an exemplary punishment should be inflicted on the guilty.", "pos": 422873}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will not permit myself to remind your majesty that I have just restored you to liberty, and have saved your life.", "pos": 423001}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Monsieur!", "pos": 423119}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will not allow myself to remind your majesty that had M. d’Herblay wished to carry out his character of an assassin, he could very easily have assassinated your majesty this morning in the forest of Senart, and all would have been over. A pistol-bullet through the head, and the disfigured features of Louis XIV., which no one could have recognized, would be M. d’Herblay’s complete and entire justification. If M. d’Herblay, had been an assassin, he had no occasion to inform me of his plan in order to succeed. Freed from the real king, it would have been impossible in all futurity to guess the false. And if the usurper had been recognized by Anne of Austria, he would still have been--her son. The usurper, as far as Monsieur d’Herblay’s conscience was concerned, was still a king of the blood of Louis XIII. Moreover, the conspirator, in that course, would have had security, secrecy, impunity. A pistol-bullet would have procured him all that. For the sake of Heaven, sire, grant me his forgiveness.", "pos": 423131}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I really don’t know, monsieur, why you should solicit the pardon of these men. What good is there in asking that which can be obtained without solicitation?", "pos": 424848}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I do not understand you, sire.", "pos": 425007}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It is not difficult, either. Where am I now?", "pos": 425040}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "In the Bastile, sire.", "pos": 425087}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes; in a dungeon. I am looked upon as a madman, am I not?", "pos": 425111}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, sire.", "pos": 425172}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And no one is known here but Marchiali?", "pos": 425185}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Certainly.", "pos": 425227}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well; change nothing in the position of affairs. Let the poor madman rot between the slimy walls of the Bastile, and M. d’Herblay and M. du Vallon will stand in no need of my forgiveness. Their new king will absolve them.", "pos": 425240}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Your majesty does me a great injustice, sire; and you are wrong. I am not child enough, nor is M. d’Herblay silly enough, to have omitted to make all these reflections; and if I had wished to make a new king, as you say, I had no occasion to have come here to force open the gates and doors of the Bastile, to free you from this place. That would show a want of even common sense. Your majesty’s mind is disturbed by anger; otherwise you would be far from offending, groundlessly, the very one of your servants who has rendered you the most important service of all.", "pos": 425464}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I did not say that to humiliate you, Heaven knows, monsieur. Only you are addressing yourself to me in order to obtain a pardon, and I answer according to my conscience. And so, judging by my conscience, the criminals we speak of are not worthy of consideration or forgiveness. What I do is as generous, as what you have done, for I am in your power. I will even say it is more generous, inasmuch as you place before me certain conditions upon which my liberty, my life, may depend; and to reject which is to make a sacrifice of both.", "pos": 426291}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I was wrong, certainly. Yes,--I had the appearance of extorting a favor; I regret it, and entreat your majesty’s forgiveness.", "pos": 426882}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And you are forgiven, my dear Monsieur Fouquet,", "pos": 427029}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I have my own forgiveness, but M. d’Herblay, and M. du Vallon?", "pos": 427231}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "They will never obtain theirs, as long as I live. Do me the kindness not to speak of it again.", "pos": 427353}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Your majesty shall be obeyed.", "pos": 427481}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And you will bear me no ill-will for it?", "pos": 427513}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Oh! no, sire; for I anticipated the event.", "pos": 427556}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You had ‘anticipated’ that I should refuse to forgive those gentlemen?", "pos": 427601}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Certainly; and all my measures were taken in consequence.", "pos": 427674}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What do you mean to say?", "pos": 427734}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "M. d’Herblay came, as may be said, to deliver himself into my hands. M. d’Herblay left to me the happiness of saving my king and my country. I could not condemn M. d’Herblay to death; nor could I, on the other hand, expose him to your majesty’s justifiable wrath; it would have been just the same as if I had killed him myself.", "pos": 427788}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well! and what have you done?", "pos": 428118}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Sire, I gave M. d’Herblay the best horses in my stables and four hours’ start over all those your majesty might, probably, dispatch after him.", "pos": 428150}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Be it so! But still, the world is wide enough and large enough for those whom I may send to overtake your horses, notwithstanding the ‘four hours’ start’ which you have given to M. d’Herblay.", "pos": 428295}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "In giving him these four hours, sire, I knew I was giving him his life, and he will save his life.", "pos": 428510}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In what way?", "pos": 428611}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "After having galloped as hard as possible, with the four hours’ start, before your musketeers, he will reach my chateau of Belle-Isle, where I have given him a safe asylum.", "pos": 428626}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "That may be! But you forget that you have made me a present of Belle-Isle.", "pos": 428801}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But not for you to arrest my friends.", "pos": 428878}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You take it back again, then?", "pos": 428918}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "As far as that goes--yes, sire.", "pos": 428950}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "My musketeers shall capture it, and the affair will be at an end.", "pos": 428984}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Neither your musketeers, nor your whole army could take Belle-Isle. Belle-Isle is impregnable.", "pos": 429052}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Are we going to return to Vaux?", "pos": 429467}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I am at your majesty’s orders, but I think that your majesty can hardly dispense with changing your clothes previous to appearing before your court.", "pos": 429501}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "We shall pass by the Louvre. Come.", "pos": 429687}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "Well, my son, are you convinced with regard to M. Fouquet?", "pos": 433428}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Saint-Aignan, have the goodness to go and inquire after the queen. Madame, I do not like to hear M. Fouquet ill-spoken of, you know I do not--and you have even spoken well of him yourself.", "pos": 433501}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "That is true; therefore I only question you on the state of your sentiments with respect to him.", "pos": 433976}
{"speaker": "Henrietta", "text": "Sire. I, on my part, have always liked M. Fouquet. He is a man of good taste,--a superior man.", "pos": 434075}
{"speaker": "Monsieur", "text": "A superintendent who is never sordid or niggardly, and who pays in gold all the orders I have on him.", "pos": 434190}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "Every one in this thinks too much of himself, and nobody for the state. M. Fouquet, it is a fact, M. Fouquet is ruining the state.", "pos": 434312}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Well, mother! do you likewise constitute yourself the buckler of M. Colbert?", "pos": 434467}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "How is that?", "pos": 434589}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Why, in truth, you speak that just as your old friend Madame de Chevreuse would speak.", "pos": 434645}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "Why do you mention Madame de Chevreuse to me? and what sort of humor are you in to-day towards me?", "pos": 434754}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Is not Madame de Chevreuse always in league against somebody? Has not Madame de Chevreuse been to pay you a visit, mother?", "pos": 434887}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "Monsieur, you speak to me now in such a manner that I can almost fancy I am listening to your father.", "pos": 435012}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "My father did not like Madame de Chevreuse, and had good reason for not liking her. For my part, I like her no better than he did, and if she thinks proper to come here as she formerly did, to sow divisions and hatreds under the pretext of begging money--why--", "pos": 435116}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "Well! what?", "pos": 435398}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Well! I will drive Madame de Chevreuse out of my kingdom--and with her all who meddle with its secrets and mysteries.", "pos": 435472}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "Sire, you are treating your mother very cruelly.", "pos": 436097}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "In what respect, madame? I am only speaking of Madame de Chevreuse; does my mother prefer Madame de Chevreuse to the security of the state and of my person? Well, then, madame, I tell you Madame de Chevreuse has returned to France to borrow money, and that she addressed herself to M. Fouquet to sell him a certain secret.", "pos": 436164}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "A certain secret!", "pos": 436503}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Concerning pretended robberies that monsieur le surintendant had committed, which is false. M. Fouquet rejected her offers with indignation, preferring the esteem of the king to complicity with such intriguers. Then Madame de Chevreuse sold the secret to M. Colbert, and as she is insatiable, and was not satisfied with having extorted a hundred thousand crowns from a servant of the state, she has taken a still bolder flight, in search of surer sources of supply. Is that true, madame?", "pos": 436546}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "You know all, sire,", "pos": 437054}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Now. I have good reason to dislike this fury, who comes to my court to plan the shame of some and the ruin of others. If Heaven has suffered certain crimes to be committed, and has concealed them in the shadow of its clemency, I will not permit Madame de Chevreuse to counteract the just designs of fate. We will not go to-day. I have a plan. Remain where you are, mother. I wish you to make your peace with M. Fouquet.", "pos": 437120}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "I bear M. Fouquet no ill-will; I only dreaded his prodigalities.", "pos": 438130}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "We will put that to rights, and will take nothing of the superintendent but his good qualities.", "pos": 438197}
{"speaker": "Henrietta", "text": "What is your majesty looking for?", "pos": 438295}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "My sister, my sister, I am expecting a most distinguished man, a most able counselor, whom I wish to present to you all, recommending him to your good graces. Ah! come in, then, D’Artagnan.", "pos": 438548}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What does your majesty wish?", "pos": 438897}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Where is monsieur the bishop of Vannes, your friend?", "pos": 438956}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Why, sire--", "pos": 439011}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I am waiting for him, and he does not come. Let him be sought for.", "pos": 439025}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire, does your majesty absolutely require M. d’Herblay to be brought to you?", "pos": 439283}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Absolutely is not the word. I do not want him so particularly as that; but if he can be found--", "pos": 439377}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I thought so,", "pos": 439492}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "Is this M. d’Herblay the bishop of Vannes?", "pos": 439536}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, madame.", "pos": 439581}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "A friend of M. Fouquet? Yes, madame; an old musketeer. One of the four braves who formerly performed such prodigies. Whatever may be your choice, sire. I have no doubt it will be excellent.", "pos": 439596}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "You will find in him, the depth and penetration of M. de Richelieu, without the avarice of M. de Mazarin!", "pos": 439995}
{"speaker": "Monsieur", "text": "A prime minister, sire?", "pos": 440125}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "I will tell you all about that, brother; but it is strange that M. d’Herblay is not here! Let M. Fouquet be informed that I wish to speak to him--oh! before you, before you; do not retire!", "pos": 440179}
{"speaker": "Anne of Austria", "text": "Well! what?", "pos": 441982}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "What is all that noise?", "pos": 442018}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "This way, this way! A few steps more, sire!", "pos": 442145}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The voice of M. Fouquet,", "pos": 442191}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Then M. d’Herblay cannot be far off,", "pos": 442279}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "My mother, do you not acknowledge your son, since every one here has forgotten his king!", "pos": 447142}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "My mother, do you not acknowledge your son?", "pos": 447353}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "A moi! mousquetaire! Look us in the face and say which is the paler, he or I!", "pos": 447871}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, you are my prisoner!", "pos": 448168}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "If I were not your son, I should curse you, my mother, for having rendered me so unhappy.", "pos": 448805}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Excuse me, monseigneur, I am but a soldier, and my oaths are his who has just left the chamber.", "pos": 449025}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Thank you, M. d’Artagnan.... What has become of M. d’Herblay?", "pos": 449123}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "M. d’Herblay is in safety, monseigneur,", "pos": 449187}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "and no one, while I live and am free, shall cause a hair to fall from his head.", "pos": 449255}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Monsieur Fouquet!", "pos": 449337}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Pardon me, monseigneur, but he who is just gone out from hence was my guest.", "pos": 449389}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "Here are, brave friends and good hearts. They make me regret the world. On, M. d’Artagnan, I follow you. What is it?", "pos": 449494}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Read, monseigneur,", "pos": 449914}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "M. d’Artagnan will conduct the prisoner to the Ile Sainte-Marguerite. He will cover his face with an iron vizor, which the prisoner shall never raise except at peril of his life.", "pos": 450033}
{"speaker": "Philippe", "text": "That is just. I am ready.", "pos": 450214}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Aramis was right, this one is every whit as much a king as the other.", "pos": 450277}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "More so! He wanted only you and me.", "pos": 450399}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Hush! know only that our fortune depends on our speed.", "pos": 451064}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I shall be made a duke!", "pos": 451397}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is possible,", "pos": 451472}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am not traveling. I do not want horses for a whole stage. Find me two horses to go and pay a visit to a nobleman of my acquaintance who resides near this place.", "pos": 453956}
{"speaker": "postmaster", "text": "What nobleman? M. le Comte de la Fere. Oh! a very worthy nobleman. But, whatever may be my desire to make myself agreeable to him, I cannot furnish you with horses, for all mine are engaged by M. le Duc de Beaufort.", "pos": 454132}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Indeed!", "pos": 454427}
{"speaker": "postmaster", "text": "Only, if you will put up with a little carriage I have, I will harness an old blind horse who has still his legs left, and peradventure will draw you to the house of M. le Comte de la Fere.", "pos": 454469}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is worth a louis,", "pos": 454689}
{"speaker": "postmaster", "text": "No, monsieur, such a ride is worth no more than a crown; that is what M. Grimaud, the comte’s intendant, always pays me when he makes use of that carriage; and I should not wish the Comte de la Fere to have to reproach me with having imposed on one of his friends.", "pos": 454725}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "As you please, particularly as regards disobliging the Comte de la Fere; only I think I have a right to give you a louis for your idea.", "pos": 454992}
{"speaker": "postmaster", "text": "Oh! doubtless,", "pos": 455145}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I understand.", "pos": 455727}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Aha! and what do you understand, my friend?", "pos": 455743}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "We are going, on the part of the king, to make some great proposal to Athos.", "pos": 455804}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Pooh!", "pos": 455883}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You need tell me nothing about it, you need tell me nothing, I shall guess.", "pos": 455904}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well! do, my friend; guess away.", "pos": 456068}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ay! ay! I guess how it is! the mission is a secret one.", "pos": 456378}
{"speaker": "driver", "text": "Gentlemen, we have arrived.", "pos": 456517}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Monsieur, all that you tell me is true; I believe that no one has suffered in the affections of the heart so much as you have; but you are a man too great by reason of intelligence, and too severely tried by adverse fortune not to allow for the weakness of the soldier who suffers for the first time. I am paying a tribute that will not be paid a second time; permit me to plunge myself so deeply in my grief that I may forget myself in it, that I may drown even my reason in it. Raoul! Raoul! Listen, monsieur. Never shall I accustom myself to the idea that Louise, the chastest and most innocent of women, has been able to so basely deceive a man so honest and so true a lover as myself. Never can I persuade myself that I see that sweet and noble mask change into a hypocritical lascivious face. Louise lost! Louise infamous! Ah! monseigneur, that idea is much more cruel to me than Raoul abandoned--Raoul unhappy!", "pos": 457604}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "A woman who would have yielded to a king because he is a king, would deserve to be styled infamous; but Louise loves Louis. Young, both, they have forgotten, he his rank, she her vows. Love absolves everything, Raoul. The two young people love each other with sincerity.", "pos": 458639}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My friend, we have not long to remain with you.", "pos": 461295}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Only time to tell you of my good fortune,", "pos": 461367}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Ah! What is the good fortune that has happened to you? Let us hear it,", "pos": 461432}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "The king has made me a duke, a duke by brevet.", "pos": 461681}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My dear Athos, you see me overwhelmed with grief and trouble.", "pos": 462128}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "With grief and trouble, my dear friend?", "pos": 462204}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In two words. I have conspired against the king; that conspiracy has failed, and, at this moment, I am doubtless pursued.", "pos": 462275}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You are pursued!--a conspiracy! Eh! my friend, what do you tell me?", "pos": 462399}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The saddest truth. I am entirely ruined.", "pos": 462469}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Well, but Porthos--this title of duke--what does all that mean?", "pos": 462512}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is the subject of my severest pain; that is the deepest of my wounds. I have, believing in infallible success, drawn Porthos into my conspiracy. He threw himself into it, as you know he would do, with all his strength, without knowing what he was about; and now he is as much compromised as myself--as completely ruined as I am.", "pos": 462578}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Good God!", "pos": 462914}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I must make you acquainted with the whole. Listen to me,", "pos": 462990}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "It was a great idea, but a great error.", "pos": 463190}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "For which I am punished, Athos.", "pos": 463243}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Therefore, I will not tell you my entire thought.", "pos": 463277}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Tell it, nevertheless.", "pos": 463329}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "It is a crime.", "pos": 463354}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A capital crime; I know it is. Lese majeste.", "pos": 463371}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Porthos! poor Porthos!", "pos": 463418}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What would you advise me to do? Success, as I have told you, was certain.", "pos": 463443}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "M. Fouquet is an honest man.", "pos": 463519}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And I a fool for having so ill-judged him. Oh, the wisdom of man! Oh, millstone that grinds the world! and which is one day stopped by a grain of sand which has fallen, no one knows how, between its wheels.", "pos": 463550}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Say by a diamond, Aramis. But the thing is done. How do you think of acting?", "pos": 463774}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am taking away Porthos. The king will never believe that that worthy man has acted innocently. He never can believe that Porthos has thought he was serving the king, whilst acting as he has done. His head would pay my fault. It shall not, must not, be so.", "pos": 463853}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You are taking him away, whither?", "pos": 464113}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To Belle-Isle, at first. That is an impregnable place of refuge. Then, I have the sea, and a vessel to pass over into England, where I have many relations.", "pos": 464149}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You? in England?", "pos": 464307}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, or else in Spain, where I have still more.", "pos": 464326}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "But, our excellent Porthos! you ruin him, for the king will confiscate all his property.", "pos": 464376}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "All is provided for. I know how, when once in Spain, to reconcile myself with Louis XIV., and restore Porthos to favor.", "pos": 464467}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You have credit, seemingly, Aramis!", "pos": 464589}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Much; and at the service of my friends.", "pos": 464660}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Thank you,", "pos": 464763}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "you also are a malcontent; you also, Raoul, have griefs to lay to the king. Follow our example; pass over into Belle-Isle. Then we shall see, I guarantee upon my honor, that in a month there will be war between France and Spain on the subject of this son of Louis XIII., who is an Infante likewise, and whom France detains inhumanly. Now, as Louis XIV. would have no inclination for a war on that subject, I will answer for an arrangement, the result of which must bring greatness to Porthos and to me, and a duchy in France to you, who are already a grandee of Spain. Will you join us?", "pos": 464841}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "No; for my part I prefer having something to reproach the king with; it is a pride natural to my race to pretend to a superiority over royal races. Doing what you propose, I should become the obliged of the king; I should certainly be the gainer on that ground, but I should be a loser in my conscience.--No, thank you!", "pos": 465430}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Oh! I give it you if you really wished to avenge the weak and oppressed against the oppressor.", "pos": 465804}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is sufficient for me. And now, give me your two best horses to gain the second post, as I have been refused any under the pretext of the Duc de Beaufort being traveling in this country.", "pos": 465901}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You shall have the two best horses, Aramis; and again I recommend poor Porthos strongly to your care.", "pos": 466168}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! I have no fear on that score. One word more: do you think I am maneuvering for him as I ought?", "pos": 466272}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "The evil being committed, yes; for the king would not pardon him, and you have, whatever may be said, always a supporter in M. Fouquet, who will not abandon you, he being himself compromised, notwithstanding his heroic action.", "pos": 466373}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You are right. And that is why, instead of gaining the sea at once, which would proclaim my fear and guilt, that is why I remain upon French ground. But Belle-Isle will be for me whatever ground I wish it to be, English, Spanish, or Roman; all will depend, with me, on the standard I shall think proper to unfurl.", "pos": 466602}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "How so?", "pos": 466918}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It was I who fortified Belle-Isle; and, so long as I defend it, nobody can take Belle-Isle from me. And then, as you have said just now, M. Fouquet is there. Belle-Isle will not be attacked without the signature of M. Fouquet.", "pos": 466928}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "That is true. Nevertheless, be prudent. The king is both cunning and strong.", "pos": 467157}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I again recommend Porthos to you. Whatever becomes of me, count, our brother Porthos will fare as I do--or better.", "pos": 467251}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Raoul, I don’t know what it is that has just told me that I have seen those two for the last time.", "pos": 468789}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "It does not astonish me, monsieur, that you should have such a thought, for I have at this moment the same, and think also that I shall never see Messieurs du Vallon and d’Herblay again.", "pos": 468890}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Oh! you, you speak like a man rendered sad by a different cause; you see everything in black; you are young, and if you chance never to see those old friends again, it will because they no longer exist in the world in which you have yet many years to pass. But I--", "pos": 469104}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Is that the young man I have heard M. le Prince speak so highly of? It is, monseigneur. He is quite the soldier; let him stay, count, we cannot spare him.", "pos": 471055}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Remain, Raoul, since monseigneur permits it,", "pos": 471238}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Ma foi! he is tall and handsome! Will you give him to me, monseigneur, if I ask him of you?", "pos": 471297}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "How am I to understand you, monseigneur?", "pos": 471413}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Why, I call upon you to bid you farewell.", "pos": 471468}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Farewell!", "pos": 471512}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Yes, in good truth. Have you no idea of what I am about to become?", "pos": 471524}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Why, I suppose, what you have always been, monseigneur,--a valiant prince, and an excellent gentleman.", "pos": 471593}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "I am going to become an African prince,--a Bedouin gentleman. The king is sending me to make conquests among the Arabs.", "pos": 471698}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What is this you tell me, monseigneur?", "pos": 471820}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Strange, is it not? I, the Parisian par essence, I who have reigned in the faubourgs, and have been called King of the Halles,--I am going to pass from the Place Maubert to the minarets of Gigelli; from a Frondeur I am becoming an adventurer!", "pos": 471861}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Oh, monseigneur, if you did not yourself tell me that--", "pos": 472106}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "It would not be credible, would it? Believe me, nevertheless, and we have but to bid each other farewell. This is what comes of getting into favor again. Into favor? Because your highness loves glory above--everything. Oh! no; there is no glory in firing muskets at savages. I see no glory in that, for my part, and it is more probable that I shall there meet with something else. But I have wished, and still wish earnestly, my dear count, that my life should have that last facet, after all the whimsical exhibitions I have seen myself make during fifty years. For, in short, you must admit that it is sufficiently strange to be born the grandson of a king, to have made war against kings, to have been reckoned among the powers of the age, to have maintained my rank, to feel Henry IV. within me, to be great admiral of France--and then to go and get killed at Gigelli, among all those Turks, Saracens, and Moors.", "pos": 472164}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Monseigneur, you harp with strange persistence on that theme. How can you suppose that so brilliant a destiny will be extinguished in that remote and miserable scene?", "pos": 473190}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "And can you believe, upright and simple as you are, that if I go into Africa for this ridiculous motive, I will not endeavor to come out of it without ridicule? Shall I not give the world cause to speak of me? And to be spoken of, nowadays, when there are Monsieur le Prince, M. de Turenne, and many others, my contemporaries, I, admiral of France, grandson of Henry IV., king of Paris, have I anything left but to get myself killed? Cordieu! I will be talked of, I tell you; I shall be killed whether or not; if not there, somewhere else.", "pos": 473395}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Why, monseigneur, this is mere exaggeration; and hitherto you have shown nothing exaggerated save in bravery.", "pos": 473937}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Peste! my dear friend, there is bravery in facing scurvy, dysentery, locusts, poisoned arrows, as my ancestor St. Louis did. Do you know those fellows still use poisoned arrows? And then, you know me of old, I fancy, and you know that when I once make up my mind to a thing, I perform it in grim earnest.", "pos": 474049}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Yes, you made up your mind to escape from Vincennes.", "pos": 474356}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Ay, but you aided me in that, my master; and, a propos, I turn this way and that, without seeing my old friend, M. Vaugrimaud. How is he?", "pos": 474411}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "M. Vaugrimaud is still your highness’s most respectful servant,", "pos": 474551}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "I have a hundred pistoles here for him, which I bring as a legacy. My will is made, count. Ah! monseigneur! monseigneur! And you may understand that if Grimaud’s name were to appear in my will-- Young man, I know there is to be found here a certain De Vouvray wine, and I believe-- What do you mean to do with him?", "pos": 474638}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Nothing at present, monseigneur.", "pos": 475223}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Ah! yes, I know; since the passion of the king for La Vallière.", "pos": 475258}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 475324}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "That is all true, then, is it? I think I know her, that little La Vallière. She is not particularly handsome, if I remember right?", "pos": 475344}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "No, monseigneur,", "pos": 475477}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Do you know whom she reminds me of?", "pos": 475508}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Does she remind your highness of any one?", "pos": 475546}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "She reminds me of a very agreeable girl, whose mother lived in the Halles.", "pos": 475590}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Ah! ah!", "pos": 475667}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Oh! the good old times. Yes, La Vallière reminds me of that girl.", "pos": 475698}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Who had a son, had she not?", "pos": 475790}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "I believe she had. Now, here is poor Raoul, who is your son, I believe.", "pos": 475820}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Yes, he is my son, monseigneur.", "pos": 476037}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "And the poor lad has been cut out by the king, and he frets.", "pos": 476071}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Still better, monseigneur, he abstains.", "pos": 476134}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "You are going to let the boy rust in idleness; it is a mistake. Come, give him to me.", "pos": 476176}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "My wish is to keep him at home, monseigneur. I have no longer anything in the world but him, and as long as he likes to remain--", "pos": 476264}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Well, well. I could, nevertheless, have soon put matters to rights again. I assure you, I think he has in him the stuff of which marechals of France are made; I have seen more than one produced from less likely rough material.", "pos": 476395}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "That is very possible, monseigneur; but it is the king who makes marechals of France, and Raoul will never accept anything of the king.", "pos": 476644}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Grimaud! Good evening, Grimaud! how goes it? Two old friends!", "pos": 477028}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I should not think of drinking with your highness, unless your highness permitted me,", "pos": 477380}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Cordieu! you were right to bring only one glass, we will both drink out of it, like two brothers in arms. Begin, count.", "pos": 477504}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Do me the honor,", "pos": 477626}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "You are a charming friend. But that is not all. I am still thirsty, and I wish to do honor to this handsome young man who stands here. I carry good luck with me, vicomte, wish for something while drinking out of my glass, and may the black plague grab me if what you wish does not come to pass!", "pos": 477688}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I have wished for something, monseigneur.", "pos": 478203}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "And what have you wished for?", "pos": 478366}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Will you promise me, monseigneur, to grant me what I wish for?", "pos": 478541}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Pardieu! That is agreed upon.", "pos": 478606}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I wished, monsieur le duc, to go with you to Gigelli.", "pos": 478638}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "That is difficult, my dear vicomte, very difficult,", "pos": 478845}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Pardon me, monseigneur, I have been indiscreet, but as you yourself invited me to wish--", "pos": 478935}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "To wish to leave me?", "pos": 479060}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Well, mordieu! the young vicomte is right! What can he do here? He will go moldy with grief.", "pos": 479129}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "That is to say, memory, and that is to say, so much the better!", "pos": 479407}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "let us see! Shall he go, or shall he not? If he goes, comte, he shall be my aide-de-camp, my son.", "pos": 479802}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Monseigneur!", "pos": 479902}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Monseigneur! Raoul shall do just as he likes.", "pos": 479948}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Oh! no, monsieur, just as you like,", "pos": 480040}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Par la corbleu! it is neither the comte nor the vicomte that shall have his way, it is I. I will take him away. The marine offers a superb fortune, my friend. I am in great haste, but if I am told I have lost time in talking with a friend, I will reply I have gained--on the balance--a most excellent recruit.", "pos": 480136}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Pardon me, monsieur le duc, do not tell the king so, for it is not the king I wish to serve.", "pos": 480762}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Eh! my friend, whom, then, will you serve? The times are past when you might have said, ‘I belong to M. de Beaufort.’ No, nowadays, we all belong to the king, great or small. Therefore, if you serve on board my vessels, there can be nothing equivocal about it, my dear vicomte; it will be the king you will serve.", "pos": 480878}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Monsieur le duc, the objection you make I have already considered in my mind. I will serve on board your vessels, because you do me the honor to take me with you; but I shall there serve a more powerful master than the king: I shall serve God!", "pos": 481615}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "God! how so?", "pos": 481861}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "My intention is to make profession, and become a knight of Malta,", "pos": 481910}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Comte, I shall set off in two days for Toulon. Will you meet me at Paris, in order that I may know your determination?", "pos": 482658}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I will have the honor of thanking you there, mon prince, for all your kindness,", "pos": 482802}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "And be sure to bring the vicomte with you, whether he follows me or does not follow me, he has my word, and I only ask yours.", "pos": 482903}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "it is late, then.... Till to-morrow. In two days, you will have left me, my son--left me forever, Raoul!", "pos": 484054}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Monsieur. I had formed a determination, that of piercing my heart with my sword; but you would have thought that cowardly. I have renounced that determination, and therefore we must part.", "pos": 484287}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You leave me desolate by going, Raoul.", "pos": 484502}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Listen to me again, monsieur, I implore you. If I do not go, I shall die here of grief and love. I know how long a time I have to live thus. Send me away quickly, monsieur, or you will see me basely die before your eyes--in your house--this is stronger than my will--stronger than my strength--you may plainly see that within one month I have lived thirty years, and that I approach the end of my life.", "pos": 484543}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Then, you go with the intention of getting killed in Africa? Oh, tell me! do not lie!", "pos": 484948}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Monsieur. I have promised to devote myself to God. In exchange for the sacrifice I make of my youth and liberty, I will only ask of Him one thing, and that is, to preserve me for you, because you are the only tie which attaches me to this world. God alone can give me the strength not to forget that I owe you everything, and that nothing ought to stand in my esteem before you.", "pos": 485183}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You have just replied to me on the word of honor of an honest man; in two days we shall be with M. de Beaufort at Paris, and you will then do what will be proper for you to do. You are free, Raoul; adieu.", "pos": 485618}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Make your escape, Malicorne. I did not think there was any one here. I shall curse you, if they have either heard or seen us! Monsieur is a gallant man, and no doubt-- Raoul!", "pos": 489091}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Mademoiselle de Montalais!", "pos": 489478}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Ah! monsieur, what you are doing is very unworthy of a gentleman. My heart inclines me to speak to you; you compromise me by a reception almost uncivil; you are wrong, monsieur; and you confound your friends with enemies. Farewell!", "pos": 490156}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Pardon me, mademoiselle; it enters not, it cannot enter into my thoughts to be uncivil.", "pos": 490826}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Do you wish to speak to me?", "pos": 490916}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Yes, mademoiselle.", "pos": 491440}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "I will go and ask him to come up here, presently, after I have spoken to you.", "pos": 491461}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Do so, mademoiselle.", "pos": 491541}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Are you angry with me?", "pos": 491564}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Yes. You think I was concerned in the plot which brought about the rupture, do you not? Rupture! Oh! mademoiselle, there can be no rupture where there has been no love.", "pos": 491652}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Louise did love you.", "pos": 491903}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Not with love, I know; but she liked you, and you ought to have married her before you set out for London.", "pos": 491941}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Listen, you were wrong in every way; a man of your age ought never to leave a woman of hers alone.", "pos": 492296}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "There is no longer any faith in the world, then,", "pos": 492461}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "No, vicomte. Nevertheless, let me tell you that, if, instead of loving Louise coldly and philosophically, you had endeavored to awaken her to love--", "pos": 492524}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Enough, I pray you, mademoiselle. I feel as though you are all, of both sexes, of a different age from me. You can laugh, and you can banter agreeably. I, mademoiselle, I loved Mademoiselle de-- I loved her well! I put my faith in her--now I am quits by loving her no longer.", "pos": 492702}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Oh, vicomte!", "pos": 493033}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I know what you mean, mademoiselle; I am much altered, am I not? Well! Do you know why? Because my face is the mirror of my heart, the outer surface changed to match the mind within.", "pos": 493111}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "You are consoled, then?", "pos": 493296}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "No, I shall never be consoled.", "pos": 493347}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "I don’t understand you, M. de Bragelonne.", "pos": 493380}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I care but little for that. I do not quite understand myself.", "pos": 493424}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "You have not even tried to speak to Louise?", "pos": 493488}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Who! I? I!