it will be more," replied D'Artagnan coolly; "but I like to lay it at the lowest!"
"The devil!" said Planchet, drawing nearer. "Why monsieur, that is magnificent! Can one put much money in it?"
"Twenty thousand livres each, Planchet."
"Why, that is all you have, monsieur. For how long a time?"
"For a month."
"And that will give us – "
"Fifty thousand livres each, profit."
"It is monstrous! It is worth while to fight for such interest as that!"
"In fact, I believe it will be necessary to fight not a little," said D'Artagnan, with the same tranquillity; "but this time there are two of us, Planchet, and I shall take all the blows to myself."
"Oh! monsieur, I will not allow that."
"Planchet, you cannot be concerned in it; you would be obliged to leave your business and your family."
"The affair is not in Paris, then?"
"No."
"Abroad?"
"In England."
"A speculative country, that is true," said Planchet, – "a country that I know well. What sort of an affair, monsieur, without too much curiosity?"
"Planchet, it is a restoration."
"Of monuments?"
"Yes, of monuments; we shall restore Whitehall."
"That is important. And in a month, you think?"
"I shall undertake it."
"That concerns you, monsieur, and when once you are engaged – "
"Yes, that concerns me. I know what I am about; nevertheless, I will freely consult with you."
"You do me great honor; but I know very little about architecture."
"Planchet, you are wrong; you are an excellent architect, quite as good as I am, for the case in question."
"Thanks, monsieur. But your old friends of the musketeers?"
"I have been, I confess, tempted to speak of the thing to those gentlemen, but they are all absent from their houses. It is vexatious, for I know none more bold or more able."
"Ah! then it appears there will be an opposition, and the enterprise will be disputed?"
"Oh, yes, Planchet, yes."
"I burn to know the details, monsieur."
"Here they are, Planchet – close all the doors tight."
"Yes, monsieur." And Planchet double-locked them.
"That is well; now draw near." Planchet obeyed.
"And open the window, because the noise of the passers-by and the carts will deafen all who might hear us." Planchet opened the window as desired, and the gust of tumult which filled the chamber with cries, wheels, barkings, and steps deafened D'Artagnan himself, as he had wished. He then swallowed a glass of white wine and began in these terms: "Planchet, I have an idea."
"Ah! monsieur, I recognize you so well in that!" replied Planchet, panting with emotion.
CHAPTER 20. Of the Society which was formed in the Rue des Lombards, at the Sign of the Pilon d'Or, to carry out M. d'Artagnan's Idea
After a moment's silence, in which D'Artagnan appeared to be collecting, not one idea, but all his ideas – "It cannot be, my dear Planchet," said he, "that you have not heard of his majesty Charles I. of England?"
"Alas! yes, monsieur, since you left France in order to assist him, and that, in spite of that assistance, he fell, and was near dragging you down in his fall."
"Exactly so; I see you have a good memory, Planchet."
"Peste! the astonishing thing would be, if I could have lost that memory, however bad it might have been. When one has heard Grimaud, who, you know, is not given to talking, relate how the head of King Charles fell, how you sailed the half of a night in a scuttled vessel, and saw floating on the water that good M. Mordaunt with a certain gold-hafted dagger buried in his breast, one is not very likely to forget such things."
"And yet there are people who forget them, Planchet."
"Yes, such as have not seen them, or have not heard Grimaud relate them."
"Well, it is all the better that you recollect all that; I shall only have to remind you of one thing, and that is that Charles I. had a son."
"Without contradicting you, monsieur, he had two," said Planchet; "for I saw the second one in Paris, M. le Duke of York, one day, as he was going to the Palais Royal, and I was told that he was not the eldest son of Charles I. As to the eldest, I have the honor of knowing him by name, but not personally."
"That is exactly the point, Planchet, we must come to: it is to this eldest son, formerly called the Prince of Wales, and who is now styled Charles II., king of England."
"A king without a kingdom, monsieur," replied Planchet, sententiously.
"Yes, Planchet, and you may add an unfortunate prince, more unfortunate than the poorest man of the people lost in the worst quarter of Paris."
Planchet made a gesture full of that sort of compassion which we grant to strangers with whom we think we can never possibly find ourselves in contact. Besides, he did not see in this politico-sentimental operation any sign of the commercial idea of M. d'Artagnan, and it was in this idea that D'Artagnan, who was, from habit, pretty well acquainted with men and things, had principally interested Planchet.
"I am coming to our business. This young Prince of Wales, a king without a kingdom, as you have so well said, Planchet, has interested me. I, D'Artagnan, have seen him begging assistance of Mazarin, who is a miser, and the aid of Louis, who is a child, and it appeared to me, who am acquainted with such things, that in the intelligent eye of the fallen king, in the nobility of his whole person, a nobility apparent above all his miseries, I could discern the stuff of a man and the heart of a king."
Planchet tacitly approved of all this; but it did not at all, in his eyes at least, throw any light upon D'Artagnan's idea. The latter continued: "This, then, is the reasoning which I made with myself. Listen attentively, Planchet, for we are coming to the conclusion."
"I am listening."
"Kings are not so thickly sown upon the earth, that people can find them whenever they want them. Now, this king without a kingdom is, in my opinion, a grain of seed which will blossom in some season or other, provided a skillful, discreet, and vigorous hand sow it duly and truly, selecting soil, sky, and time."
Planchet still approved by a nod of his head, which showed that he did not perfectly comprehend all that was said.
"'Poor little seed of a king,' said I to myself, and really I was affected, Planchet, which leads me to think I am entering upon a foolish business. And that is why I wished to consult you, my friend."
Planchet colored with pleasure
