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

said Aramis, with a penetrating look, which encountered nothing but
the darkness.
"Yes, she has forgotten everything."
"You have, I believe, Duchess, attempted to get restored to favor?"
"Yes; but, most singularly, the young King inherits the antipathy
that his dear father had for me. Ah, you too will tell me that I am
indeed a woman to be hated, and that I am no longer one who can be
loved."
"Dear Duchess, pray arrive soon at the circumstance which brought
you here; for I think we can be of service to each other."
"Such has been my own thought. I came to Fontainebleau, then, with a
double object in view. In the first place, I was summoned there by the
Franciscan whom you knew. By the by, how did you know him?- for I have
told you my story, and have not yet heard yours."
"I knew him in a very natural way, Duchess. I studied theology
with him at Parma; we became fast friends, but it happened, from
time to time, that business or travels or war separated us from each
other."
"You were, of course, aware that he was the general of the Jesuits?"
"I suspected it."
"But by what extraordinary chance did you come to the hotel where
the affiliated travellers had met together?"
"Oh," said Aramis, in a calm voice, "it was the merest chance in the
world! I was going to Fontainebleau to see M. Fouquet, for the purpose
of obtaining an audience of the King. I was passing by, unknown; I saw
the poor dying monk in the road, and recognized him. You know the
rest,- he died in my arms."
"Yes, but bequeathing to you so vast a power in Heaven and on
earth that you issue sovereign orders in his name."
"He did leave me a few commissions to settle."
"And for me?"
"I have told you,- a sum of twelve thousand livres was to be paid to
you. I thought I had given you the necessary signature to enable you
to receive it. Did you not get the money?"
"Oh, yes, yes! My dear prelate, you give your orders, I am informed,
with so much mystery and such august majesty that it is generally
believed you are the successor of the beloved dead."
Aramis colored impatiently, and the duchess continued. "I have
obtained information," she said, "from the King of Spain himself;
and he dispelled my doubts on the point. Every general of the
Jesuits is nominated by him, and must be a Spaniard, according to
the statutes of the order. You are not a Spaniard, nor have you been
nominated by the King of Spain."
Aramis did not reply to this remark, except to say, "You see,
Duchess, how greatly you were mistaken, since the King of Spain told
you that."
"Yes, my dear Aramis; but there was something else of which I have
been thinking."
"What is that?"
"You know that I do a great deal of desultory thinking, and it