--Why do you not advise me to marry her? Perhaps the king would consent now.", "pos": 493534}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "I see, that you are not cured, and that Louise has one enemy the more.", "pos": 493717}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "One enemy the more!", "pos": 493808}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Yes; favorites are but little beloved at the court of France. Oh! while she has her lover to protect her, is not that enough? She has chosen him of such a quality that her enemies cannot prevail against her. And then she has you for a friend, mademoiselle. Who! I?--Oh, no! I am no longer one of those whom Mademoiselle de la Vallière condescends to look upon; but--", "pos": 493829}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Madame!", "pos": 494778}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Stupid wretch! I have been mistaken in an hour! M. de Bragelonne, Madame. Your royal highness, is kind enough to think of this lottery, and--", "pos": 494851}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Dear count, tell Madame I am too unhappy not to merit pardon; tell her also that I have loved in the course of my life, and that the horror of the treachery that has been practiced on me renders me inexorable towards all other treachery that may be committed around me. This is why, mademoiselle. I never would divulge the secret of the visits of my friend to your apartment. Obtain from Madame--from Madame, who is so clement and so generous,--obtain her pardon for you whom she has just surprised also. You are both free, love each other, be happy!", "pos": 495920}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Madame! in two days I shall be far from Paris; in a fortnight I shall be far from France, where I shall never be seen again.", "pos": 497017}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Are you going away, then?", "pos": 497171}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "With M. de Beaufort.", "pos": 497229}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "Into Africa! You, Raoul--oh! my friend--into Africa, where everybody dies! Ingrate! and you have not even consulted me!", "pos": 497252}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I have been dreaming! My friend. I conceal nothing from you, who are the elected of my heart. I am going to seek death in yonder country; your secret will not remain in my breast more than a year.", "pos": 497704}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "Oh, Raoul! a man!", "pos": 497968}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Do you know what is my thought, count? This is it--I shall live more vividly, being buried beneath the earth, than I have lived for this month past. We are Christians, my friend, and if such sufferings were to continue, I would not be answerable for the safety of my soul. Not one word more on my account, but advice to you, dear friend; what I am going to say to you is of much greater importance.", "pos": 497988}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "What is that?", "pos": 498448}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Without doubt you risk much more than I do, because you love.", "pos": 498464}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "Oh!", "pos": 498528}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "It is a joy so sweet to me to be able to speak to you thus! Well, then, De Guiche, beware of Montalais.", "pos": 498534}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "What! of that kind friend?", "pos": 498640}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "She was the friend of--her you know of. She ruined her by pride.", "pos": 498669}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "You are mistaken.", "pos": 498736}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "And now, when she has ruined her, she would ravish from her the only thing that renders that woman excusable in my eyes.", "pos": 498756}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "What is that?", "pos": 498879}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Her love.", "pos": 498895}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "What do you mean by that?", "pos": 498907}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I mean that there is a plot formed against her who is the mistress of the king--a plot formed in the very house of Madame.", "pos": 498935}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "Can you think so?", "pos": 499060}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I am certain of it.", "pos": 499080}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "By Montalais?", "pos": 499102}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Take her as the least dangerous of the enemies I dread for--the other!", "pos": 499118}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "Explain yourself clearly, my friend; and if I can understand you--", "pos": 499191}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "In two words. Madame has been long jealous of the king.", "pos": 499260}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "I know she has--", "pos": 499318}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Oh! fear nothing--you are beloved--you are beloved, count; do you feel the value of these three words? They signify that you can raise your head, that you can sleep tranquilly, that you can thank God every minute of you life. You are beloved; that signifies that you may hear everything, even the counsel of a friend who wishes to preserve your happiness. You are beloved, De Guiche, you are beloved! You do not endure those atrocious nights, those nights without end, which, with arid eye and fainting heart, others pass through who are destined to die. You will live long, if you act like the miser who, bit by bit, crumb by crumb, collects and heaps up diamonds and gold. You are beloved!--allow me to tell you what you must do that you may be beloved forever. They will make her, whose name I should wish still to be able to pronounce--they will make her suffer. Swear to me that you will not second them in anything--but that you will defend her when possible, as I would have done myself.", "pos": 499337}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "I swear I will,", "pos": 500605}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "And, some day, when you shall have rendered her a great service--some day when she shall thank you, promise me to say these words to her--‘I have done you this kindness, madame, at the warm request of M. de Bragelonne, whom you so deeply injured.’", "pos": 500642}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "I swear I will,", "pos": 500911}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "That is all. Adieu! I set out to-morrow, or the day after, for Toulon. If you have a few hours to spare, give them to me.", "pos": 500949}
{"speaker": "De Guiche", "text": "All! all!", "pos": 501073}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Thank you! And what are you going to do now? I am going to meet M. le comte at Planchet’s residence, where we hope to find M. d’Artagnan. M. d’Artagnan? Yes, I wish to embrace him before my departure. He is a brave man, who loves me dearly. Farewell, my friend; you are expected, no doubt; you will find me, when you wish, at the lodgings of the comte. Farewell!", "pos": 501106}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What! his trunks? is M. Planchet going away?", "pos": 502677}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, monsieur, directly.", "pos": 502735}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Then, if you please, inform him that M. le Comte de la Fere desires to speak to him for a moment.", "pos": 502762}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Ah! monsieur le comte! how glad I am to see you! What good star brings you here?", "pos": 503196}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "My dear Planchet, we are come to learn of you--But in what confusion do I find you! You are as white as a miller; where have you been rummaging?", "pos": 503295}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Ah, diable! take care, monsieur; don’t come near me till I have well shaken myself.", "pos": 503524}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What for? Flour or dust only whiten.", "pos": 503610}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "No, no; what you see on my arms is arsenic.", "pos": 503649}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Arsenic?", "pos": 503695}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Yes; I am taking my precautions against rats.", "pos": 503706}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Ay, I suppose in an establishment like this, rats play a conspicuous part.", "pos": 503754}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "It is not with this establishment I concern myself, monsieur le comte. The rats have robbed me of more here than they will ever rob me of again.", "pos": 503831}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What do you mean?", "pos": 503978}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Why, you may have observed, monsieur, my inventory is being taken.", "pos": 503998}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Are you leaving trade, then?", "pos": 504067}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Eh! mon Dieu! yes. I have disposed of my business to one of my young men.", "pos": 504098}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Bah! you are rich, then, I suppose?", "pos": 504174}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Monsieur, I have taken a dislike to the city; I don’t know whether it is because I am growing old, and as M. d’Artagnan one day said, when we grow old we more often think of the adventures of our youth; but for some time past I have felt myself attracted towards the country and gardening. I was a countryman formerly.", "pos": 504212}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You are going to buy an estate, then?", "pos": 504692}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "I have bought one, monsieur.", "pos": 504732}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Ah! that is still better.", "pos": 504763}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "A little house at Fontainebleau, with something like twenty acres of land round it.", "pos": 504791}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Very well, Planchet! Accept my compliments on your acquisition.", "pos": 504877}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "But, monsieur, we are not comfortable here; the cursed dust makes you cough. Corbleu! I do not wish to poison the most worthy gentleman in the kingdom.", "pos": 504943}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Yes, let us have a little talk by ourselves--in your own room, for example. You have a room, have you not?", "pos": 505231}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Certainly, monsieur le comte.", "pos": 505354}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Upstairs, perhaps?", "pos": 505386}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "It is--but--", "pos": 505494}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Never mind, never mind, the dwelling of a tradesman in this quarter is not expected to be a palace. Come on.", "pos": 505672}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "I ask your pardon! madame is dressing.", "pos": 506165}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Madame-- Oh! pardon me, Planchet, I did not know that you had upstairs--", "pos": 506322}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "It is Truchen,", "pos": 506411}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "It is whoever you please, my good Planchet; but pardon my rudeness.", "pos": 506463}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "No, no; go up now, gentlemen.", "pos": 506533}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "We will do no such thing,", "pos": 506565}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Oh! madame, having notice, has had time--", "pos": 506605}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "No, Planchet; farewell!", "pos": 506649}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Eh, gentlemen! you would not disoblige me by thus standing on the staircase, or by going away without having sat down.", "pos": 506675}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "If we had known you had a lady upstairs, we would have asked permission to pay our respects to her.", "pos": 506796}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You want nothing now, then, but heirs to your property.", "pos": 507858}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "If I had one he would have three hundred thousand livres,", "pos": 507916}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Humph! you must have one, then, if only to prevent your little fortune being lost. What is M. d’Artagnan about? he is not at the Louvre.", "pos": 507991}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Ah! monsieur le comte, Monsieur d’Artagnan has disappeared.", "pos": 508664}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Disappeared!", "pos": 508726}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Oh! monsieur, we know what that means.", "pos": 508766}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "But I do not know.", "pos": 508807}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Whenever M. d’Artagnan disappears it is always for some mission or some great affair.", "pos": 508828}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Has he said anything to you about it?", "pos": 508916}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Never.", "pos": 508956}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You were acquainted with his departure for England formerly, were you not?", "pos": 508965}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "On account of the speculation.", "pos": 509042}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "The speculation!", "pos": 509102}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "I mean--", "pos": 509121}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Well, well; neither your affairs nor those of your master are in question; the interest we take in him alone has induced me to apply to you. Since the captain of the musketeers is not here, and as we cannot learn from you where we are likely to find M. d’Artagnan, we will take our leave of you. Au revoir, Planchet, au revoir. Let us be gone, Raoul.", "pos": 509170}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Monsieur le comte, I wish I were able to tell you--", "pos": 509523}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Oh, not at all; I am not the man to reproach a servant with discretion.", "pos": 509577}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "There is nothing indiscreet in telling you, monsieur le comte, M. d’Artagnan came here the other day--", "pos": 509787}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Aha?", "pos": 509892}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "And remained several hours consulting a geographical chart.", "pos": 509899}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You are right, then, my friend; say no more about it.", "pos": 509961}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "And the chart is there as a proof,", "pos": 510017}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Never mind, we must confess that there is a Providence always occupied in connecting our destiny with that of M. d’Artagnan. There he is on the coast of Cannes, and you, monsieur, will, at least, conduct me as far as Toulon. Be assured that we shall meet with him more easily upon our route than on this map. Every one journeys towards happiness by the route he chooses,", "pos": 511081}
{"speaker": "Planchet", "text": "Road to Fontainebleau!", "pos": 511909}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "I wish I had what you have; I would give it you. I have but this silver ewer; it is worth at least five hundred livres,--take it.", "pos": 515344}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "There is my aide-de-camp being brought to me! Come hither, comte; come hither, vicomte. Ah! step over, step over! Here is your commission. I had prepared it, reckoning upon you. You will go before me as far as Antibes.", "pos": 518289}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 518725}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Here is the order. Do you know anything of the sea?", "pos": 518745}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Yes, monseigneur; I have traveled with M. le Prince.", "pos": 518839}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "That is well. All these barges and lighters must be in attendance to form an escort and carry my provisions. The army must be prepared to embark in a fortnight at the very latest.", "pos": 518894}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "That shall be done, monseigneur.", "pos": 519076}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "The present order gives you the right to visit and search all the isles along the coast; you will there make the enrolments and levies you may want for me.", "pos": 519111}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Yes, monsieur le duc.", "pos": 519269}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "And you are an active man, and will work freely, you will spend much money.", "pos": 519293}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I hope not, monseigneur.", "pos": 519371}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "But I am sure you will. My intendant has prepared the orders of a thousand livres, drawn upon the cities of the south; he will give you a hundred of them. Now, dear vicomte, be gone.", "pos": 519398}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Keep your money, monseigneur; war is to be waged among the Arabs with gold as well as lead.", "pos": 519613}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "I wish to try the contrary, and then you are acquainted with my ideas upon the expedition--plenty of noise, plenty of fire, and, if so it must be, I shall disappear in the smoke. Ah, you are such people as a man should not see after dinner; you are cold, stiff, and dry when I am all fire, suppleness, and wine. No, devil take me! I should always see you fasting, vicomte, and you, comte, if you wear such a face as that, you shall see me no more.", "pos": 519707}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Monseigneur, do not talk so grandly because you happen to have plenty of money. I predict that within a month you will be dry, stiff, and cold, in presence of your strong-box, and that then, having Raoul at your elbow, fasting, you will be surprised to see him gay, animated, and generous, because he will have some new crowns to offer you.", "pos": 520439}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "God grant it may be so! Comte, stay with me!", "pos": 520782}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "No, I shall go with Raoul; the mission with which you charge him is a troublesome and difficult one. Alone it would be too much for him to execute. You do not observe, monseigneur, you have given him command of the first order.", "pos": 520857}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Bah!", "pos": 521087}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "And in your naval arrangements, too.", "pos": 521094}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "That may be true. But one finds that such fine young fellows as your son generally do all that is required of them.", "pos": 521133}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Monseigneur, I believe you will find nowhere so much zeal and intelligence, so much real bravery, as in Raoul; but if he failed to arrange your embarkation, you would only meet the fate that you deserve.", "pos": 521251}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Humph! you are scolding me, then.", "pos": 521457}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Monseigneur, to provision a fleet, to assemble a flotilla, to enroll your maritime force, would take an admiral a year. Raoul is a cavalry officer, and you allow him a fortnight!", "pos": 521493}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "I tell you he will do it.", "pos": 521674}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "He may; but I will go and help him.", "pos": 521702}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "To be sure you will; I reckoned upon you, and still further believe that when we are once at Toulon you will not let him depart alone.", "pos": 521740}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Oh!", "pos": 521877}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Patience! patience!", "pos": 521913}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Monseigneur, permit us to take our leave.", "pos": 521935}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Begone, then, and may my good luck attend you.", "pos": 521979}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Adieu! monseigneur; and may your own good luck attend you likewise. Here is an expedition admirably commenced! No provisions--no store flotilla! What can be done, thus?", "pos": 522028}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Humph! if all are going to do as I am, provisions will not be wanted.", "pos": 522226}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Monsieur, do not be unjust and senseless in your egotism, or your grief, whichever you please to call it. If you set out for this war solely with the intention of getting killed therein, you stand in need of nobody, and it was scarcely worth while to recommend you to M. de Beaufort. But when you have been introduced to the prime commandant--when you have accepted the responsibility of a post in his army, the question is no longer about you, but about all those poor soldiers, who, as well as you, have hearts and bodies, who will weep for their country and endure all the necessities of their condition. Remember, Raoul, that officers are ministers as useful to the world as priests, and that they ought to have more charity.", "pos": 522316}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Monsieur, I know it and have practiced it; I would have continued to do so still, but--", "pos": 523074}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You forget also that you are of a country that is proud of its military glory; go and die if you like, but do not die without honor and without advantage to France. Cheer up, Raoul! do not let my words grieve you; I love you, and wish to see you perfect.", "pos": 523164}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I love your reproaches, monsieur, they alone may cure me, because they prove to me that some one loves me still.", "pos": 523421}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "And now, Raoul, let us be off; the weather is so fine, the heavens so clear, those heavens which we always find above our heads, which you will see more clear still at Gigelli, and which will speak to you of me there, as they speak to me here of God.", "pos": 523566}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "But all this does not tell us, how you injured your boat.", "pos": 526579}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "This is the way. I was steering towards St. Honnorat as the gentleman desired me; but he changed his mind, and pretended that I could not pass to the south of the abbey.", "pos": 526653}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "And why not?", "pos": 526825}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "Because, monsieur, there is in front of the square tower of the Benedictines, towards the southern point, the bank of the Moines.", "pos": 526840}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "A rock?", "pos": 526972}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "Level with the water, but below water; a dangerous passage, yet one I have cleared a thousand times; the gentleman required me to land him at Sainte-Marguerite’s.", "pos": 526995}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Well?", "pos": 527160}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "Well, monsieur! a man is a sailor, or he is not; he knows his course, or he is nothing but a fresh-water lubber. I was obstinate, and wished to try the channel. The gentleman took me by the collar, and told me quietly he would strangle me. My mate armed himself with a hatchet, and so did I. We had the affront of the night before to pay him out for. But the gentleman drew his sword, and used it in such an astonishingly rapid manner, that we neither of us could get near him. I was about to hurl my hatchet at his head, and I had a right to do so, hadn’t I, monsieur? for a sailor aboard is master, as a citizen is in his chamber; I was going, then, in self-defense, to cut the gentleman in two, when, all at once--believe me or not, monsieur--the great carriage case opened of itself, I don’t know how, and there came out of it a sort of a phantom, his head covered with a black helmet and a black mask, something terrible to look upon, which came towards me threatening with its fist.", "pos": 527168}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "And that was--", "pos": 528209}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "That was the devil, monsieur; for the gentleman, with great glee, cried out, on seeing him: ‘Ah! thank you, monseigneur!’ Ah! thank you, monseigneur!", "pos": 528238}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "A most strange story!", "pos": 528362}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "And what did you do?", "pos": 528424}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "You must know, monsieur, that two poor men, such as we are, could be no match for two gentlemen; but when one of them turned out to be the devil, we had no earthly chance! My companion and I did not stop to consult one another; we made but one jump into the sea, for we were within seven or eight hundred feet of the shore.", "pos": 528482}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Well, and then?", "pos": 528808}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "Why, and then, monseigneur, as there was a little wind from the southwest, the boat drifted into the sands of Sainte-Marguerite’s.", "pos": 528826}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Oh!--but the travelers?", "pos": 528959}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "Bah! you need not be uneasy about them! It was pretty plain that one was the devil, and protected the other; for when we recovered the boat, after she got afloat again, instead of finding these two creatures injured by the shock, we found nothing, not even the carriage or the case.", "pos": 528985}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Very strange! very strange! But after that, what did you do, my friend?", "pos": 529270}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "I made my complaint to the governor of Sainte-Marguerite’s, who brought my finger under my nose by telling me if I plagued him with such silly stories he would have me flogged.", "pos": 529366}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What! did the governor himself say so?", "pos": 529545}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "Yes, monsieur; and yet my boat was injured, seriously injured, for the prow is left upon the point of Sainte-Marguerite’s, and the carpenter asks a hundred and twenty livres to repair it.", "pos": 529586}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Very well, you will be exempted from the service. Go.", "pos": 529776}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "We will go to Sainte-Marguerite’s, shall we? Yes, monsieur, for there is something to be cleared up; that man does not seem to me to have told the truth.", "pos": 529849}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Nor to me either, Raoul. The story of the masked man and the carriage having disappeared, may be told to conceal some violence these fellows have committed upon their passengers in the open sea, to punish him for his persistence in embarking.", "pos": 530060}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I formed the same suspicion; the carriage was more likely to contain property than a man.", "pos": 530305}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "We shall see to that, Raoul. The gentleman very much resembles D’Artagnan; I recognize his methods of proceeding. Alas! we are no longer the young invincibles of former days. Who knows whether the hatchet or the iron bar of this miserable coaster has not succeeded in doing that which the best blades of Europe, balls, and bullets have not been able to do in forty years?", "pos": 530397}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I am the brother of the king of France--a prisoner to-day--a madman to-morrow. French gentlemen and Christians, pray to God for the soul and the reason of the son of your old rulers. To-morrow.", "pos": 533881}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Cordieu! What, are people assassinated here? Come down, cowards as you are!", "pos": 534535}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Yes, come down!", "pos": 534628}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "We are going to be shot! but, sword in hand, at least, let us leap the ditch! We shall kill at least two of these scoundrels, when their muskets are empty.", "pos": 535454}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Athos! Raoul!", "pos": 535759}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "D’Artagnan!", "pos": 535775}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Recover arms! Mordioux! I was sure I could not be mistaken!", "pos": 535816}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What is the meaning of this? What! were we to be shot without warning?", "pos": 535915}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It was I who was going to shoot you, and if the governor missed you, I should not have missed you, my dear friends. How fortunate it is that I am accustomed to take a long aim, instead of firing at the instant I raise my weapon! I thought I recognized you. Ah! my dear friends, how fortunate!", "pos": 536003}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "How! And is the gentleman who fired at us the governor of the fortress?", "pos": 536388}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In person.", "pos": 536476}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "And why did he fire at us? What have we done to him?", "pos": 536489}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Pardieu! You received what the prisoner threw to you?", "pos": 536544}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "That is true.", "pos": 536600}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That plate--the prisoner has written something on it, has he not?", "pos": 536616}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 536684}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Good heavens! I was afraid he had. Oh! good heavens! Silence!--Here is the governor.", "pos": 536691}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And what will he do to us? Is it our fault?", "pos": 536965}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "It is true, then? It is true?", "pos": 537011}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Silence! I tell you--silence! If he only believes you can read; if he only suspects you have understood; I love you, my dear friends, I would willingly be killed for you, but--", "pos": 537077}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "But--", "pos": 537256}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But I could not save you from perpetual imprisonment if I saved you from death. Silence, then! Silence again!", "pos": 537286}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "Well! what stops us?", "pos": 537466}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You are Spaniards--you do not understand a word of French. Well! I was right; these gentlemen are two Spanish captains with whom I was acquainted at Ypres, last year; they don’t know a word of French.", "pos": 537514}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "Ah! And yet they were trying to read the inscription on the plate. How! what are you doing? I cannot read them now!", "pos": 537816}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is a state secret, and as you know that, according to the king’s orders, it is under the penalty of death any one should penetrate it, I will, if you like, allow you to read it, and have you shot immediately afterwards.", "pos": 538078}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "But, is it possible, that these gentlemen do not comprehend at least some words?", "pos": 538452}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Suppose they do! If they do understand a few spoken words, it does not follow that they should understand what is written. They cannot even read Spanish. A noble Spaniard, remember, ought never to know how to read.", "pos": 538556}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "Invite these gentlemen to come to the fortress,", "pos": 538867}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That I will willingly do. I was about to propose it to you.", "pos": 538926}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Come, let us have a word of explanation whilst we are alone.", "pos": 539583}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is simply this. I have conducted hither a prisoner, who the king commands shall not be seen. You came here, he has thrown something to you through the lattice of his window; I was at dinner with the governor, I saw the object thrown, and I saw Raoul pick it up. It does not take long to understand this. I understood it, and I thought you in intelligence with my prisoner. And then--", "pos": 539660}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "And then--you commanded us to be shot.", "pos": 540074}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ma foi! I admit it; but, if I was the first to seize a musket, fortunately, I was the last to take aim at you.", "pos": 540115}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "If you had killed me, D’Artagnan, I should have had the good fortune to die for the royal house of France, and it would be an honor to die by your hand--you, its noblest and most loyal defender.", "pos": 540228}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What the devil, Athos, do you mean by the royal house? You don’t mean that you, a well-informed and sensible man, can place any faith in the nonsense written by an idiot?", "pos": 540425}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I do believe in it.", "pos": 540622}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "With so much the more reason, my dear chevalier, from your having orders to kill all those who do believe in it,", "pos": 540644}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is because, because every calumny, however absurd it may be, has the almost certain chance of becoming popular.", "pos": 540771}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "No, D’Artagnan, but because the king is not willing that the secret of his family should transpire among the people, and cover with shame the executioners of the son of Louis XIII.", "pos": 540931}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do not talk in such a childish manner, Athos, or I shall begin to think you have lost your senses. Besides, explain to me how it is possible Louis XIII. should have a son in the Isle of Sainte-Marguerite.", "pos": 541141}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "A son whom you have brought hither masked, in a fishing-boat. Why not?", "pos": 541348}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! whence do you know that a fishing-boat--?", "pos": 541470}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Brought you to Sainte-Marguerite’s with the carriage containing the prisoner--with a prisoner whom you styled monseigneur. Oh! I am acquainted with all that,", "pos": 541529}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "If it were true, that I had brought hither in a boat and with a carriage a masked prisoner, nothing proves that this prisoner must be a prince--a prince of the house of France.", "pos": 541737}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Ask Aramis such riddles. Aramis", "pos": 541927}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Aramis. Have you seen Aramis?", "pos": 541977}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "After his discomfiture at Vaux, yes; I have seen Aramis, a fugitive, pursued, bewildered, ruined; and Aramis has told me enough to make me believe in the complaints this unfortunate young prince cut upon the bottom of the plate.", "pos": 542050}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "This is the way, in which God turns to nothing that which men call wisdom! A fine secret must that be of which twelve or fifteen persons hold the tattered fragments! Athos, cursed be the chance which has brought you face to face with me in this affair! for now--", "pos": 542337}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Well, is your secret lost because I know it? Consult your memory, my friend. Have I not borne secrets heavier than this?", "pos": 542613}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You have never borne one so dangerous. I have something like a sinister idea that all who are concerned with this secret will die, and die unhappily.", "pos": 542784}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "The will of God be done! but here is your governor.", "pos": 542980}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What is this man’s name? I don’t like the looks of him,", "pos": 543653}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "De Saint-Mars,", "pos": 543748}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "He is, then, I suppose, the prince’s jailer?", "pos": 543786}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Eh! how can I tell? I may be kept at Sainte-Marguerite forever.", "pos": 543833}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Oh! no, not you!", "pos": 543899}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My friend, I am in the situation of a man who finds a treasure in the midst of a desert. He would like to carry it away, but he cannot; he would like to leave it, but he dares not. The king will not dare to recall me, for no one else would serve him as faithfully as I do; he regrets not having me near him, from being aware that no one would be of so much service near his person as myself. But it will happen as it may please God.", "pos": 543918}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "But, your not being certain proves that your situation here is provisional, and you will return to Paris?", "pos": 544353}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "Ask these gentlemen, what was their purpose in coming to Saint-Marguerite?", "pos": 544479}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "They came from learning there was a convent of Benedictines at Sainte-Honnorat which is considered curious; and from being told there was excellent shooting in the island.", "pos": 544584}
{"speaker": "Saint-Mars", "text": "That is quite at their service, as well as yours,", "pos": 544758}
