Page:Louise de la Valliere text.djvu/434

Rh 434 LOUISE DE LA VALLIERB, CHAPTER LXV. POLITICAL RIVALS. D'Artagnan" had promised M. de Baisemeaux to return in time for dessert, and he kept his word. They had just reached the finer and more delicate class of wines and liquors with which the governor's cellar had the reputation of being most admirably stocked, when the spurs of the cap- tain resounded in the corridor, and he himself appeared at the threshold. Athos and Aramis had played a close game; neither of the two had been able to gain the slightest ad- vantage over the other. They had supped, talked a good deal about the Bastile, of the last journey to Fontainebleau, of the intended /e^e that M. Fouquet was about to give at Vaux; they had generalized on every possible subject; and no one, excepting Baisemeaux, had in the slightest degree alluded to private matters. D'Artagnan arrived in the very midst of the conversation, still pale and much dis- turbed by his interview with the king. Baisemeaux has- tened to give him a chair; D'Artagnan accepted a glass of wine, and set it down empty. Athos and Aramis both re- marked his emotion; as for Baisemeaux, he saw nothing more than the captain of the king's musketeers, to whom he endeavored to show every possible attention. But, al- though Aramis had remarked his emotion, he had not been able to guess the cause of it. Athos alone believed he had detected it. For him, D'Artagnan's return, and particu- larly the manner in which he, usually so impassible, seemed overcome, signified, "I have just asked the king something which the k""ng has refused me." Thoroughly convinced that his conjecture was correct, Athos smiled, rose from the table, and made a sign to D'Artagnan, as if to remind him that they had something else to do than to sup together. D'Artagnan immediately understood him, and replied by another sign. Aramis and Baisemeaux watched this silent dialogue, and looked inquiringly at each other. Athos felt that he was called upon to give an explanation of what was passing. "The truth is, my friends," said the Comte de la Fere, with a smile, "that you, Aramis, have been supping with a state criminal, and you. Monsieur de Baisemeaux, with your prisoner." Baisemeaux uttered an exclamation of surprise, and almost of delight; for he was exceedingly proud and vain of