Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/186

174 "The king's, you say?"

"The cardinal's, I mean; 'this unhappy man' said M. Mazarin, 'is destined to remain in prison forever.'"

"Why so?"

"Why, it seems that his crime is a lasting one; and, consequently, his punishment ought to be so too."

"Lasting?"

"No doubt of it; unless he is fortunate enough to catch the smallpox, and even that is difficult, for we never get any impure air here."

"Nothing can be more ingenious than your train of reasoning, my dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux. Do you, however, mean to say that this unfortunate man must suffer without interruption or termination?"

"I did not say he was to suffer, my lord; a fifteen-francs boarder does not suffer."

"He suffers imprisonment at all events."

"No doubt; there is no help for it; but this suffering is sweetened for him. You must admit that this young fellow was not born to eat all the good things he does eat; for instance, such things as we have on the table now; this pastry that has not been touched, these crawfish from the river Marne, of which we have hardly taken any, and which are almost as large as lobsters; all these things will at once be taken to the second Bertaudière, with a bottle of that Volnay which you think so excellent. After you have seen it you will believe it, I hope."

"Yes, my dear governor, certainly; but all this time you are thinking only of your very happy fifteen-francs prisoner, and you forget poor Seldou, my protégé."

"Well, out of consideration for you it shall be a gala day for him; he shall have some biscuits and preserves with this small bottle of port."

"You are a good-hearted fellow; I have said so already, and I repeat it, my dear Baisemeaux."

"Well, let us set off, then," said the governor, a little bewildered, partly from the wine he had drunk, and partly from Aramis' praises.

"Do not forget that I only go to oblige you," said the prelate.

"Very well; but you will thank me when you get there."

"Let us go, then."

"Wait until I have summoned the jailer," said Baisemeaux, as he struck the bell twice; at which summons a