{"speaker": "Governor", "text": "When will they depart?", "pos": 544863}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "To-morrow. Oh! here is a life and a society that suits me very little. I command this man, and he bores me, mordioux! Come, let us have a shot or two at the rabbits; the walk will be beautiful, and not fatiguing. The whole island is but a league and a half in length, with the breadth of a league; a real park. Let us try to amuse ourselves.", "pos": 544908}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "As you please, D’Artagnan; not for the sake of amusing ourselves, but to gain an opportunity for talking freely.", "pos": 545399}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And now, answer me the question put to you by that black-looking Saint-Mars: what did you come to do at the Lerin Isles?", "pos": 545619}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "To bid you farewell.", "pos": 545764}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Bid me farewell! What do you mean by that? Is Raoul going anywhere?", "pos": 545787}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 545857}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Then I will lay a wager it is with M. de Beaufort.", "pos": 545864}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "With M. de Beaufort it is, my dear friend. You always guess correctly.", "pos": 545917}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "From habit. He has not recovered the blow?", "pos": 545990}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "He is struck to death.", "pos": 546417}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! your fears exaggerate, I hope. Raoul is of a tempered nature. Around all hearts as noble as his, there is a second envelope that forms a cuirass. The first bleeds, the second resists.", "pos": 546442}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "No. Raoul will die of it.", "pos": 546632}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Mordioux! Why do you let him go?", "pos": 546677}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Because he insists on going.", "pos": 546822}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And why do you not go with him?", "pos": 546853}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Because I could not bear to see him die. You know one thing, you know that in the course of my life I have been afraid of but few things. Well! I have an incessant gnawing, insurmountable fear that an hour will come in which I shall hold the dead body of that boy in my arms.", "pos": 546887}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! oh!", "pos": 547279}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "He will die, I know, I have a perfect conviction of that; but I would not see him die.", "pos": 547312}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "How is this, Athos? you come and place yourself in the presence of the bravest man, you say you have ever seen, of your own D’Artagnan, of that man without an equal, as you formerly called him, and you come and tell him, with your arms folded, that you are afraid of witnessing the death of your son, you who have seen all that can be seen in this world! Why have you this fear, Athos? Man upon this earth must expect everything, and ought to face everything.", "pos": 547401}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Listen to me, my friend. After having worn myself out upon this earth of which you speak, I have preserved but two religions: that of life, friendship, my duty as a father--that of eternity, love, and respect for God. Now, I have within me the revelation that if God should decree that my friend or my son should render up his last sigh in my presence--oh! no, I cannot even tell you, D’Artagnan!", "pos": 547862}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Speak, speak, tell me!", "pos": 548261}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I am strong against everything, except against the death of those I love. For that only there is no remedy. He who dies, gains; he who sees others die, loses. No, this is it--to know that I should no more meet on earth him whom I now behold with joy; to know that there would nowhere be a D’Artagnan any more, nowhere again be a Raoul, oh! I am old, look you, I have no longer courage; I pray God to spare me in my weakness; but if he struck me so plainly and in that fashion, I should curse him. A Christian gentleman ought not to curse his God, D’Artagnan; it is enough to once have cursed a king!", "pos": 548286}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Humph!", "pos": 548888}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Let me speak to him, Athos. Who knows?", "pos": 548968}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Try, if you please, but I am convinced you will not succeed.", "pos": 549009}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I will not attempt to console him. I will serve him.", "pos": 549072}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You will?", "pos": 549127}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Doubtless, I will. Do you think this would be the first time a woman had repented of an infidelity? I will go to him, I tell you.", "pos": 549139}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, Raoul! You have something to say to me?", "pos": 549409}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I have a kindness to ask of you,", "pos": 549457}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ask it, then.", "pos": 549512}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "You will some day return to France?", "pos": 549528}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I hope so.", "pos": 549566}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Ought I to write to Mademoiselle de la Vallière?", "pos": 549579}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, you must not.", "pos": 549630}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "But I have many things to say to her.", "pos": 549650}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Go and say them to her, then.", "pos": 549690}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Never!", "pos": 549722}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Pray, what virtue do you attribute to a letter, which your speech might not possess?", "pos": 549731}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Perhaps you are right.", "pos": 549818}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "She loves the king, and she is an honest girl. And you, you whom she abandons, she, perhaps, loves better than she does the king, but after another fashion. D’Artagnan, do you believe she loves the king? To idolatry. Her heart is inaccessible to any other feeling. You might continue to live near her, and would be her best friend.", "pos": 549843}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 550226}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Will you do so?", "pos": 550311}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "It would be base.", "pos": 550329}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is a very absurd word, which would lead me to think slightly of your understanding. Please to understand, Raoul, that it is never base to do that which is imposed upon us by a superior force. If your heart says to you, ‘Go there, or die,’ why go, Raoul. Was she base or brave, she whom you loved, in preferring the king to you, the king whom her heart commanded her imperiously to prefer to you? No, she was the bravest of women. Do, then, as she has done. Oblige yourself. Do you know one thing of which I am sure, Raoul?", "pos": 550349}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "What is that?", "pos": 550879}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Why, that by seeing her closely with the eyes of a jealous man--", "pos": 550895}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Well?", "pos": 550962}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well! you would cease to love her.", "pos": 550970}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Then I am decided, my dear D’Artagnan.", "pos": 551007}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "To set off to see her again?", "pos": 551048}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "No; to set off that I may never see her again. I wish to love her forever.", "pos": 551079}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ha! I must confess, that is a conclusion which I was far from expecting.", "pos": 551156}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "This is what I wish, my friend. You will see her again, and you will give her a letter which, if you think proper, will explain to her, as to yourself, what is passing in my heart. Read it; I drew it up last night. Something told me I should see you to-day. MADEMOISELLE,--You are not wrong in my eyes in not loving me. You have only been guilty of one fault towards me, that of having left me to believe you loved me. This error will cost me my life. I pardon you, but I cannot pardon myself. It is said that happy lovers are deaf to the sorrows of rejected lovers. It will not be so with you, who did not love me, save with anxiety. I am sure that if I had persisted in endeavoring to change that friendship into love, you would have yielded out of a fear of bringing about my death, or lessening the esteem I had for you. It is much more delightful to me to die, knowing that you are free and satisfied. How much, then, will you love me, when you will no longer fear either my presence or reproaches? You will love me, because, however charming a new love may appear to you, God has not made me in anything inferior to him you have chosen, and because my devotedness, my sacrifice, and my painful end will assure me, in your eyes, a certain superiority over him. I have allowed to escape, in the candid credulity of my heart, the treasure I possessed. Many people tell me that you loved me enough to lead me to hope you would have loved me much. That idea takes from my mind all bitterness, and leads me only to blame myself. You will accept this last farewell, and you will bless me for having taken refuge in the inviolable asylum where hatred is extinguished, and where all love endures forever. Adieu, mademoiselle. If your happiness could be purchased by the last drop of my blood, I would shed that drop. I willingly make the sacrifice of it to my misery! RAOUL, VICOTME DE BRAGELONNE.", "pos": 551256}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The letter reads very well. I have only one fault to find with it.", "pos": 553201}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Tell me what that is!", "pos": 553290}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Why, it is that it tells everything, except the thing which exhales, like a mortal poison from your eyes and from your heart; except the senseless love which still consumes you. Why did you not write simply these words: MADEMOISELLE,--Instead of cursing you, I love you and I die.", "pos": 553326}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "That is true. To procure the happiness of once more telling you I love you, I commit the baseness of writing to you; and to punish myself for that baseness, I die. You will give her these tablets, captain, will you not?", "pos": 553653}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "When?", "pos": 554047}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "On the day, on the day when you can place a date under these words.", "pos": 554073}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What is that? a wrecked boat?", "pos": 554522}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, it is not a boat,", "pos": 554569}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Pardon me, there is a bark gaining the port rapidly.", "pos": 554610}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, there is a bark in the creek, which is prudently seeking shelter here; but that which Athos points to in the sand is not a boat at all--it has run aground.", "pos": 554679}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Yes, yes, I see it.", "pos": 554842}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is the carriage, which I threw into the sea after landing the prisoner.", "pos": 554864}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Well! if you take my advice, D’Artagnan, you will burn that carriage, in order that no vestige of it may remain, without which the fishermen of Antibes, who have believed they had to do with the devil, will endeavor to prove that your prisoner was but a man.", "pos": 554941}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your advice is good, Athos, and I will this night have it carried out, or rather, I will carry it out myself; but let us go in, for the rain falls heavily, and the lightning is terrific.", "pos": 555216}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What is it?", "pos": 555668}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You will see. Look. The prisoner is returning from chapel.", "pos": 555694}
{"speaker": "Saint-Mars", "text": "Come on, monsieur. Monsieur, come on!", "pos": 556521}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Say monseigneur!", "pos": 556680}
{"speaker": "Saint-Mars", "text": "Who spoke?", "pos": 556897}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It was I. You know that is the order.", "pos": 556928}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Call me neither monsieur nor monseigneur, call me ACCURSED!", "pos": 557016}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "There goes a truly unfortunate man!", "pos": 557216}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I should think, you will have completed the execution of my orders, Monsieur d’Artagnan; return, then, immediately to Paris, and join me at the Louvre.", "pos": 557784}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "There is the end of my exile! God be praised, I am no longer a jailer!", "pos": 557957}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "So, then, you must leave us?", "pos": 558097}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, but to meet again, dear friend, seeing that Raoul is old enough now to go alone with M. de Beaufort, and will prefer his father going back in company with M. d’Artagnan, to forcing him to travel two hundred leagues solitarily to reach home at La Fere; will you not, Raoul?", "pos": 558170}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Certainly,", "pos": 558450}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "No, no, my friend. I will never quit Raoul till the day his vessel disappears on the horizon. As long as he remains in France he shall not be separated from me.", "pos": 558522}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "As you please, dear friend; but we will, at least, leave Sainte-Marguerite together; take advantage of the bark that will convey me back to Antibes.", "pos": 558706}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "With all my heart; we cannot too soon be at a distance from this fort, and from the spectacle that shocked us so just now.", "pos": 558857}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My friends, you bear too much resemblance to two soldiers who are abandoning their post. Something warns me that Raoul will require being supported by you in his rank. Will you allow me to ask permission to go over into Africa with a hundred good muskets? The king will not refuse me, and I will take you with me.", "pos": 559431}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, thanks for that offer, which would give us more than we wish, either monsieur le comte or I. I, who am young, stand in need of labor of mind and fatigue of body; monsieur le comte wants the profoundest repose. You are his best friend. I recommend him to your care. In watching over him, you are holding both our souls in your hands.", "pos": 559758}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I must go; my horse is all in a fret. Come, comte, how many days longer has Raoul to stay here?", "pos": 560163}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Three days at most.", "pos": 560374}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And how long will it take you to reach home?", "pos": 560396}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Oh! a considerable time. I shall not like the idea of being separated too quickly from Raoul. Time will travel too fast of itself to require me to aid it by distance. I shall only make half-stages.", "pos": 560443}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And why so, my friend? Nothing is more dull than traveling slowly; and hostelry life does not become a man like you.", "pos": 560660}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "My friend, I came hither on post-horses; but I wish to purchase two animals of a superior kind. Now, to take them home fresh, it would not be prudent to make them travel more than seven or eight leagues a day.", "pos": 560779}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Where is Grimaud?", "pos": 560991}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "He arrived yesterday morning with Raoul’s appointments; and I have left him to sleep.", "pos": 561011}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is, never to come back again. Till we meet again, then, dear Athos--and if you are diligent, I shall embrace you the sooner.", "pos": 561099}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Farewell!", "pos": 561329}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Farewell!", "pos": 561376}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Alas!", "pos": 562540}
{"speaker": "Alas", "text": "alas! alas!", "pos": 562580}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "An evil omen! I could not smile upon them. An evil omen!", "pos": 562594}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "When the moon had risen to its fullest height, caressing with light the neighboring peaks, when the watery mirror was illumined in its full extent, and the little red fires had made their openings in the black masses of every ship, Athos, collecting all his ideas and all his courage, said: God has made all these things that we see, Raoul; He has made us also,--poor atoms mixed up with this monstrous universe. We shine like those fires and those stars; we sigh like those waves; we suffer like those great ships, which are worn out in plowing the waves, in obeying the wind that urges them towards an end, as the breath of God blows us towards a port. Everything likes to live, Raoul; and everything seems beautiful to living things.", "pos": 566209}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Monsieur, we have before us a beautiful spectacle!", "pos": 566948}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "How good D’Artagnan is! and what a rare good fortune it is to be supported during a whole life by such a friend as he is! That is what you have missed, Raoul.", "pos": 567015}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "A friend! I have wanted a friend!", "pos": 567207}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "M. de Guiche is an agreeable companion, but I believe, in the times in which you live, men are more engaged in their own interests and their own pleasures than they were in ours. You have sought a secluded life; that is a great happiness, but you have lost your strength thereby. We four, more weaned from those delicate abstractions that constitute your joy, furnished much more resistance when misfortune presented itself.", "pos": 567258}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I have not interrupted you, monsieur, to tell you that I had a friend, and that that friend is M. de Guiche. Certes, he is good and generous, and moreover he loves me. But I have lived under the guardianship of another friendship, monsieur, as precious and as strong as that of which you speak, since it is yours.", "pos": 567714}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I have not been a friend for you, Raoul,", "pos": 568030}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Eh! monsieur, and in what respect not?", "pos": 568085}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Because I have given you reason to think that life has but one face, because, sad and severe, alas! I have always cut off for you, without, God knows, wishing to do so, the joyous buds that spring incessantly from the fair tree of youth; so that at this moment I repent of not having made of you a more expansive, dissipated, animated man.", "pos": 568126}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I know why you say that, monsieur. No, it is not you who have made me what I am; it was love, which took me at the time when children only have inclinations; it is the constancy natural to my character, which with other creatures is but habit. I believed that I should always be as I was; I thought God had cast me in a path quite clear, quite straight, bordered with fruits and flowers. I had ever watching over me your vigilance and strength. I believed myself to be vigilant and strong. Nothing prepared me; I fell once, and that once deprived me of courage for the whole of my life. It is quite true that I wrecked myself. Oh, no, monsieur! you are nothing in my past but happiness--in my future but hope! No, I have no reproach to make against life such as you made it for me; I bless you, and I love you ardently.", "pos": 568468}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "My dear Raoul, your words do me good. They prove to me that you will act a little for me in the time to come.", "pos": 569290}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I shall only act for you, monsieur.", "pos": 569402}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Raoul, what I have never hitherto done with respect to you, I will henceforward do. I will be your friend, not your father. We will live in expanding ourselves, instead of living and holding ourselves prisoners, when you come back. And that will be soon, will it not?", "pos": 569440}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Certainly, monsieur, for such an expedition cannot last long.", "pos": 569710}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Soon, then, Raoul, soon, instead of living moderately on my income, I will give you the capital of my estates. It will suffice for launching you into the world till my death; and you will give me, I hope, before that time, the consolation of not seeing my race extinct.", "pos": 569774}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I will do all you may command,", "pos": 570046}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "It is not necessary, Raoul, that your duty as aide-de-camp should lead you into too hazardous enterprises. You have gone through your ordeal; you are known to be a true man under fire. Remember that war with Arabs is a war of snares, ambuscades, and assassinations.", "pos": 570106}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "So it is said, monsieur.", "pos": 570374}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "There is never much glory in falling in an ambuscade. It is a death which always implies a little rashness or want of foresight. Often, indeed, he who falls in one meets with but little pity. Those who are not pitied, Raoul, have died to little purpose. Still further, the conqueror laughs, and we Frenchmen ought not to allow stupid infidels to triumph over our faults. Do you clearly understand what I am saying to you, Raoul? God forbid I should encourage you to avoid encounters.", "pos": 570401}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I am naturally prudent, monsieur, and I have very good fortune, for, in twenty combats through which I have been, I have only received one scratch.", "pos": 570887}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "There is in addition the climate to be dreaded: that is an ugly end, to die of fever! King Saint-Louis prayed God to send him an arrow or the plague, rather than the fever.", "pos": 571156}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Oh, monsieur! with sobriety, with reasonable exercise--", "pos": 571331}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I have already obtained from M. de Beaufort a promise that his dispatches shall be sent off every fortnight to France. You, as his aide-de-camp, will be charged with expediting them, and will be sure not to forget me.", "pos": 571389}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "No, monsieur,", "pos": 571609}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Besides, Raoul, as you are a good Christian, and I am one also, we ought to reckon upon a more special protection of God and His guardian angels. Promise me that if anything evil should happen to you, on any occasion, you will think of me at once.", "pos": 571665}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "First and at once! Oh! yes, monsieur.", "pos": 571915}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "And will call upon me?", "pos": 571955}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Instantly.", "pos": 571980}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "You dream of me sometimes, do you not, Raoul?", "pos": 571993}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Every night, monsieur. During my early youth I saw you in my dreams, calm and mild, with one hand stretched out over my head, and that it was which made me sleep so soundly--formerly.", "pos": 572041}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "We love each other too dearly, that from this moment, in which we separate, a portion of both our souls should not travel with one and the other of us, and should not dwell wherever we may dwell. Whenever you may be sad, Raoul, I feel that my heart will be dissolved in sadness; and when you smile on thinking of me, be assured you will send me, from however remote a distance, a vital scintillation of your joy.", "pos": 572227}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "I will not promise you to be joyous, but you may be certain that I will never pass an hour without thinking of you, not one hour, I swear, unless I shall be dead.", "pos": 572660}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Oh! my good Grimaud, what do you want? You are come to tell us it is time to be gone, have you not?", "pos": 573529}
{"speaker": "Grimaud", "text": "Alone?", "pos": 573646}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "No, Raoul shall not go alone; no, he shall not be left alone in a strange land without some friendly hand to support him, some friendly heart to recall to him all he loved!", "pos": 573826}
{"speaker": "Grimaud", "text": "I?", "pos": 574001}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "You, yes, you!", "pos": 574020}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Alas! you are very old, my good Grimaud.", "pos": 574093}
{"speaker": "Grimaud", "text": "So much the better,", "pos": 574136}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "and you are not prepared.", "pos": 574279}
{"speaker": "Grimaud", "text": "Yes,", "pos": 574307}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "But, again objected Raoul, you cannot leave monsieur le comte thus alone; monsieur le comte, whom you have never quitted?", "pos": 574400}
{"speaker": "Grimaud", "text": "Monsieur le comte prefers my going,", "pos": 574647}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I do,", "pos": 574699}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Have the kindness to tell the prince, that I request he will allow me this hour to enjoy the company of my father.", "pos": 576240}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "No, no, an aide-de-camp ought not thus to quit his general. Please to tell the prince, monsieur, that the vicomte will join him immediately. Whether we part here or part there, it is no less a separation. But, Raoul, you want money. M. de Beaufort’s train will be splendid, and I am certain it will be agreeable to you to purchase horses and arms, which are very dear things in Africa. Now, as you are not actually in the service of the king or M. de Beaufort, and are simply a volunteer, you must not reckon upon either pay or largesse. But I should not like you to want for anything at Gigelli. Here are two hundred pistoles; if you would please me, Raoul, spend them.", "pos": 576371}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Accompany us on board,", "pos": 578534}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "you will gain a good half-hour.", "pos": 578594}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "No, my farewell has been spoken, I do not wish to voice a second.", "pos": 578628}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Then, vicomte, embark--embark quickly!", "pos": 578710}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Adieu!", "pos": 579127}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "Rabaud, mind, we must travel thirty leagues a day.", "pos": 581527}
{"speaker": "Rabaud", "text": "At your pleasure, captain,", "pos": 581591}
{"speaker": "Ladies", "text": "Where had he been? What had become of him so long? Why had they not seen him as usual make his fine horse curvet in such beautiful style, to the delight and astonishment of the curious from the king’s balcony?", "pos": 588893}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I have just come from the land of oranges.", "pos": 589120}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente", "text": "From the land of oranges? From Spain?", "pos": 589343}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Eh! eh!", "pos": 589424}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "From Malta?", "pos": 589454}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ma foi! You are coming very near, ladies.", "pos": 589486}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Is it an island?", "pos": 589530}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Mademoiselle. I will not give you the trouble of seeking any further; I come from the country where M. de Beaufort is, at this moment, embarking for Algiers.", "pos": 589568}
{"speaker": "Ladies", "text": "Have you seen the army?", "pos": 589747}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "As plainly as I see you,", "pos": 589806}
{"speaker": "Ladies", "text": "And the fleet?", "pos": 589853}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, I saw everything.", "pos": 589870}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente", "text": "Have we any of us any friends there?", "pos": 589895}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Why, yes; there were M. de la Guillotiere, M. de Manchy, M. de Bragelonne--", "pos": 590072}
{"speaker": "Athenais", "text": "M. de Bragelonne! Eh, what!--is he gone to the wars?--he! Do you know what my opinion is?", "pos": 590197}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, mademoiselle; but I should like very much to know it.", "pos": 590406}
{"speaker": "Athenais", "text": "My opinion is, then, that all the men who go to this war are desperate, desponding men, whom love has treated ill; and who go to try if they cannot find jet-complexioned women more kind than fair ones have been.", "pos": 590466}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Mademoiselle, you are in error when you speak of black women at Gigelli; the women there have not jet faces; it is true they are not white--they are yellow.", "pos": 590793}
{"speaker": "Ladies", "text": "Yellow!", "pos": 590978}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Eh! do not disparage it. I have never seen a finer color to match with black eyes and a coral mouth.", "pos": 591025}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente", "text": "So much the better for M. de Bragelonne. He will make amends for his loss. Poor fellow!", "pos": 591128}
{"speaker": "Athenais", "text": "Do you know, Louise, that there is a great sin on your conscience?", "pos": 591575}
{"speaker": "Louise", "text": "What sin, mademoiselle?", "pos": 591656}
{"speaker": "Athenais", "text": "Eh!--why, the poor young man was affianced to you; he loved you; you cast him off.", "pos": 591765}
{"speaker": "Mademoiselle de Montalais", "text": "Well, that is a right which every honest woman has. When we know we cannot constitute the happiness of a man, it is much better to cast him off.", "pos": 591872}
{"speaker": "Athenais", "text": "Cast him off! or refuse him!--that’s all very well, but that is not the sin Mademoiselle de la Vallière has to reproach herself with. The actual sin is sending poor Bragelonne to the wars; and to wars in which death is so very likely to be met with. And if he dies, you will have killed him. That is the sin.", "pos": 592058}
{"speaker": "Louise", "text": "You wished to speak with me, Monsieur d’Artagnan. What had you to say to me?", "pos": 592575}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What I had to say to you, mademoiselle. Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente has just expressed; roughly and unkindly, it is true but still in its entirety.", "pos": 592836}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Ah! monsieur! you have been diligent! I am much pleased with you.", "pos": 593456}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well! Monsieur d’Artagnan, the prisoner?", "pos": 594083}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Is in his prison, sire.", "pos": 594137}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What did he say on the road?", "pos": 594163}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Nothing, sire.", "pos": 594194}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What did he do?", "pos": 594211}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "There was a moment at which the fisherman--who took me in his boat to Sainte-Marguerite--revolted, and did his best to kill me. The--the prisoner defended me instead of attempting to fly.", "pos": 594229}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Enough! Were you at Antibes, when Monsieur de Beaufort came there?", "pos": 594441}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, sire; I was setting off when monsieur le duc arrived.", "pos": 594603}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Ah! Whom did you see there?", "pos": 594663}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "A great many persons,", "pos": 594734}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I have sent for you, monsieur le capitaine, to desire you to go and prepare my lodgings at Nantes.", "pos": 594829}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "At Nantes!", "pos": 594930}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In Bretagne.", "pos": 594961}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, sire, it is in Bretagne. Will you majesty make so long a journey as to Nantes?", "pos": 594976}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The States are assembled there. I have two demands to make of them: I wish to be there.", "pos": 595062}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "When shall I set out?", "pos": 595172}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "This evening--to-morrow--to-morrow evening; for you must stand in need of rest.", "pos": 595214}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I have rested, sire.", "pos": 595296}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "That is well. Then between this and to-morrow evening, when you please.", "pos": 595319}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Will you majesty, take the court with you?", "pos": 595483}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Certainly I shall.", "pos": 595567}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Then you majesty will, doubtless, want the musketeers?", "pos": 595588}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Take a brigade of them,", "pos": 595721}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Is that all? Has your majesty no other orders to give me?", "pos": 595762}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "No--ah--yes.", "pos": 595822}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I am all attention, sire.", "pos": 595837}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "At the castle of Nantes, which I hear is very ill arranged, you will adopt the practice of placing musketeers at the door of each of the principal dignitaries I shall take with me.", "pos": 595865}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Of the principal?", "pos": 596048}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 596068}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "For instance, at the door of M. de Lyonne?", "pos": 596075}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 596120}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And that of M. Letellier?", "pos": 596127}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 596155}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Of M. de Brienne?", "pos": 596162}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 596182}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And of monsieur le surintendant?", "pos": 596189}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Without doubt.", "pos": 596224}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Very well, sire. By to-morrow I shall have set out.", "pos": 596241}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Oh, yes; but one more word, Monsieur d’Artagnan. At Nantes you will meet with M. le Duc de Gesvres, captain of the guards. Be sure that your musketeers are placed before his guards arrive. Precedence always belongs to the first comer.", "pos": 596295}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, sire.", "pos": 596532}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And if M. de Gesvres should question you?", "pos": 596545}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Question me, sire! Is it likely that M. de Gesvres should question me? To Nantes! Why did he not dare to say, from thence to Belle-Isle?", "pos": 596589}
{"speaker": "M. Ariste", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan! I beg your pardon--", "pos": 596943}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What is the matter, Monsieur Ariste?", "pos": 596986}
{"speaker": "M. Ariste", "text": "The king has desired me to give you this order.", "pos": 597025}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Upon your cash-box?", "pos": 597075}
{"speaker": "M. Ariste", "text": "No, monsieur; on that of M. Fouquet.", "pos": 597118}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What! M. Fouquet is to pay for the journey, then! Mordioux! that is a bit of pure Louis XI. Why was not this order on the chest of M. Colbert? He would have paid it with such joy.", "pos": 597277}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "On the king’s service.", "pos": 598182}
{"speaker": "Clerk", "text": "that was a very respectable reason, but that the customs of the house were respectable likewise; and that, in consequence, he begged the bearer to call again next day. If monsieur wishes to speak to M. le surintendant, he must go to the ante-chambers; these are the offices, where monseigneur never comes.", "pos": 598284}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! very well! Where are they?", "pos": 599034}
{"speaker": "Clerk", "text": "On the other side of the court,", "pos": 599087}
{"speaker": "Servant", "text": "Monseigneur sees nobody at this hour,", "pos": 599227}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Tell him, that I am M. d’Artagnan, captain of his majesty’s musketeers. There is nothing unpleasant, Monsieur Pelisson; only a little order to receive the money for.", "pos": 599369}
{"speaker": "Fouquet's friend", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 599874}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Pardon me, Monsieur d’Artagnan, if I did not myself receive you when coming in the king’s name.", "pos": 601305}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monseigneur. I only come to you in the king’s name to demand payment of an order for two hundred pistoles.", "pos": 601539}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ah! then, perhaps you also are setting out for Nantes?", "pos": 601756}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I do not know whither I am setting out, monseigneur.", "pos": 601824}
{"speaker": "Madame Fouquet", "text": "But, you are not going so soon, monsieur le capitaine, as not to do us the honor to take a seat with us?", "pos": 601879}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Madame, I should esteem that a great honor done me, but I am so pressed for time, that, you see, I have been obliged to permit myself to interrupt your repast to procure payment of my note.", "pos": 602036}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The reply to which shall be gold, said Fouquet, making a sign to his intendant, who went out with the order D’Artagnan handed him.", "pos": 602228}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! I was not uneasy about the payment; the house is good.", "pos": 602361}
{"speaker": "Madame de Belliere", "text": "Are you in pain?", "pos": 602499}
{"speaker": "Madame Fouquet", "text": "Do you feel your attack coming on?", "pos": 602544}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Neither, thank you both,", "pos": 602603}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your attack? are you unwell, monseigneur?", "pos": 602644}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I have a tertian fever, which seized me after the fete at Vaux.", "pos": 602720}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Caught cold in the grottos, at night, perhaps?", "pos": 602786}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "No, no; nothing but agitation, that was all.", "pos": 602835}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "The too much heart you displayed in your reception of the king,", "pos": 602882}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "We cannot devote too much heart to the reception of our king,", "pos": 603027}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur meant to say the too great ardor. The fact is, monseigneur, that hospitality was never practiced as at Vaux.", "pos": 603126}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Monsieur, to the health of the king, whatever may happen.", "pos": 603817}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And to your health, monseigneur, whatever may happen,", "pos": 603888}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I, for a moment, thought it was I and not my money he wanted, my dear brothers in Epicurus. I do not wish to make a comparison between the most humble sinner on the earth, and the God we adore, but remember, he gave one day to his friends a repast which is called the Last Supper, and which was nothing but a farewell dinner, like that which we are making at this moment. My friends, what was I formerly? What am I now? Consult among yourselves and reply. A man like me sinks when he does not continue to rise. What shall we say, then, when he really sinks? I have no more money, no more credit; I have no longer anything but powerful enemies, and powerless friends.", "pos": 604115}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Quick! Since you explain yourself with such frankness, it is our duty to be frank, likewise. Yes, you are ruined--yes, you are hastening to your ruin--stop. And, in the first place, what money have we left?", "pos": 605109}
{"speaker": "intendant", "text": "Seven hundred thousand livres,", "pos": 605336}
{"speaker": "Madame Fouquet", "text": "Bread,", "pos": 605389}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "relays, and fly!", "pos": 605448}
{"speaker": "Madame Belliere", "text": "If monseigneur flies, it will be said that he was guilty--was afraid.", "pos": 605515}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "More than that, it will be said that I have carried away twenty millions with me.", "pos": 605611}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "We will draw up memoirs to justify you. Fly!", "pos": 605695}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will remain. And, besides, does not everything serve me?", "pos": 605762}
{"speaker": "Abbe Fouquet", "text": "You have Belle-Isle,", "pos": 605839}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Patience, then, patience!", "pos": 605970}
{"speaker": "Madame Fouquet", "text": "Before arriving at Nantes, what a distance!", "pos": 605998}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But what is to be done there? The king summons me to the States. I know well it is for the purpose of ruining me; but to refuse to go would be to evince uneasiness.", "pos": 606107}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Well, I have discovered the means of reconciling everything. You are going to set out for Nantes. But with friends; but in your own carriage as far as Orleans; in your own barge as far as Nantes; always ready to defend yourself, if you are attacked; to escape, if you are threatened. In fact, you will carry your money against all chances; and, whilst flying, you will only have obeyed the king; then, reaching the sea, when you like, you will embark for Belle-Isle, and from Belle-Isle you will shoot out wherever it may please you, like the eagle that leaps into space when it has been driven from its eyrie.", "pos": 606274}
{"speaker": "Madame Fouquet", "text": "Yes, do so,", "pos": 606998}
{"speaker": "Madame de Belliere", "text": "Do so,", "pos": 607048}
{"speaker": "all his friends", "text": "Do it! do it!", "pos": 607082}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will do so,", "pos": 607121}
{"speaker": "Abbe Fouquet", "text": "With seven hundred thousand livres you can lay the foundation of another fortune,", "pos": 607202}
{"speaker": "La Fontaine", "text": "And, if necessary, we will go and discover a new world,", "pos": 607371}
{"speaker": "master of the ceremonies", "text": "A courier from the king,", "pos": 607558}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That is well, monsieur.", "pos": 608156}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Well,", "pos": 608905}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "you have received that letter? Received it, yes! What will you do, then? Nothing, since I have received it. If I have received it, Pelisson, I have paid it,", "pos": 609670}
{"speaker": "Madame Fouquet", "text": "Then we are ruined!", "pos": 609967}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Come, no useless words. Next to money, life. Monseigneur, to horse! to horse!", "pos": 609989}
{"speaker": "Madame Fouquet", "text": "What, leave us!", "pos": 610093}
{"speaker": "Gourville", "text": "Monseigneur! I escorted, as you desired, the king’s courier with the money. Well! when I arrived at the Palais Royal, I saw-- I saw the musketeers mounting on horseback,", "pos": 610367}
{"speaker": "every voice at once", "text": "There, then! is there an instant to be lost?", "pos": 610826}
