Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/174

163 carriage, running toward Aramis, whose hands he seized, making a thousand apologies. He almost kissed him.

"What a difficult matter to enter the Bastile!" said Aramis. "Is it the same for those who are sent here against their wills as for those who come of their own accord?"

"A thousand pardons, my lord. How delighted I am to see your grace!"

"Hush! What are you thinking of, my dear Monsieur Baisemeaux? what do you suppose would be thought of a bishop in my present costume?"

"No, no," said Aramis; "I have five thousand pistoles in the portmanteau."

The governor's countenance became so radiant that if the prisoners had seen him they would have imagined some prince of the blood royal had arrived. "Yes, you are right, the horse shall be taken to the government house. Will you get into the carriage, my dear Monsieur d'Herblay, and it shall take us back to my house?"

"Get into a carriage to cross a courtyard? do you believe 1 am so great an invalid? No, no; we will go on foot."

Baisemeaux then offered his arm as a support, but the prelate did not accept it. They arrived in this manner at the government house, Baisemeaux rubbing his hands and glancing at the horse from time to time, while Aramis was looking at the black and bare walls. A tolerably handsome vestibule, a straight staircase of white stone led to the governor's apartments, who crossed the antechamber, the dining-room, where breakfast was being prepared, opened a small side door, and closeted himself with his guest in a large cabinet, the windows of which opened obliquely upon the courtyard and the stables. Baisemeaux installed the prelate with that obsequious politeness of which a good man, or a grateful man, alone possesses the secret. An armchair, a footstool, a small table beside him, on which to rest his hand; everything was prepared by the governor himself. With his own hands, too, he placed upon the table, with an almost religious solicitude, the bag containing the gold, which one of the soldiers had brought up with the most respectful devotion; and the soldier having left the room, Baisemeaux himself closed the door after him, drew aside one of the window-curtains, and looked steadfastly at Aramis to see if the prelate required anything further. "Well, my lord," he said, still standing, "of all men of their word, you still continue to be the most punctual."