List Of Contents | Contents of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, by Alexandre Dumas, Pere
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The old man, who was weeding with his hands a bed of dwarf roses and
arguerites, was indignant at seeing a horse thus traversing his sanded
and nicely-raked walks.  He even ventured a vigorous "Humph!" which made
the cavalier turn round.  Then there was a change of scene; for no sooner
had he caught sight of Raoul's face, than the old man sprang up and set
off in the direction of the house, amidst interrupted growlings, which
appeared to be paroxysms of wild delight.

When arrived at the stables, Raoul gave his horse to a little lackey, and
sprang up the _perron_ with an ardor that would have delighted the heart
of his father.

He crossed the ante-chamber, the dining-room, and the _salon_, without
meeting any one; at length, on reaching the door of M. de la Fere's
apartment, he rapped impatiently, and entered almost without waiting for
the word "Enter!" which was vouchsafed him by a voice at once sweet and
serious.  The comte was seated at a table covered with papers and books;
he was still the noble, handsome gentleman of former days, but time had
given to this nobleness and beauty a more solemn and distinct character.
A brow white and void of wrinkles, beneath his long hair, now more white
than black; an eye piercing and mild, under the lids of a young man; his
mustache, fine but slightly grizzled, waved over lips of a pure and
delicate model, as if they had never been curled by mortal passions; a
form straight and supple; an irreproachable but thin hand - this was what
remained of the illustrious gentleman whom so many illustrious mouths had
praised under the name of Athos.  He was engaged in correcting the pages
of a manuscript book, entirely filled by his own hand.

Raoul seized his father by the shoulders, by the neck, as he could, and
embraced him so tenderly and so rapidly, that the comte had neither
strength nor time to disengage himself, or to overcome his paternal
emotions.

"What! you here, Raoul - you!  Is it possible?" said he.

"Oh, monsieur, monsieur, what joy to see you once again!"

"But you don't answer me, vicomte.  Have you leave of absence, or has
some misfortune happened at Paris?

"Thank God, monsieur," replied Raoul, calming himself by degrees,
"nothing has happened but what is fortunate.  The king is going to be
married, as I had the honor of informing you in my last letter, and, on
his way to Spain, he will pass through Blois."

"To pay a visit to Monsieur?"

"Yes, monsieur le comte.  So, fearing to find him unprepared, or wishing
to be particularly polite to him, monsieur le prince sent me forward to
have the lodgings ready."

"You have seen Monsieur?" asked the comte, eagerly.

"I have had that honor."

"At the castle?"

"Yes, monsieur," replied Raoul, casting down his eyes, because, no doubt,
he had felt there was something more than curiosity in the comte's
inquiries.

"Ah, indeed, vicomte?  Accept my compliments thereupon."

Raoul bowed.

"But you have seen some one else at Blois?"

"Monsieur, I saw her royal highness, Madame."

"That's very well: but it is not Madame that I mean."

Raoul colored deeply, but made no reply.

"You do not appear to understand me, monsieur le vicomte," persisted M.
de la Fere, without accenting his words more strongly, but with a rather
severer look.

"I understand you quite plainly, monsieur," replied Raoul, "and if I
hesitate a little in my reply, you are well assured I am not seeking for
a falsehood."

"No, you cannot tell a lie; and that makes me so astonished you should be
so long in saying yes or no."

"I cannot answer you without understanding you very well; and if I have
understood you, you will take my first words in ill part.  You will
displeased, no doubt, monsieur le comte, because I have seen - "

"Mademoiselle de la Valliere - have you not?"

"It was of her you meant to speak, I know very well, monsieur," said
Raoul, with inexpressible sweetness.

"And I asked you if you have seen her."

"Monsieur, I was ignorant, when I entered the castle, that Mademoiselle
de la Valliere was there; it was only on my return, after I had performed
my mission, that chance brought us together.  I have had the honor of
paying my respects to her."

"But what do you call the chance that led you into the presence of
Mademoiselle de la Valliere?"

"Mademoiselle de Montalais, monsieur."

"And who is Mademoiselle de Montalais?"

"A young lady I did not know before, whom I had never seen.  She is maid
of honor to Madame."

"Monsieur le vicomte, I will push my interrogatory no further, and
reproach myself with having carried it so far.  I had desired you to
avoid Mademoiselle de la Valliere, and not to see her without my
permission.  Oh, I am quite sure you have told me the truth, and that you
took no measures to approach her.  Chance has done me this injury; I do
not accuse you of it.  I will be content, then, with what I formerly said
to you concerning this young lady.  I do not reproach her with anything –
God is my witness! only it is not my intention or wish that you should
frequent her place of residence.  I beg you once more, my dear Raoul,
to understand that."