{"speaker": "Madame de Belliere", "text": "Madame, in the name of his safety, do not betray anything, do not manifest alarm.", "pos": 611004}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Humph! the old duchesse is no more inaccessible to friendship than formerly. She paying her court to the mistress of M. Colbert! Poor M. Fouquet! that presages you nothing good!", "pos": 613222}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "Why do you yourself hate him?", "pos": 614645}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Madame, in politics, the differences of system oft bring about dissentions between men. M. Fouquet always appeared to me to practice a system opposed to the true interests of the king.", "pos": 614687}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "I will say no more to you about M. Fouquet. The journey the king is about to take to Nantes will give a good account of him. M. Fouquet, for me, is a man gone by--and for you also. On his return from Nantes, the king, who is only anxious for a pretext, will find that the States have not behaved well--that they have made too few sacrifices. The States will say that the imposts are too heavy, and that the surintendant has ruined them. The king will lay all the blame on M. Fouquet, and then--", "pos": 614910}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "And then?", "pos": 615458}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "Oh! he will be disgraced. Is not that your opinion? Your place, M. Colbert, must be a high place. Do you perceive any one between the king and yourself, after the fall of M. Fouquet?", "pos": 615484}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I do not understand,", "pos": 615832}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "You will understand. To what does your ambition aspire?", "pos": 615864}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I have none.", "pos": 615922}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "It was useless, then, to overthrow the superintendent, Monsieur Colbert. It was idle.", "pos": 615937}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I had the honor to tell you, madame--", "pos": 616025}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "Oh! yes, I know, all about the interest of the king--but, if you please, we will speak of your own.", "pos": 616065}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Mine! that is to say, the affairs of his majesty.", "pos": 616167}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "In short, are you, or are you not endeavoring to ruin M. Fouquet? Answer without evasion.", "pos": 616219}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Madame, I ruin nobody.", "pos": 616311}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "I am endeavoring to comprehend, then, why you purchased from me the letters of M. Mazarin concerning M. Fouquet. Neither can I conceive why you have laid those letters before the king.", "pos": 616336}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Madame. I can less easily conceive how you, who received the money, can reproach me on that head--", "pos": 616598}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "because we must will that which we wish for, unless we are not able to obtain what we wish.", "pos": 616744}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Will!", "pos": 616838}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "You are not able, hein! Speak.", "pos": 616899}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I am not able, I allow, to destroy certain influences near the king.", "pos": 616932}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "That fight in favor of M. Fouquet? What are they? Stop, let me help you.", "pos": 617003}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Do, madame.", "pos": 617078}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "La Vallière?", "pos": 617092}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Oh! very little influence; no knowledge of business, and small means. M. Fouquet has paid his court to her.", "pos": 617107}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "To defend him would be to accuse herself, would it not?", "pos": 617217}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I think it would.", "pos": 617275}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "There is still another influence, what do you say to that?", "pos": 617295}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Is it considerable?", "pos": 617356}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "The queen-mother, perhaps?", "pos": 617378}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Her majesty, the queen-mother, has a weakness for M. Fouquet very prejudicial to her son.", "pos": 617407}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "Never believe that,", "pos": 617499}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Oh! I have often experienced it. Formerly? Very recently, madame, at Vaux. It was she who prevented the king from having M. Fouquet arrested.", "pos": 617553}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "People do not forever entertain the same opinions, my dear monsieur. That which the queen may have wished recently, she would not wish, perhaps, to-day.", "pos": 617735}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "And why not?", "pos": 617890}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "Oh! the reason is of very little consequence.", "pos": 617931}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "On the contrary, I think it is of great consequence; for, if I were certain of not displeasing her majesty, the queen-mother, my scruples would be all removed.", "pos": 617979}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "Well! have you never heard talk of a certain secret?", "pos": 618141}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "A secret?", "pos": 618196}
{"speaker": "Duchesse de Chevreuse", "text": "Call it what you like. In short, the queen-mother has conceived a bitter hatred for all those who have participated, in one fashion or another, in the discovery of this secret, and M. Fouquet I believe is one of these.", "pos": 618208}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Then, we may be sure of the assent of the queen-mother?", "pos": 618428}
{"speaker": "The duchesse", "text": "I have just left her majesty, and she assures me so.", "pos": 618502}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "So be it, then, madame.", "pos": 618557}
{"speaker": "The duchesse", "text": "But there is something further; do you happen to know a man who was the intimate friend of M. Fouquet, M. d’Herblay, a bishop, I believe?", "pos": 618583}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Bishop of Vannes.", "pos": 618723}
{"speaker": "The duchesse", "text": "Well! this M. d’Herblay, who also knew the secret, the queen-mother is pursuing with the utmost rancor.", "pos": 618743}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Indeed!", "pos": 618849}
{"speaker": "The duchesse", "text": "So hotly pursued, that if he were dead, she would not be satisfied with anything less than his head, to satisfy her he would never speak again.", "pos": 618859}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "And is that the desire of the queen-mother?", "pos": 619005}
{"speaker": "The duchesse", "text": "An order is given for it.", "pos": 619051}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "This Monsieur d’Herblay shall be sought for, madame.", "pos": 619079}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! it is well known where he is.", "pos": 619134}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Say where, madame.", "pos": 619202}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "He is at Belle-Ile-en-Mer.", "pos": 619223}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "At the residence of M. Fouquet?", "pos": 619252}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "At the residence of M. Fouquet.", "pos": 619286}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "He shall be taken.", "pos": 619320}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Do not fancy the capture so easy,", "pos": 619382}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "do not promise it so lightly.", "pos": 619428}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Why not, madame?", "pos": 619460}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Because M. d’Herblay is not one of those people who can be taken when and where you please.", "pos": 619479}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "He is a rebel, then?", "pos": 619573}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! Monsieur Colbert, we have passed all our lives in making rebels, and yet you see plainly, that so far from being taken, we take others.", "pos": 619596}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "The times are gone, in which subjects gained duchies by making war against the king of France. If M. d’Herblay conspires, he will perish on the scaffold. That will give, or will not give, pleasure to his enemies,--a matter, by the way, of little importance to us. You ask me, madame, to have this M. d’Herblay arrested?", "pos": 619918}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I?--I ask you nothing of the kind!", "pos": 620485}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I thought you did, madame. But as I have been mistaken, we will leave him alone; the king has said nothing about him.", "pos": 620522}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Besides, what a poor capture would this bishop be! A bishop game for a king! Oh! no, no; I will not even take the slightest notice of him.", "pos": 620691}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Game for a woman!", "pos": 620882}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Is not the queen a woman? If she wishes M. d’Herblay arrested, she has her reasons. Besides, is not M. d’Herblay the friend of him who is doomed to fall?", "pos": 620912}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Oh! never mind that. This man shall be spared, if he is not the enemy of the king. Is that displeasing to you?", "pos": 621068}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I say nothing.", "pos": 621197}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Yes--you wish to see him in prison, in the Bastile, for instance.", "pos": 621214}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I believe a secret better concealed behind the walls of the Bastile than behind those of Belle-Isle.", "pos": 621282}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I will speak to the king about it; he will clear up the point.", "pos": 621385}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "And whilst waiting for that enlightenment, Monsieur l’Eveque de Vannes will have escaped. I would do so.", "pos": 621450}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Escaped! he! and whither should he escape? Europe is ours, in will, if not in fact.", "pos": 621557}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "He will always find an asylum, monsieur. It is evident you know nothing of the man you have to do with. You do not know D’Herblay; you do not know Aramis. He was one of those four musketeers who, under the late king, made Cardinal de Richelieu tremble, and who, during the regency, gave so much trouble to Monseigneur Mazarin.", "pos": 621643}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "But, madame, what can he do, unless he has a kingdom to back him?", "pos": 621972}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "He has one, monsieur.", "pos": 622040}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "A kingdom, he! what, Monsieur d’Herblay?", "pos": 622064}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I repeat to you, monsieur, that if he wants a kingdom, he either has it or will have it.", "pos": 622107}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Well, as you are so earnest that this rebel should not escape, madame, I promise you he shall not escape.", "pos": 622198}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Belle-Isle is fortified, M. Colbert, and fortified by him.", "pos": 622306}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "If Belle-Isle were also defended by him, Belle-Isle is not impregnable; and if Monsieur l’Eveque de Vannes is shut up in Belle-Isle, well, madame, the place shall be besieged, and he will be taken.", "pos": 622367}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "You may be very certain, monsieur, that the zeal you display in the interest of the queen-mother will please her majesty mightily, and you will be magnificently rewarded; but what shall I tell her of your projects respecting this man?", "pos": 622567}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "That when once taken, he shall be shut up in a fortress from which her secret shall never escape.", "pos": 622804}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Very well, Monsieur Colbert, and we may say, that, dating from this instant, we have formed a solid alliance, that is, you and I, and that I am absolutely at your service.", "pos": 622904}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "It is I, madame, who place myself at yours. This Chevalier d’Herblay is a kind of Spanish spy, is he not?", "pos": 623078}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Much more.", "pos": 623186}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "A secret ambassador?", "pos": 623199}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Higher still.", "pos": 623222}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Stop--King Phillip III. of Spain is a bigot. He is, perhaps, the confessor of Phillip III.", "pos": 623238}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "You must go higher even than that.", "pos": 623331}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Mordieu!", "pos": 623368}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I believe you have guessed it at last,", "pos": 623554}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Ah! then, madame, this man will ruin us all if we do not ruin him; and we must make haste, too.", "pos": 623617}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Such was my opinion, monsieur, but I did not dare to give it you.", "pos": 623715}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "And it was lucky for us he has attacked the throne, and not us.", "pos": 623783}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But, mark this well, M. Colbert. M. d’Herblay is never discouraged; if he has missed one blow, he will be sure to make another; he will begin again. If he has allowed an opportunity to escape of making a king for himself, sooner or later, he will make another, of whom, to a certainty, you will not be prime minister.", "pos": 623849}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I feel assured that a prison will settle this affair for us, madame, in a manner satisfactory for both.", "pos": 624222}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Oh! if you knew,", "pos": 624355}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "how many times Aramis has got out of prison!", "pos": 624384}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Oh!", "pos": 624431}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "we will take care that he shall not get out this time.", "pos": 624454}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But you were not attending to what I said to you just now. Do you remember that Aramis was one of the four invincibles whom Richelieu so dreaded? And at that period the four musketeers were not in possession of that which they have now--money and experience.", "pos": 624511}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "We will renounce the idea of the prison, we will find a little retreat from which the invincible cannot possibly escape.", "pos": 624794}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "That was well spoken, our ally!", "pos": 624945}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But it is getting late; had we not better return?", "pos": 625001}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "To Paris!", "pos": 625153}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Besides,", "pos": 627820}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "at Nantes, you will make out, or we will make out, the intentions of your enemies; we will have horses always ready to convey you to Poitou, a bark in which to gain the sea, and when once upon the open sea, Belle-Isle is your inviolable port. You see, besides, that no one is watching you, no one is following.", "pos": 627854}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "See what it is, dear friend.", "pos": 628724}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "By what sign do you know that it is not the king? because it is impossible it should be the king, Gourville, as the king was still in Paris yesterday.", "pos": 629695}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "If it is any one who wishes to overtake us, let him come. on the contrary; stop short. Pull up!", "pos": 630895}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Colbert!", "pos": 632760}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Colbert! Too strange! but no, it is impossible!", "pos": 632830}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I tell you I recognized him, and he, at the same time, so plainly recognized me, that he is just gone into the chamber on the poop. Perhaps the king has sent him on our track.", "pos": 632880}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "In that case he would join us, instead of lying by. What is he doing there?", "pos": 633058}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "He is watching us, without a doubt.", "pos": 633136}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I do not like uncertainty; let us go straight up to him. Monseigneur, it is not consistent with your dignity to go to meet even your ruin. But to allow them to watch me like a malefactor!", "pos": 633174}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Nothing yet proves that they are watching you, monseigneur; be patient!", "pos": 633521}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What is to be done, then?", "pos": 633595}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Do not stop; you were only going so fast to appear to obey the king’s order with zeal. Redouble the speed. He who lives will see!", "pos": 633623}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That is better. Come!", "pos": 633755}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, Gourville,", "pos": 635257}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "My friend, everything considered, remember the proverb, ‘First come, first served!’ Well! M. Colbert takes care not to pass me. He is a prudent man is M. Colbert.", "pos": 636263}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What! is that you, M. Colbert?", "pos": 637268}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "To offer you my respects, monseigneur,", "pos": 637301}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Were you in that lighter?", "pos": 637359}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 637428}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Of twelve rowers? what luxury, M. Colbert. For a moment I thought it was the queen-mother.", "pos": 637448}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Monseigneur!", "pos": 637557}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "This is a voyage that will cost those who have to pay for it dear, Monsieur l’Intendant! But you have, happily, arrived!--You see, however, that I, who had but eight rowers, arrived before you.", "pos": 637594}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I have not been quick, monseigneur, because I followed your example whenever you stopped.", "pos": 638110}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And why did you do that, Monsieur Colbert? as you had a superior crew to mine, why did you not either join me or pass me?", "pos": 638216}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Out of respect,", "pos": 638389}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Good day.", "pos": 640186}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Bon jour! monseigneur, how did you get through the journey?", "pos": 640198}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Tolerably well, thank you.", "pos": 640285}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And the fever?", "pos": 640314}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But poorly. I drink, as you perceive. I am scarcely arrived, and I have already levied a contribution of tisane upon Nantes.", "pos": 640331}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You should sleep first, monseigneur.", "pos": 640458}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Eh! corbleu! my dear Monsieur d’Artagnan, I should be very glad to sleep.", "pos": 640497}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who hinders you?", "pos": 640573}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Why, you in the first place.", "pos": 640592}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I? Oh, monseigneur!", "pos": 640623}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "No doubt you do. Is it at Nantes as at Paris? Do you not come in the king’s name?", "pos": 640645}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "For Heaven’s sake, monseigneur, 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 my say at once, in ceremonial voice, ‘Monseigneur, in the name of the king, I arrest you!’", "pos": 640729}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "You promise me that frankness?", "pos": 641127}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Upon my honor! But we have not come to that, believe me.", "pos": 641185}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What makes you think that, M. d’Artagnan? For my part, I think quite the contrary.", "pos": 641244}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I have heard speak of nothing of the kind,", "pos": 641329}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Eh! eh!", "pos": 641394}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Indeed, no. You are an agreeable man, in spite of your fever. The king should not, cannot help loving you, at the bottom of his heart.", "pos": 641418}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "But M. Colbert? does M. Colbert love me as much as you say?", "pos": 641591}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I am not speaking of M. Colbert. He is an exceptional man. He does not love you; so much is very possible; but, mordioux! the squirrel can guard himself against the adder with very little trouble.", "pos": 641664}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Do you know that you are speaking to me quite as a friend? and that, upon my life! I have never met with a man of your intelligence, and heart?", "pos": 641885}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You are pleased to say so. Why did you wait till to-day to pay me such a compliment?", "pos": 642050}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Blind that we are!", "pos": 642159}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your voice is getting hoarse, drink, monseigneur, drink! Such things only happen to me. 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 you--", "pos": 642198}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Just at the moment I am about to fall. That is true, my dear Monsieur d’Artagnan.", "pos": 642700}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I did not say so.", "pos": 642807}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "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!’", "pos": 642827}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You overwhelm me. I esteem you greatly.", "pos": 643131}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "There exists another man, then, who does not think as M. Colbert thinks,", "pos": 643193}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "How this M. Colbert looms up in your imagination! He is worse than fever!", "pos": 643291}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Oh! I have good cause. Judge for yourself. Is not this a clear sign of my ruin?", "pos": 643367}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is true. Yes; it has an unsavory odor, as M. de Treville used to say.", "pos": 643602}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "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?", "pos": 643755}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Where M. d’Herblay is. As for me, monseigneur. I can assure you the king has said nothing to me against you.", "pos": 643938}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Indeed!", "pos": 644118}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The king commanded me to set out for Nantes, it is true; and to say nothing about it to M. de Gesvres.", "pos": 644128}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "My friend.", "pos": 644233}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "To M. de Gesvres, yes, monseigneur. The king, moreover, commanded me to take a brigade of musketeers, which is apparently superfluous, as the country is quite quiet.", "pos": 644246}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "A brigade!", "pos": 644528}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ninety-six horsemen, yes, monseigneur. The same number as were employed in arresting MM. de Chalais, de Cinq-Mars, and Montmorency.", "pos": 644587}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And what else?", "pos": 644800}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! 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.", "pos": 644826}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And as to myself, what orders had you?", "pos": 644984}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "As to you, monseigneur?--not the smallest word.", "pos": 645042}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, my safety, my honor, perhaps my life are at stake. You would not deceive me?", "pos": 645092}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I?--to what end? Are you threatened? Only there really is an order with respect to carriages and boats--", "pos": 645192}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "An order?", "pos": 645299}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes; but it cannot concern you--a simple measure of police.", "pos": 645311}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What is it, captain?--what is it?", "pos": 645373}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "To forbid all horses or boats to leave Nantes, without a pass, signed by the king.", "pos": 645409}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Great God! but--", "pos": 645494}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "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 nowise concerns you. It is evident, by my thus confiding to you the orders which have been given to me, that I am friendly towards you, and that I am trying to prove to you that none of them are directed against you.", "pos": 645540}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Without doubt!--without doubt!", "pos": 645979}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Let us recapitulate. A special guard about the castle, in which your lodging is to be, is it not?", "pos": 646040}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Do you know the castle?", "pos": 646197}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! monseigneur, a regular prison! The 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 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 any sinister designs. In truth, Monsieur Fouquet, ask me whatever you like, I am at your service; and, in return, if you will consent to do it, do me a service, that of giving 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.", "pos": 646223}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "My horses!--my lighter! Gourville!--Gourville! Gourville!--Gourville! Let us be gone! Let us be gone!", "pos": 647577}
{"speaker": "Gourville", "text": "It is too late!", "pos": 647970}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Too late!--why?", "pos": 648025}
{"speaker": "Gourville", "text": "Listen!", "pos": 648043}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "What does that mean, Gourville?", "pos": 648125}
{"speaker": "Gourville", "text": "It means the king is come, monseigneur.", "pos": 648159}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The king!", "pos": 648201}
{"speaker": "Gourville", "text": "The king, who has ridden double stages, who has killed horses, and who is eight hours in advance of all our calculations.", "pos": 648213}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "We are lost! Brave D’Artagnan, all is over, thou has spoken to me too late!", "pos": 648337}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! are you still there, monseigneur?", "pos": 649362}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Good heavens! yes, monsieur. The arrival of the king has interrupted me in the projects I had formed.", "pos": 649639}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, then you know that the king has arrived?", "pos": 649757}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, monsieur, I have seen him; and this time you come from him--", "pos": 649804}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "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.", "pos": 649872}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Directly, Monsieur d’Artagnan, directly!", "pos": 650002}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah, mordioux! now the king is come, there is no more walking for anybody--no more free will; the password governs all now, you as much as me, me as much as you.", "pos": 650045}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well? The order is executed, sire.", "pos": 651768}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And Fouquet? Monsieur le surintendant follows me,", "pos": 651912}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In ten minutes let him be introduced. Did he not appear astonished?", "pos": 651983}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who, sire?", "pos": 652284}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Fouquet,", "pos": 652297}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, sire,", "pos": 652430}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "That’s well!", "pos": 652454}
{"speaker": "Gourville", "text": "Something is being contrived against you. Perhaps they will not dare to carry it out at the castle; it will be on your return home. The house is already surrounded by musketeers. Do not enter. A white horse is in waiting for you behind the esplanade!", "pos": 652627}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, the king awaits you.", "pos": 653246}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well! how are you, Monsieur Fouquet?", "pos": 654136}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I am in a high fever, but I am at the king’s service.", "pos": 654184}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "That is well; the States assemble to-morrow; have you a speech ready?", "pos": 654268}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I have not, sire, but I will improvise one. I am too well acquainted with affairs to feel any embarrassment. I have only one question to ask; will your majesty permit me?", "pos": 654386}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Certainly. Ask it.", "pos": 654573}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Why did not your majesty do his first minister the honor of giving him notice of this in Paris?", "pos": 654594}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You were ill; I was not willing to fatigue you.", "pos": 654692}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Never did a labor--never did an explanation fatigue me, sire; and since the moment is come for me to demand an explanation of my king--", "pos": 654742}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Oh, Monsieur Fouquet! an explanation? An explanation, pray, of what?", "pos": 654880}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Of your majesty’s intentions with respect to myself. I have been calumniated, and I feel called upon to adjure the justice of the king to make inquiries.", "pos": 654951}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You say all this to me very uselessly, Monsieur Fouquet; I know what I know.", "pos": 655155}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Your majesty can only know the things that have been told to you; and I, on my part, have said nothing to you, whilst others have spoken many, many times--", "pos": 655234}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What do you wish to say?", "pos": 655392}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I will go straight to the facts, sire; and I accuse a certain man of having injured me in your majesty’s opinion.", "pos": 655493}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Nobody has injured you, Monsieur Fouquet.", "pos": 655609}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That reply proves to me, sire, that I am right.", "pos": 655653}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur Fouquet, I do not like people to be accused.", "pos": 655703}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Not when one is accused?", "pos": 655759}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "We have already spoken too much about this affair.", "pos": 655786}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Your majesty will not allow me to justify myself?", "pos": 655839}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I repeat that I do not accuse you.", "pos": 655891}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Did your majesty send for me on business?", "pos": 656195}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "No, Monsieur Fouquet, but for some advice I wish to give you.", "pos": 656239}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I respectfully await it, sire.", "pos": 656303}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Rest yourself, Monsieur Fouquet, do not throw away your strength; the session of the States will be short, and when my secretaries shall have closed it, I do not wish business to be talked of in France for a fortnight.", "pos": 656336}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Has the king nothing to say to me on the subject of this assembly of the States?", "pos": 656557}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "No, Monsieur Fouquet.", "pos": 656640}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Not to me, the surintendant of the finances?", "pos": 656664}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Rest yourself, I beg you; that is all I have to say to you. Are you angry at having to rest yourself, M. Fouquet?", "pos": 656711}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, sire, I am not accustomed to take rest.", "pos": 656959}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "But you are ill; you must take care of yourself.", "pos": 657006}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Your majesty spoke just now of a speech to be pronounced to-morrow.", "pos": 657057}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Sire, since the goodness of the king watches over my health to the point of dispensing with my labor, may I not be allowed to be absent from the council of to-morrow? I could pass the day in bed, and will entreat the king to grant me his physician, that we may endeavor to find a remedy against this fearful fever.", "pos": 657712}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "So be it, Monsieur Fouquet, it shall be as you desire; you shall have a holiday to-morrow, you shall have the physician, and shall be restored to health.", "pos": 658050}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Thanks! Shall I not have the happiness of conducting your majesty to my residence of Belle-Isle?", "pos": 658206}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Do you know, that you have just said, ‘My residence of Belle-Isle’?", "pos": 658458}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, sire.", "pos": 658564}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well! do you not remember that you gave me Belle-Isle?", "pos": 658577}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That is true again, sire. Only, as you have not taken it, you will doubtless come with me and take possession of it.", "pos": 658683}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I mean to do so.", "pos": 658802}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That was, besides, your majesty’s intention as well as mine; and I cannot express to your majesty how happy and proud I have been to see all the king’s regiments from Paris to help take possession.", "pos": 658821}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Peste! I do not wish those fine fortifications, which cost so much to build, to fall at all. No, let them stand against the Dutch and English. You would not guess what I want to see at Belle-Isle, Monsieur Fouquet; it is the pretty peasants and women of the lands on the sea-shore, who dance so well, and are so seducing with their scarlet petticoats! I have heard great boast of your pretty tenants, monsieur le surintendant; well, let me have a sight of them.", "pos": 659331}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Whenever your majesty pleases.", "pos": 659795}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Have you any means of transport? It shall be to-morrow, if you like.", "pos": 659828}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "No, sire; I was ignorant of your majesty’s wish; above all, I was ignorant of your haste to see Belle-Isle, and I am prepared with nothing.", "pos": 659969}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You have a boat of your own, nevertheless?", "pos": 660111}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I have five; but they are all in port, or at Paimboeuf; and to join them, or bring them hither, would require at least twenty-four hours. Have I any occasion to send a courier? Must I do so?", "pos": 660156}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Wait a little, put an end to the fever,--wait till to-morrow.", "pos": 660349}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "That is true. Who knows but that by to-morrow we may not have a hundred other ideas? I have an ague--I am trembling with cold. If I remain a moment longer, I shall most likely faint. I request your majesty’s permission to go and fling myself beneath the bedclothes.", "pos": 660413}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Indeed, you are in a shiver; it is painful to behold! Come, Monsieur Fouquet, begone! I will send to inquire after you.", "pos": 660861}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Your majesty overwhelms me with kindness. In an hour I shall be better.", "pos": 660983}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I will call some one to reconduct you.", "pos": 661057}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "As you please, sire; I would gladly take the arm of any one.", "pos": 661113}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan!", "pos": 661176}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Oh, sire, would you give me the captain of your musketeers to take me to my lodgings? An equivocal honor that, sire! A simple footman, I beg.", "pos": 661319}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And why, M. Fouquet? M. d’Artagnan conducts me often, and extremely well!", "pos": 661463}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Yes, but when he conducts you, sire, it is to obey you; whilst me--", "pos": 661539}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Go on!", "pos": 661609}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "If I am obliged to return home supported by the leader of the musketeers, it would be everywhere said you had had me arrested.", "pos": 661618}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Arrested! oh!", "pos": 661817}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "And why should they not say so? and I would lay a wager there would be people found wicked enough to laugh at it.", "pos": 661833}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Quite unnecessary, sword for sword; I prefer Gourville, who is waiting for me below. But that will not prevent me enjoying the society of M. d’Artagnan. I am glad he will see Belle-Isle, he is so good a judge of fortifications.", "pos": 662251}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Captain, you will follow M. Fouquet at the distance of a hundred paces.", "pos": 662887}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, sire.", "pos": 662961}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "He is going to his lodgings again. You will go with him.", "pos": 662974}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, sire.", "pos": 663033}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You will arrest him in my name, and will shut him up in a carriage.", "pos": 663046}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In a carriage. Well, sire?", "pos": 663116}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In such a fashion that he may not, on the road, either converse with any one or throw notes to people he may meet.", "pos": 663145}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That will be rather difficult, sire.", "pos": 663262}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Not at all.", "pos": 663301}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Pardon me, sire, I cannot stifle M. Fouquet, and if he asks for liberty to breathe, I cannot prevent him by closing both the windows and the blinds. He will throw out at the doors all the cries and notes possible.", "pos": 663315}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The case is provided for, Monsieur d’Artagnan; a carriage with a trellis will obviate both the difficulties you point out.", "pos": 663531}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "A carriage with an iron trellis! but a carriage with an iron trellis is not made in half an hour, and your majesty commands me to go immediately to M. Fouquet’s lodgings.", "pos": 663656}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The carriage in question is already made.", "pos": 663849}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! that is quite a different thing, if the carriage is ready made, very well, then, we have only to set it in motion.", "pos": 663893}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It is ready--and the horses harnessed.", "pos": 664034}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 664075}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And the coachman, with the outriders, is waiting in the lower court of the castle.", "pos": 664081}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "There only remains for me to ask your majesty whither I shall conduct M. Fouquet.", "pos": 664184}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "To the castle of Angers, at first.", "pos": 664268}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Very well, sire.", "pos": 664305}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Afterwards we will see.", "pos": 664324}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, sire.", "pos": 664350}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, one last word: you have remarked that, for making this capture of M. Fouquet, I have not employed my guards, on which account M. de Gesvres will be furious.", "pos": 664363}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your majesty does not employ your guards because you mistrust M. de Gesvres, that is all.", "pos": 664543}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "That is to say, monsieur, that I have more confidence in you.", "pos": 664677}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I know that very well, sire! and it is of no use to make so much of it.", "pos": 664741}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It is only for the sake of arriving at this, monsieur, that if, from this moment, it should happen that by any chance whatever M. Fouquet should escape--such chances have been, monsieur--", "pos": 664815}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! very often, sire; but for others, not for me.", "pos": 665005}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And why not with you?", "pos": 665057}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Because, sire, have, for an instant, wished to save M. Fouquet.", "pos": 665083}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In writing, sire, then.", "pos": 666083}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, but, that is not a common horse M. Fouquet is upon--let us see! I must overtake him, if I kill my horse. Courage! courage! the white horse will perhaps grow weaker, and if the horse does not fall, the master must pull up at last. A famous horse! a mad rider! Hola! mordioux! Monsieur Fouquet! stop! in the king’s name! Do you hear me?", "pos": 674410}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Pardieu!", "pos": 675802}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In the king’s name! stop, or I will bring you down with a pistol-shot!", "pos": 675944}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Do!", "pos": 676035}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You have pistols likewise, turn and defend yourself. Mordioux! I will not assassinate you; if you will not fire upon me, surrender! what is a prison?", "pos": 676193}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I would rather die! I shall suffer less.", "pos": 676627}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I will take you alive!", "pos": 676754}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Kill me! kill me! 'twould be more humane!", "pos": 676987}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No! alive--alive!", "pos": 677048}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "At your horse! not at you! I am dishonored! I am a miserable wretch! for pity’s sake, M. Fouquet, throw me one of your pistols, that I may blow out my brains! For mercy’s sake! for mercy’s sake! that which you will not do at this moment, I myself will do within an hour, but here, upon this road, I should die bravely; I should die esteemed; do me that service, M. Fouquet!", "pos": 677642}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I arrest you in the king’s name! blow my brains out, if you like; we have both done our duty.", "pos": 678881}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I am your prisoner, monsieur, will you take my arm, for I see you are ready to faint?", "pos": 679100}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Thanks!", "pos": 679199}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You are not off, then? Oh, monsieur! the true king of royalty, in heart, in soul, is not Louis of the Louvre, or Philippe of Sainte-Marguerite; it is you, proscribed, condemned!", "pos": 679760}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I, who this day am ruined by a single error, M. d’Artagnan.", "pos": 679952}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What, in the name of Heaven, is that?", "pos": 680014}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "I should have had you for a friend! But how shall we return to Nantes? We are a great way from it.", "pos": 680054}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is true,", "pos": 680155}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "The white horse will recover, perhaps; he is a good horse! Mount, Monsieur d’Artagnan; I will walk till you have rested a little.", "pos": 680198}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Poor beast! and wounded, too?", "pos": 680330}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "He will go, I tell you; I know him; but we can do better still, let us both get up, and ride slowly.", "pos": 680382}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "We can try,", "pos": 680485}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "We will go on foot--destiny wills it so--the walk will be pleasant,", "pos": 680772}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Mordioux! What a disgraceful day!", "pos": 680900}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "There is an idea that did not emanate from a brave man, Captain d’Artagnan; it is not yours. What are these gratings for?", "pos": 681263}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "To prevent your throwing letters out.", "pos": 681396}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Ingenious!", "pos": 681436}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But you can speak, if you cannot write,", "pos": 681449}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Can I speak to you?", "pos": 681508}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Why, certainly, if you wish to do so.", "pos": 681530}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "One single word, will you remember it?", "pos": 681645}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I will not forget it.", "pos": 681697}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Will you speak it to whom I wish?", "pos": 681721}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I will.", "pos": 681757}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "Saint-Mande,", "pos": 681767}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well! and for whom?", "pos": 681819}
