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"Memoirs of Aramis, Book 10"
Chapter 403
“So, Duchess, you have planned to place an impostor on the throne,” I said. “Taking advantage of the fact that you know the secret of the existence of a man who is extremely similar to His Majesty, you have planned a substitution. This is a state crime. Are you not embarrassed by the thought of what you will face for what you have undertaken?”
"The impostor sits on the throne, and behind this door is the true King of France!" replied the Duchess.
"Do you know this for sure?" I asked. "By what signs did you distinguish the true King from the false? Just by talking to him?"
"He was ready to swear on the Bible about it!" exclaimed the Duchess.
- Ready, but you haven't sworn, have you? - I objected. - And you say this in the presence of your King! Your Majesty, forgive me for my impudence. I beg you, confirm your legal right to reign on this book.
I showed the book to the Duchess. The rich leather cover was decorated with a Catholic cross, embossed in gold.
" Duchess, out of respect for the memory of my late mother the Queen, I beg you to listen to me carefully," said Philippe, laying his hand on the book. "In the sight of God, I assure you of my right to occupy the throne of the King of France. In the sight of God, I swear that Louis is my name, given to me at birth. In the sight of God, I assure you that the place I occupy is mine by right, according to all laws, human and divine.
“Are you satisfied?” I asked the Duchess.
“Have I made a mistake?” whispered the Duchess.
“Yes, Duchess, you were mistaken, and I must correct your mistake,” I replied.
The Duchess was in a very puzzled state, on the verge of shock. Suddenly her face cleared.
- Show me this book! - she demanded. - I understand! This is not the Bible! This is some Jesuit book of yours! Some kind of code of laws and rules of the Order, isn't it?
I went to the table, picked up the book and handed it to the Duchess. She almost snatched it from my hands and immediately opened it at random. Then she began to leaf through it feverishly, and finally glanced at the first page. It was the Bible.
- Duchess, you have once again taken the slippery path of adventure, - said Philippe. - But I do not blame you. You have been deceived. You will be forgiven, but you must actively participate in the matter of stopping the attempted coup d'état. Give a sign to the one who is waiting behind the door to enter these doors, after him, wait behind the door, but do not go anywhere, stay with Hubert.
“Did you understand everything?” I asked.
“I understand everything, Your Majesty,” said the Duchess, pointedly turning her face and addressing not me, but Philip.
She went out and called Louis. As soon as he entered the office, she slipped behind him and ran out.
"No matter, Hubert has been warned that he must let everyone in today and not let anyone out," I thought. "It's a good thing I ordered ten of d'Artagnan's musketeers, led by Lieutenant d'Arlencourt, to be stationed in the next room."
Louis, who expected to see Philip alone in his study, with a disfigured face, or even stabbed with a dagger, was very surprised to find him unharmed, cheerful and in my company.
“What does this mean?” he asked.
“That means, my dear brother, that you have lost again,” replied Philippe. “I have already reproached Monsieur d’Herblay for being too scrupulous, both he and Captain d’Artagnan. Imagine, they consider it unethical to keep the grandson of Henry IV in prison! Mazarin did not think so, Richelieu even less so, and Captain d’Artagnan is of the same opinion, as is our dear friend d’Herblay, that is, forgive me, the Duke d’Alameda. All this was done behind my back and in violation of my instructions! If my order had been strictly carried out, this not very pleasant meeting for you and for me would not have happened. You would be quietly and peacefully residing in the cozy cell of the fortress of Pignerol, which was intended for me, and I would have had no reason to remember you. Yes, damn it, the best officers, unfortunately, are those who have brains! And officers with brains sometimes prefer disobedience. What a pity!” There is no perfection in the world. You have seen it for yourself. Be that as it may, d'Artagnan is the ideal captain of the king's musketeers, but, as you can see, the closer a person is to the throne, the more inclined he is to conspiracies. You may have noticed this when you read the story of our mother and her friend, the Duchess de Chevreuse, who has just left this room. She, too, has already gone over to my side, have you noticed? Instead of advising you to hide, she invited you here, knowing full well that I was not alone, but with a man who would use his weapon against you without blinking an eye, if necessary. And he is an excellent weapon user, I assure you. Any. And, by the way, he also has the Duchess's stiletto, the Duchess was so kind that she gave it to him without any unnecessary resistance in this situation. Yes, brother, our subjects, as you see, sometimes deceive us, and even the highest among them, those whom we trust as ourselves. But I have already forgiven both, Captain d'Artagnan and the Duke d'Alameda. Their only fault was their excessive respect for our rank as Princes of the Blood. This is not something to be offended by, for it is the supporting structure of our monarchy! D'Alameda, if you have the chance, tell Captain d'Artagnan that I am not angry with him for placing my brother in a monastery instead of Pignerol. After all, he mistakenly believed that those black stripes on his face would never go away. But look how it turned out - over time they completely disappeared!
“You are going to do violence to me again,” Louis said calmly. “I am not surprised. I have failed to regain what is rightfully mine, but I will not renounce my rights. Wherever you hide me, I will live with the thought of escape, and the Lord will hear me. One day I will come here with my faithful people and throw you out of here.”
- As you say, brother, - answered Philip. - I do not object. Every person has the right not to give up and not to lose hope. Only this has supported me all my life, except for the last few months. You will simply return in the state I have determined for you.
"Why do you think you have the right to decide my fate?" asked Louis. "I am your rightful King, and you are only an impostor. You are going against the laws of men and God!"
