ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE ***




Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger.





                          *TWENTY YEARS AFTER*

                                  _By_

                        *Alexandre Dumas, Pere*

                _Second Volume of the d'Artagnan Series_


                                  1910




CONTENTS


    1. The Shade of Cardinal Richelieu.
    2. A Nightly Patrol.
    3. Dead Animosities.
    4. Anne of Austria at the Age of Forty-six.
    5. The Gascon and the Italian.
    6. D'Artagnan in his Fortieth Year.
    7. Touches upon the Strange Effects a Half-pistole may have.
    8. D'Artagnan, Going to a Distance to discover Aramis.
    9. The Abbe D'Herblay.
    10. Monsieur Porthos du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds.
    11. Wealth does not necessarily produce Happiness.
    12. Porthos was Discontented with his Condition.
    13. Two Angelic Faces.
    14. The Castle of Bragelonne.
    15. Athos as a Diplomatist.
    16. The Duc de Beaufort.
    17. Duc de Beaufort amused his Leisure Hours in the Donjon of
    Vincennes.
    18. Grimaud begins his Functions.
    19. Pates made by the Successor of Father Marteau are described.
    20. One of Marie Michon's Adventures.
    21. The Abbe Scarron.
    22. Saint Denis.
    23. One of the Forty Methods of Escape of the Duc de Beaufort.
    24. The timely Arrival of D'Artagnan in Paris.
    25. An Adventure on the High Road.
    26. The Rencontre.
    27. The four old Friends prepare to meet again.
    28. The Place Royale.
    29. The Ferry across the Oise.
    30. Skirmishing.
    31. The Monk.
    32. The Absolution.
    33. Grimaud Speaks.
    34. On the Eve of Battle.
    35. A Dinner in the Old Style.
    36. A Letter from Charles the First.
    37. Cromwell's Letter.
    38. Henrietta Maria and Mazarin.
    39. How, sometimes, the Unhappy mistake Chance for Providence.
    40. Uncle and Nephew.
    41. Paternal Affection.
    42. Another Queen in Want of Help.
    43. In which it is proved that first Impulses are oftentimes the
    best.
    44. Te Deum for the Victory of Lens.
    45. The Beggar of St. Eustache.
    46. The Tower of St. Jacques de la Boucherie.
    47. The Riot.
    48. The Riot becomes a Revolution.
    49. Misfortune refreshes the Memory.
    50. The Interview.
    51. The Flight.
    52. The Carriage of Monsieur le Coadjuteur.
    53. How D'Artagnan and Porthos earned by selling Straw.
    54. In which we hear Tidings of Aramis.
    55. The Scotchman.
    56. The Avenger.
    57. Oliver Cromwell.
    58. Jesus Seigneur.
    59. Noble Natures never lose Courage, nor good Stomachs their
    Appetites.
    60. Respect to Fallen Majesty.
    61. D'Artagnan hits on a Plan.
    62. London.
    63. The Trial.
    64. Whitehall.
    65. The Workmen.
    66. Remember!
    67. The Man in the Mask.
    68. Cromwell's House.
    69. Conversational.
    70. The Skiff "Lightning."
    71. Port Wine.
    72. End of the Port Wine Mystery.
    73. Fatality.
    74. How Mousqueton had a Narrow Escape of being eaten.
    75. The Return.
    76. The Ambassadors.
    77. The three Lieutenants of the Generalissimo.
    78. The Battle of Charenton.
    79. The Road to Picardy.
    80. The Gratitude of Anne of Austria.
    81. Cardinal Mazarin as King.
    82. Precautions.
    83. Strength and Sagacity.
    84. Strength and Sagacity--Continued.
    85. The Oubliettes of Cardinal Mazarin.
    86. Conferences.
    87. Thinking that Porthos will be at last a Baron, and D'Artagnan a
    Captain.
    88. Shows how with Threat and Pen more is effected than by the
    Sword.
    89. Difficult for Kings to return to the Capitals of their Kingdoms.
    90. Conclusion.




1. The Shade of Cardinal Richelieu.


In a splendid chamber of the Palais Royal, formerly styled the Palais
Cardinal, a man was sitting in deep reverie, his head supported on his
hands, leaning over a gilt and inlaid table which was covered with
letters and papers. Behind this figure glowed a vast fireplace alive
with leaping flames; great logs of oak blazed and crackled on the
polished brass andirons whose flicker shone upon the superb habiliments
of the lonely tenant of the room, which was illumined grandly by twin
candelabra rich with wax-lights.

Any one who happened at that moment to contemplate that red simar--the
gorgeous robe of office--and the rich lace, or who gazed on that pale
brow, bent in anxious meditation, might, in the solitude of that
apartment, combined with the silence of the ante-chambers and the
measured paces of the guards upon the landing-place, have fancied that
the shade of Cardinal Richelieu lingered still in his accustomed haunt.

It was, alas! the ghost of former greatness. France enfeebled, the
authority of her sovereign contemned, her nobles returning to their
former turbulence and insolence, her enemies within her frontiers--all
proved the great Richelieu no longer in existence.

In truth, that the red simar which occupied the wonted place was his no
longer, was still more strikingly obvious from the isolation which
seemed, as we have observed, more appropriate to a phantom than a living
creature--from the corridors deserted by courtiers, and courts crowded
with guards--from that spirit of bitter ridicule, which, arising from
the streets below, penetrated through the very casements of the room,
which resounded with the murmurs of a whole city leagued against the
minister; as well as from the distant and incessant sounds of guns
firing--let off, happily, without other end or aim, except to show to
the guards, the Swiss troops and the military who surrounded the Palais
Royal, that the people were possessed of arms.

