"Alexandre Dumas. Twenty Years After." - читать интересную книгу автора

"Monsieur d'Artagnan? I have had no occasion to notice him
particularly; he's an old acquaintance. He's a Gascon. De Treville knows
him and esteems him very highly, and De Treville, as you know, is one of
the queen's greatest friends. As a soldier the man ranks well; he did his
whole duty and even more, at the siege of Rochelle-as at Suze and
Perpignan."
"But you know, Guitant, we poor ministers often want men with other
qualities besides courage; we want men of talent. Pray, was not Monsieur
d'Artagnan, in the time of the cardinal, mixed up in some intrigue from
which he came out, according to report, quite cleverly?"
"My lord, as to the report you allude to"-Guitant perceived that the
cardinal wished to make him speak out-"I know nothing but what the public
knows. I never meddle in intrigues, and if I occasionally become a
confidant of the intrigues of others I am sure your eminence will approve
of my keeping them secret."
Mazarin shook his head.
"Ah!" he said; "some ministers are fortunate and find out all that
they wish to know."
"My lord," replied Guitant, "such ministers do not weigh men in the
same balance; they get their information on war from warriors; on
intrigues, from intriguers. Consult some politician of the period of which
you speak, and if you pay well for it you will certainly get to know all
you want."
"Eh, pardieu!" said Mazarin, with a grimace which he always made when
spoken to about money. "They will be paid, if there is no way of getting
out of it."
"Does my lord seriously wish me to name any one who was mixed up in
the cabals of that day?"
"By Bacchus!" rejoined Mazarin, impatiently, "it's about an hour since
I asked you for that very thing, wooden-head that you are."
"There is one man for whom I can answer, if he will speak out."
"That's my concern; I will make him speak."
"Ah, my lord, 'tis not easy to make people say what they don't wish to
let out."
"Pooh! with patience one must succeed. Well, this man. Who is he?"
"The Comte de Rochefort."
"The Comte de Rochefort!"
"Unfortunately he has disappeared these four or five years and I don't
know where he is."
"I know, Guitant," said Mazarin.
"Well, then, how is it that your eminence complained just now of want
of information?"
"You think," resumed Mazarin, "that Rochefort-"
"He was Cardinal Richelieu's creature, my lord. I warn you, however,
his services will cost you something. The cardinal was lavish to his
underlings."
"Yes, yes, Guitant," said Mazarin; "Richelieu was a great man, a very
great man, but he had that defect. Thanks, Guitant; I shall benefit by your
advice this very evening."
Here they separated and bidding adieu to Guitant in the court of the