“If God has given me luck, then it was His decision,” Philippe replied. “However, I am willing to tempt fate once more. Look at this table. Do you see these two books? They have exactly the same covers. The difference is in the details. I have already learned to distinguish one from the other by small, almost indistinguishable signs. One of these books is the Bible, the other is a book that the Duke of Alameda, when he was still Bishop of Vannes, ordered to be placed in exactly the same binding so that he could take it with him on long journeys; it helped him while away the time on the road. You see, he did not want onlookers to know his literary preferences from the cover of this book. A week ago, the Duke gave me both of these books, and I find the second book more interesting, although, of course, less holy, if I may apply such an epithet to it. A few minutes ago, both of these books became historical. On one of them I laid my hand, and the Duchess of Chevreuse turned the other very carefully. So, I propose a wager. If you guess which of the two books is the Bible, you will occupy the throne of France, and I will retire to Pignerol. But if you guess wrong, then I beg you to admit that God is on my side. I only ask you not to harbor anger in your heart against those who have disposed of our destinies as they have disposed of them. You may hate me, it makes no difference to me, since I know that my only guilt before anyone is that I had the impudence to appear in this world, despite the fact that not a single person on this sinful earth needed me, and even wanted me, including my father, my good mother, my good brother, at that moment as foolish as I myself was. So, wager! Point to the Bible from these two books, and if your choice is correct, I will acknowledge your victory!
Louis looked closely at the two books lying on the table in front of him. Both were bound in expensive leather. The cover had a Catholic cross stamped in gold. The books were the same thickness, and even in terms of how well they had been read, they did not differ from each other.
"The Bible is in his right hand," thought Philip. "But he could have put it on his left on purpose! Lord, give me a sign!"
Louis probably expected a butterfly to fly in through the window and land on the Bible, or for the wind to blow the cover off, or perhaps for heavenly fire to burn the wicked book that dared to resemble the Bible with its binding. But nothing happened.
“This one!” said Louis at last, and he placed his hand on one of the books and pulled it towards him.
“You are mistaken, my brother,” Philip replied. “The Bible is the one that remains with me. Look!”
Philip opened the book and Louis was convinced that the book was nothing other than the Bible.
“What do I have then?” he asked.
- A very interesting book, my brother, - answered Philippe. - The Duke of Alameda gave it to me, and I give it to you. It will brighten your loneliness in Pignerol. Time flies while reading this book, believe me! You will be grateful to me for this gift.
Louis opened the book to the first page and read with surprise: “Memoirs of Messire Pierre de Bourdeille, Lord of Brantôme, including the lives of famous men and great foreign commanders, a complete biography of the gallant ladies of the time of Queen Margaret of Navarre, the amorous adventures of Mademoiselle de Sommrange, as well as Mademoiselle Mustelle and her friends.”
"You see that Fate is on my side," Philip continued. "Resign yourself. Put on this mask, the Musketeers must not see your face."
Since the real iron mask was at that time in Pignerol, Philippe offered Louis only a gray cloth mask, but it was quite thick and multi-layered, so that the facial features underneath were impossible to recognize.
I took the stiletto I had taken from the Duchess de Chevreuse from my belt and tested its point with my finger. I had not intended to threaten Louis, but in some cases a kind word and a show of arms are more persuasive than a kind word alone. Louis noticed my gesture and meekly put on his mask. Philippe rang the bell. Lieutenant d'Arlencourt and ten of his musketeers entered the door.
"Take this prisoner to Pignerol immediately," said Philippe. "In a carriage with closed windows. The order for his arrest is with the Duke of Alameda, who will travel with him in the carriage. No conversation with the prisoner on the way. And remember, Lieutenant, this man must be taken to Pignerol and nowhere else."
With these words he looked at me attentively. I nodded.
“Go, the Duke will catch up with you in ten minutes,” said Philip.
The arrested man was taken out, and Philip and I were left alone again.
"Everything happened exactly as you predicted, Duke!" said Philip. "How did you manage to foresee all this in advance?"
“I didn’t foresee everything, some things were simply told to me by my people,” I replied. “You can be sure that I will take him to Pignerol, and not to some other monastery.”
- You know, Duke, although I laid my hand not on the Bible, but on Brantôme's memoirs, I was overcome by timidity, and I did not dare to take a false oath. Everything I said was the pure truth!
- As if? - I asked incredulously. - It didn't seem that way to me!
“I remember very well what I said,” Philippe replied. “I said, ‘In the sight of God, I assure you of my right to occupy the throne of the King of France.’ Have I not a right, as legitimate as my brother’s, to that throne? Our birthrights are absolutely identical! Then I said, ‘In the sight of God, I swear that Louis is my name, the name given to me at birth.’ I was called Louis-Philippe. So Louis, Louis, is my first name. I said, ‘In the sight of God, I assure you that the place I occupy is mine by right, by all laws, human and divine.’ I truly believe so.”
“I agree with you completely on all points,” I said. “I only forgot that you are also called Louis!” Apparently the Duchess de Chevreuse did not take this into account either. It is good that you did not say that you are Louis XIV, for if you took the throne after him, you should have been called Louis XV.
“But I took the throne not after him, but in his place,” Philippe objected. “According to human laws, twin brothers are like one in two persons! So I am still the same Louis XIV.”
“Amen,” I said and crossed Philip.
That is, Louis-Philippe, because that was his full name!
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