{"speaker": "Fouquet", "text": "For Madame de Belliere or Pelisson.", "pos": 681841}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It shall be done.", "pos": 681879}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What is it you are saying?", "pos": 682407}
{"speaker": "M. de Brienne", "text": "We were speaking of the first sitting of the States,", "pos": 682436}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Very well. Have you finished your copies?", "pos": 682519}
{"speaker": "Rose", "text": "Not yet, sire.", "pos": 682703}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "See if M. d’Artagnan has returned.", "pos": 682720}
{"speaker": "Rose", "text": "Not yet, sire.", "pos": 682757}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It is very strange. Call M. Colbert. Monsieur Colbert, you must ascertain what has become of M. d’Artagnan.", "pos": 682774}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Where does your majesty desire him to be sought for?", "pos": 683034}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Eh! monsieur! do you not know on what I have sent him?", "pos": 683089}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Your majesty did not inform me.", "pos": 683176}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur, there are things that must be guessed; and you, above all, are apt to guess them.", "pos": 683210}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I might have been able to imagine, sire; but I do not presume to be positive.", "pos": 683304}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "D’Artagnan!", "pos": 683551}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire, is it your majesty who has given orders to my musketeers?", "pos": 683678}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What orders?", "pos": 683744}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "About M. Fouquet’s house?", "pos": 683774}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "None!", "pos": 683802}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ha! I was not mistaken, then; it was monsieur here;", "pos": 683825}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What orders? Let me know,", "pos": 683946}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Orders to turn the house topsy-turvy, to beat M. Fouquet’s servants, to force the drawers, to give over a peaceful house to pillage! Mordioux! these are savage orders!", "pos": 683989}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Monsieur!", "pos": 684159}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, the king alone, understand,--the king alone has a right to command my musketeers; but, as to you, I forbid you to do it, and I tell you so before his majesty; gentlemen who carry swords do not sling pens behind their ears.", "pos": 684199}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "D’Artagnan! D’Artagnan!", "pos": 684460}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is humiliating, my soldiers are disgraced. I do not command reitres, thank you, nor clerks of the intendant, mordioux!", "pos": 684505}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well! but what is all this about?", "pos": 684656}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "About this, sire; monsieur--monsieur, who could not guess your majesty’s orders, and consequently could not know I was gone to arrest M. Fouquet; monsieur, who has caused the iron cage to be constructed for his patron of yesterday--has sent M. de Roncherolles to the lodgings of M. Fouquet, and, under the pretense of securing the surintendant’s papers, they have taken away the furniture. My musketeers have been posted round the house all the morning; such were my orders. Why did any one presume to order them to enter? Why, by forcing them to assist in this pillage, have they been made accomplices in it? Mordioux! we serve the king, we do; but we do not serve M. Colbert!", "pos": 684722}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, take care; it is not in my presence that such explanations, and made in such a tone, should take place.", "pos": 685402}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I have acted for the good of the king. It is hard to be so treated by one of your majesty’s officers, and that without redress, on account of the respect I owe the king.", "pos": 685555}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The respect you owe the king, consists, in the first place, in making his authority respected, and his person beloved. Every agent of a power without control represents that power, and when people curse the hand which strikes them, it is the royal hand that God reproaches, do you hear? Must a soldier, hardened by forty years of wounds and blood, give you this lesson, monsieur? Must mercy be on my side, and ferocity on yours? You have caused the innocent to be arrested, bound, and imprisoned!", "pos": 685765}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Accomplices, perhaps, of M. Fouquet,", "pos": 686308}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who told you M. Fouquet had accomplices, or even that he was guilty? The king alone knows that; his justice is not blind! When he says, ‘Arrest and imprison’ such and such a man, he is obeyed. Do not talk to me, then, any more of the respect you owe the king, and be careful of your words, that they may not chance to convey the slightest menace; for the king will not allow those to be threatened who do him service by others who do him disservice; and if in case I should have, which God forbid! a master so ungrateful, I would make myself respected.", "pos": 686361}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In the first place, let me see the result of your commission, monsieur; you may rest yourself hereafter.", "pos": 688058}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire, you are a young king. It is by the dawn that people judge whether the day will be fine or dull. How, sire, will the people, whom the hand of God has placed under your law, argue of your reign, if between them and you, you allow angry and violent ministers to interpose their mischief? But let us speak of myself, sire, let us leave a discussion that may appear idle, and perhaps inconvenient to you. Let us speak of myself. I have arrested M. Fouquet.", "pos": 688676}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You took plenty of time about it,", "pos": 689147}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I perceive that I have expressed myself badly. I announced to your majesty that I had arrested Monsieur Fouquet.", "pos": 689238}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You did; and what then?", "pos": 689353}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well! I ought to have told your majesty that M. Fouquet had arrested me; that would have been more just. I re-establish the truth, then; I have been arrested by M. Fouquet.", "pos": 689379}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It results from all this, sire, in my eyes, at least, that the man who conducts himself thus is a gallant man, and cannot be an enemy to the king. That is my opinion, and I repeat it to your majesty. I know what the king will say to me, and I bow to it,--reasons of state. So be it! To my ears that sounds highly respectable. But I am a soldier, and I have received my orders, my orders are executed--very unwillingly on my part, it is true, but they are executed. I say no more.", "pos": 690348}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Where is M. Fouquet at this moment?", "pos": 690830}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "M. Fouquet, sire, is in the iron cage that M. Colbert had prepared for him, and is galloping as fast as four strong horses can drag him, towards Angers.", "pos": 690904}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Why did you leave him on the road?", "pos": 691081}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Because your majesty did not tell me to go to Angers. The proof, the best proof of what I advance, is that the king desired me to be sought for but this minute. And then I had another reason.", "pos": 691118}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What is that?", "pos": 691312}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Whilst I was with him, poor M. Fouquet would never attempt to escape.", "pos": 691328}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well!", "pos": 691400}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Your majesty ought to understand, and does understand, certainly, that my warmest wish is to know that M. Fouquet is at liberty. I have given him one of my brigadiers, the most stupid I could find among my musketeers, in order that the prisoner might have a chance of escaping.", "pos": 691436}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Are you mad, Monsieur d’Artagnan? Do people utter such enormities, even when they have the misfortune to think them?", "pos": 691715}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! sire, you cannot expect that I should be an enemy to M. Fouquet, after what he has just done for you and me. No, no; if you desire that he should remain under your lock and bolt, never give him in charge to me; however closely wired might be the cage, the bird would, in the end, take wing.", "pos": 691885}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I am surprised, you did not follow the fortunes of the man M. Fouquet wished to place upon my throne. You had in him all you want--affection, gratitude. In my service, monsieur, you will only find a master.", "pos": 692182}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "If M. Fouquet had not gone to seek you in the Bastile, sire, one single man would have gone there, and I should have been that man--you know that right well, sire.", "pos": 692430}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Colbert, did you make a perquisition on the house of M. Fouquet? Yes, sire. What has it produced? M. de Roncherolles, who was sent with your majesty’s musketeers, has remitted me some papers.", "pos": 693533}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I will look at them. Give me your hand.", "pos": 693750}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "My hand, sire!", "pos": 693792}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes, that I may place it in that of M. d’Artagnan. In fact, M. d’Artagnan, you do not know this man; make his acquaintance. He has been made but a moderately valuable servant in subaltern positions, but he will be a great man if I raise him to the foremost rank.", "pos": 693809}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Sire!", "pos": 694220}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I always understood why, he was jealous.", "pos": 694280}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Precisely, and his jealousy confined his wings.", "pos": 694364}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "He will henceforward be a winged-serpent,", "pos": 694414}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "That which the king has just told you, monsieur, proves how well his majesty is acquainted with men. The inveterate opposition I have displayed, up to this day, against abuses and not against men, proves that I had it in view to prepare for my king a glorious reign, for my country a great blessing. I have many ideas, M. d’Artagnan. You will see them expand in the sun of public peace; and if I have not the good fortune to conquer the friendship of honest men, I am at least certain, monsieur, that I shall obtain their esteem. For their admiration, monsieur, I would give my life.", "pos": 694892}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan,", "pos": 697779}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I am here, sire.", "pos": 697811}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Give twenty of your musketeers to M. de Saint-Aignan, to form a guard for M. Fouquet. And from Angers, they will conduct the prisoner to the Bastile, in Paris.", "pos": 697830}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You were right,", "pos": 698056}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Saint-Aignan, you will have any one shot who shall attempt to speak privately with M. Fouquet, during the journey.", "pos": 698108}
{"speaker": "duke", "text": "But myself, sire,", "pos": 698247}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You, monsieur, you will only speak to him in the presence of the musketeers. Monsieur, you will go immediately, and take possession of the isle and fief of Belle-Ile-en-Mer.", "pos": 698282}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, sire. Alone?", "pos": 698593}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You will take a sufficient number of troops to prevent delay, in case the place should be contumacious.", "pos": 698613}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That shall be done,", "pos": 698785}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I saw the place in my infancy, and I do not wish to see it again. You have heard me? Go, monsieur, and do not return without the keys.", "pos": 698824}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "A commission which, if you carry it out well, will be worth a marechal’s baton to you.", "pos": 699012}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Why do you employ the words, ‘if you carry it out well’?", "pos": 699112}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Because it is difficult.", "pos": 699171}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! in what respect?", "pos": 699198}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "You have friends in Belle-Isle, Monsieur d’Artagnan; and it is not an easy thing for men like you to march over the bodies of their friends to obtain success.", "pos": 699221}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "If is of no use your saying anything to the contrary, my dear Aramis. It is of no use, Aramis. The disappearance of all the fishing-boats that went out two days ago is not an ordinary circumstance. There has been no storm at sea; the weather has been constantly calm, not even the lightest gale; and even if we had had a tempest, all our boats would not have foundered. I repeat, it is strange. This complete disappearance astonishes me, I tell you.", "pos": 701326}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "True. You are right, friend Porthos; it is true, there is something strange in it.", "pos": 701875}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And further, and, further, do you not observe that if the boats have perished, not a single plank has washed ashore?", "pos": 701979}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I have remarked it as well as yourself.", "pos": 702181}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And do you not think it strange that the two only boats we had left in the whole island, and which I sent in search of the others-- In search of the others! Yes, to be sure I have,", "pos": 702223}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Unhappy man! What have you done? Then we are indeed lost,", "pos": 702621}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Lost!--what did you say? How lost, Aramis? How are we lost?", "pos": 702699}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Nothing! nothing! Your pardon, I meant to say-- That if we were inclined--if we took a fancy to make an excursion by sea, we could not.", "pos": 702817}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Very good! and why should that vex you? A precious pleasure, ma foi! For my part, I don’t regret it at all. What I regret is certainly not the more or less amusement we can find at Belle-Isle: what I regret, Aramis, is Pierrefonds; Bracieux; le Vallon; beautiful France! Here, we are not in France, my dear friend; we are--I know not where. Oh! I tell you, in full sincerity of soul, and your affection will excuse my frankness, but I declare to you I am not happy at Belle-Isle. No; in good truth, I am not happy!", "pos": 702965}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Dear friend, that is why it is so sad a thing you have sent the two boats we had left in search of the boats which disappeared two days ago. If you had not sent them away, we would have departed.", "pos": 703524}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "‘Departed!’ And the orders, Aramis?", "pos": 703737}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What orders?", "pos": 703774}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Parbleu! Why, the orders you have been constantly, in and out of season, repeating to me--that we were to hold Belle-Isle against the usurper. You know very well!", "pos": 703789}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is true!", "pos": 703954}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You see, then, plainly, my friend, that we could not depart; and that the sending away of the boats in search of the others cannot prove prejudicial to us in the very least. With all that, Aramis, with all that, you give me no explanation about what can have happened to these unfortunate boats. I am assailed by cries and complaints whichever way I go. The children cry to see the desolation of the women, as if I could restore the absent husbands and fathers. What do you suppose, my friend, and how ought I to answer them?", "pos": 703993}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Think all you like, my good Porthos, and say nothing. Do you remember, do you remember, my friend, that in the glorious days of youth--do you remember, Porthos, when we were all strong and valiant--we, and the other two--if we had then had an inclination to return to France, do you think this sheet of salt water would have stopped us?", "pos": 704814}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! but six leagues.", "pos": 705400}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If you had seen me get astride of a plank, would you have remained on land, Porthos?", "pos": 705439}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No, pardieu! No, Aramis. But, nowadays, what sort of a plank should we want, my friend! I, in particular. And do you mean seriously to say you are not tired of Belle-Isle a little, and that you would not prefer the comforts of your dwelling--of your episcopal palace, at Vannes? Come, confess.", "pos": 705526}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No,", "pos": 705923}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Let us stay where we are, then. Let us remain!--let us remain! And yet, and yet, if we seriously wished, but that decidedly--if we had a fixed idea, one firmly taken, to return to France, and there were not boats-- Have you remarked another thing, my friend--that is, since the disappearance of our barks, during the last two days’ absence of fishermen, not a single small boat has landed on the shores of the isle? Yes, certainly! you are right. I, too, have remarked it, and the observation was the more naturally made, for, before the last two fatal days, barks and shallops were as plentiful as shrimps.", "pos": 705980}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I must inquire. And then, if we had a raft constructed--", "pos": 706721}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "But there are some canoes, my friend; shall I board one?", "pos": 706831}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A canoe!--a canoe! Can you think of such a thing, Porthos? A canoe to be upset in. No, no, it is not our trade to ride upon the waves. We will wait, we will wait.", "pos": 706890}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Let us sit down upon this rock. Place yourself there, close to me, Aramis, and I conjure you, for the last time, to explain to me in a manner I can comprehend--explain to me what we are doing here.", "pos": 707398}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Porthos,", "pos": 707609}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I know that the false king wished to dethrone the true king. That is a fact, that I understand. Well--", "pos": 707651}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes?", "pos": 707756}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I know that the false king formed the project of selling Belle-Isle to the English. I understand that, too.", "pos": 707776}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes?", "pos": 707886}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I know that we engineers and captains came and threw ourselves into Belle-Isle to take direction of the works, and the command of ten companies levied and paid by M. Fouquet, or rather the ten companies of his son-in-law. All that is plain. But what I cannot understand, what, in spite of all the efforts of my mind, and all my reflections, I cannot comprehend, and never shall comprehend, is, that instead of sending us troops, instead of sending us reinforcements of men, munitions, provisions, they leave us without boats, they leave Belle-Isle without arrivals, without help; it is that instead of establishing with us a correspondence, whether by signals, or written or verbal communications, all relations with the shore are intercepted. Tell me, Aramis, answer me, or rather, before answering me, will you allow me to tell you what I have thought? Will you hear what my idea is, the plan I have conceived? I have dreamed, I have imagined that an event has taken place in France. I dreamt of M. Fouquet all the night, of lifeless fish, of broken eggs, of chambers badly furnished, meanly kept. Villainous dreams, my dear D’Herblay; very unlucky, such dreams!", "pos": 707893}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Porthos, what is that yonder?", "pos": 709252}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "A bark! yes, it is a bark! Ah! we shall have some news at last.", "pos": 709403}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "There are two! two! three! four!", "pos": 709485}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Five! Six! seven! Ah! mon Dieu! mon Dieu! it is a fleet!", "pos": 709569}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Our boats returning, probably,", "pos": 709657}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "They are very large for fishing-boats, and do you not remark, my friend, that they come from the Loire?", "pos": 709757}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "They come from the Loire--yes-- And look! everybody here sees them as well as ourselves; look, women and children are beginning to crowd the jetty. Are those our barks, yonder?", "pos": 709882}
{"speaker": "old man", "text": "No, monseigneur, they are lighter boars, boats in the king’s service.", "pos": 710161}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Boats in the royal service? How do you know that?", "pos": 710247}
{"speaker": "old man", "text": "By the flag.", "pos": 710336}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "But, the boat is scarcely visible; how the devil, my friend, can you distinguish the flag?", "pos": 710351}
{"speaker": "old man", "text": "I see there is one, our boats, trade lighters, do not carry any. That sort of craft is generally used for transport of troops.", "pos": 710460}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 710612}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Vivat! they are sending us reinforcements, don’t you think they are, Aramis?", "pos": 710634}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Probably.", "pos": 710730}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Unless it is the English coming.", "pos": 710742}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "By the Loire? That would have an evil look, Porthos; for they must have come through Paris!", "pos": 710777}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You are right; they are reinforcements, decidedly, or provisions.", "pos": 710871}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Porthos, have the alarm sounded.", "pos": 711017}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "The alarm! do you imagine such a thing?", "pos": 711063}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, and let the cannoniers mount their batteries, the artillerymen be at their pieces, and be particularly watchful of the coast batteries. I will do it, my dear Porthos. I will go and have these orders executed myself, if you do not go, my friend.", "pos": 711105}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Well! I will--instantly!", "pos": 711535}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Permit me, Aramis, to try to comprehend,", "pos": 712148}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My dear friend, you will comprehend but too soon,", "pos": 712236}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "The fleet which is coming yonder, with sails unfurled, straight towards the port of Belle-Isle, is a royal fleet, is it not? Oh! you open my eyes,", "pos": 712356}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "Monseigneur, from those who captured me.", "pos": 714463}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Who captured you?", "pos": 714506}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "You know, monseigneur, we set out in search of our comrades? Well! monseigneur, within a short league we were captured by a chasse maree belonging to the king.", "pos": 714526}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 714713}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Of which king?", "pos": 714732}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Speak!", "pos": 714782}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "We were captured, monseigneur, and joined to those who had been taken yesterday morning.", "pos": 714813}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What was the cause of the mania for capturing you all?", "pos": 714904}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "Monsieur, to prevent us from telling you,", "pos": 714975}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And they have released you to-day?", "pos": 715080}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "That I might tell you they have captured us, monsieur.", "pos": 715127}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Humph! then I suppose it is a royal fleet blockading the coasts?", "pos": 715272}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 715350}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Who commands it?", "pos": 715370}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "The captain of the king’s musketeers.", "pos": 715389}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "D’Artagnan?", "pos": 715429}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "D’Artagnan! I believe that is the name.", "pos": 715443}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Bring the torches nearer.", "pos": 715561}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It is his writing,", "pos": 715589}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Order of the king to take Belle-Isle; or to put the garrison to the sword, if they resist; order to make prisoners of all the men of the garrison; signed, D’ARTAGNAN, who, the day before yesterday, arrested M. Fouquet, for the purpose of his being sent to the Bastile.", "pos": 715665}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What is it?", "pos": 715992}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Nothing, my friend, nothing. Did you speak to M. d’Artagnan?", "pos": 716021}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 716122}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What did he say to you?", "pos": 716142}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "That for ampler information, he would speak with monseigneur.", "pos": 716168}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Where?", "pos": 716232}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "On board his own vessel.", "pos": 716241}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "On board his vessel! On board his vessel!", "pos": 716268}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "M. le mousquetaire, told me to take you both on board my canoe, and bring you to him.", "pos": 716336}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Let us go at once. Dear D’Artagnan!", "pos": 716446}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Are you mad? Who knows that it is not a snare?", "pos": 716529}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Of the other king’s?", "pos": 716590}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A snare, in fact! That’s what it is, my friend.", "pos": 716641}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Very possibly; what is to be done, then? If D’Artagnan sends for us--", "pos": 716691}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Who assures you that D’Artagnan sends for us?", "pos": 716763}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Well, but--but his writing--", "pos": 716811}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Writing is easily counterfeited. This looks counterfeited--unsteady--", "pos": 716842}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You are always right; but, in the meantime, we know nothing. we do not want to know anything.", "pos": 716914}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "What shall I do?", "pos": 717068}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You will return on board this captain’s vessel.", "pos": 717103}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 717153}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And will tell him that we beg he will himself come into the island.", "pos": 717173}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! I comprehend!", "pos": 717243}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "but if the captain should refuse to come to Belle-Isle?", "pos": 717315}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If he refuses, as we have cannon, we will make use of them.", "pos": 717373}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "What! against D’Artagnan?", "pos": 717435}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If it is D’Artagnan, Porthos, he will come. Go, Jonathan, go!", "pos": 717463}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ma foi! I no longer comprehend anything,", "pos": 717527}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I will make you comprehend it all, my dear friend; the time for it has come; sit down upon this gun-carriage, open your ears, and listen well to me.", "pos": 717588}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! pardieu! I will listen, no fear of that.", "pos": 717739}
{"speaker": "Jonathan", "text": "May I depart, monseigneur?", "pos": 717786}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, begone, and bring back an answer. Allow the canoe to pass, you men there!", "pos": 717831}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I like to be surprised, do not spare me, therefore, I beg. I am hardened against emotions; don’t fear, speak out.", "pos": 718165}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is difficult, Porthos--difficult; for, in truth, I warn you a second time, I have very strange things, very extraordinary things, to tell you.", "pos": 718315}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! you speak so well, my friend, that I could listen to you for days together. Speak, then, I beg--and--stop, I have an idea: I will, to make your task more easy, I will, to assist you in telling me such things, question you.", "pos": 718463}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I shall be pleased at your doing so.", "pos": 718692}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What are we going to fight for, Aramis?", "pos": 718731}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If you ask me many such questions as that--if you would render my task the easier by interrupting my revelations thus, Porthos, you will not help me at all. So far, on the contrary, that is the very Gordian knot. But, my friend, with a man like you, good, generous, and devoted, the confession must be bravely made. I have deceived you, my worthy friend.", "pos": 718773}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "You have deceived me!", "pos": 719130}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Good Heavens! yes.", "pos": 719154}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Was it for my good, Aramis?", "pos": 719175}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I thought so, Porthos; I thought so sincerely, my friend.", "pos": 719205}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Then, you have rendered me a service, and I thank you for it; for if you had not deceived me, I might have deceived myself. In what, then, have you deceived me, tell me?", "pos": 719265}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In that I was serving the usurper against whom Louis XIV., at this moment, is directing his efforts.", "pos": 719477}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "The usurper! That is--well, I do not quite clearly comprehend!", "pos": 719580}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He is one of the two kings who are contending for the crown of France.", "pos": 719682}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Very well! Then you were serving him who is not Louis XIV.?", "pos": 719755}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You have hit the matter in one word.", "pos": 719817}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It follows that--", "pos": 719856}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It follows that we are rebels, my poor friend.", "pos": 719876}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "The devil! the devil! And so, according to this, the duchy that was promised me--", "pos": 719925}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It was the usurper that was to give it to you.", "pos": 720270}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And that is not the same thing, Aramis,", "pos": 720319}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My friend, if it had only depended upon me, you should have become a prince.", "pos": 720389}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "That is where you have been wrong, in deceiving me; for that promised duchy I reckoned upon. Oh! I reckoned upon it seriously, knowing you to be a man of your word, Aramis.", "pos": 720521}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Poor Porthos! pardon me, I implore you!", "pos": 720712}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "so then, it seems, I have quite fallen out with Louis XIV.?", "pos": 720826}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! I will settle all that, my good friend, I will settle all that. I will take it on myself alone! No, no, Porthos, I conjure you, let me act. No false generosity! No inopportune devotedness! You knew nothing of my projects. You have done nothing of yourself. With me it is different. I alone am the author of this plot. I stood in need of my inseparable companion; I called upon you, and you came to me in remembrance of our ancient device, ‘All for one, one for all.’ My crime is that I was an egotist.", "pos": 720888}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Now, that is a word I like, and seeing that you have acted entirely for yourself, it is impossible for me to blame you. It is natural. that we have come to an explanation, now that I am perfectly aware of our situation with respect to Louis XIV., I think, my friend, it is time to make me comprehend the political intrigue of which we are the victims--for I plainly see there is a political intrigue at the bottom of all this.", "pos": 721408}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "D’Artagnan, my good Porthos, D’Artagnan is coming, and will detail it to you in all its circumstances; but, excuse me, I am deeply grieved, I am bowed down with mental anguish, and I have need of all my presence of mind, all my powers of reflection, to extricate you from the false position in which I have so imprudently involved you; but nothing can be more clear, nothing more plain, than your position, henceforth. The king Louis XIV. has no longer now but one enemy: that enemy is myself, myself alone. I have made you a prisoner, you have followed me, to-day I liberate you, you fly back to your prince. You can perceive, Porthos, there is not one difficulty in all this.", "pos": 722248}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Do you think so?", "pos": 722928}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am quite sure of it.", "pos": 722961}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Then why, then why, if we are in such an easy position, why, my friend, do we prepare cannon, muskets, and engines of all sorts? It seems to me it would be much more simple to say to Captain d’Artagnan: ‘My dear friend, we have been mistaken; that error is to be repaired; open the door to us, let us pass through, and we will say good-bye.’", "pos": 722986}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah! that!", "pos": 723374}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Why do you say ‘that’? Do you not approve of my plan, my friend?", "pos": 723417}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I see a difficulty in it.", "pos": 723484}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What is it?", "pos": 723512}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The hypothesis that D’Artagnan may come with orders which will oblige us to defend ourselves.", "pos": 723526}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What! defend ourselves against D’Artagnan? Folly! Against the good D’Artagnan!", "pos": 723622}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Porthos, if I have had the matches lighted and the guns pointed, if I have had the signal of alarm sounded, if I have called every man to his post upon the ramparts, those good ramparts of Belle-Isle which you have so well fortified, it was not for nothing. Wait to judge; or rather, no, do not wait--", "pos": 723749}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What can I do?", "pos": 724074}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If I knew, my friend, I would have told you.", "pos": 724091}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "But there is one thing much more simple than defending ourselves:--a boat, and away for France--where--", "pos": 724138}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "My dear friend, do not let us reason like children; let us be men in council and in execution.--But, hark! I hear a hail for landing at the port. Attention, Porthos, serious attention!", "pos": 724244}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It is D’Artagnan, no doubt,", "pos": 724486}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, it is I. Make your men draw back, let them retire out of hearing. Monsieur, we are no longer on board the king’s fleet, where, in virtue of your order, you spoke so arrogantly to me, just now.", "pos": 724578}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I did not speak arrogantly to you; I simply, but rigorously, obeyed instructions. I was commanded to follow you. I follow you. I am directed not to allow you to communicate with any one without taking cognizance of what you do; I am in duty bound, accordingly, to overhear your conversations.", "pos": 725374}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, when I sent a canoe hither, you wished to know what I wrote to the defenders of Belle-Isle. You produced an order to that effect; and, in my turn, I instantly showed you the note I had written. When the skipper of the boat sent by me returned, when I received the reply of these two gentlemen All that was plainly in your orders, all that was well executed, very punctually, was it not?", "pos": 725948}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, monsieur,", "pos": 726549}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, when I manifested the intention of quitting my vessel to cross to Belle-Isle, you demanded to accompany me; I did not hesitate; I brought you with me. You are now at Belle-Isle, are you not?", "pos": 726617}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Yes, monsieur; but--", "pos": 726868}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But--the question no longer is of M. Colbert, who has given you that order, or of whomsoever in the world you are following the instructions; the question now is of a man who is a clog upon M. d’Artagnan, and who is alone with M. d’Artagnan upon steps whose feet are bathed by thirty feet of salt water; a bad position for that man, a bad position, monsieur! I warn you.", "pos": 726891}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Monsieur, if I am a restraint upon you,", "pos": 727269}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "it is my duty which--", "pos": 727358}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, you have had the misfortune, either you or those that sent you, to insult me. It is done. I cannot seek redress from those who employ you,--they are unknown to me, or are at too great a distance. But you are under my hand, and I swear that if you make one step behind me when I raise my feet to go up to those gentlemen, I swear to you by my name, I will cleave your head in two with my sword, and pitch you into the water. Oh! it will happen! it will happen! I have only been six times angry in my life, monsieur, and all five preceding times I killed my man.", "pos": 727382}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Monsieur, you are wrong in acting against my orders.", "pos": 728053}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Good D’Artagnan, take care!", "pos": 728198}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, you are a brave man. You will all the better comprehend what I am going to say to you now.", "pos": 728637}
