"Because all gentlemen are brothers, because you are a gentleman, because the kings of all countries are the first among gentlemen, because the blind populace, ungrateful and brutal, always takes pleasure in pulling down what is above them. And you, you, D'Artagnan, a man sprung from the ancient nobility of France, bearing an honorable name, carrying a good sword, have helped to give up a king to beersellers, shopkeepers, and wagoners. Ah! D'Artagnan! perhaps you have done your duty as a soldier, but as a gentleman, I say that you are very culpable."
D'Artagnan was chewing the stalk of a flower, unable to reply and thoroughly uncomfortable; for when turned from the eyes of Athos he encountered those of Aramis.
"And you, Porthos," continued the count, as if in consideration for D'Artagnan's embarrassment, "you, the best heart, the best friend, the best soldier that I know -- you, with a soul that makes you worthy of a birth on the steps of a throne, and who, sooner or later, must receive your reward from an intelligent king -- you, my dear Porthos, you, a gentleman in manners, in tastes and in courage, you are as culpable as D'Artagnan."
Porthos blushed, but with pleasure rather than with confusion; and yet, bowing his head, as if humiliated, he said:
"Yes, yes, my dear count, I feel that you are right."
Athos arose.
"Come," he said, stretching out his hand to D'Artagnan, "come, don't be sullen, my dear son, for I have said all this to you, if not in the tone, at least with the feelings of a father. It would have been easier to me merely to have thanked you for preserving my life and not to have uttered a word of all this."
"Doubtless, doubtless, Athos. But here it is: you have sentiments, the devil knows what, such as every one can't entertain. Who could suppose that a sensible man could leave his house, France, his ward -- a charming youth, for we saw him in the camp -- to fly to the aid of a rotten, worm-eaten royalty, which is going to crumble one of these days like an old hovel. The sentiments you air are certainly fine, so fine that they are superhuman."
"However that may be, D'Artagnan," replied Athos, without falling into the snare which his Gascon friend had prepared for him by an appeal to his parental love, "however that may be, you know in the bottom of your heart that it is true; but I am wrong to dispute with my master. D'Artagnan, I am your prisoner -- treat me as such."
"Ah! pardieu!" said D'Artagnan, "you know you will not be my prisoner very long."
"No," said Aramis, "they will doubtless treat us like the prisoners of the Philipghauts."
"And how were they treated?" asked D'Artagnan.
"Why," said Aramis, "one-half were hanged and the other half were shot."
"Well, I," said D'Artagnan "I answer that while there remains a drop of blood in my veins you will be neither hanged nor shot. Sang Diou! let them come on! Besides -- do you see that door, Athos?"
"Yes; what then?"
"Well, you can go out by that door whenever you please; for from this moment you are free as the air."
"I recognize you there, my brave D'Artagnan," replied Athos;
"but you are no longer our masters. That door is guarded, D'Artagnan; you know that."
"Very well, you will force it," said Porthos. "There are only a dozen men at the most."
"That would be nothing for us four; it is too much for us two. No, divided as we now are, we must perish. See the fatal example: on the Vendomois road, D'Artagnan, you so brave, and you, Porthos, so valiant and so strong -- you were beaten; to-day Aramis and I are beaten in our turn. Now that never happened to us when we were four together. Let us die, then, as De Winter has died; as for me, I will fly only on condition that we all fly together."
"Impossible," said D'Artagnan; "we are under Mazarin's orders."
"I know it and I have nothing more to say; my arguments lead to nothing; doubtless they are bad, since they have not determined minds so just as yours."
"Besides," said Aramis, "had they taken effect it would be still better not to compromise two excellent friends like D'Artagnan and Porthos. Be assured, gentlemen, we shall do you honor in our dying. As for myself, I shall be proud to face the bullets, or even the rope, in company with you, Athos; for you have never seemed to me so grand as you are to-day."
D'Artagnan said nothing, but, after having gnawed the flower stalk, he began to bite his nails. At last:
"Do you imagine," he resumed, "that they mean to kill you?
And wherefore should they do so? What interest have they in your death? Moreover, you are our prisoners."
"Fool!" cried Aramis; "knowest thou not, then, Mordaunt? I have but exchanged with him one look, yet that look convinced me that we were doomed."
"The truth is, I'm very sorry that I did not strangle him as you advised me," said Porthos.
"Eh! I make no account of the harm Mordaunt can do!" cried D'Artagnan. "Cap de Diou! if he troubles me too much I will crush him, the insect! Do not fly, then. It is useless; for I swear to you that you are as safe here as you were twenty years, ago -- you, Athos, in the Rue Ferou, and you, Aramis, in the Rue de Vaugirard."
"Stop," cried Athos, extending his hand to one of the grated windows by which the room was lighted; "you will soon know what to expect, for here he is."
"Who?"
"Mordaunt."
In fact, looking at the place to which Athos pointed, D'Artagnan saw a cavalier coming toward the house at full gallop.
It was Mordaunt.
D'Artagnan rushed out of the room.
Porthos wanted to follow him.
"Stay," said D'Artagnan, "and do not come till you hear me drum my fingers on the door."
When Mordaunt arrived opposite the house he saw D'Artagnan on the threshold and the soldiers lying on the grass here and there, with their arms.
"Halloo!" he cried, "are the prisoners still there?"
"Yes, sir," answered the sergeant, uncovering.
"'Tis well; order four men to conduct them to my lodging."
Four men prepared to do so.
"What is it?" said D'Artagnan, with that jeering manner which our readers have so often observed in him since they made his acquaintance. "What is the matter, if you please?"