Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 190 — page 41: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— - — —- A itt ——— a oe Nee eeE—EeEEEee — —--—- een polish from. Mousqueton's brush, he proceeded to the mie aux Ours, . His heart beat, but it was not, like that of d’Artagnan- with a youthful and era sentiment. No; a more material influence conducted him: he was at last about to cross = mysterious threshold, to ascend that un- known staircase, up which the old crowns of Master Coquenard had mounted one by one. He was really about to see a certain strong-box, of which he had so often beheld the image in.his dream—a strong-box, long and deep in form; padlocked, barred, and fastened a for simplicity, and laughed at it beneath his thick mous- tache. Madame Coquenard, who knew that simplicity inan attorney would be arare variety of the species, smiled a little, and blushed a good feat. Master Coquenard had, since Porthos’s arrival, cast many a glance of uneasiness at a large press, placed op- posite his own oaken escrutoire. Portlios comprehend- ed that this press, although it did not respond in form to that which he had seén in his dreams, must be the bless- ed strong-box, and he congratulated himself on the fact | that the reality was at least six feet taller than the to the floer—a strong-box of which he had so often | dream. heard, and which the attorney's hands were now about to open before his admiring eyes. Master Coquenard did not carry his genealogical in- vestigations any further; but, transferring an uneasy And then he—the wanderer over the face of the earth | glance from the press to Porthos, he contented himself —the man without fortune, or family—the soldier, who | with saying— frequented wine-shops, inns, and taverns, and posadas —the glutton, generally obliged to be contented with chance mouthfuls:—he we about to taste a family meal, to en joy a comfortable home. To goin his capacity of cousin, and sit daily at a good table—to smooth the yellow wrinkled brow of the old attorney—to pluck the young clerks a little, by teaching | them the greatest niceties of basset, hazard, and lans- uenet, and by winning of them, by way of recompense or the lesson he should give them in an hour, all that they had saved within a month;—all this accorded well with the singular manners of the times, and prodigiously | q delighted Porthos, And yet the musketeer remembered now and then the many bad reports which were current concerning at- torneys; their thrifts, their parings, and their fast-days: but as, after all,with the exception of some fits of econ- omy, which Porthos had always found very unseason- able, the attorney's wife had been very liberal—tiat is, for an attorney's wife, be it understood—he still hoped to meet with an establishment maintained upon a cred- itable scale, At the door, however, he began to feel some doubt. Tts appearance was not inviting—there was a dark and filthy pa , and a badly lighted staircase, to which a orapteh light penetrated, through a grating from a neighboring court-yard. On the first floor, he found a low door, studded with enormous nails like tne princi- pal gate of the prison of the Grand Chatelet. Porthos knocked with his knuckles; and atall clerk, le, and buried beneath a forest of hair, opened the oor, and bowed to him with the manner of a man who is compelled to respect in another, the size which de- notes strength, station, sed ths vermilion tint which denotes a habit of ving well. . There was another clerk, rather shorter, behind the first; another clerk, rather taller, behind the second; ' | t | | } j | ’ | we do not treat him well; bu ** Your cousin will favor us with his company at din- ner before he departs for the campaign, will he not, Madame Coquenard?” This time Porthos received the blow full in the stom- ' ' } ach, and felt it too; nor did Madame Coquenard appear | entirely insensible to it, for she added— — with water; and, by repeating this process, they had come, by the end of the feast, to swallow a beverage which had been transmuted from the color of the ruby to that of a burnt topaz. Porthos slowly masticated his fowl's wing; he also drank half a glass of this cherished wine, which he re- cognized as Montreuil; whilst Master Coquenard