{"speaker": "the officer", "text": "Speak, Monsieur d’Artagnan, speak,", "pos": 728788}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "These gentlemen we have just seen, and against whom you have orders, are my friends.", "pos": 728846}
{"speaker": "the officer", "text": "I know they are, monsieur.", "pos": 728933}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You can understand whether or not I ought to act towards them as your instructions prescribe.", "pos": 728962}
{"speaker": "the officer", "text": "I understand your reserve.", "pos": 729058}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Very well; permit me, then, to converse with them without a witness.", "pos": 729087}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, if I yield to your request, if I do that which you beg me, I break my word; but if I do not do it, I disoblige you. I prefer the one dilemma to the other. Converse with your friends, and do not despise me, monsieur, for doing this for your sake, whom I esteem and honor; do not despise me for committing for you, and you alone, an unworthy act.", "pos": 729158}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well! such is my position, judge for yourselves.", "pos": 729712}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What is the meaning of all these preparations?", "pos": 729856}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You ought to have a suspicion of what they signify,", "pos": 729919}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Not any, I assure you, my dear captain; for, in fact, I have done nothing, no more has Aramis,", "pos": 729990}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Dear Porthos!", "pos": 730212}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You see what is being done against you, interception of all boats coming to or going from Belle-Isle. Your means of transport seized. If you had endeavored to fly, you would have fallen into the hands of the cruisers that plow the sea in all directions, on the watch for you. The king wants you to be taken, and he will take you. to make you both come on board, to keep you near me, and restore you your liberty. But now, who can say, when I return to my ship, I may not find a superior; that I may not find secret orders which will take from me my command, and give it to another, who will dispose of me and you without hope of help?", "pos": 730256}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We must remain at Belle-Isle, and I assure you, for my part, I will not surrender easily.", "pos": 731029}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I have another trial to make of this officer, of this brave fellow who accompanies me, and whose courageous resistance makes me very happy; for it denotes an honest man, who, though an enemy, is a thousand times better than a complaisant coward. Let us try to learn from him what his instructions are, and what his orders permit or forbid.", "pos": 731217}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Let us try,", "pos": 731559}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, after having exchanged the cordial courtesies natural between gentlemen who know and appreciate each other, monsieur, if I wished to take away these gentlemen from here, what would you do?", "pos": 731710}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I should not oppose it, monsieur; but having direct explicit orders to put them under guard, I should detain them.", "pos": 731930}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah!", "pos": 732047}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That’s all over. He can prove to the king, and I will help him do so, and you too, Monsieur d’Artagnan, that he had nothing to do with this affair.", "pos": 732070}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Hum! Will you come? Will you follow me, Porthos? The king is merciful.", "pos": 732320}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I want time for reflection,", "pos": 732412}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You will remain here, then?", "pos": 732456}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Until fresh orders,", "pos": 732486}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Until we have an idea, and I now believe that will not be long, for I have one already.", "pos": 732536}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Let us say adieu, then, but in truth, my good Porthos, you ought to go.", "pos": 732648}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No,", "pos": 732737}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "As you please. Only I am reassured by the promise of an idea from D’Artagnan, an idea I fancy I have divined.", "pos": 732773}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Let us see. That is it, precisely.", "pos": 732981}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Infallible!", "pos": 733146}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "During the first emotion this resolution will cause, take care of yourself, Aramis.", "pos": 733174}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! don’t be afraid.", "pos": 733260}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Now, monsieur, thanks, a thousand thanks! You have made yourself three friends for life.", "pos": 733283}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes,", "pos": 733408}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Gentlemen, I have been to reconnoiter Belle-Ile-en-Mer, and I have found in it a good and solid garrison; moreover, preparations are made for a defense that may prove troublesome. I therefore intend to send for two of the principal officers of the place, that we may converse with them. Having separated them from their troops and cannon, we shall be better able to deal with them; particularly by reasoning with them. Is not this your opinion, gentlemen?", "pos": 734649}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Monsieur,", "pos": 735136}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I have heard you say that the place is preparing to make a troublesome defense. The place is then, as you know, determined on rebellion?", "pos": 735185}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, your reply is just. But you are ignorant that Belle-Isle is a fief of M. Fouquet’s, and that former monarchs gave the right to the seigneurs of Belle-Isle to arm their people. Oh! do not interrupt me. You are going to tell me that that right to arm themselves against the English was not a right to arm themselves against their king. But it is not M. Fouquet, I suppose, who holds Belle-Isle at this moment, since I arrested M. Fouquet the day before yesterday. Now the inhabitants and defenders of Belle-Isle know nothing of this arrest. You would announce it to them in vain. It is a thing so unheard-of and extraordinary, so unexpected, that they would not believe you. A Breton serves his master, and not his masters; he serves his master till he has seen him dead. Now the Bretons, as far as I know, have not seen the body of M. Fouquet. It is not, then, surprising they hold out against that which is neither M. Fouquet nor his signature. That is why. I propose to cause two of the principal officers of the garrison to come on board my vessel. They will see you, gentlemen; they will see the forces we have at our disposal; they will consequently know to what they have to trust, and the fate that attends them, in case of rebellion. We will affirm to them, upon our honor, that M. Fouquet is a prisoner, and that all resistance can only be prejudicial to them. We will tell them that at the first cannon fired, there will be no further hope of mercy from the king. Then, or so at least I trust, they will resist no longer. They will yield up without fighting, and we shall have a place given up to us in a friendly way which it might cost prodigious efforts to subdue. Yes, I know what you are going to tell me, monsieur; I know that there is an order of the king’s to prevent all secret communications with the defenders of Belle-Isle, and that is exactly why I do not offer to communicate except in presence of my staff.", "pos": 735450}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What, more!", "pos": 738224}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Read, monsieur,", "pos": 738270}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Prohibition to M. d’Artagnan to assemble any council whatever, or to deliberate in any way before Belle-Isle be surrendered and the prisoners shot. Signed--LOUIS. That is well, monsieur, the king’s orders shall be complied with. Gentlemen, since the king has charged some other than myself with his secret orders, it must be because I no longer possess his confidence, and I should really be unworthy of it if I had the courage to hold a command subject to so many injurious suspicions. Therefore I will go immediately and carry my resignation to the king. I tender it before you all, enjoining you all to fall back with me upon the coast of France, in such a way as not to compromise the safety of the forces his majesty has confided to me. For this purpose, return all to your posts; within an hour, we shall have the ebb of the tide. To your posts, gentlemen! I suppose, you have no orders to object, this time?", "pos": 738426}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "From the moment M. d’Artagnan shall have manifested the desire of giving in his resignation, he shall no longer be reckoned leader of the expedition, and every officer placed under his orders shall be held to no longer obey him. Moreover, the said Monsieur d’Artagnan, having lost that quality of leader of the army sent against Belle-Isle, shall set out immediately for France, accompanied by the officer who will have remitted the message to him, and who will consider him a prisoner for whom he is answerable.", "pos": 740541}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Monsieur,", "pos": 741964}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "I await your good pleasure to depart.", "pos": 742012}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I am ready, monsieur,", "pos": 742052}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Here are your instructions,", "pos": 742675}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Immediately!", "pos": 742938}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "what would I give to know the instructions for the new commander! They are all pacific, are they not? and--", "pos": 743568}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "They have commenced the siege of Belle-Isle,", "pos": 743817}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Dear Porthos. I will explain D’Artagnan’s idea to you.", "pos": 744196}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What idea, Aramis?", "pos": 744274}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "An idea to which we shall owe our liberty within twelve hours.", "pos": 744295}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! indeed! Let us hear it.", "pos": 744360}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Did you remark, in the scene our friend had with the officer, that certain orders constrained him with regard to us?", "pos": 744423}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, I did notice that.", "pos": 744542}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well! D’Artagnan is going to give in his resignation to the king, and during the confusion that will result from his absence, we will get away, or rather you will get away, Porthos, if there is possibility of flight for only one.", "pos": 744568}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "We will escape together, Aramis, or we will stay together.", "pos": 744841}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Thine is a right, a generous heart, only your melancholy uneasiness affects me.", "pos": 744902}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I am not uneasy,", "pos": 744999}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Then you are angry with me.", "pos": 745032}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I am not angry with you.", "pos": 745062}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Then why, my friend, do you put on such a dismal countenance?", "pos": 745089}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I will tell you; I am making my will. Your will!", "pos": 745153}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What, then! do you think yourself lost?", "pos": 745307}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I feel fatigued. It is the first time, and there is a custom in our family.", "pos": 745349}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What is it, my friend?", "pos": 745427}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "My grandfather was a man twice as strong as I am.", "pos": 745452}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Indeed! then your grandfather must have been Samson himself.", "pos": 745504}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No; his name was Antoine. Well! he was about my age, when, setting out one day for the chase, he felt his legs weak, the man who had never known what weakness was before.", "pos": 745582}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What was the meaning of that fatigue, my friend?", "pos": 745755}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Nothing good, as you will see; for having set out, complaining still of weakness of the legs, he met a wild boar, which made head against him; he missed him with his arquebuse, and was ripped up by the beast and died immediately.", "pos": 745806}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "There is no reason in that why you should alarm yourself, dear Porthos.", "pos": 746038}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! you will see. My father was as strong again as I am. He was a rough soldier, under Henry III. and Henry IV.; his name was not Antoine, but Gaspard, the same as M. de Coligny. Always on horseback, he had never known what lassitude was. One evening, as he rose from table, his legs failed him.", "pos": 746112}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "He had supped heartily, perhaps, and that was why he staggered.", "pos": 746410}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Bah! A friend of M. de Bassompierre, nonsense! No, no, he was astonished at this lassitude, and said to my mother, who laughed at him, ‘Would not one believe I was going to meet with a wild boar, as the late M. du Vallon, my father did?’", "pos": 746491}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well?", "pos": 746730}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, having this weakness, my father insisted upon going down into the garden, instead of going to bed; his foot slipped on the first stair, the staircase was steep; my father fell against a stone in which an iron hinge was fixed. The hinge gashed his temple; and he was stretched out dead upon the spot.", "pos": 746751}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "These are two extraordinary circumstances, let us not infer that there may succeed a third. It is not becoming in a man of your strength to be superstitious, my brave Porthos. Besides, when were your legs known to fail? Never have you stood so firm, so haughtily; why, you could carry a house on your shoulders.", "pos": 747097}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "At this moment. I feel myself pretty active; but at times I vacillate; I sink; and lately this phenomenon, as you say, has occurred four times. I will not say this frightens me, but it annoys me. Life is an agreeable thing. I have money; I have fine estates; I have horses that I love; I have also friends that I love: D’Artagnan, Athos, Raoul, and you.", "pos": 747422}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We will still live many years, to preserve to the world such specimens of its rarest men. Trust yourself to me, my friend; we have no reply from D’Artagnan, that is a good sign. He must have given orders to get the vessels together and clear the seas. On my part I have just issued directions that a bark should be rolled on rollers to the mouth of the great cavern of Locmaria, which you know, where we have so often lain in wait for the foxes.", "pos": 747957}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, and which terminates at the little creek by a trench where we discovered the day that splendid fox escaped that way.", "pos": 748416}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Precisely. In case of misfortunes, a bark is to be concealed for us in that cavern; indeed, it must be there by this time. We will wait for a favorable moment, and during the night we will go to sea!", "pos": 748540}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "That is a grand idea. What shall we gain by it?", "pos": 748742}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We shall gain this--nobody knows that grotto, or rather its issue, except ourselves and two or three hunters of the island; we shall gain this--that if the island is occupied, the scouts, seeing no bark upon the shore, will never imagine we can escape, and will cease to watch.", "pos": 748792}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I understand.", "pos": 749072}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well! that weakness in the legs?", "pos": 749088}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! better, much, just now.", "pos": 749123}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You see, then, plainly, that everything conspires to give us quietude and hope. D’Artagnan will sweep the sea and leave us free. No royal fleet or descent to be dreaded. Vive Dieu! Porthos, we have still half a century of magnificent adventure before us, and if I once touch Spanish ground, I swear to you, that your brevet of duke is not such a chance as it is said to be.", "pos": 749153}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "We live by hope,", "pos": 749570}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "To arms! to arms!", "pos": 749688}
{"speaker": "Soldier", "text": "The fleet! the fleet!", "pos": 750027}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The fleet?", "pos": 750091}
{"speaker": "Soldier", "text": "Within half cannon-shot,", "pos": 750125}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To arms!", "pos": 750175}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "To arms!", "pos": 750200}
{"speaker": "Officer of the guard", "text": "What must be done?", "pos": 750465}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Stop them; and if they persist, fire! What’s the matter, Porthos?", "pos": 750516}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Nothing! nothing!--only my legs; it is really incomprehensible!--they will be better when we charge.", "pos": 750869}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Eh! but Porthos, we must have a prisoner, quick! quick!", "pos": 751171}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Here is a prisoner for you,", "pos": 751560}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well! did you not calumniate your legs?", "pos": 751621}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It was not with my legs I captured him, it was with my arms!", "pos": 751693}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "What will happen, will be that the anger of the king will be roused by the account of the resistance; and that these brave people will be decimated or shot when they are taken, which cannot fail to take place.", "pos": 751911}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "From which it results, then, that what we have done is of not the slightest use.", "pos": 752175}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "For the moment it may be, for we have a prisoner from whom we shall learn what our enemies are preparing to do.", "pos": 752274}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, let us interrogate the prisoner, and the means of making him speak are very simple. We are going to supper; we will invite him to join us; as he drinks he will talk.", "pos": 752410}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "The orders are, to kill during combat, or hang afterwards.", "pos": 753328}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am too light for the gallows, people like me are not hung.", "pos": 753488}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And I am too heavy, people like me break the cord.", "pos": 753569}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "I am sure, that we could have guaranteed you the exact kind of death you preferred.", "pos": 753638}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "A thousand thanks!", "pos": 753756}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "One more cup of wine to your health,", "pos": 753816}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Pardon me, if I address a question to you; but men who are in their sixth bottle have a clear right to forget themselves a little.", "pos": 754079}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Address it! address it!", "pos": 754223}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Speak,", "pos": 754266}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Were you not, gentlemen, both in the musketeers of the late king?", "pos": 754288}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Yes, monsieur, and amongst the best of them, if you please,", "pos": 754356}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "That is true; I should say even the best of all soldiers, messieurs, if I did not fear to offend the memory of my father.", "pos": 754432}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Of your father?", "pos": 754556}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Do you know what my name is? Ma foi! no, monsieur; but you can tell us, and-- I am called Georges de Biscarrat.", "pos": 754588}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! Biscarrat! Do you remember that name, Aramis?", "pos": 754706}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Biscarrat! It seems to me--", "pos": 754788}
{"speaker": "Officer", "text": "Try to recollect, monsieur,", "pos": 754842}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Pardieu! that won’t take me long. Biscarrat--called Cardinal--one of the four who interrupted us on the day on which we formed our friendship with D’Artagnan, sword in hand.", "pos": 754890}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Precisely, gentlemen.", "pos": 755082}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The only one, we could not scratch.", "pos": 755106}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Consequently, a capital blade?", "pos": 755169}
{"speaker": "Friends", "text": "That’s true! most true! Ma foi! Monsieur Biscarrat, we are delighted to make the acquaintance of such a brave man’s son.", "pos": 755221}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Confess, monsieur, that it is good to have once been a good man.", "pos": 755537}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "My father always said so, monsieur.", "pos": 755615}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Confess, likewise, that it is a sad circumstance in which you find yourself, of falling in with men destined to be shot or hung, and to learn that these men are old acquaintances, in fact, hereditary friends.", "pos": 755653}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "Oh! you are not reserved for such a frightful fate as that, messieurs and friends!", "pos": 755864}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Bah! you said so yourself. I said so just now, when I did not know you; but now that I know you, I say--you will evade this dismal fate, if you wish!", "pos": 755977}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "How--if we wish?", "pos": 756131}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Provided, provided nothing disgraceful be required of us.", "pos": 756255}
{"speaker": "Officer", "text": "Nothing at all will be required of you, gentlemen, what should they ask of you? If they find you they will kill you, that is a predetermined thing; try, then, gentlemen, to prevent their finding you.", "pos": 756414}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I don’t think I am mistaken, but it appears evident to me that if they want to find us, they must come and seek us here.", "pos": 756639}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In that you are perfectly right, my worthy friend. You wish, Monsieur de Biscarrat, to say something to us, to make us some overture, and you dare not--is that true?", "pos": 756792}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Ah! gentlemen and friends! it is because by speaking I betray the watchword. But, hark! I hear a voice that frees mine by dominating it.", "pos": 757083}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Cannon!", "pos": 757222}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Cannon and musketry, too!", "pos": 757246}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What can that be?", "pos": 757401}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Eh! Pardieu! that is just what I expected.", "pos": 757436}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What is that?", "pos": 757497}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That the attack made by you was nothing but a feint; is not that true, monsieur? And whilst your companions allowed themselves to be repulsed, you were certain of effecting a landing on the other side of the island.", "pos": 757513}
{"speaker": "Prisoner", "text": "Oh! several, monsieur.", "pos": 757731}
{"speaker": "Bishop of Vannes", "text": "We are lost, then,", "pos": 757756}
{"speaker": "Seigneur de Pierrefonds", "text": "Lost! that is possible, but we are not taken or hung.", "pos": 757813}
{"speaker": "D'Herblay", "text": "My friends. M. Fouquet, your protector, your friend, you father, has been arrested by an order of the king, and thrown into the Bastile.", "pos": 758611}
{"speaker": "Hearer", "text": "Avenge Monsieur Fouquet! death to the royalists!", "pos": 758930}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No, my friends, no, my friends; no resistance. The king is master in his kingdom. The king is the mandatory of God. The king and God have struck M. Fouquet. Humble yourselves before the hand of God. Love God and the king, who have struck M. Fouquet. But do not avenge your seigneur, do not think of avenging him. You would sacrifice yourselves in vain--you, your wives and children, your property, your liberty. Lay down your arms, my friends--lay down your arms! since the king commands you so to do--and retire peaceably to your dwellings. It is I who ask you to do so; it is I who beg you to do so; it is I who now, in the hour of need, command you to do so, in the name of M. Fouquet. The soldiers of Louis XIV. have reached the island. From this time it would no longer be a fight betwixt them and you--it would be a massacre. Begone, then, begone, and forget; this time I command you, in the name of the Lord of Hosts!", "pos": 759022}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! what have you just been saying, my friend?", "pos": 760132}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Monsieur, you may save all these inhabitants, but thus you will neither save yourself nor your friend.", "pos": 760195}
{"speaker": "Bishop of Vannes", "text": "Monsieur de Biscarrat. Monsieur de Biscarrat, be kind enough to resume your liberty.", "pos": 760332}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "I am very willing to do so, monsieur; but--", "pos": 760497}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That would render us a service, for when announcing to the king’s lieutenant the submission of the islanders, you will perhaps obtain some grace for us on informing him of the manner in which that submission has been effected.", "pos": 760543}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Grace! what is the meaning of that word?", "pos": 760772}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "I will go, messieurs,", "pos": 761102}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Go, then, Monsieur Biscarrat, and at parting receive the expression of our entire gratitude.", "pos": 761372}
{"speaker": "Officer", "text": "But you, messieurs, you whom I think it an honor to call my friends, since you have been willing to accept that title, what will become of you in the meantime?", "pos": 761497}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "We will wait here.", "pos": 761761}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "But, mon Dieu!--the order is precise and formal.", "pos": 761782}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I am bishop of Vannes, Monsieur de Biscarrat; and they no more shoot a bishop than they hang a gentleman.", "pos": 761833}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Ah! yes, monsieur--yes, monseigneur, it is true, you are right, there is still that chance for you. Then, I will depart, I will repair to the commander of the expedition, the king’s lieutenant. Adieu! then, messieurs, or rather, to meet again, I hope.", "pos": 761941}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Well, do you comprehend?", "pos": 762508}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ma foi! no.", "pos": 762544}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Did not Biscarrat inconvenience you here?", "pos": 762558}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "No; he is a brave fellow.", "pos": 762602}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes; but the grotto of Locmaria--is it necessary all the world should know it?", "pos": 762630}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Ah! that is true, that is true; I comprehend. We are going to escape by the cavern.", "pos": 762711}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If you please. Forward, friend Porthos; our boat awaits us. King Louis has not caught us--yet.", "pos": 762797}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "My good friend, we have arrived, it seems. But I thought you spoke of three men, three servants, who were to accompany us. I don’t see them--where are they?", "pos": 764064}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Why should you see them, Porthos? They are certainly waiting for us in the cavern, and, no doubt, are resting, having accomplished their rough and difficult task. Will you allow me, my friend, to pass in first? I know the signal I have given to these men; who, not hearing it, would be very likely to fire upon you or slash away with their knives in the dark.", "pos": 764259}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Go on, then, Aramis; go on--go first; you impersonate wisdom and foresight; go. Ah! there is that fatigue again, of which I spoke to you. It has just seized me afresh.", "pos": 764728}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Are you there, Yves?", "pos": 765274}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "Yes, monseigneur; Goenne is here likewise. His son accompanies us.", "pos": 765314}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "That is well. Are all things ready?", "pos": 765383}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "Yes, monseigneur.", "pos": 765421}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Go to the entrance of the grottoes, my good Yves, and you will there find the Seigneur de Pierrefonds, who is resting after the fatigue of our journey. And if he should happen not to be able to walk, lift him up, and bring him hither to me. Let us inspect the boat, and satisfy ourselves at once what it will hold.", "pos": 765441}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "Do not go too near with the light, for as you desired me, monseigneur, I have placed under the bench of the poop, in the coffer you know of, the barrel of powder, and the musket-charges that you sent me from the fort.", "pos": 766214}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Very well,", "pos": 766458}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Let us consult Porthos, to know if we must endeavor to get the boat out by the unknown extremity of the grotto, following the descent and the shade of the cavern, or whether it be better, in the open air, to make it slide upon its rollers through the bushes, leveling the road of the little beach, which is but twenty feet high, and gives, at high tide, three or four fathoms of good water upon a sound bottom.", "pos": 767714}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "It must be as you please, monseigneur, but I don’t believe that by the slope of the cavern, and in the dark in which we shall be obliged to maneuver our boat, the road will be so convenient as the open air. I know the beach well, and can certify that it is as smooth as a grass-plot in a garden; the interior of the grotto, on the contrary, is rough; without reckoning, monseigneur, that at its extremity we shall come to the trench which leads into the sea, and perhaps the canoe will not pass down it.", "pos": 768138}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I have made my calculation, and I am certain it will pass.", "pos": 768686}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "So be it; I wish it may, monseigneur, but your highness knows very well that to make it reach the extremity of the trench, there is an enormous stone to be lifted--that under which the fox always passes, and which closes the trench like a door.", "pos": 768766}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It can be raised, that is nothing.", "pos": 769031}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "Oh! I know that monseigneur has the strength of ten men, but that is giving him a great deal of trouble.", "pos": 769084}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "I think the skipper may be right, let us try the open-air passage.", "pos": 769207}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "The more so, monseigneur,", "pos": 769291}
{"speaker": "fisherman", "text": "that we should not be able to embark before day, it will require so much labor, and that as soon as daylight appears, a good vedette placed outside the grotto would be necessary, indispensable even, to watch the maneuvers of the lighters or cruisers that are on the look-out for us.", "pos": 769318}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, yes, Yves, your reasons are good; we will go by the beach.", "pos": 769629}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "It is a pack of hounds; the dogs are on a scent.", "pos": 770537}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Who can be hunting at such a moment as this?", "pos": 770604}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And this way, particularly, where they might expect the army of the royalists.", "pos": 770664}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "The noise comes nearer. Yes, you are right, Porthos, the dogs are on a scent. But, Yves! come here! come here!", "pos": 770766}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What is the meaning of this hunt, skipper?", "pos": 771026}
{"speaker": "Breton", "text": "Eh! monseigneur, I cannot understand it. It is not at such a moment that the Seigneur de Locmaria would hunt. No, and yet the dogs--", "pos": 771085}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Unless they have escaped from the kennel.", "pos": 771242}
{"speaker": "Goenne", "text": "No, they are not the Seigneur de Locmaria’s hounds.", "pos": 771301}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In common prudence, let us go back into the grotto; the voices evidently draw nearer, we shall soon know what we have to trust to.", "pos": 771370}
{"speaker": "Bretons", "text": "The fox!", "pos": 771910}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Accursed mischance! our retreat is discovered.", "pos": 771980}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "How so? are you afraid of a fox?", "pos": 772065}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Eh! my friend, what do you mean by that? why do you specify the fox? It is not the fox alone. Pardieu! But don’t you know, Porthos, that after the foxes come hounds, and after hounds men? There are the dogs, plain enough! now, who are the huntsmen?", "pos": 772100}
{"speaker": "sailor", "text": "If it is the Seigneur de Locmaria’s, he will leave the dogs to hunt the grotto, for he knows them, and will not enter in himself, being quite sure that the fox will come out the other side; it is there he will wait for him.", "pos": 772646}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It is not the Seigneur de Locmaria who is hunting,", "pos": 772894}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Who is it, then?", "pos": 773034}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Look!", "pos": 773067}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "The guards!", "pos": 773241}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes, my friend, the king’s guards.", "pos": 773264}
{"speaker": "Bretons", "text": "The king’s guards! do you say, monseigneur?", "pos": 773301}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "With Biscarrat at their head, mounted upon my gray horse. Ah! the devil! I am perfectly satisfied we are lost, but we have, at least, one chance left. If the guards who follow their hounds happen to discover there is an issue to the grotto, there is no help for us, for on entering they must see both ourselves and our boat. The dogs must not go out of the cavern. Their masters must not enter.", "pos": 773388}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "That is clear,", "pos": 774036}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "You understand; there are six dogs that will be forced to stop at the great stone under which the fox has glided--but at the too narrow opening of which they must be themselves stopped and killed. That’s well! now for the masters!", "pos": 774120}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "What is to be done with them?", "pos": 774521}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Wait their arrival, conceal ourselves, and kill them.", "pos": 774567}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Kill them!", "pos": 774623}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "There are sixteen, at least, at present.", "pos": 774653}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And well armed,", "pos": 774711}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "It will last about ten minutes. To work! Yves, Goenne, and his son will pass the muskets to us. You, Porthos, will fire when they are close. We shall have brought down, at the lowest computation, eight, before the others are aware of anything--that is certain; then all, there are five of us, will dispatch the other eight, knife in hand.", "pos": 774773}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "And poor Biscarrat?", "pos": 775243}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Biscarrat first. He knows us.", "pos": 775306}
{"speaker": "young men", "text": "Well!", "pos": 776008}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Well! I cannot hear the dogs; they and the fox must all be lost in this infernal cavern. They were too close up,", "pos": 776118}
{"speaker": "guard", "text": "to have lost scent all at once. Besides, we should hear them from one side or another. They must, as Biscarrat says, be in this grotto.", "pos": 776235}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "But then,", "pos": 776397}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "But then, why don’t they give tongue?", "pos": 776426}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "It is strange! let us go into this grotto. Does it happen to be forbidden we should enter it? No. Only, as it looks as dark as a wolf’s mouth, we might break our necks in it.", "pos": 776466}
{"speaker": "guard", "text": "Witness the dogs, who seem to have broken theirs.", "pos": 776714}
{"speaker": "young men", "text": "What the devil can have become of them?", "pos": 776782}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "It is perhaps an enchanted grotto; let us see.", "pos": 776995}
{"speaker": "guard", "text": "Stop! stop! I will accompany you,", "pos": 777123}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "No. No, there must be something extraordinary in the place--don’t let us risk ourselves all at once. If in ten minutes you do not hear of me, you can come in, but not all at once. Be it so,", "pos": 777250}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "Be it so, we will wait for you.", "pos": 777549}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "I will not have him killed!", "pos": 778160}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monsieur de Biscarrat, we mean you no harm, and you must know that if you have recognized us; but, at the first word, the first groan, the first whisper, we shall be forced to kill you as we have killed your dogs.", "pos": 778474}
{"speaker": "Officer", "text": "Yes, I recognize you, gentlemen. But why are you here--what are you doing, here? Unfortunate men! I thought you were in the fort.", "pos": 778690}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And you, monsieur, you were to obtain conditions for us, I think?", "pos": 778858}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "I did all I was able, messieurs, but--", "pos": 778926}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "But what?", "pos": 778967}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "But there are positive orders.", "pos": 778979}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "To kill us? Monsieur Biscarrat, you would be already dead if we had not regard for your youth and our ancient association with your father; but you may yet escape from the place by swearing that you will not tell your companions what you have seen.", "pos": 779012}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "I will not only swear that I will not speak of it, but I still further swear that I will do everything in the world to prevent my companions from setting foot in the grotto.", "pos": 779415}
{"speaker": "voices", "text": "Biscarrat! Biscarrat!", "pos": 779609}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Reply,", "pos": 779711}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Here I am!", "pos": 779733}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Now, begone; we depend on your loyalty.", "pos": 779763}
{"speaker": "voices", "text": "Biscarrat! Biscarrat!", "pos": 779884}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Oh! oh!", "pos": 780243}
{"speaker": "guard", "text": "Oh! oh! how pale you are!", "pos": 780299}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Pale! you ought to say corpse-color.", "pos": 780327}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "I!", "pos": 780383}
{"speaker": "voices", "text": "In the name of Heaven! what has happened?", "pos": 780446}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "You have not a drop of blood in your veins, my poor friend. Messieurs, it is serious, he is going to faint; does any one of you happen to have any salts? What do you suppose I have seen? I was too hot when I entered the grotto, and I have been struck with a chill. That is all.", "pos": 780516}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But the dogs, the dogs; have you seen them again--did you see anything of them--do you know anything about them?", "pos": 781011}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "I suppose they have got out some other way.", "pos": 781126}