It was plain the limpid eyes of Raoul were troubled at this speech.

"Now, my friend," said the comte, with his soft smile, and in his
customary tone, "let us talk of other matters.  You are returning,
perhaps, to your duty?"

"No, monsieur, I have no duty for to-day, except the pleasure of
remaining with you.  The prince kindly appointed me no other: which was
so much in accord with my wish."

"Is the king well?"

"Perfectly."

"And monsieur le prince also?"

"As usual, monsieur."

The comte forgot to inquire after Mazarin; that was an old habit.

"Well, Raoul, since you are entirely mine, I will give up my whole day to
you.  Embrace me - again, again!  You are at home, vicomte!  Ah, there is
our old Grimaud!  Come in, Grimaud: monsieur le vicomte is desirous of
embracing you likewise."

The good old man did not require to be twice told; he rushed in with open
arms, Raoul meeting him half-way.

"Now, if you please, we will go into the garden, Raoul.  I will show you
the new lodging I have had prepared for you during your leave of absence;
and whilst examining the last winter's plantations, and two saddle-horses
I have just acquired, you will give me all the news of our friends in
Paris."

The comte closed his manuscript, took the young man's arm, and went out
into the gardens with him.

Grimaud looked at Raoul with a melancholy air as the young man passed
out; observing that his head nearly touched the _traverse_ of the
doorway, stroking his white _royale_, he slowly murmured:-

"How he has grown!"


Chapter V:
In which Something will be said of Cropoli - of Cropoli and of a Great
Unknown Painter.

Whilst the Comte de la Fere with Raoul visits the new buildings he has
erected, and the new horses he has bought, with the reader's permission
we will lead him back to the city of Blois, and make him a witness of
the unaccustomed activity which pervades that city.

It was in the hotels that the surprise of the news brought by Raoul was
most sensibly felt.

In fact, the king and the court at Blois, that is to say, a hundred
horsemen, ten carriages, two hundred horses, as many lackeys as masters –
where was this crowd to be housed?  Where were to be lodged all the
gentry of the neighborhood, who would gather in two or three hours after
the news had enlarged the circle of its report, like the increasing
circumferences produced by a stone thrown into a placid lake?

Blois, as peaceful in the morning, as we have seen, as the calmest lake
in the world, at the announcement of the royal arrival, was suddenly
filled with the tumult and buzzing of a swarm of bees.

All the servants of the castle, under the inspection of the officers,
were sent into the city in quest of provisions, and ten horsemen were
dispatched to the preserves of Chambord to seek for game, to the
fisheries of Beuvron for fish, and to the gardens of Cheverny for fruits
and flowers.

Precious tapestries, and lusters with great gilt chains, were drawn from
the cupboards; an army of the poor were engaged in sweeping the courts
and washing the stone fronts, whilst their wives went in droves to the
meadows beyond the Loire, to gather green boughs and field-flowers.  The
whole city, not to be behind in this luxury of cleanliness, assumed its
best toilette with the help of brushes, brooms, and water.	The gutters of
the upper town, swollen by these continued ablutions, became rivers at
the bottom of the city, and the pavement, generally very muddy, it must
be allowed, took a clean face, and absolutely shone in the friendly rays
of the sun.

Next the music was to be provided; drawers were emptied; the shop-keepers
did a glorious trade in wax, ribbons, and sword-knots; housekeepers laid
in stores of bread, meat, and spices.  Already numbers of the citizens
whose houses were furnished as if for a siege, having nothing more to do,
donned their festive clothes, and directed their course towards the city
gate, in order to be the first to signal or see the _cortege_.  They knew
very well that the king would not arrive before night, perhaps not before
the next morning.  Yet what is expectation but a kind of folly, and what
is that folly but an excess of hope?

In the lower city, at scarcely a hundred paces from the Castle of the
States, between the mall and the castle, in a sufficiently handsome street,
then called the Rue Vieille, and which must, in fact, have been very old,
stood a venerable edifice, with pointed gables, of squat but large
dimensions, ornamented with three windows looking into the street on the
first floor, with two in the second, and with a little _oeil de boeuf_ in
the third.

On the sides of this triangle had recently been constructed a
parallelogram of considerable size, which encroached upon the street
remorselessly, according to the familiar uses of the building of that
period.  The street was narrowed by a quarter by it, but then the house
was enlarged by a half; and was not that a sufficient compensation?

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