sighed as he saw him swallow the wine pure. “Will you eat any of these beans, cousin Porthos?” _ inquired Madame Coquenard, in a tone which said—** take my word for it, you had better not. : plainly : ‘Thank you, cousin; I am no longer hungry,” re- plied Porthos, There was an awful panse. Porthos did not know how to demean himself, for the attorney kept repeating. ‘*“Ah, Madame Coquenard, I compliment you highly; your dinner was a poritive feast!" Porthos oe that they were quizzing him, and began tocurl his moustache and knit his brow; but a l.ok from Madame Coquenard recommended forbear- - auce, At this moment, on a glance from the attorney, the ‘*My cousin will not repeat his visit, if he finds that | clerks slowly arose from the table, folded their napkins too short atime to passin Paris, and consequently to see us, for us not to beg of him almost all the moments ing,”’ said the attorney, with that he can devote to us before his departure.” **Oh my legs—my poor dear legs!’’ muttered M. Co- uenard, with an attempt to smile. This assi-tance, which had reached Porthos at the mo- facture ment when his gastronomic hopes were assailed, in- | ' on the other hand, he has | more slowly still, and then bowed and departed. **Go, young men; go, and aid digestion by work- great avity, he clerks being gone, Madame Coquenard arose, and drew from a cupboard a morsel of cheese, some confec- tion of with almonds and honey. M. Coquenard frowned, because he saw this more spired the musketeer with exceeding gratitude towards | ample provision. his attorney's wife. The hour of dinner shortly sounded. They enteredthe | easily in his chair. east! decidedly a feast!’’ cried he, moving un- “* Kpule Epdarum’—Lacullus alae dining-room, which was a large dark room, situated op- | dines with Lucullus.”’ Porthos looked at the bottle, which was near him, and | The clerks, who, as it seemed, had snuffed up some | hoped that, with wine, bread, and cheese, he might yet | perfumes unusual in that house, came with military ex- | makea dinner: but the wine was soon gone, the bottle posite the kitchen. actness, and held their stools in their hands, in perfect readiness for sitting down. They might be seen moving | Da their jaws beforehand with fearful dispositions. ** Lord bless us!’ thought Porthos, casting a look at these three famished beings—for the stump-in-the-gut- ter Was not, as we may suppose, admitted to the honors of the master’s table—*‘ Lord bless us! In my cousin's place I would not keep such gormandizers. take them for shipwrecked people, who had eaten noth- le ing for six weeks."’ . Coquenard entered, pushed forward in his easy the military costume which denotes | chair my madame, when Porthos, in his turn, assisted in rulling her husband to the table. Scarcely had he entered, before he began to move his nose and jaws after the fashion of the clerks. “Oh, oh!’ said he; “there is soup which is quite al- and a little stump-in-the-gutter, of twelve years old, be- | luring.” hind the third. ‘*What the plague @o they smell so extraorinary in In all, there were three clerks and a half, which, con- | this soup?” thought Porthos, on beholding a dish of sidering the period, announced a highly prosperous | plentiful, but pale and perfectly meagre broth, on the top business. Although the soldier was not to arrive till one o'clock, yet the rney's wife had been onthe look-out since noon, and reckoned on the heart, and, perhaps, on the stomach, of her adorer. making him come a little before the appointed time. Madame Coquenard, approaching by the door of the apartment, met her guest almost at the moment that he arrived by the staircase door, and the appearance of the worthy dame relieved Porthos from a great embarrass- ment: for the clerks were looking at him with envious not well knowing what to say to this eyes; and he descending gamut, had remained entirely ascending and ute, ‘It is my cousin!’’ exclaimed the attorney's wife. *‘Come in, then; come in M. Porthos.” The name of Porthos was not. without its effect upon the clerks, who began to laugh; but Porthos turned, and all their countenances at once resumed their gravity. They reached the sanctum ofthe aorer after having passed through an antechamber in which the clerks | you have paid were, and an office in which they ought to have been. This last was a dark papers, On leaving the oftice, they passed the kitchen on the right hand, and entered the drawing-room. i ' | | | of which afew straggling crusts floated, like the islands in an archipelago. Madame Coquenard smiled; and, on a sign from her, ay all eagerly seated themselves. . Coquenard was served first, and Porthos next. Madame Coquenard then filled her own plate, and dis- Sener the crusts, without soup, to the three impatient clerks. Atthis moment the door of the dining-room opened with a creak, and between the gaping panels, Porthos could perceive the poor little clerk, who, unable to par- ticipate in the feast itself, was eating his dry bread, be- twixt the odor of the kitchen and the dining-room, After the soup, the servant girl brought in a boiled fowl—a profusion which expanded the eyelids of the revellers until they seemed almost about to melt en- tire] i, away. ‘It is very perceptible that you love er family, Madame Coquenard,”’ said the attorney, with a grin that was almost tragic: ‘this is indeed a compliment which pone cousin.” was awfully thin, and covered with that The r fow room, well furnished with dusty | bristled skin, which the bones can never pierce in spite of their efforts; it must have been patiently sought for before it was detected on the perch to which it ha All these rooms, overlooking one another, did not pro- | withdrawn to die of oldage. duce in Porthos very pleasant ideas. Every word could be heard afar off, through all these open doors; and then, in passing, he had cast a quick investigating rlance into the kitchen, and he confessed to himself, to | ‘** Faith!”’ thought Porthos, *‘ this is but a melancholy prospect; I respect old Age; but I do not much relish it, either boiled or roasted.’ He looked around to see if his own opinion was the | the disgrace of his hostess, and his own great regret, | general one; but, on the contrary, he saw nothing but that he had not discovered that fire, that animation, | glaring eyes, devouring by anticipation this venerable that activity, which, on the nek henge of an abundant | bird, which he so much despised. meal, generally reigus throughout that sanctuary of gluttony. The Attorney had undoubtedly been informed of this _ anticipated visit; for he expressed no surprise at the sight of Porthos, who advanced towards him in an easy manner, and saluted him politely. ‘We are cousins, it seems, M, Porthos?’ said the at- torney, raising himself, by means of his arms, from his cane-w ork easy-chair. The old man, enveloped in a large black doublet, in which his weakly frame was lost, was yellow and withered; his ; appeared with grinning mouth, to be the only part of his countenance in which liferemained. Unfortunately the legs had begun to refuse their services to all this bony machine; and for the last five or s1x months, dur- ing which this weakness had been felt, the worthy at- torney had almost become a Slave to his wife. The cousin was received with resignat:on—nothing more. With good legs, Master Coquenard would have declined all relationship with M. Porthos. “Yes, sir, we are cousins,’’ replied Porthos, without being at all disconcerted; for, in fact, he had never cal- culated on being received by the husband with en- usiasm. a Through the women, I believe” ‘aaliciously. Porthos ‘aid not undertand the sneer, but mistook it said the attorney gray eyes glittered like carbuncles, and | is | | | ' ' / a i : Madame Coquenard drew the dish towards her, adroitly detached the two great black paws, which she placed on her husband's plate; cut off the neck, which, together with the head, she laid aside for herself ; took off a wing for Porthos; and then returned the animal, | otherwise untouched, to the servant who had broughtit in; so that it had completely disappeared before the musketeer had found time to note the changes which disappointment had wrought upon the various visages, according to the respective characters and dispositions of those who experienced it. : After the hen, a dish of beans made its appearance— an enormous dish, in the midst of which sundry mutton- bones, which might, at first sight, have been supposed to be accompanied by some meat, displayed themselves, But the clerks were not the dupes of this deception, and their melancholy looks now settled into resigna- tion. Madame Coquenard, with the moderation of a thrifty house-wife, distrited these viands amongst the young men, The time for wine was come. M. Coqnenard poured, ne would | mated.” a | | : being emptied, and neither Master nor seemed to observe it. ‘* Very well,’’ said Porthos to himself, “ here I am. out-generalled.’’ He passed his tongue over a small spoonful of the confection, and stuck his teeth together in Madame Coquenard's glutinous cake, **“And now,” thought he, ‘the sacrifice is consum- adame Coque- After the delights of such a repast, it was necessary or Master Coquenard to take his siesta. Porthos hoped that the affair would be managed in the very mn where he sat; but the attorney would hear of no such thing: it was necessary to conduct him to his o room, and he would not be easy till he was before his deposited his fvet. he lady led Porthos into an adjoining room. ‘**You may come and dine here three times a-week,”’ said Madame Coquenard. “Thank you,” said Porthos, “but I do not wish to abuse it good thing. Besides, I must think of my equip- ment.’ j ‘That's true,’ said the lady, with a groan. “Jt is those unhappy equipments—isit not?” ‘* Alas, yes!"’ said Porthos, ‘that’s it.” “But of what d-es the equipment of your regiment consist, M. Porthos?” “Oh, of a great many things,’ said Porthos: ‘‘ the musketeers, as you know, are chosen troops, and they — many things unnecessary for the guards or wiss.”’ ‘** But yet you might give me some particulars of them."’ ‘Why they may amount to about—” commenced Porthos, who preferred the sum total to the detail. The attorney's wife listened in fearful expectation. — **To how much?” saidshe. “I hope it will not ex. ceed * She stopped, for words failed her. : ‘*Oh, no,” said Porthos, “‘ it will not exceed two thon- sand five hundred francs. I believe, indeed, that, b being economical, I could manage with two thousand." ‘*Good God! two thousand francs!"’ exclaimed she. “Why itis ee a fortune, and my husband will never be persuaded to lend such a anm."’ jiatg orthos made a most significant crimace, which ma- dame well understood. “I asked the particulars,” said she, ‘‘ becaase, as 1 have many relations and connexions in trade, I am sure to be able to get the things a hundred per cent. cheaper than you wou!'d pay yourself.” ‘ ‘“* Ah," said Porthos, ‘‘is that what yon meant ?"’ ‘* Yes, dear M. Porthos. And so you will want first—” **A horse.” ‘* Yes, a horse. rou.”’ ‘“‘Ah!"’ said Porthos, brightening up; ‘‘ then that is arranged as regards my own horse; but I shall another for my servant and my portmanteau, As to arms, pe need not trouble yourself: I have got them.”’ “A horse for your servant?’ resumed the attorney's wife, hesitating; ‘but that is really being very grand, , Well, I have got exactly the thing for my friend.’ ; ‘‘Eh, madame!"’ said Porthos, haughtily, “‘do you happen to take me for a beggar ?"’ “Oh, no! I uaiy mean to say, that a handsome mule often looks as well as a horse; and that it seems to me, by procuring a handsome mule for Mousqueton—" ‘Well, as to ahandsome mule, said Porthos, “‘ you are right: I have seen many great Spanish noblemen, all whose followers were mounted upon mules. But then, you understand, Madame Coquenard, it must be amuke ~ <* with plumes and bells.” ** Be quite easy on that score,”’ said the lady. ‘There only remains the portmanteau, then,”’ added Porthos. ‘‘Oh,do not let that disturb you,” replied Madame from a stone bottle of very slender proportions, the | Coquenard: ‘*my husband has five or six portmanteaus, third of a glass for each of the clerks, about an equal | and you shall choose the best, there is one in Sy paps a himself, and then passed the bottle to the | which he used to side of Porthos and Madame. The young men filled up their glasses with water; | when they had drank 4 | cular, ae on his journeys, and which is large enovgh to hold half the world.” ‘But, is it empty, this portmantean’’’ demanded half, they again filled them up ' Porthos. iGOMIGEDOO ss and a cake which she had herself manu- press, on the edges of which, as a greater precaution, he | om ’ g-R 1 ) . ec / é,.* gir ‘ ~ ye Z¢ ae ; ae