{"speaker": "young man", "text": "Messieurs, there is in that which is going on, in the paleness and silence of our friend, a mystery which Biscarrat will not, or cannot reveal. Only, and this is certain, Biscarrat has seen something in the grotto. Well, for my part, I am very curious to see what it is, even if it is the devil! To the grotto! messieurs, to the grotto! To the grotto!", "pos": 781201}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Messieurs! messieurs! in the name of Heaven! do not go in!", "pos": 781733}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Why, what is there so terrific in the cavern? Come, speak, Biscarrat.", "pos": 781806}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Decidedly, it is the devil he has seen,", "pos": 781903}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Well, if he has seen him, he need not be selfish; he may as well let us have a look at him in turn.", "pos": 782014}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Messieurs! messieurs! I beseech you,", "pos": 782116}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Nonsense! Let us pass!", "pos": 782172}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "Messieurs, I implore you not to enter! Why, you went in yourself. Messieurs,", "pos": 782197}
{"speaker": "Officer", "text": "there is in there some person, or something, that is not the devil; but which, whatever it may be, has had sufficient power to silence our dogs. We must discover who this some one is, or what this something is.", "pos": 782479}
{"speaker": "Fugitives", "text": "Biscarrat! Biscarrat! you knew there was an ambuscade in that cavern, and you did not warn us! Biscarrat, you are the cause that four of us are murdered men! Woe be to you, Biscarrat!", "pos": 783873}
{"speaker": "Wounded Man", "text": "You are the cause of my being wounded unto death. My blood be on your head!", "pos": 784082}
{"speaker": "Furious Voices", "text": "But, at least, tell us who is there?", "pos": 784345}
{"speaker": "Wounded Man", "text": "Tell us, or die!", "pos": 784441}
{"speaker": "Biscarrat", "text": "You are right. Death to me, who have allowed my comrades to be assassinated. I am a worthless wretch!", "pos": 784846}
{"speaker": "Survivor", "text": "Seriously, is it the devil?", "pos": 785554}
{"speaker": "Another Survivor", "text": "Ma foi! it is much worse,", "pos": 785613}
{"speaker": "A Survivor", "text": "Ask Biscarrat, he knows.", "pos": 785655}
{"speaker": "young men", "text": "Where is Biscarrat?", "pos": 785682}
{"speaker": "voices", "text": "He is dead!", "pos": 785776}
{"speaker": "Another Voice", "text": "Oh! no!", "pos": 785816}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Strike, Porthos!", "pos": 799211}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Fire!", "pos": 801207}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Come.", "pos": 801908}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh!", "pos": 801916}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Hush! My friend, you will take this barrel, the match of which I am going to set fire to, and throw it amidst our enemies; can you do so?", "pos": 801936}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Parbleu! Light it!", "pos": 802566}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Stop, till they are all massed together, and then, my Jupiter, hurl your thunderbolt among them.", "pos": 802646}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Light it,", "pos": 802760}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "On my part. I will join our Bretons, and help them to get the canoe to the sea. I will wait for you on the shore; launch it strongly, and hasten to us.", "pos": 802790}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Light it,", "pos": 802964}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "But do you understand me?", "pos": 803004}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Parbleu! when a thing is explained to me I understand it; begone, and give me the light.", "pos": 803032}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! oh! there is my weakness seizing me again! I can walk no further! What is this?", "pos": 809143}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Come on, Porthos! come on, come quickly!", "pos": 809345}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Oh! oh! but I cannot.", "pos": 809400}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Quick! quick!", "pos": 809631}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Here I am,", "pos": 809748}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "In the name of Heaven! Porthos, make haste! the barrel will blow up!", "pos": 809831}
{"speaker": "Bretons", "text": "Make haste, monseigneur!", "pos": 809902}
{"speaker": "Ais", "text": "Porthos! Porthos!", "pos": 812700}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Porthos! where are you? Speak!", "pos": 812752}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Here, here, patience! patience!", "pos": 812785}
{"speaker": "Porthos", "text": "Too heavy!", "pos": 814149}
{"speaker": "Goenne", "text": "Monseigneur, we are being chased!", "pos": 819200}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "Monseigneur! monseigneur! we are lost! Look! they see us plainly, though we have lowered sail.", "pos": 819934}
{"speaker": "the sailor", "text": "That is not to be wondered at, since they say that, by the aid of the devil, the Paris-folk have fabricated instruments with which they see as well at a distance as near, by night as well as by day.", "pos": 820051}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Here, look! Don’t be alarmed, there is no sin in it; and if there is any sin, I will take it on myself.", "pos": 820388}
{"speaker": "the sailor", "text": "So, they can see us as we see them.", "pos": 820916}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "They see us,", "pos": 820977}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "What!--they see us! Impossible!", "pos": 821040}
{"speaker": "the sailor", "text": "Well, captain, look yourself,", "pos": 821087}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "Monseigneur assures me that the devil has nothing to do with this?", "pos": 821165}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "Did we not say we surrendered?", "pos": 824733}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Alive, alive, captain!", "pos": 824777}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "they must be taken alive.", "pos": 824829}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Your lives are safe, my friends!", "pos": 824930}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "all but the Chevalier d’Herblay.", "pos": 824975}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Do you hear, monseigneur?", "pos": 825293}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 825339}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "What are your orders?", "pos": 825346}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Accept!", "pos": 825370}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "But you, monseigneur?", "pos": 825380}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "We accept,", "pos": 825593}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "but what security have we?", "pos": 825628}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "The word of a gentleman,", "pos": 825657}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "By my rank and by my name I swear that all except M. le Chevalier d’Herblay shall have their lives spared. I am lieutenant of the king’s frigate the ‘Pomona,’ and my name is Louis Constant de Pressigny.", "pos": 825702}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Throw out the ladder, messieurs,", "pos": 826062}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "What course are we to follow, captain?", "pos": 827575}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "We take what course monseigneur pleases,", "pos": 827616}
{"speaker": "Yves", "text": "the night must have been a very damp one, for the wood on which the bishop’s head had rested was soaked with dew.", "pos": 827786}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Is the king asleep? Well, I will let him sleep. But about what o’clock do you suppose he will rise?", "pos": 828762}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "Oh! in about two hours; his majesty has been up all night.", "pos": 828883}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That will just suit me. I will talk to the king while he is eating. you do not know, perhaps, monsieur, that I have the privilege of entree anywhere--and at any hour.", "pos": 829112}
{"speaker": "M. de Brienne", "text": "Not at Nantes, dear Monsieur d’Artagnan. The king, in this journey, has changed everything. The king,", "pos": 829487}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Eh?--don’t know! What does that mean? You don’t know how much time the king devotes to eating? It is generally an hour; and, if we admit that the air of the Loire gives an additional appetite, we will extend it to an hour and a half; that is enough, I think. I will wait where I am.", "pos": 829698}
{"speaker": "M. de Brienne", "text": "Oh! dear Monsieur d’Artagnan, the order of the day is not to allow any person to remain in this corridor; I am on guard for that particular purpose.", "pos": 829983}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "will not receive me, that is evident. The young man is angry; he is afraid, beforehand, of the words that I may speak to him. Yes; but in the meantime Belle-Isle is besieged, and my two friends by now probably taken or killed. Poor Porthos! As to Master Aramis, he is always full of resources, and I am easy on his account. But, no, no; Porthos is not yet an invalid, nor is Aramis in his dotage. The one with his arm, the other with his imagination, will find work for his majesty’s soldiers. Who knows if these brave men may not get up for the edification of his most Christian majesty a little bastion of Saint-Gervais! I don’t despair of it. They have cannon and a garrison. And yet. I don’t know whether it would not be better to stop the combat. For myself alone I will not put up with either surly looks or insults from the king; but for my friends I must put up with everything. Shall I go to M. Colbert? Now, there is a man I must acquire the habit of terrifying. I will go to M. Colbert. Good! the times have come again in which I measured my steps from De Treville to the cardinal, from the cardinal to the queen, from the queen to Louis XIII. Truly is it said that men, in growing old, become children again!--To the castle, then! Not even the captain who takes the order?", "pos": 830355}
{"speaker": "M. de Lyonne", "text": "I think that is rather too strong. Not even he,", "pos": 832058}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Since that is the case, since the captain of the musketeers, who has always entered the king’s chamber, is no longer allowed to enter it, his cabinet, or his salle-a-manger, either the king is dead, or his captain is in disgrace. Do me the favor, then, M. de Lyonne, who are in favor, to return and tell the king, plainly, I send him my resignation.", "pos": 832129}
{"speaker": "M. de Lyonne", "text": "D’Artagnan, beware of what you are doing!", "pos": 832525}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "For friendship’s sake, go!", "pos": 832569}
{"speaker": "M. de Lyonne", "text": "Well, I will go,", "pos": 832644}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, what did the king say?", "pos": 832760}
{"speaker": "M. de Lyonne", "text": "He simply answered, ‘’Tis well,’", "pos": 832813}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That it was well! That is to say, that he accepts it? Good! Now, then, I am free! I am only a plain citizen, M. de Lyonne. I have the pleasure of bidding you good-bye! Farewell, castle, corridor, ante-chamber! a bourgeois, about to breathe at liberty, takes his farewell of you.", "pos": 832864}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan! Ah, Monsieur de Gesvres! good evening!", "pos": 834173}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "One would say you were getting on horseback.", "pos": 834253}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "More than that,--I am mounted,--as you see.", "pos": 834300}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "It is fortunate I have met with you.", "pos": 834346}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Were you looking for me, then?", "pos": 834385}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "Mon Dieu! yes.", "pos": 834418}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "On the part of the king, I will wager?", "pos": 834435}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Yes.", "pos": 834476}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "As I, three days ago, went in search of M. Fouquet? To arrest you?--Good heavens! no. Why do you come to accost me with twelve horsemen at your heels, then?", "pos": 834483}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "I am making my round.", "pos": 834776}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That isn’t bad! And so you pick me up in your round, eh?", "pos": 834800}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "I don’t pick you up; I meet with you, and I beg you to come with me.", "pos": 834859}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Where?", "pos": 834930}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "To the king.", "pos": 834939}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Good! the king is disengaged.", "pos": 834954}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "For Heaven’s sake, captain, do not compromise yourself! these men hear you.", "pos": 835027}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "March! People who are arrested are placed between the six first guards and the six last.", "pos": 835199}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "But as I am not arresting you,", "pos": 835290}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well, that is very polite, duke, and you are right in being so; for if ever I had had to make my rounds near your chambre-de-ville, I should have been courteous to you, I assure you, on the word of a gentleman! Now, one favor more; what does the king want with me?", "pos": 835392}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "Oh, the king is furious!", "pos": 835678}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Very well! the king, who has thought it worth while to be angry, may take the trouble to grow calm again; that is all. I shan’t die of that, I will swear.", "pos": 835705}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "No, but--", "pos": 835862}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But--I shall be sent to keep company with unfortunate M. Fouquet. Mordioux! That is a gallant man, a worthy man! We shall live very sociably together, I will be sworn.", "pos": 835874}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "Here we are at our place of destination,", "pos": 836044}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! ah! you are playing the brave man with me, duke! I have been told that you are ambitious of uniting your guards with my musketeers. This strikes me as a splendid opportunity.", "pos": 836154}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "I will take exceeding good care not to avail myself of it, captain.", "pos": 836404}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And why not, pray?", "pos": 836474}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "Oh, for many reasons--in the first place, for this: if I were to succeed you in the musketeers after having arrested you--", "pos": 836495}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! then you admit you have arrested me?", "pos": 836620}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "No, I don’t.", "pos": 836663}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Say met me, then. So, you were saying if you were to succeed me after having arrested me?", "pos": 836678}
{"speaker": "M. de Gesvres", "text": "Your musketeers, at the first exercise with ball cartridges, would fire my way, by mistake.", "pos": 836770}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, as to that I won’t say; for the fellows do love me a little.", "pos": 836864}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It would be very whimsical, if, this evening, my praetorians should make me king of France. How I should laugh!", "pos": 838444}
{"speaker": "Brienne", "text": "Hush, messieurs! you disturb the king.", "pos": 838811}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "All is over! the musketeers of the present day are not those of his majesty Louis XIII. All is over!", "pos": 838871}
{"speaker": "an usher", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, you are wanted in the ante-chamber of the king,", "pos": 838985}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Is not M. d’Artagnan there?", "pos": 839673}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I am here, sire,", "pos": 839703}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well, monsieur, what have you to say to me?", "pos": 839756}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I, sire! I have nothing to say to your majesty, unless it be that you have caused me to be arrested, and here I am.", "pos": 839859}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur. Monsieur, what did I charge you to go and do at Belle-Isle? Tell me, if you please.", "pos": 840262}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "that your majesty does me the honor to ask what I went to Belle-Isle to accomplish?", "pos": 840550}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes, monsieur.", "pos": 840636}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well! sire, I know nothing about it; it is not of me that question should be asked, but of that infinite number of officers of all kinds, to whom have been given innumerable orders of all kinds, whilst to me, head of the expedition, nothing precise was said or stated in any form whatever.", "pos": 840653}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "orders have only been given to such as were judged faithful.", "pos": 841012}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And, therefore, I have been astonished, sire, that a captain like myself, who ranks with a marechal of France, should have found himself under the orders of five or six lieutenants or majors, good to make spies of, possibly, but not at all fit to conduct a warlike expedition. It was upon this subject I came to demand an explanation of your majesty, when I found the door closed against me, which, the final insult offered to a brave man, has led me to quit your majesty’s service.", "pos": 841075}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "you still believe that you are living in an age when kings were, as you complain of having been, under the orders and at the discretion of their inferiors. You seem to forget that a king owes an account of his actions to none but God.", "pos": 841616}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I forget nothing, sire. Besides, I do not see in what an honest man, when he asks of his king how he has ill-served him, offends him.", "pos": 841853}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You have ill-served me, monsieur, by siding with my enemies against me.", "pos": 842035}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who are your enemies, sire?", "pos": 842109}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The men I sent you to fight.", "pos": 842139}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Two men the enemies of the whole of your majesty’s army! That is incredible.", "pos": 842170}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You have no power to judge of my will.", "pos": 842249}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But I have to judge of my own friendships, sire.", "pos": 842290}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "He who serves his friends does not serve his master.", "pos": 842341}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I so well understand this, sire, that I have respectfully offered your majesty my resignation.", "pos": 842396}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And I have accepted it, monsieur, you see, monsieur, to what grave steps your disobedience forces me.", "pos": 842493}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My disobedience!", "pos": 842962}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It is the mildest term that I can find. My idea was to take and punish rebels; was I bound to inquire whether these rebels were your friends or not?", "pos": 843015}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It was a cruelty on your majesty’s part to send me to capture my friends and lead them to your gibbets.", "pos": 843219}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It was a trial I had to make, monsieur, of pretended servants, who eat my bread and should defend my person. The trial has succeeded ill, Monsieur d’Artagnan.", "pos": 843325}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "For one bad servant your majesty loses, there are ten who, on that same day, go through a like ordeal. Listen to me, sire; I am not accustomed to that service. Mine is a rebel sword when I am required to do ill. It was ill to send me in pursuit of two men whose lives M. Fouquet, your majesty’s preserver, implored you to save. Still further, these men were my friends. They did not attack your majesty, they succumbed to your blind anger. Besides, why were they not allowed to escape? What crime had they committed? I admit you may contest with me the right of judging their conduct. But why suspect me before the action? Why surround me with spies? Why disgrace me before the army? Why me, in whom till now you showed the most entire confidence--who for thirty years have been attached to your person, and have given you a thousand proofs of my devotion--for it must be said, now that I am accused--why reduce me to see three thousand of the king’s soldiers march in battle against two men?", "pos": 843486}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "One would say you have forgotten what these men have done to me! and that it was no merit of theirs I was not lost.", "pos": 844520}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire, one would imagine you forget that I was there.", "pos": 844674}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Enough, Monsieur d’Artagnan, enough of these dominating interests which arise to keep the sun itself from my interests. I am founding a state in which there shall be but one master, as I promised you; the moment is at hand for me to keep my promise. You wish to be, according to your tastes or private friendships, free to destroy my plans and save my enemies? I will thwart you or will drop you--seek a more compliant master. I know full well that another king would not conduct himself as I do, and would allow himself to be dominated by you, at the risk of sending you some day to keep company with M. Fouquet and the rest; but I have an excellent memory, and for me, services are sacred titles to gratitude, to impunity. You shall only have this lesson, Monsieur d’Artagnan, as the punishment of your want of discipline, and I will not imitate my predecessors in anger, not having imitated them in favor. And, then, other reasons make me act mildly towards you; in the first place, because you are a man of sense, a man of excellent sense, a man of heart, and that you will be a capital servant to him who shall have mastered you; secondly, because you will cease to have any motives for insubordination. Your friends are now destroyed or ruined by me. These supports on which your capricious mind instinctively relied I have caused to disappear. At this moment, my soldiers have taken or killed the rebels of Belle-Isle.", "pos": 844729}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Taken or killed! Oh! sire, if you thought what you tell, if you were sure you were telling me the truth, I should forget all that is just, all that is magnanimous in your words, to call you a barbarous king, and an unnatural man. But I pardon you these words. I pardon them to a young prince who does not know, who cannot comprehend what such men as M. d’Herblay, M. du Vallon, and myself are. Taken or killed! Ah! Ah! sire! tell me, if the news is true, how much has it cost you in men and money. We will then reckon if the game has been worth the stakes.", "pos": 846181}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, your replies are those of a rebel! Tell me, if you please, who is king of France? Do you know any other?", "pos": 846851}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire, I very well remember that one morning at Vaux you addressed that question to many people who did not answer to it, whilst I, on my part, did answer to it. If I recognized my king on that day, when the thing was not easy, I think it would be useless to ask the question of me now, when your majesty and I are alone.", "pos": 847028}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur, what I learn here you would know later; it is better I should tell you, and that you should learn it from the mouth of your king. A battle has taken place at Belle-Isle.", "pos": 847701}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Is it possible? Well, sire?", "pos": 847883}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well, monsieur--and I have lost a hundred and ten men.", "pos": 848004}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And the rebels?", "pos": 848118}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The rebels have fled,", "pos": 848145}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Only,", "pos": 848232}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I have a fleet which closely blockades Belle-Isle, and I am certain not a bark can escape.", "pos": 848256}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "if these two gentlemen are taken--", "pos": 848413}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "They will be hanged,", "pos": 848450}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And do they know it?", "pos": 848497}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "They know it, because you must have told them yourself; and all the country knows it.", "pos": 848566}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Then, sire, they will never be taken alive, I will answer for that.", "pos": 848654}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Ah! Very well, they will be dead, then, Monsieur d’Artagnan, and that will come to the same thing, since I should only take them to have them hanged. that I would one day be an affectionate, generous, and constant master. You are now the only man of former times worthy of my anger or my friendship. I will not spare you either sentiment, according to your conduct. Could you serve a king, Monsieur d’Artagnan, who should have a hundred kings, his equals, in the kingdom? Could I, tell me, do with such weak instruments the great things I meditate? Did you ever see an artist effect great works with an unworthy tool? Far from us, monsieur, the old leaven of feudal abuse! The Fronde, which threatened to ruin monarchy, has emancipated it. I am master at home, Captain d’Artagnan, and I shall have servants who, lacking, perhaps, your genius, will carry devotion and obedience to the verge of heroism. Of what consequence, I ask you, of what consequence is it that God has given no sense to arms and legs? It is to the head he has given genius, and the head, you know, the rest obey. I am the head. Now, let us conclude between us two the bargain I promised to make with you one day when you found me in a very strange predicament at Blois. Do me justice, monsieur, when you admit I do not make any one pay for the tears of shame that I then shed. Look around you; lofty heads have bowed. Bow yours, or choose such exile as will suit you. Perhaps, when reflecting upon it, you will find your king has a generous heart, who reckons sufficiently upon your loyalty to allow you to leave him dissatisfied, when you possess a great state secret. You are a brave man; I know you to be so. Why have you judged me prematurely? Judge me from this day forward, D’Artagnan, and be as severe as you please. Come, let us see what stops you? You have given in your resignation; shall I refuse to accept it? I admit that it may be hard for such an old captain to recover lost good-humor.", "pos": 848724}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! that is not my most serious care. I hesitate to take back my resignation because I am old in comparison with you, and have habits difficult to abandon. Henceforward, you must have courtiers who know how to amuse you--madmen who will get themselves killed to carry out what you call your great works. Great they will be, I feel--but, if by chance I should not think them so? I have seen war, sire, I have seen peace; I have served Richelieu and Mazarin; I have been scorched with your father, at the fire of Rochelle; riddled with sword-thrusts like a sieve, having grown a new skin ten times, as serpents do. After affronts and injustices, I have a command which was formerly something, because it gave the bearer the right of speaking as he liked to his king. But your captain of the musketeers will henceforward be an officer guarding the outer doors. Truly, sire, if that is to be my employment from this time, seize the opportunity of our being on good terms, to take it from me. Do not imagine that I bear malice; no, you have tamed me, as you say; but it must be confessed that in taming me you have lowered me; by bowing me you have convicted me of weakness. If you knew how well it suits me to carry my head high, and what a pitiful mien I shall have while scenting the dust of your carpets! Oh! sire, I regret sincerely, and you will regret as I do, the old days when the king of France saw in every vestibule those insolent gentlemen, lean, always swearing--cross-grained mastiffs, who could bite mortally in the hour of danger or of battle. These men were the best of courtiers to the hand which fed them--they would lick it; but for the hand that struck them, oh! the bite that followed! A little gold on the lace of their cloaks, a slender stomach in their hauts-de-chausses, a little sparkling of gray in their dry hair, and you will behold the handsome dukes and peers, the haughty marechaux of France. But why should I tell you all this? The king is master; he wills that I should make verses, he wills that I should polish the mosaics of his ante-chambers with satin shoes. Mordioux! that is difficult, but I have got over greater difficulties. I will do it. Why should I do it? Because I love money?--I have enough. Because I am ambitious?--my career is almost at an end. Because I love the court? No. I will remain here because I have been accustomed for thirty years to go and take the orderly word of the king, and to have said to me ‘Good evening, D’Artagnan,’ with a smile I did not beg for. That smile I will beg for! Are you content, sire?", "pos": 851427}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Thanks, my old servant, my faithful friend. As, reckoning from this day, I have no longer any enemies in France, it remains with me to send you to a foreign field to gather your marshal’s baton. Depend upon me for finding you an opportunity. In the meanwhile, eat of my very best bread, and sleep in absolute tranquillity.", "pos": 854142}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is all kind and well! But those poor men at Belle-Isle? One of them, in particular--so good! so brave! so true!", "pos": 854478}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Do you ask their pardon of me?", "pos": 854631}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Upon my knees, sire!", "pos": 854664}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well! then, go and take it to them, if it be still in time. But do you answer for them?", "pos": 854687}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "With my life, sire.", "pos": 854777}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Go, then. To-morrow I set out for Paris. Return by that time, for I do not wish you to leave me in the future.", "pos": 854799}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Be assured of that, sire,", "pos": 854912}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What is the matter, D’Artagnan?", "pos": 857442}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire, a great misfortune has happened to me.", "pos": 857485}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Good heavens! what is that?", "pos": 857532}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire, I have lost one of my friends, M. du Vallon, in the affair of Belle-Isle.", "pos": 857562}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I knew it,", "pos": 857777}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You knew it, and did not tell me!", "pos": 857817}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "To what good? Your grief, my friend, was so well worthy of respect. It was my duty to treat it gently. To have informed you of this misfortune, which I knew would pain you so greatly, D’Artagnan, would have been, in your eyes, to have triumphed over you. Yes, I knew that M. du Vallon had buried himself beneath the rocks of Locmaria; I knew that M. d’Herblay had taken one of my vessels with its crew, and had compelled it to convey him to Bayonne. But I was willing you should learn these matters in a direct manner, in order that you might be convinced my friends are with me respected and sacred; that always in me the man will sacrifice himself to subjects, whilst the king is so often found to sacrifice men to majesty and power.", "pos": 857874}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "But, sire, how could you know?", "pos": 858612}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "How do you yourself know, D’Artagnan?", "pos": 858645}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "By this letter, sire, which M. d’Herblay, free and out of danger, writes me from Bayonne.", "pos": 858685}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Look here, here is a letter copied exactly from that of M. d’Herblay. Here is the very letter, which Colbert placed in my hands a week before you received yours. I am well served, you may perceive.", "pos": 858777}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, sire, you were the only man whose star was equal to the task of dominating the fortune and strength of my two friends. You have used your power, sire, you will not abuse it, will you?", "pos": 859092}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "D’Artagnan. I could have M. d’Herblay carried off from the territories of the king of Spain, and brought here, alive, to inflict justice upon him. But, D’Artagnan, be assured I will not yield to this first and natural impulse. He is free--let him continue free.", "pos": 859309}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, sire! you will not always remain so clement, so noble, so generous as you have shown yourself with respect to me and M. d’Herblay; you will have about you counselors who will cure you of that weakness.", "pos": 859626}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "No, D’Artagnan, you are mistaken when you accuse my council of urging me to pursue rigorous measures. The advice to spare M. d’Herblay comes from Colbert himself.", "pos": 859834}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh, sire!", "pos": 859999}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "As for you. I have several pieces of good news to announce to you; but you shall know them, my dear captain, the moment I have made my accounts all straight. I have said that I wish to make, and would make, your fortune; that promise will soon become reality.", "pos": 860049}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "A thousand times thanks, sire! I can wait. But I implore you, whilst I go and practice patience, that your majesty will deign to notice those poor people who have for so long a time besieged your ante-chamber, and come humbly to lay a petition at your feet.", "pos": 860371}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Who are they?", "pos": 860631}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Enemies of your majesty. Friends of M. Fouquet,", "pos": 860647}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Their names?", "pos": 860743}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "M. Gourville, M. Pelisson, and a poet, M. Jean de la Fontaine.", "pos": 860758}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What do they want?", "pos": 860858}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I do not know.", "pos": 860879}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "How do they appear?", "pos": 860896}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "In great affliction.", "pos": 860918}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What do they say?", "pos": 860941}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Nothing.", "pos": 860961}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What do they do?", "pos": 860972}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "They weep.", "pos": 860991}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Let them come in,", "pos": 861004}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Enter.", "pos": 861221}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Speak; Monsieur Pelisson. Monsieur Gourville, and you, Monsieur-- I cannot, without sensible displeasure, see you come to plead for one of the greatest criminals it is the duty of justice to punish. A king does not allow himself to soften save at the tears of the innocent, the remorse of the guilty. I have no faith either in the remorse of M. Fouquet or the tears of his friends, because the one is tainted to the very heart, and the others ought to dread offending me in my own palace. For these reasons, I beg you, Monsieur Pelisson, Monsieur Gourville, and you, Monsieur--, to say nothing that will not plainly proclaim the respect you have for my will.", "pos": 862503}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Sire, we are come to say nothing to your majesty that is not the most profound expression of the most sincere respect and love that are due to a king from all his subjects. Your majesty’s justice is redoubtable; every one must yield to the sentences it pronounces. We respectfully bow before it. Far from us the idea of coming to defend him who has had the misfortune to offend your majesty. He who has incurred your displeasure may be a friend of ours, but he is an enemy to the state. We abandon him, but with tears, to the severity of the king.", "pos": 863513}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Besides, my parliament will decide. I do not strike without first having weighed the crime; my justice does not wield the sword without employing first a pair of scales.", "pos": 864109}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Therefore we have every confidence in that impartiality of the king, and hope to make our feeble voices heard, with the consent of your majesty, when the hour for defending an accused friend strikes.", "pos": 864368}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In that case, messieurs, what do you ask of me?", "pos": 864570}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "Sire, the accused has a wife and family. The little property he had was scarcely sufficient to pay his debts, and Madame Fouquet, since her husband’s captivity, is abandoned by everybody. The hand of your majesty strikes like the hand of God. When the Lord sends the curse of leprosy or pestilence into a family, every one flies and shuns the abode of the leprous or plague-stricken. Sometimes, but very rarely, a generous physician alone ventures to approach the ill-reputed threshold, passes it with courage, and risks his life to combat death. He is the last resource of the dying, the chosen instrument of heavenly mercy. Sire, we supplicate you, with clasped hands and bended knees, as a divinity is supplicated! Madame Fouquet has no longer any friends, no longer any means of support; she weeps in her deserted home, abandoned by all those who besieged its doors in the hour of prosperity; she has neither credit nor hope left. At least, the unhappy wretch upon whom your anger falls receives from you, however culpable he may be, his daily bread though moistened by his tears. As much afflicted, more destitute than her husband, Madame Fouquet--the lady who had the honor to receive your majesty at her table--Madame Fouquet, the wife of the ancient superintendent of your majesty’s finances, Madame Fouquet has no longer bread.", "pos": 864663}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What do you wish?", "pos": 866449}
{"speaker": "Pelisson", "text": "We come humbly to ask your majesty, to permit us, without incurring the displeasure of your majesty, to lend to Madame Fouquet two thousand pistoles collected among the old friends of her husband, in order that the widow may not stand in need of the necessaries of life.", "pos": 866500}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "God forbid,", "pos": 867060}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Well. Well, my master! If you had not the device which belongs to your sun, I would recommend you one which M. Conrart might translate into eclectic Latin, ‘Calm with the lowly; stormy with the strong.’", "pos": 867669}
{"speaker": "procureur", "text": "This is why. I have left all my property, movable, or immovable, comprised in the above enumerations, to M. le Vicomte Raoul Auguste Jules de Bragelonne, son of M. le Comte de la Fere, to console him for the grief he seems to suffer, and enable him to add more luster to his already glorious name. On condition that M. le Vicomte de Bragelonne do give to M. le Chevalier d’Artagnan, captain of the king’s musketeers, whatever the said Chevalier d’Artagnan may demand of my property. On condition that M. le Vicomte de Bragelonne do pay a good pension to M. le Chevalier d’Herblay, my friend, if he should need it in exile. I leave to my intendant Mousqueton all of my clothes, of city, war, or chase, to the number of forty-seven suits, in the assurance that he will wear them till they are worn out, for the love of and in remembrance of his master. Moreover, I bequeath to M. le Vicomte de Bragelonne my old servant and faithful friend Mousqueton, already named, providing that the said vicomte shall so act that Mousqueton shall declare, when dying, he has never ceased to be happy.", "pos": 875041}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Mousqueton, my good friend, go and make your preparations. I will take you with me to Athos’s house, whither I shall go on leaving Pierrefonds.", "pos": 876643}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Porthos had indeed a heart,", "pos": 878357}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My God! he does not stir--he has fainted!", "pos": 879234}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "Monsieur le comte, I crave your pardon, but I have a reproach to make you--you shall hear me.", "pos": 885650}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What is the matter, doctor?", "pos": 885917}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "The matter is, you are ill, monsieur, and have had no advice.", "pos": 885981}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I! ill!", "pos": 886045}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "Fever, consumption, weakness, decay, monsieur le comte!", "pos": 886076}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Weakness! is it possible? I do not get up.", "pos": 886134}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "Come, come! monsieur le comte, no subterfuges; you are a good Christian?", "pos": 886196}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "I hope so,", "pos": 886271}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "Is it your wish to kill yourself?", "pos": 886296}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Never, doctor.", "pos": 886332}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "Well! monsieur, you are in a fair way of doing so. Thus to remain is suicide. Get well! monsieur le comte, get well!", "pos": 886349}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Of what? Find the disease first. For my part, I never knew myself better; never did the sky appear more blue to me; never did I take more care of my flowers.", "pos": 886468}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "You have a hidden grief.", "pos": 886628}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Concealed!--not at all; the absence of my son, doctor; that is my malady, and I do not conceal it.", "pos": 886655}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "Monsieur le comte, your son lives, he is strong, he has all the future before him--the future of men of merit, of his race; live for him--", "pos": 886756}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "But I do live, doctor; oh! be satisfied of that, for as long as Raoul lives, it will be plainly known, for as long as he lives, I shall live.", "pos": 886897}
