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"Memoirs of Aramis, Book 7"
Chapter 265
D'Artagnan took Philippe to the Bastille so that, having presented the Marquis de Bezmo with the King's order, he could order his placement in the place where the King himself had been less than a day earlier, and where Philippe had already lived almost his entire adult life, with the exception of a few days when he occupied this cell. first Jean Ers, and then Louis XIV himself. Philip did not try to resist, realizing the futility of such a rebellion, and also realizing that in dexterity and strength he was decisively inferior to the captain of the royal musketeers, who, without hesitation, would rather kill him than allow his escape.
“You said that perhaps my fate will change,” he said sadly to d’Artagnan before seeing the carriage approaching the Bastille. “But I don’t see any reason for this.”
“Are you a prophet to see in the present the causes and signs of future events?” - asked the captain of the musketeers. - Would, say, I myself could have seen a week ago any reasons for what happened the last two days? I just said that you should not despair, because despair is the second of the worst mortal sins, while the first - murder - has already become habitual for us, soldiers of His Majesty, but we will not be held accountable for this sin, since above all we must be loyal to your King. The very one who was crowned.
“I have already realized how insignificant my rights are in comparison with the rights of the crowned person,” Philip answered with a sigh.
“If something irreparable happened to the crowned person, your rights would become undoubted in my eyes, but not in the eyes of France, which is not aware of your existence,” answered d’Artagnan. “However, take my word for it, it happens that the desire of one brave and purposeful Gascon can have a much greater impact on history than the desire of an entire people in an entire state.” I could tell you something, but out of modesty I will keep silent, and we have already arrived. Another time somewhere in the future somehow another time sometime later.
- Next time? Are you seriously? - Philip asked sarcastically. - Do you think we will meet again?
- Why not, Your Highness? - asked d'Artagnan.
“You must be joking, or do you mean a meeting in the next world?” - Philip continued the argument.
“As for what will happen to me in the next world, I’m not used to thinking about it, and I’m not in a hurry to get there, although the doors to the next world have opened for me more than once, as for every soldier of the King,” answered the captain. “But I was never in a hurry to take advantage of this opportunity, and I didn’t even try to look there with a single eye. I'm not curious, and I'm in no hurry to find out what awaits us behind the gravestone. No, Your Highness, I do not exclude at all that we will meet again in this world. I ask, however, to follow you to your temporary home.
- Temporary?! - Philip exclaimed, looking at the walls of the Bastille.
“As you have already noticed, there seem to be two lights, this one and that one,” d’Artagnan grinned. - I don’t know whether our stay in the next world will be permanent; opinions on this matter differ. But staying in this world can certainly be called temporary. You are alive, you are healthy, you are young, what else do you need? Who knows, maybe the walls of the Bastille will not last forever. But in order for you to get out of here, it will be enough to just unlock the lock. My advice to you, Your Highness, study politics, history, philosophy, ethics, it’s never superfluous. Sometimes people who considered themselves half a step from the throne left this world without ever setting foot on it, while others, who did not even dream of such an opportunity, did not have time to blink an eye before they found themselves on it. There are many examples of this in history. Take, for example, your royal grandfather. Could anyone in the time of Henry II have imagined that this distant relative of his would one day take his throne? On the other hand, your mother, Queen Anne, was supposed to give birth to an heir, and if not for her stupid games with the Duchess de Chevreuse, the pregnancy would have ended, most likely, happily, so that France would have had a completely different person as King, who would now be well over forty years old. Everything is possible in this random world under the Moon, and nothing should be too surprising. Although I still get confused when I can't understand what I think I should understand. But this worry of mine never led to anything good. So this time, perhaps, my ingenuity only worked to my detriment. I like you, Your Highness, but at the moment I cannot advise you anything except to humbly accept your fate, but not to despair.
“I thank you for your advice and I will try to use it,” said Philip.
Then he put on his mask and got out of the carriage, which had already entered the fortress courtyard of the Bastille.
- Order of the King! - D'Artagnan exclaimed, raising the paper above his head.
He was immediately allowed into the office of the Marquis de Bezmeaux, commandant of the Bastille.
“Monsieur General,” said d’Artagnan. “The King orders that the prisoner, called the Marquis of Inconnue, be returned to the same cell where he was held before his release yesterday.
Since Philip looked exactly like the King, and was wearing the same mask, and the order indicated the same mysterious “Marquis of Inconnue,” Bezmo, without asking unnecessary questions, ordered Philip to be escorted to the same cell, which, however, , was a very comfortable dwelling, but had bars on the windows and locked iron doors.
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