Page:The Vicomte de Bragelonne 2.djvu/500

Rh 488 THE VICOMTE DE BKAOELOXNE. "D'Artagnan may have everything except my English horse?, i shall be at the Louvre in twenty-five minutes.*' And without losing a second, Fouquet gave orders for his departure. Aramis had only time to say to him, "Return as quickly as you go; for I shall await you impatiently.'' Five minutes after, the surintendant was Hying along the road to Paris. During this time Aramis desired to be shown the chamber in which Porthos was sleeping. At the door of Fouquet's cabinet he was folded in the arms of Pel- lisson, who had just heard of his arrival, and had left his office to see him. Aramis received, with that friendly dig- nity which he knew so well how to assume, those caresses as respectful as earnest; but, all at once stopping on the knding-place, ''What is that I hear up yonder?'"' "There was, in fact, a hoarse, growling kind of noise, like the roar of a hungry tiger or an impatient lion. "Oh, that is nothing," said Pellisson, smiling. "Well; but " "It is Monsieur du Valon snoring." "Ah! true," said Aramis; "I had forgotten. No one but he is capable of making such a noise. Allow me, Pellisson, to inquire if he wants anything." -"And you will permit me to accompany you?" "Oh, certainly;" and both entered the chamber. Porthos was stretched upon the bed; his face was violet rather than red; his eyes were swelled; his mouth was w 7 ide open. The roaring which escaped from the deep cavities of his chest made the glass of the windows vibrate. To those developed and clearly defined muscles starting from his face, to his hair matted with sw'eat, to the energetic heaving of his chin and shoulders, it was impossible to refuse a certain degree of admiration. Strength carried to this point is almost divinity. The Herculean legs and feet of Porthos had, by swelling, burst his leather boots; all the strength of his enormous body was converted into the rigidity of stone. Porthos moved no more than does the giant of granite which reclines upon the plains of Agrigentum. According to Pellisson's orders, his boots had been cut off, for no human power could have pulled them off. Four lackeys had tried in vain, pulling at them as they would have pulled capstans; and yet all this did not awaken him. They had taken off his boots in fragments, and his legs had fallen back upon the bed. They then cut off the rest of his clothes, carried him to a bath, in which they let him lie