The shade of Richelieu was Mazarin. Now Mazarin was alone and
defenceless, as he well knew.

"Foreigner!" he ejaculated, "Italian! that is their mean yet mighty
byword of reproach--the watchword with which they assassinated, hanged,
and made away with Concini; and if I gave them their way they would
assassinate, hang, and make away with me in the same manner, although
they have nothing to complain of except a tax or two now and then.
Idiots! ignorant of their real enemies, they do not perceive that it is
not the Italian who speaks French badly, but those who can say fine
things to them in the purest Parisian accent, who are their real foes.

"Yes, yes," Mazarin continued, whilst his wonted smile, full of
subtlety, lent a strange expression to his pale lips; "yes, these noises
prove to me, indeed, that the destiny of favorites is precarious; but ye
shall know I am no ordinary favorite. No! The Earl of Essex, 'tis true,
wore a splendid ring, set with diamonds, given him by his royal
mistress, whilst I--I have nothing but a simple circlet of gold, with a
cipher on it and a date; but that ring has been blessed in the chapel of
the Palais Royal, * so they will never ruin me, as they long to do, and
whilst they shout, 'Down with Mazarin!' I, unknown, and unperceived by
them, incite them to cry out, 'Long live the Duke de Beaufort' one day;
another, 'Long live the Prince de Conde;' and again, 'Long live the
parliament!'" And at this word the smile on the cardinal's lips assumed
an expression of hatred, of which his mild countenance seemed incapable.
"The parliament! We shall soon see how to dispose," he continued, "of
the parliament! Both Orleans and Montargis are ours. It will be a work
of time, but those who have begun by crying out: Down with Mazarin! will
finish by shouting out, Down with all the people I have mentioned, each
in his turn.

    _* It is said that Mazarin, who, though a cardinal, had not_
    _taken such vows as to prevent it, was secretly married to_
    _Anne of Austria.--La Porte's Memoirs._

"Richelieu, whom they hated during his lifetime and whom they now praise
after his death, was even less popular than I am. Often he was driven
away, oftener still had he a dread of being sent away. The queen will
never banish me, and even were I obliged to yield to the populace she
would yield with me; if I fly, she will fly; and then we shall see how
the rebels will get on without either king or queen.

"Oh, were I not a foreigner! were I but a Frenchman! were I but of
gentle birth!"

The position of the cardinal was indeed critical, and recent events had
added to his difficulties. Discontent had long pervaded the lower ranks
of society in France. Crushed and impoverished by taxation--imposed by
Mazarin, whose avarice impelled him to grind them down to the very
dust--the people, as the Advocate-General Talon described it, had
nothing left to them except their souls; and as those could not be sold
by auction, they began to murmur. Patience had in vain been recommended
to them by reports of brilliant victories gained by France; laurels,
however, were not meat and drink, and the people had for some time been
in a state of discontent.

Had this been all, it might not, perhaps, have greatly signified; for
when the lower classes alone complained, the court of France, separated
as it was from the poor by the intervening classes of the gentry and the
bourgeoisie, seldom listened to their voice; but unluckily, Mazarin had
had the imprudence to attack the magistrates and had sold no less than
twelve appointments in the Court of Requests, at a high price; and as
the officers of that court paid very dearly for their places, and as the
addition of twelve new colleagues would necessarily lower the value of
each place, the old functionaries formed a union amongst themselves,
and, enraged, swore on the Bible not to allow of this addition to their
number, but to resist all the persecutions which might ensue; and should
any one of them chance to forfeit his post by this resistance, to
combine to indemnify him for his loss.

Now the following occurrences had taken place between the two contending
parties.

On the seventh of January between seven and eight hundred tradesmen had
assembled in Paris to discuss a new tax which was to be levied on house
property. They deputed ten of their number to wait upon the Duke of
Orleans, who, according to his custom, affected popularity. The duke
received them and they informed him that they were resolved not to pay
this tax, even if they were obliged to defend themselves against its
collectors by force of arms. They were listened to with great politeness
by the duke, who held out hopes of easier measures, promised to speak in
their behalf to the queen, and dismissed them with the ordinary
expression of royalty, "We will see what we can do."

Two days afterward these same magistrates appeared before the cardinal
and their spokesman addressed Mazarin with so much fearlessness and
determination that the minister was astounded and sent the deputation
away with the same answer as it had received from the Duke of
Orleans--that he would see what could be done; and in accordance with
that intention a council of state was assembled and the superintendent
of finance was summoned.

This man, named Emery, was the object of popular detestation, in the
first place because he was superintendent of finance, and every
superintendent of finance deserved to be hated; in the second place,
because he rather deserved the odium which he had incurred.

He was the son of a banker at Lyons named Particelli, who, after
becoming a bankrupt, chose to change his name to Emery; and Cardinal
Richelieu having discovered in him great financial aptitude, had
introduced him with a strong recommendation to Louis XIII. under his
assumed name, in order that he might be appointed to the post he
subsequently held.

"You surprise me!" exclaimed the monarch. "I am rejoiced to hear you
speak of Monsieur d'Emery as calculated for a post which requires a man
of probity. I was really afraid that you were going to force that
villain Particelli upon me."

"Sire," replied Richelieu, "rest assured that Particelli, the man to
whom your majesty refers,