"It is a name of ill omen to the princes of the house of France."

"And so the duke is madly in love with Madame, so the rumor runs, and
will have no one approach her but himself."

De Guiche colored.  "Thank you, thank you," said he to Manicamp, grasping
his hand.  Then, recovering himself, added, "Whatever you do, Manicamp,
be careful that this project of Buckingham's is not made known to any
Frenchman here; for, if so, many a sword would be unsheathed in this
country that does not fear English steel."

"But after all," said Manicamp, "I have had no satisfactory proof given
me of the love in question, and it may be no more than an idle tale."

"No, no," said De Guiche, "it must be the truth;" and despite his command
over himself, he clenched his teeth.

"Well," said Manicamp, "after all, what does it matter to you?  What does
it matter to me whether the prince is to be what the late king was?
Buckingham the father for the queen, Buckingham the son for the princess."

"Manicamp!  Manicamp!"

"It is a fact, or at least, everybody says so."

"Silence!" cried the count.

"But why, silence?" said De Wardes; "it is a highly creditable
circumstance for the French nation.  Are not you of my opinion, Monsieur
de Bragelonne?"

"To what circumstance do you allude?" inquired De Bragelonne with an
abstracted air.

"That the English should render homage to the beauty of our queens and
our princesses."

"Forgive me, but I have not been paying attention to what has passed;
will you oblige me by explaining."

"There is no doubt it was necessary that Buckingham the father should
come to Paris in order that his majesty, King Louis XIII., should
perceive that his wife was one of the most beautiful women of the French
court; and it seems necessary, at the present time, that Buckingham the
son should consecrate, by the devotion of his worship, the beauty of a
princess who has French blood in her veins.  The fact of having inspired
a passion on the other side of the Channel will henceforth confer a title
to beauty on this."

"Sir," replied De Bragelonne, "I do not like to hear such matters treated
so lightly.  Gentlemen like ourselves should be careful guardians of the
honor of our queens and our princesses.  If we jest at them, what will
our servants do?"

"How am I to understand that?" said De Wardes, whose ears tingled at the
remark.

"In any way you chose, monsieur," replied De Bragelonne, coldly.

"Bragelonne, Bragelonne," murmured De Guiche.

"M. de Wardes," exclaimed Manicamp, noticing that the young man had
spurred his horse close to the side of Raoul.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," said De Guiche, "do not set such an example in
public, in the street too.  De Wardes, you are wrong."

"Wrong; in what way, may I ask you?"

"You are wrong, monsieur, because you are always speaking ill of someone
or something," replied Raoul, with undisturbed composure.

"Be indulgent, Raoul," said De Guiche, in an undertone.

"Pray do not think of fighting, gentlemen!" said Manicamp, "before you
have rested yourselves; for in that case you will not be able to do much."

"Come," said De Guiche, "forward, gentlemen!" and breaking through the
horses and attendants, he cleared the way for himself towards the center
of the square, through the crowd, followed by the whole cavalcade.  A
large gateway looking out upon a courtyard was open; Guiche entered the
courtyard, and Bragelonne, De Wardes, Manicamp, and three or four other
gentlemen, followed him.  A sort of council of war was held, and the
means to be employed for saving the dignity of the embassy were
deliberated upon.  Bragelonne was of the opinion that the right of
priority should be respected, while De Wardes suggested that the town
should be sacked.  This latter proposition appearing to Manicamp rather
premature, he proposed instead that they should first rest themselves.
This was the wisest thing to do, but, unhappily, to follow his advice,
two things were wanting; namely, a house and beds.  De Guiche reflected
for awhile, and then said aloud, "Let him who loves me, follow me!"

"The attendants also?" inquired a page who had approached the group.

"Every one," exclaimed the impetuous young man.  "Manicamp, show us the
way to the house destined for her royal highness's residence."

Without in any way divining the count's project, his friends followed
him, accompanied by a crowd of people, whose acclamations and delight
seemed a happy omen for the success of that project with which they were
yet unacquainted.  The wind was blowing strongly from the harbor, and
moaning in fitful gusts.


Chapter IX:
At Sea.

