Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction; France -- History -- Louis XIII, 1610-1643 -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Swordsmen -- Fiction
Athos dwelt in the Rue Férou, within two steps of the Luxembourg. His
apartment consisted of two small chambers, very nicely fitted up, in a
furnished house, the hostess of which, still young and still really
handsome, cast tender glances uselessly at him. Some fragments of past
splendor appeared here and there upon the walls of this modest lodging;
a sword, for example, richly embossed, which belonged by its make to
the times of Francis I, the hilt of which alone, encrusted with
precious stones, might be worth two hundred pistoles, and which,
nevertheless, in his moments of greatest distress Athos had never
pledged or offered for sale. It had long been an object of ambition for
Porthos. Porthos would have given ten years of his life to possess this
sword.
One day, when he had an appointment with a duchess, he endeavored even
to borrow it of Athos. Athos, without saying anything, emptied his
pockets, got together all his jewels, purses, aiguillettes, and gold
chains, and offered them all to Porthos; but as to the sword, he said
it was sealed to its place and should never quit it until its master
should himself quit his lodgings. In addition to the sword, there was a
portrait representing a nobleman of the time of Henry III., dressed with
the greatest elegance, and who wore the Order of the Holy Ghost; and
this portrait had certain resemblances of lines with Athos, certain
family likenesses which indicated that this great noble, a knight of
the Order of the King, was his ancestor.
Besides these, a casket of magnificent goldwork, with the same arms as
the sword and the portrait, formed a middle ornament to the
mantelpiece, and assorted badly with the rest of the furniture. Athos
always carried the key of this coffer about him; but he one day opened
it before Porthos, and Porthos was convinced that this coffer contained
nothing but letters and papers—love letters and family papers, no
doubt.
Porthos lived in an apartment, large in size and of very sumptuous
appearance, in the Rue du Vieux-Colombier. Every time he passed with a
friend before his windows, at one of which Mousqueton was sure to be
placed in full livery, Porthos raised his head and his hand, and said,
“That is my abode!” But he was never to be found at home; he never
invited anybody to go up with him, and no one could form an idea of
what his sumptuous apartment contained in the shape of real riches.
As to Aramis, he dwelt in a little lodging composed of a boudoir, an
eating room, and a bedroom, which room, situated, as the others were,
on the ground floor, looked out upon a little fresh green garden, shady
and impenetrable to the eyes of his neighbors.
With regard to D’Artagnan, we know how he was lodged, and we have
already made acquaintance with his lackey, Master Planchet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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