Chapter 65

Chapter LXV:
Political Rivals.

D'Artagnan had promised M. de Baisemeaux to return in time for dessert,
and he kept his word. They had just reached the finer and more delicate
class of wines and liqueurs with which the governor's cellar had the
reputation of being most admirably stocked, when the silver spurs of the
captain resounded in the corridor, and he himself appeared at the
threshold. Athos and Aramis had played a close game; neither of the two
had been able to gain the slightest advantage over the other. They had
supped, talked a good deal about the Bastile, of the last journey to
Fontainebleau, of the intended _fete_ that M. Fouquet was about to give
at Vaux; they had generalized on every possible subject; and no one,
excepting Baisemeaux, had in the slightest degree alluded to private
matters. D'Artagnan arrived in the very midst of the conversation, still
pale and much disturbed by his interview with the king. Baisemeaux
hastened to give him a chair; D'Artagnan accepted a glass of wine, and
set it down empty. Athos and Aramis both remarked his emotion; as for
Baisemeaux, he saw nothing more than the captain of the king's
musketeers, to whom he endeavored to show every possible attention. But,
although Aramis had remarked his emotion, he had not been able to guess
the cause of it. Athos alone believed he had detected it. For him,
D'Artagnan's return, and particularly the manner in which he, usually so
impassible, seemed overcome, signified, "I have just asked the king
something which the king has refused me." Thoroughly convinced that his
conjecture was correct, Athos smiled, rose from the table, and made a
sign to D'Artagnan, as if to remind him that they had something else to
do than to sup together. D'Artagnan immediately understood him, and
replied by another sign. Aramis and Baisemeaux watched this silent
dialogue, and looked inquiringly at each other. Athos felt that he was
called upon to give an explanation of what was passing.

"The truth is, my friend," said the Comte de la Fere, with a smile, "that
you, Aramis, have been supping with a state criminal, and you, Monsieur
de Baisemeaux, with your prisoner."

Baisemeaux uttered an exclamation of surprise, and almost of delight; for
he was exceedingly proud and vain of his fortress, and for his own
individual profit, the more prisoners he had, the happier he was, and the
higher in rank the prisoners happened to be, the prouder he felt. Aramis
assumed the expression of countenance he thought the position justified,
and said, "Well, dear Athos, forgive me, but I almost suspected what has
happened. Some prank of Raoul and La Valliere, I suppose?"

"Alas!" said Baisemeaux.

"And," continued Aramis, "you, a high and powerful