"Dumas, Alexandre - The Man In The Iron Mask" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dumas Alexandre)

friends,- I will not say for a long time, but forever."
"That is quite certain, Chevalier, and my visit is a proof of it."
"Our interests, Madame the Duchess, are no longer the same that they
used to be," said Aramis, smiling without reserve in the dim light,
which could not show that his smile was less agreeable and less bright
than formerly.
"No, Chevalier, at the present day we have other interests. Every
period of life brings its own; and as we now understand each other
in conversing as perfectly as we formerly did without saying a word,
let us talk, if you like."
"I am at your orders, Duchess. Ah! I beg your pardon; how did you
obtain my address, and what was your object?"
"You ask me why? I have told you. Curiosity, in the first place. I
wished to know what you could have to do with the Franciscan with whom
I had certain business, and who died so singularly. You know that on
the occasion of our interview at Fontainebleau, in the cemetery, at
the foot of the grave so recently closed, we were both so much
overcome by our emotions that we omitted to confide anything to each
other."
"Yes, Madame."
"Well, then, I had no sooner left you than I repented, and have ever
since been most anxious to ascertain the truth. You know that Madame
de Longueville and myself are almost one, I suppose?"
"I was not aware of it," said Aramis, discreetly.
"I remembered, then," continued the duchess, "that neither of us
said anything to the other in the cemetery; that you did not speak
of the relationship in which you stood to the Franciscan, whose burial
you had superintended, and that I did not refer to the position in
which I stood to him,- all which seemed to me very unworthy of two
such old friends as ourselves; and I have sought an opportunity of
an interview with you in order to give you proof that I am devoted
to you, and that Marie Michon, now no more, has left behind her a
ghost with a good memory."
Aramis bowed over the duchess's hand, and pressed his lips upon
it. "You must have had some trouble to find me again," he said.
"Yes," answered the duchess, annoyed to find the subject taking a
turn which Aramis wished to give it; "but I knew that you were a
friend of M. Fouquet, and so I inquired in that direction."
"A friend! Oh," exclaimed the chevalier, "you exaggerate, Madame!
A poor priest who has been favored by so generous a protector, and
whose heart is full of gratitude and devotion to him, is all that I am
to M. Fouquet."
"He made you a bishop?"
"Yes, Duchess."
"So, my fine musketeer, that is your retirement!"
"In the same way that political intrigue is for yourself," thought
Aramis. "And so," he said, "you inquired after me at M. Fouquet's?"
"Easily enough. You had been to Fontainebleau with him, and had
undertaken a voyage to your diocese,- which is Belle-Isle-en-Mer, I
believe."