Essential Novelists - Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre Dumas

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      D’Artagnan raised her by passing his arm round her waist; but as he felt by her weight she was on the point of fainting, he made haste to reassure her by protestations of devotedness. These protestations were nothing for Mme. Bonacieux, for such protestations may be made with the worst intentions in the world; but the voice was all. Mme. Bonacieux thought she recognized the sound of that voice; she reopened her eyes, cast a quick glance upon the man who had terrified her so, and at once perceiving it was d’Artagnan, she uttered a cry of joy, “Oh, it is you, it is you! Thank God, thank God!”

      “Yes, it is I,” said d’Artagnan, “it is I, whom God has sent to watch over you.”

      “Was it with that intention you followed me?” asked the young woman, with a coquettish smile, whose somewhat bantering character resumed its influence, and with whom all fear had disappeared from the moment in which she recognized a friend in one she had taken for an enemy.

      “No,” said d’Artagnan; “no, I confess it. It was chance that threw me in your way; I saw a woman knocking at the window of one of my friends.”

      “One of your friends?” interrupted Mme. Bonacieux.

      “Without doubt; Aramis is one of my best friends.”

      “Aramis! Who is he?”

      “Come, come, you won’t tell me you don’t know Aramis?”

      “This is the first time I ever heard his name pronounced.”

      “It is the first time, then, that you ever went to that house?”

      “Undoubtedly.”

      “And you did not know that it was inhabited by a young man?”

      “No.”

      “By a Musketeer?”

      “No, indeed!”

      “It was not he, then, you came to seek?”

      “Not the least in the world. Besides, you must have seen that the person to whom I spoke was a woman.”

      “That is true; but this woman is a friend of Aramis—”

      “I know nothing of that.”

      “—since she lodges with him.”

      “That does not concern me.”

      “But who is she?”

      “Oh, that is not my secret.”

      “My dear Madame Bonacieux, you are charming; but at the same time you are one of the most mysterious women.”

      “Do I lose by that?”

      “No; you are, on the contrary, adorable.”

      “Give me your arm, then.”

      “Most willingly. And now?”

      “Now escort me.”

      “Where?”

      “Where I am going.”

      “But where are you going?”

      “You will see, because you will leave me at the door.”

      “Shall I wait for you?”

      “That will be useless.”

      “You will return alone, then?”

      “Perhaps yes, perhaps no.”

      “But will the person who shall accompany you afterward be a man or a woman?”

      “I don’t know yet.”

      “But I will know it!”

      “How so?”

      “I will wait until you come out.”

      “In that case, adieu.”

      “Why so?”

      “I do not want you.”

      “But you have claimed—”

      “The aid of a gentleman, not the watchfulness of a spy.”

      “The word is rather hard.”

      “How are they called who follow others in spite of them?”

      “They are indiscreet.”

      “The word is too mild.”

      “Well, madame, I perceive I must do as you wish.”

      “Why did you deprive yourself of the merit of doing so at once?”

      “Is there no merit in repentance?”

      “And do you really repent?”

      “I know nothing about it myself. But what I know is that I promise to do all you wish if you allow me to accompany you where you are going.”

      “And you will leave me then?”

      “Yes.”

      “Without waiting for my coming out again?”

      “Yes.”

      “Word of honor?”

      “By the faith of a gentleman. Take my arm, and let us go.”

      D’Artagnan offered his arm to Mme. Bonacieux, who willingly took it, half laughing, half trembling, and both gained the top of Rue de la Harpe. Arriving there, the young woman seemed to hesitate, as she had before done in the Rue Vaugirard. She seemed, however, by certain signs, to recognize a door, and approaching that door, “And now, monsieur,” said she, “it is here I have business; a thousand thanks for your honorable company, which has saved me from all the dangers to which, alone, I was exposed. But the moment is come to keep your word; I have reached my destination.”

      “And you will have nothing to fear on your return?”

      “I shall have nothing to fear but robbers.”

      “And that is nothing?”

      “What could they take from me? I have not a penny about me.”

      “You forget that beautiful handkerchief with the coat of arms.”

      “Which?”

      “That which I found at your feet, and replaced in your pocket.”

      “Hold your tongue, imprudent man! Do you wish СКАЧАТЬ