Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/16

6 "Yes, yes, Kaoul, be satisfied; the king has some good in him," said D'Artagnan, who had fathomed the character of Louis, and who played with his self-love, within certain limits; always observing, be it understood, the proprieties, and flattering, even when he appeared to be bantering,

"Sire," said Bragelonne, with a voice soft and musical, and with the natural and easy elocution he inherited from his father — "sire, it is not from to-day that I belong to your majesty."

"Oh! no, I know," said the king; "you mean your enterprise of the Greve. That day you were truly mine, monsieur."

"Sire, it is not of that day I would speak; it would not become me to refer to so paltry a service in the presence of such a man as Monsieur d'Artagnan. I would speak of a circumstance which created an epoch in my life, and which consecrated me, from the age of sixteen, to the devoted service of your majesty."

"Ah! ah!" said the king, "what is that circumstance? Tell me, monsieur."

"This is it, sire. When I was setting out on my first campaign, that is to say, to join the army of Monsieur le Prince, Monsieur le Comte de la Fere came to conduct me as far as St. Denis, where the remains of King Louis XIII. wait, upon the lowest steps of the funereal basilique, a successor, whom God will not send him, I hope, for many years. Then he made me swear upon the ashes of our mas- ters, to serve royalty represented by you — incarnate in you, sire — to serve it in word, in thought, and in action. I swore, and God and the dead were witnesses to my oath. During ten years, sire, I have not so often as I desired had occasion to keep it. I am a soldier of your majesty, and nothing else; and, on calling me nearer to you, I do not change my master, I only change my garrison."

Raoul was silent, and bowed. Louis still listened after he had done speaking.

"Mordioux!" cried D'Artagnan, "that is well spoken! is it not, your majesty? A good race! a noble race!"

"Yes," murmured the agitated king, without, however, daring to manifest his emotion, for it had no other cause than the contact with a nature eminently aristocratic.

"Yes, monsieur, you say truly; wherever you were, you were the king's. But in changing your garrison, believe me, you will find an advancement of which you are worthy."

Raoul saw that there stopped what the king had to say to