How, sometimes, the Unhappy mistake Chance for Providence.
"Well, madame," said De Winter, when the queen had dismissed her attendants.
"Well, my lord, what I foresaw has come to pass."
"What? does the cardinal refuse to receive the king? France refuse hospitality to an unfortunate prince? Ay, but it is for the first time, madame!"
"I did not say France, my lord; I said the cardinal, and the cardinal is not even a Frenchman."
"But did you see the queen?"
"It is useless," replied Henrietta, "the queen will not say yes when the cardinal says no. Are you not aware that this Italian directs everything, both indoors and out? And moreover, I should not be surprised had we been forestalled by Cromwell. He was embarrassed whilst speaking to me and yet quite firm in his determination to refuse. Then did you not observe the agitation in the Palais Royal, the passing to and fro of busy people? Can they have received any news, my lord?"
"Not from England, madame. I made such haste that I am certain of not having been forestalled. I set out three days ago, passing miraculously through the Puritan army, and I took post horses with my servant Tony; the horses upon which we were mounted were bought in Paris. Besides, the king, I am certain, awaits your majesty's reply before risking anything."
"You will tell him, my lord," resumed the queen, despairingly, "that I can do nothing; that I have suffered as much as himself -- more than he has -- obliged as I am to eat the bread of exile and to ask hospitality from false friends who smile at my tears; and as regards his royal person, he must sacrifice it generously and die like a king.
I shall go and die by his side."
"Madame, madame," exclaimed De Winter, "your majesty abandons yourself to despair; and yet, perhaps, there still remains some hope."
"No friends left, my lord; no other friends left in the wide world but yourself! Oh, God!" exclaimed the poor queen, raising her eyes to Heaven, "have You indeed taken back all the generous hearts that once existed in the world?"
"I hope not, madame," replied De Winter, thoughtfully; "I once spoke to you of four men."
"What can be done with four?"
"Four devoted, resolute men can do much? assure yourself, madame; and those of whom I speak performed great things at one time."
"And where are these four men?"
"Ah, that is what I do not know. It is twenty years since I saw them, and yet whenever I have seen the king in danger I have thought of them."
"And these men were your friends?"
"One of them held my life in his hands and gave it to me. I know not whether he is still my friend, but since that time I have remained his."
"And these men are in France, my lord?"
"I believe so."
"Tell me their names; perhaps I may have heard them mentioned and might be able to aid you in finding them."
"One of them was called the Chevalier d'Artagnan."
"Ah, my lord, if I mistake not, the Chevalier d'Artagnan is lieutenant of royal guards; but take care, for I fear that this man is entirely devoted to the cardinal."
"That would be a misfortune," said De Winter, "and I shall begin to think that we are really doomed."
"But the others," said the queen, who clung to this last hope as a shipwrecked man clings to the hull of his vessel.
"The others, my lord!"
"The second -- I heard his name by chance; for before fighting us, these four gentlemen told us their names; the second was called the Comte de la Fere. As for the two others, I had so much the habit of calling them by nicknames that I have forgotten their real ones."
"Oh, mon Dieu, it is a matter of the greatest urgency to find them out," said the queen, "since you think these worthy gentlemen might be so useful to the king."
"Oh, yes," said De Winter, "for they are the same men.
Listen, madame, and recall your remembrances. Have you never heard that Queen Anne of Austria was once saved from the greatest danger ever incurred by a queen?"
"Yes, at the time of her relations with Monsieur de Buckingham; it had to do in some way with certain studs and diamonds."
"Well, it was that affair, madame; these men are the ones who saved her; and I smile with pity when I reflect that if the names of those gentlemen are unknown to you it is because the queen has forgotten them, who ought to have made them the first noblemen of the realm."
"Well, then, my lord, they must be found; but what can four men, or rather three men do -- for I tell you, you must not count on Monsieur d'Artagnan."
"It will be one valiant sword the less, but there will remain still three, without reckoning my own; now four devoted men around the king to protect him from his enemies, to be at his side in battle, to aid him with counsel, to escort him in flight, are sufficient, not to make the king a conqueror, but to save him if conquered; and whatever Mazarin may say, once on the shores of France your royal husband may find as many retreats and asylums as the seabird finds in a storm."
"Seek, then, my lord, seek these gentlemen; and if they will consent to go with you to England, I will give to each a duchy the day that we reascend the throne, besides as much gold as would pave Whitehall. Seek them, my lord, and find them, I conjure you."
"I will search for them, madame," said De Winter "and doubtless I shall find them; but time fails me. Has your majesty forgotten that the king expects your reply and awaits it in agony?"
"Then indeed we are lost!" cried the queen, in the fullness of a broken heart.
At this moment the door opened and the young Henrietta appeared; then the queen, with that wonderful strength which is the privilege of parents, repressed her tears and motioned to De Winter to change the subject.
But that act of self-control, effective as it was, did not escape the eyes of the young princess. She stopped on the threshold, breathed a sigh, and addressing the queen:
"Why, then, do you always weep, mother, when I am away from you?" she said.
The queen smiled, but instead of answering:
"See, De Winter," she said, "I have at least gained one thing in being only half a queen; and that is that my children call me `mother' instead of `madame.'"