The following day was somewhat calmer, although the gale still
continued.  The sun had, however, risen through a bank of orange clouds,
tingeing with its cheerful rays the crests of the black waves.  Watch was
impatiently kept from the different look-outs.  Towards eleven o'clock
in the morning a ship, with sails full set, was signalled as in view; two
others followed at the distance of about half a knot.  They approached
like arrows shot from the bow of a skillful archer; and yet the sea ran
so high that their speed was as nothing compared to the rolling of the
billows in which the vessels were plunging first in one direction and
then in another.  The English fleet was soon recognized by the line of
the ships, and by the color of their pennants; the one which had the
princess on board and carried the admiral's flag preceded the others.

The rumor now spread that the princess was arriving.  The whole French
court ran to the harbor, while the quays and jetties were soon covered by
crowds of people.  Two hours afterwards, the other vessels had overtaken
the flagship, and the three, not venturing perhaps to enter the narrow
entrance of the harbor, cast anchor between Le Havre and La Heve.  When
the maneuver had been completed, the vessel which bore the admiral
saluted France by twelve discharges of cannon, which were returned,
discharge for discharge, from Fort Francis I.  Immediately afterwards a
hundred boats were launched; they were covered with the richest stuffs,
and destined for the conveyance of the different members of the French
nobility towards the vessels at anchor.  But when it was observed that
even inside the harbor the boats were tossed to and fro, and that beyond
the jetty the waves rose mountains high, dashing upon the shore with a
terrible uproar, it was readily believed that not one of those frail
boats would be able with safety to reach a fourth part of the distance
between the shore and the vessels at anchor.  A pilot-boat, however,
notwithstanding the wind and the sea, was getting ready to leave the
harbor, for the purpose of placing itself at the admiral's disposal.

De Guiche, who had been looking among the different boats for one
stronger than the others, which might offer a chance of reaching the
English vessels, perceiving the pilot-boat getting ready to start, said
to Raoul: "Do you not think, Raoul, that intelligent and vigorous men, as
we are, ought to be ashamed to retreat before the brute strength of wind
and waves?"

"That is precisely the very reflection I was silently making to myself,"
replied Bragelonne.

"Shall we get into that boat, then, and push off?  Will you come, De
Wardes?"

"Take care, or you will get drowned," said Manicamp.

"And for no purpose," said De Wardes, "for with the wind in your teeth,
as it will be, you will never reach the vessels."

"You refuse, then?"

"Assuredly I do; I would willingly risk and lose my life in an encounter
against men," he said, glancing at Bragelonne, "but as to fighting with
oars against waves, I have no taste for that."

"And for myself," said Manicamp, "even were I to succeed in reaching the
ships, I should not be indifferent to the loss of the only good dress
which I have left, - salt water would spoil it."

"You, then, refuse also?" exclaimed De Guiche.

"Decidedly I do; I beg you to understand that most distinctly."

"But," exclaimed De Guiche, "look, De Wardes - look, Manicamp - look
yonder, the princesses are looking at us from the poop of the admiral's
vessel."

"An additional reason, my dear fellow, why we should not make ourselves
ridiculous by being drowned while they are looking on."

"Is that your last word, Manicamp?"

"Yes."

"And then yours, De Wardes?"

"Yes."

"Then I go alone."

"Not so," said Raoul, "for I shall accompany you; I thought it was
understood I should do so."

The fact is, that Raoul, uninfluenced by devotion, measuring the risk
they run, saw how imminent the danger was, but he willingly allowed
himself to accept a peril which De Wardes had declined.

The boat was about to set off when De Guiche called to the pilot.
"Stay," said he: "we want two places in your boat;" and wrapping five or
six pistoles in paper, he threw them from the quay into the boat.

"It seems you are not afraid of salt water, young gentlemen."

"We are afraid of nothing," replied De Guiche.

"Come along, then."

The pilot approached the side of the boat, and the two young men, one
after the other, with equal vivacity, jumped into the boat.  "Courage, my
men," said De Guiche; "I have twenty pistoles left in this purse, and as
soon as we reach the admiral's vessel they shall be yours."  The sailors
bent themselves to their oars, and the boat bounded over the crest of the
waves.  The interest taken in this hazardous expedition was universal;
the whole population of Le Havre hurried towards the jetties and every
look was directed towards the little bark; at one moment it flew
suspended on the crest of the foaming waves, then suddenly glided
downwards towards the bottom of a raging abyss, where it seemed utterly
lost.  At the expiration of an hour's struggling with the waves, it
reached the spot where the admiral's vessel was anchored, and from the
side of which two boats had already been dispatched towards their aid.
Upon the quarter-deck of the flagship, sheltered by a canopy of velvet
and ermine, which was suspended by stout supports, Henriette, the queen

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