{"speaker": "doctor", "text": "What do you say?", "pos": 887078}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "A very simple thing. At this moment, doctor, I leave life suspended within me. A forgetful, dissipated, indifferent life would be beyond my strength, now I have no longer Raoul with me. You do not ask the lamp to burn when the match has not illumed the flame; do not ask me to live amidst noise and merriment. I vegetate, I prepare myself, I wait. Look, doctor; remember those soldiers we have so often seen together at the ports, where they were waiting to embark; lying down, indifferent, half on one element, half on the other; they were neither at the place where the sea was going to carry them, nor at the place the earth was going to lose them; baggage prepared, minds on the stretch, arms stacked--they waited. I repeat it, the word is the one which paints my present life. Lying down like the soldiers, my ear on the stretch for the report that may reach me, I wish to be ready to set out at the first summons. Who will make me that summons? life or death? God or Raoul? My baggage is packed, my soul is prepared, I await the signal--I wait, doctor, I wait!", "pos": 887097}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "What is the matter?", "pos": 889308}
{"speaker": "Raoul", "text": "What afflicts me is the death of Porthos, ever so dear a friend. I suffer here the grief you soon will feel at home.", "pos": 889358}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "The writing of Aramis. Porthos is dead! Oh! Raoul, Raoul! thanks! thou keepest thy promise, thou warnest me!", "pos": 889657}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "This is very strange!", "pos": 891928}
{"speaker": "valet de chambre", "text": "Let us stop, monsieur--I conjure you! how pale you are getting!", "pos": 892006}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "That will not prevent my pursuing my route, now I have once started. Something, wills that I should go no further. Support me, quick! come closer! I feel my muscles relax--I shall fall from my horse.", "pos": 892104}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Well! decidedly, it is willed that I should stay at home. You will be sure to remember, that I expect letters from Africa this very day.", "pos": 893281}
{"speaker": "his valet de chambre", "text": "Monsieur will no doubt hear with pleasure that Blaisois’s son is gone on horseback, to gain an hour over the courier of Blois,", "pos": 893655}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Thank you,", "pos": 893814}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "It is a courier from Africa, is it not?", "pos": 903386}
{"speaker": "Grimaud", "text": "No, monsieur le comte,", "pos": 903428}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Grimaud!", "pos": 903526}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "Grimaud. Raoul is dead. Is it not so?", "pos": 904937}
{"speaker": "Grimaud", "text": "Yes,", "pos": 905175}
{"speaker": "Athos", "text": "HERE I AM!", "pos": 907126}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Athos! Athos! my friend!", "pos": 909028}
{"speaker": "Grimaud", "text": "Monsieur le Chevalier d’Artagnan,", "pos": 909097}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Where is he? Where is he?", "pos": 909155}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Grimaud. I have seen how the father died; now let me know about the son.", "pos": 912088}
{"speaker": "LE DUC DE BEAUFORT", "text": "MY DEAR COMTE, a great misfortune has struck us amidst a great triumph. The king loses one of the bravest of soldiers. I lose a friend. You lose M. de Bragelonne. He has died gloriously, so gloriously that I have not the strength to weep as I could wish. Receive my sad compliments, my dear comte. Heaven distributes trials according to the greatness of our hearts. This is an immense one, but not above your courage. Your good friend, LE DUC DE BEAUFORT.", "pos": 912670}
{"speaker": "the prince's secretary", "text": "In the morning, monseigneur commanded the attack. Normandy and Picardy had taken positions in the rocks dominated by the heights of the mountain, upon the declivity of which were raised the bastions of Gigelli.", "pos": 913581}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "You see, vicomte, I have saved your life. Report that, some day, to M. le Comte de la Fere, in order that, learning it from you, he may thank me.", "pos": 915643}
{"speaker": "M. de Bragelonne", "text": "It is true, monseigneur, that but for your kindness I should have been killed, where the poor sergeant has fallen, and should be at rest.", "pos": 915849}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Vrai Dieu! Young man, one would say that your mouth waters for death; but, by the soul of Henry IV., I have promised your father to bring you back alive; and, please the Lord, I mean to keep my word.", "pos": 916075}
{"speaker": "M. de Bragelonne", "text": "Monseigneur, pardon me, I beseech you. I have always had a desire to meet good opportunities; and it is so delightful to distinguish ourselves before our general, particularly when that general is M. le Duc de Beaufort.", "pos": 916344}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Stop, Bragelonne! Where are you going? Stop. I command you! Stop, Bragelonne! stop! in the name of your father! Musketeers, kill his horse! A hundred pistoles for the man who kills his horse!", "pos": 918529}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Throw yourself off, monsieur le vicomte!--off!--off! throw yourself off!", "pos": 919835}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "Grenadiers! lancers! will you let them take that noble body?", "pos": 921183}
{"speaker": "M. de Beaufort", "text": "We will save you, vicomte, we will save you yet.", "pos": 923912}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! unhappy boy! a suicide! They kept their words with each other, now I believe them to be happy; they must be reunited.", "pos": 924787}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, yes, good Grimaud--now with the son he loved so much!", "pos": 926443}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Raoul here! Oh! Grimaud, why did you not tell me this?", "pos": 927184}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Pardon! pardon!", "pos": 931787}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan!", "pos": 932310}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You! you here!--oh! madame, I should better have liked to see you decked with flowers in the mansion of the Comte de la Fere. You would have wept less--and they too--and I!", "pos": 932347}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Monsieur!", "pos": 932563}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "For it was you, it was you who sped these two men to the grave.", "pos": 932594}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "Oh! spare me!", "pos": 932703}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "God forbid, madame, that I should offend a woman, or that I should make her weep in vain; but I must say that the place of the murderer is not upon the grave of her victims. What I now tell you. I have already told the king.", "pos": 932719}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "I know. I have caused the death of the Vicomte de Bragelonne.", "pos": 933012}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! you know it?", "pos": 933088}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "The news arrived at court yesterday. I have traveled during the night forty leagues to come and ask pardon of the comte, whom I supposed to be still living, and to pray God, on the tomb of Raoul, that he would send me all the misfortunes I have merited, except a single one. Now, monsieur, I know that the death of the son has killed the father; I have two crimes to reproach myself with; I have two punishments to expect from Heaven.", "pos": 933107}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I will repeat to you, mademoiselle, what M. de Bragelonne said of you, at Antibes, when he already meditated death: ‘If pride and coquetry have misled her, I pardon her while despising her. If love has produced her error, I pardon her, but I swear that no one could have loved her as I have done.’", "pos": 933544}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "You know, that of my love I was about to sacrifice myself; you know whether I suffered when you met me lost, dying, abandoned. Well! never have I suffered so much as now; because then I hoped, desired,--now I have no longer anything to wish for; because this death drags all my joy into the tomb; because I can no longer dare to love without remorse, and I feel that he whom I love--oh! it is but just!--will repay me with the tortures I have made others undergo. Well, then, dear Monsieur d’Artagnan, do not overwhelm me to-day, I again implore you! I am like the branch torn from the trunk, I no longer hold to anything in this world--a current drags me on, I know not whither. I love madly, even to the point of coming to tell it, wretch that I am, over the ashes of the dead, and I do not blush for it--I have no remorse on this account. Such love is a religion. Only, as hereafter you will see me alone, forgotten, disdained; as you will see me punished, as I am destined to be punished, spare me in my ephemeral happiness, leave it to me for a few days, for a few minutes. Now, even at the moment I am speaking to you, perhaps it no longer exists. My God! this double murder is perhaps already expiated!", "pos": 933863}
{"speaker": "M. de Saint-Aignan", "text": "The king is a prey to jealousy and uneasiness.", "pos": 935334}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "You see, madame, you see your happiness still lasts.", "pos": 935623}
{"speaker": "La Vallière", "text": "A day will come, when you will repent of having so misjudged me. On that day, it is I who will pray God to forgive you for having been unjust towards me. Besides, I shall suffer so much that you yourself will be the first to pity my sufferings. Do not reproach me with my fleeting happiness, Monsieur d’Artagnan; it costs me dear, and I have not paid all my debt. Pardon me the last time, my affianced Raoul! I have broken our chain; we are both destined to die of grief. It is thou who departest first; fear nothing, I shall follow thee. See, only, that I have not been base, and that I have come to bid thee this last adieu. The Lord is my witness, Raoul, that if with my life I could have redeemed thine, I would have given that life without hesitation. I could not give my love. Once more, forgive me, dearest, kindest friend.", "pos": 935778}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "When will it be my turn to depart? What is there left for man after youth, love, glory, friendship, strength, and wealth have disappeared? That rock, under which sleeps Porthos, who possessed all I have named; this moss, under which repose Athos and Raoul, who possessed much more! Forward! still forward! When it is time, God will tell me, as he foretold the others.", "pos": 936990}
{"speaker": "M. d’Artagnan", "text": "M. d’Artagnan does not get any older,", "pos": 938672}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "That is true. I don’t see any change in him for the last twenty years.", "pos": 938870}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "Ah! it is not as it was in the good old times. Do you remember, Monsieur d’Artagnan, when the late king flew the pie in the vineyards beyond Beaugence? Ah! dame! you were not the captain of the musketeers at that time, Monsieur d’Artagnan.", "pos": 939631}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And you were nothing but under-corporal of the tiercelets. Never mind that, it was a good time, seeing that it is always a good time when we are young. Good day, monsieur the keeper of the harriers.", "pos": 939896}
{"speaker": "Keeper of the harriers", "text": "You do me honor, monsieur le comte,", "pos": 940129}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "Are you not very much fatigued with the long journey you have taken, monsieur le capitaine? It must be full two hundred leagues from hence to Pignerol.", "pos": 940292}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Two hundred and sixty to go, and as many to return,", "pos": 940472}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "And is he well?", "pos": 940552}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who?", "pos": 940592}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "Why, poor M. Fouquet,", "pos": 940617}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, the poor man frets terribly; he cannot comprehend how imprisonment can be a favor; he says that parliament absolved him by banishing him, and banishment is, or should be, liberty. He cannot imagine that they had sworn his death, and that to save his life from the claws of parliament was to be under too much obligation to Heaven.", "pos": 940733}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "Ah! yes; the poor man had a close chance of the scaffold, it is said that M. Colbert had given orders to the governor of the Bastile, and that the execution was ordered.", "pos": 941092}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Enough!", "pos": 941288}
{"speaker": "Keeper of the harriers", "text": "M. Fouquet is now at Pignerol; he has richly deserved it. He had the good fortune to be conducted there by you; he robbed the king sufficiently.", "pos": 941439}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Monsieur, if any one told me you had eaten your dogs’ meat, not only would I refuse to believe it; but still more, if you were condemned to the lash or to jail for it, I should pity you and would not allow people to speak ill of you. And yet, monsieur, honest man as you may be, I assure you that you are not more so than poor M. Fouquet was.", "pos": 941676}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "He is content, we all know that harriers are in fashion nowadays; if he were a falconer he would not talk in that way.", "pos": 942187}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Did M. Fouquet love falconry?", "pos": 942668}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "Oh, passionately, monsieur!", "pos": 942709}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! I know nothing of current news; I only arrived yesterday, after a month’s absence. I left the court mourning the death of the queen-mother. The king was not willing to take any amusement after receiving the last sigh of Anne of Austria; but everything comes to an end in this world. Well! then he is no longer sad? So much the better.", "pos": 943617}
{"speaker": "Keeper of the harriers", "text": "And everything begins as well as ends,", "pos": 944138}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! there is something beginning, then, it seems? Shall we see the king early?", "pos": 944216}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "At seven o’clock, monsieur, I shall fly the birds.", "pos": 944547}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who comes with the king? How is Madame? How is the queen?", "pos": 944600}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "Better, monsieur.", "pos": 944660}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Has she been ill, then?", "pos": 944680}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "Monsieur, since the last chagrin she suffered, her majesty has been unwell.", "pos": 944706}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "What chagrin? You need not fancy your news is old. I have but just returned.", "pos": 944784}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "It appears that the queen, a little neglected since the death of her mother-in-law, complained to the king, who answered her,--‘Do I not sleep at home every night, madame? What more do you expect?’", "pos": 944863}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! poor woman! She must heartily hate Mademoiselle de la Vallière.", "pos": 945063}
{"speaker": "Falconer", "text": "Oh, no! not Mademoiselle de la Vallière,", "pos": 945153}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Who then--", "pos": 945218}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Ah, comte! you are amongst us once more then! Why have I not seen you?", "pos": 946644}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Sire, because your majesty was asleep when I arrived, and not awake when I resumed my duties this morning.", "pos": 946728}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Still the same. Take some rest, comte; I command you to do so. You will dine with me to-day.", "pos": 946860}
{"speaker": "Minister", "text": "Good-day, Monsieur d’Artagnan, have you had a pleasant journey?", "pos": 947322}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, monsieur,", "pos": 947433}
{"speaker": "Minister", "text": "I heard the king invite you to his table for this evening, you will meet an old friend there.", "pos": 947500}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "An old friend of mine?", "pos": 947622}
{"speaker": "Minister", "text": "M. le Duc d’Almeda, who is arrived this morning from Spain.", "pos": 947789}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "The Duc d’Almeda?", "pos": 947851}
{"speaker": "old man", "text": "Aramis!", "pos": 948045}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "And so, you, the exile, the rebel, are again in France?", "pos": 948322}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Ah! and I shall dine with you at the king’s table. Yes, will you not ask yourself what is the use of fidelity in this world? Stop! let us allow poor La Vallière’s carriage to pass. Look, how uneasy she is! How her eyes, dim with tears, follow the king, who is riding on horseback yonder!", "pos": 948422}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "With whom?", "pos": 948736}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "With Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente, now Madame de Montespan,", "pos": 948749}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "She is jealous. Is she then deserted?", "pos": 948830}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Not quite yet, but it will not be long before she is.", "pos": 948870}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Do you know, Aramis, whither chance has conducted us?", "pos": 949786}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "No,", "pos": 949853}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Here repose men that we knew well,", "pos": 949877}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Where are they buried?", "pos": 950088}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "There, in the inclosure. There is a cross, you see, beneath yon little cypress. The tree of grief is planted over their tomb; don’t go to it; the king is going that way; the heron has fallen just there.", "pos": 950122}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What will you give me in exchange?", "pos": 951156}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Humph! the present is but a sad one, for that cypress shades a tomb.", "pos": 951305}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, and the tomb is that of Raoul de Bragelonne, of Raoul, who sleeps under that cross with his father. Poor woman!", "pos": 951405}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Sister, why do I see tears in those lovely eyes?", "pos": 953831}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Why--sire--", "pos": 953893}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur is jealous, is he not, sister?", "pos": 953917}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Yes,", "pos": 954041}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Listen to me, if your friends compromise you, it is not Monsieur’s fault. Come, come, dear little sister, tell me your griefs; on the word of a brother, I pity them; on the word of a king, I will put an end to them.", "pos": 954058}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "It is not my friends who compromise me, they are either absent or concealed; they have been brought into disgrace with your majesty; they, so devoted, so good, so loyal!", "pos": 954537}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You say this on account of De Guiche, whom I have exiled, at Monsieur’s desire?", "pos": 954721}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "And who, since that unjust exile, has endeavored to get himself killed once every day.", "pos": 954803}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Unjust, say you, sister?", "pos": 954892}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "So unjust, that if I had not had the respect mixed with friendship that I have always entertained for your majesty--", "pos": 954919}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Well!", "pos": 955038}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Well! I would have asked my brother Charles, upon whom I can always--", "pos": 955046}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "What, then?", "pos": 955136}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "I would have asked him to have had it represented to you that Monsieur and his favorite M. le Chevalier de Lorraine ought not with impunity to constitute themselves the executioners of my honor and my happiness.", "pos": 955150}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The Chevalier de Lorraine, that dismal fellow?", "pos": 955364}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Is my mortal enemy. Whilst that man lives in my household, where Monsieur retains him and delegates his power to him, I shall be the most miserable woman in the kingdom.", "pos": 955430}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "So, you call your brother of England a better friend than I am?", "pos": 955602}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Actions speak for themselves, sire.", "pos": 955693}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And you would prefer going to ask assistance there--", "pos": 955731}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "To my own country! yes, sire.", "pos": 955786}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You are the grandchild of Henry IV. as well as myself, lady. Cousin and brother-in-law, does not that amount pretty well to the title of brother-germain?", "pos": 955841}
{"speaker": "Henrietta", "text": "Then, act!", "pos": 955997}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Let us form an alliance.", "pos": 956028}
{"speaker": "Henrietta", "text": "Begin.", "pos": 956055}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I have, you say, unjustly exiled De Guiche.", "pos": 956064}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Oh! yes,", "pos": 956110}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "De Guiche shall return.", "pos": 956141}
{"speaker": "Henrietta", "text": "So far, well.", "pos": 956167}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And now you say that I do wrong in having in your household the Chevalier de Lorraine, who gives Monsieur ill advice respecting you?", "pos": 956183}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Remember well what I tell you, sire; the Chevalier de Lorraine some day--Observe, if ever I come to a dreadful end, I beforehand accuse the Chevalier de Lorraine; he has a spirit that is capable of any crime!", "pos": 956318}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "The Chevalier de Lorraine shall no longer annoy you--I promise you that.", "pos": 956529}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Then that will be a true preliminary of alliance, sire,--I sign; but since you have done your part, tell me what shall be mine.", "pos": 956604}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Instead of embroiling me with your brother Charles, you must make him a more intimate friend than ever.", "pos": 956734}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "That is very easy.", "pos": 956840}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Oh! not quite so easy as you may suppose, for in ordinary friendship people embrace or exercise hospitality, and that only costs a kiss or a return, profitable expenses; but in political friendship--", "pos": 956861}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Ah! it’s a political friendship, is it?", "pos": 957063}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Yes, my sister; and then, instead of embraces and feasts, it is soldiers--it is soldiers all alive and well equipped--that we must serve up to our friends; vessels we must offer, all armed with cannons and stored with provisions. It hence results that we have not always coffers in a fit condition for such friendships.", "pos": 957105}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Ah! you are quite right, the coffers of the king of England have been sonorous for some time.", "pos": 957427}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "But you, my sister, who have so much influence over your brother, you can secure more than an ambassador could ever get the promise of.", "pos": 957538}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "To effect that I must go to London, my dear brother.", "pos": 957676}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I have thought so, and I have said to myself that such a voyage would do your health and spirits good.", "pos": 957731}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Only, it is possible I should fail. The king of England has dangerous counselors.", "pos": 957865}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Counselors, do you say?", "pos": 957971}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Precisely. If, by chance, your majesty had any intention--I am only supposing so--of asking Charles II. his alliance in a war--", "pos": 957997}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "A war?", "pos": 958127}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Yes; well! then the king’s counselors, who are in number seven--Mademoiselle Stewart, Mademoiselle Wells, Mademoiselle Gwyn, Miss Orchay, Mademoiselle Zunga, Miss Davies, and the proud Countess of Castlemaine--will represent to the king that war costs a great deal of money; that it is better to give balls and suppers at Hampton Court than to equip ships of the line at Portsmouth and Greenwich.", "pos": 958136}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And then your negotiations will fail?", "pos": 958535}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Oh! those ladies cause all negotiations to fall through which they don’t make themselves.", "pos": 958575}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Do you know the idea that has struck me, sister?", "pos": 958667}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "No; inform me what it is.", "pos": 958718}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "It is that, searching well around you, you might perhaps find a female counselor to take with you to your brother, whose eloquence might paralyze the ill-will of the seven others.", "pos": 958746}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "That is really an idea, sire, and I will search.", "pos": 958928}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You will find what you want.", "pos": 958979}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "I hope so.", "pos": 959010}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "A pretty ambassadress is necessary; an agreeable face is better than an ugly one, is it not?", "pos": 959023}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Most assuredly.", "pos": 959118}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "An animated, lively, audacious character.", "pos": 959136}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Certainly.", "pos": 959180}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Nobility; that is, enough to enable her to approach the king without awkwardness--not too lofty, so as not to trouble herself about the dignity of her race.", "pos": 959193}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Very true.", "pos": 959352}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "And who knows a little English.", "pos": 959365}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Mon Dieu! why, some one, like Mademoiselle de Keroualle, for instance!", "pos": 959399}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Oh! why, yes! you have hit the mark,--it is you who have found, my sister.", "pos": 959488}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "I will take her; she will have no cause to complain, I suppose.", "pos": 959584}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Oh! no, I will name her seductrice plenipotentiaire at once, and will add a dowry to the title.", "pos": 959650}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "That is well.", "pos": 959748}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I fancy you already on your road, my dear little sister, consoled for all your griefs.", "pos": 959764}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "I will go, on two conditions. The first is, that I shall know what I am negotiating about.", "pos": 959853}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "That is it. The Dutch, you know, insult me daily in their gazettes, and by their republican attitude. I do not like republics.", "pos": 959946}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "That may easily be imagined, sire.", "pos": 960075}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I see with pain that these kings of the sea--they call themselves so--keep trade from France in the Indies, and that their vessels will soon occupy all the ports of Europe. Such a power is too near me, sister.", "pos": 960112}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "They are your allies, nevertheless.", "pos": 960324}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "That is why they were wrong in having the medal you have heard of struck; a medal which represents Holland stopping the sun, as Joshua did, with this legend: The sun had stopped before me. There is not much fraternity in that, is there?", "pos": 960362}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "I thought you had forgotten that miserable episode?", "pos": 960601}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I never forget anything, sister. And if my true friends, such as your brother Charles, are willing to second me-- Listen to me; there is the empire of the seas to be shared. For this partition, which England submits to, could I not represent the second party as well as the Dutch?", "pos": 960655}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "We have Mademoiselle de Keroualle to treat that question,", "pos": 960998}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Your second condition for going, if you please, sister?", "pos": 961074}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "The consent of Monsieur, my husband.", "pos": 961132}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "You shall have it.", "pos": 961171}
{"speaker": "Madame", "text": "Then consider me already gone, brother.", "pos": 961192}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Monsieur l’ambassadeur, shall we talk about business?", "pos": 961479}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "Monsieur. I am not pleased with M. le Chevalier de Lorraine. You, who do him the honor to protect him, must advise him to travel for a few months.", "pos": 961681}
{"speaker": "Monsieur", "text": "In what has the chevalier been inconsiderate enough to displease your majesty?", "pos": 962238}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "I will tell you that when he is gone. And also when Madame, here, shall have crossed over into England.", "pos": 962363}
{"speaker": "Monsieur", "text": "Madame! in England!", "pos": 962495}
{"speaker": "Louis XIV", "text": "In a week, brother, whilst we will go whither I will shortly tell you.", "pos": 962550}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Monsieur, this is the moment for us to come to an understanding. I have made your peace with the king, and I owed that clearly to a man of so much merit; but as you have often expressed friendship for me, an opportunity presents itself for giving me a proof of it. You are, besides, more a Frenchman than a Spaniard. Shall we secure--answer me frankly--the neutrality of Spain, if we undertake anything against the United Provinces?", "pos": 962830}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Monsieur, the interest of Spain is clear. To embroil Europe with the Provinces would doubtless be our policy, but the king of France is an ally of the United Provinces. You are not ignorant, besides, that it would infer a maritime war, and that France is in no state to undertake this with advantage.", "pos": 963291}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "We may talk openly with D’Artagnan, I suppose?", "pos": 963812}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh! certainly,", "pos": 963861}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "We were saying, M. d’Almeda and I, that a conflict with the United Provinces would mean a maritime war.", "pos": 963902}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That’s evident enough,", "pos": 964024}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "And what do you think of it, Monsieur d’Artagnan?", "pos": 964072}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "I think that to carry on such a war successfully, you must have very large land forces.", "pos": 964124}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "What did you say?", "pos": 964214}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Why such a large land army?", "pos": 964284}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Because the king will be beaten by sea if he has not the English with him, and that when beaten by sea, he will soon be invaded, either by the Dutch in his ports, or by the Spaniards by land.", "pos": 964327}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And Spain neutral?", "pos": 964521}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Neutral as long as the king shall prove stronger,", "pos": 964556}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Who told you, M. d’Artagnan, that the king had no navy?", "pos": 964924}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! I take no heed of these details. I am but an indifferent sailor. Like all nervous people, I hate the sea; and yet I have an idea that, with ships, France being a seaport with two hundred exits, we might have sailors.", "pos": 964982}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I have had the same idea as you, and I have had an account drawn up of the vessels we have altogether--thirty-five ships.", "pos": 965445}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Thirty-five ships! impossible!", "pos": 965594}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Something like two thousand pieces of cannon. That is what the king possesses at this moment. Of five and thirty vessels we can make three squadrons, but I must have five.", "pos": 965645}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Five!", "pos": 965835}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "They will be afloat before the end of the year, gentlemen; the king will have fifty ship of the line. We may venture on a contest with them, may we not?", "pos": 965857}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "To build vessels, is difficult, but possible. As to arming them, how is that to be done? In France there are neither foundries nor military docks.", "pos": 966012}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Bah! I have planned all that this year and a half past, did you not know it? Do you know M. d’Imfreville?", "pos": 966180}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "D’Imfreville? no.", "pos": 966328}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "He is a man I have discovered; he has a specialty; he is a man of genius--he knows how to set men to work. It is he who has cast cannon and cut the woods of Bourgogne. And then, monsieur l’ambassadeur, you may not believe what I am going to tell you, but I have a still further idea.", "pos": 966370}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Oh, monsieur! I always believe you.", "pos": 966656}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Calculating upon the character of the Dutch, our allies, I said to myself, ‘They are merchants, they are friendly with the king; they will be happy to sell to the king what they fabricate for themselves; then the more we buy’--Ah! I must add this: I have Forant--do you know Forant, D’Artagnan?", "pos": 966718}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No. I do not know him.", "pos": 967147}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "That is another man I have discovered, with a genius for buying. This Forant has purchased for me 350,000 pounds of iron in balls, 200,000 pounds of powder, twelve cargoes of Northern timber, matches, grenades, pitch, tar--I know not what! with a saving of seven per cent upon what all those articles would cost me fabricated in France.", "pos": 967186}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "That is a capital and quaint idea, to have Dutch cannon-balls cast which will return to the Dutch.", "pos": 967525}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Is it not, with loss, too? Still further, these same Dutch are building for the king, at this moment, six vessels after the model of the best of their name. Destouches--Ah! perhaps you don’t know Destouches?", "pos": 967648}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "No, monsieur.", "pos": 967935}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "He is a man who has a sure glance to discern, when a ship is launched, what are the defects and qualities of that ship--that is valuable, observe! Nature is truly whimsical. Well, this Destouches appeared to me to be a man likely to prove useful in marine affairs, and he is superintending the construction of six vessels of seventy-eight guns, which the Provinces are building for his majesty. It results from this, my dear Monsieur d’Artagnan, that the king, if he wished to quarrel with the Provinces, would have a very pretty fleet. Now, you know better than anybody else if the land army is efficient.", "pos": 967951}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "If we, in France, were ignorant of what was going on, out of France still less must be known.", "pos": 968752}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "That is why I told monsieur l’ambassadeur, that, Spain promising its neutrality, England helping us--", "pos": 968867}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "If England assists you. I promise the neutrality of Spain.", "pos": 968987}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "I take you at your word. And, a propos of Spain, you have not the ‘Golden Fleece,’ Monsieur d’Almeda. I heard the king say the other day that he should like to see you wear the grand cordon of St. Michael.", "pos": 969063}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Oh! and Porthos is no longer here! What ells of ribbons would there be for him in these largesses! Dear Porthos!", "pos": 969338}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Monsieur d’Artagnan, between us two, you will have, I wager, an inclination to lead your musketeers into Holland. Can you swim?", "pos": 969475}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Like an eel,", "pos": 969670}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "Ah! but there are some bitter passages of canals and marshes yonder, Monsieur d’Artagnan, and the best swimmers are sometimes drowned there.", "pos": 969705}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is my profession to die for his majesty. Only, as it is seldom in war that much water is met with without a little fire, I declare to you beforehand, that I will do my best to choose fire. I am getting old; water freezes me--but fire warms, Monsieur Colbert.", "pos": 969848}
{"speaker": "Colbert", "text": "So, then, we go into Holland?", "pos": 970477}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Yes, only--", "pos": 970525}
{"speaker": "M. Colbert", "text": "Only?", "pos": 970561}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Only, there lurks in everything the question of interest, the question of self-love. It is a very fine title, that of captain of the musketeers; but observe this: we have now the king’s guards and the military household of the king. A captain of musketeers ought to command all that, and then he would absorb a hundred thousand livres a year for expenses. Eh! monsieur, you have not understood me. I was telling you that I, an old captain, formerly chief of the king’s guard, having precedence of the marechaux of France--I saw myself one day in the trenches with two other equals, the captain of the guards and the colonel commanding the Swiss. Now, at no price will I suffer that. I have old habits, and I will stand or fall by them.", "pos": 970586}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "People would be very proud of me in my country, if I were a marechal of France; but a man must have commanded an expedition in chief to obtain the baton. I will do you justice, monsieur, and implore you to tell the king that the first opportunity that shall offer, he may depend upon a victory, or to behold me dead--or both. Let us love each other for four. We are now but two.", "pos": 971999}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "And you will, perhaps, never see me again, dear D’Artagnan, if you knew how I have loved you! I am old, I am extinct--ah, I am almost dead.", "pos": 973084}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "My friend, you will live longer than I shall: diplomacy commands you to live; but, for my part, honor condemns me to die.", "pos": 973241}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "Bah! such men as we are, monsieur le marechal, only die satisfied with joy in glory.", "pos": 973384}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "Ah! I assure you, monsieur le duc, I feel very little appetite for either.", "pos": 973486}
{"speaker": "Aramis", "text": "MONSIEUR COLBERT,--I have the honor to expedite to you the R. P. Oliva, general ad interim of the Society of Jesus, my provisional successor. The reverend father will explain to you, Monsieur Colbert, that I preserve to myself the direction of all the affairs of the order which concern France and Spain; but that I am not willing to retain the title of general, which would throw too high a side-light on the progress of the negotiations with which His Catholic Majesty wishes to intrust me. I shall resume that title by the command of his majesty, when the labors I have undertaken in concert with you, for the great glory of God and His Church, shall be brought to a good end. The R. P. Oliva will inform you likewise, monsieur, of the consent His Catholic Majesty gives to the signature of a treaty which assures the neutrality of Spain in the event of a war between France and the United Provinces. This consent will be valid even if England, instead of being active, should satisfy herself with remaining neutral. As for Portugal, of which you and I have spoken, monsieur, I can assure you it will contribute with all its resources to assist the Most Christian King in his war. I beg you, Monsieur Colbert, to preserve your friendship and also to believe in my profound attachment, and to lay my respect at the feet of His Most Christian Majesty. Signed. LE DUC D’ALMEDA.", "pos": 974729}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "MONSIEUR COLBERT:--We have a promise to fulfil with M. d’Artagnan, who so well keeps his. This is to inform you that the time is come for performing it. All provisions for this purpose you shall be furnished with in due time. LOUIS.", "pos": 979139}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "MONSIEUR D’ARTAGNAN:--The king commands me to inform you that he has nominated you marechal of France, as a reward for your magnificent services, and the honor you do to his arms. The king is highly pleased, monsieur, with the captures you have made; he commands you, in particular, to finish the siege you have commenced, with good fortune to you, and success for him. I have finished, the city will have surrendered in a quarter of an hour.", "pos": 982881}
{"speaker": "D'Artagnan", "text": "It is strange, that I don’t yet see the king’s flag on the walls, or hear the drums beat the chamade.", "pos": 984147}
{"speaker": "Unknown", "text": "Athos--Porthos, farewell till we meet again! Aramis, adieu forever!", "pos": 985783}