"Monsieur," replied D'Artagnan, sternly, "you will please to remain where you are. The soldier ought to familiarize himself with all kinds of spectacles. There are in the eye, when it is young, fibers which we must learn how to harden; and we are not truly generous and good save from the moment when the eye has become hardened, and the heart remains tender.
Besides, my little Raoul, would you leave me alone here? That would be very wrong of you. Look, there is yonder in the lower court a tree, and under the shade of that tree we shall breathe more freely than in this hot atmosphere of spilt wine."
From the spot on which they had placed themselves the two new guests of the Image-de-Notre-Dame heard the ever-increasing hubbub of the tide of people, and lost neither a cry nor a gesture of the drinkers, at tables in the _cabaret_, or disseminated in the chambers. If D'Artagnan had wished to place himself as a _vidette_ for an expedition, he could not have succeeded better. The tree under which he and Raoul were seated covered them with its already thick foliage; it was a low, thick chestnut- tree, with inclined branches, that cast their shade over a table so dilapidated the drinkers had abandoned it. We said that from this post D'Artagnan saw everything. He observed the goings and comings of the waiters; the arrival of fresh drinkers; the welcome, sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile, given to the newcomers by others already installed.
He observed all this to amuse himself, for the thirty-seven and a half pistoles were a long time coming. Raoul recalled his attention to it.
"Monsieur," said he, "you do not hurry your tenant, and the condemned will soon be here. There will then be such a press we shall not be able to get out."
"You are right," said the musketeer; "_Hola!_ oh! somebody there!
_Mordioux!_" But it was in vain he cried and knocked upon the wreck of the old table, which fell to pieces beneath his fist; nobody came.
D'Artagnan was preparing to go and seek the _cabaretier_ himself, to force him to a definite explanation, when the door of the court in which he was with Raoul, a door which communicated with the garden situated at the back, opened, and a man dressed as a cavalier, with his sword in the sheath, but not at his belt, crossed the court without closing the door; and having cast an oblique glance at D'Artagnan and his companion, directed his course towards the _cabaret_ itself, looking about in all directions with his eyes capable of piercing walls of consciences.
"Humph!" said D'Artagnan, "my tenants are communicating. That, no doubt, now, is some amateur in hanging matters." At the same moment the cries and disturbance in the upper chambers ceased. Silence, under such circumstances, surprises more than a twofold increase of noise.
D'Artagnan wished to see what was the cause of this sudden silence. He then perceived that this man, dressed as a cavalier, had just entered the principal chamber, and was haranguing the tipplers, who all listened to him with the greatest attention. D'Artagnan would perhaps have heard his speech but for the dominant noise of the popular clamors, which made a formidable accompaniment to the harangue of the orator. But it was soon finished, and all the people the _cabaret_ contained came out, one after the other, in little groups, so that there only remained six in the chamber; one of these six, the man with the sword, took the _cabaretier_ aside, engaging him in discourse more or less serious, whilst the others lit a great fire in the chimney-place - a circumstance rendered strange by the fine weather and the heat.
"It is very singular," said D'Artagnan to Raoul, "but I think I know those faces yonder."
"Don't you think you can smell the smoke here?" said Raoul.
"I rather think I can smell a conspiracy," replied D'Artagnan.
He had not finished speaking, when four of these men came down into the court, and without the appearance of any bad design, mounted guard at the door of communication, casting, at intervals, glances at D'Artagnan, which signified many things.
"_Mordioux!_" said D'Artagnan, in a low voice," there is something going on. Are you curious, Raoul?"
"According to the subject, chevalier."
"Well, I am as curious as an old woman. Come a little more in front; we shall get a better view of the place. I would lay a wager that view will be something curious."
"But you know, monsieur le chevalier, that I am not willing to become a passive and indifferent spectator of the death of the two poor devils."
"And I, then - do you think I am a savage? We will go in again, when it is time to do so. Come along!" And they made their way towards the front of the house, and placed themselves near the window which, still more strangely than the rest, remained unoccupied. The two last drinkers, instead of looking out at this window, kept up the fire. On seeing D'Artagnan and his friend enter: - "Ah! ah! a reinforcement," murmured they.
D'Artagnan jogged Raoul's elbow. "Yes, my braves, a reinforcement," said he; "_cordieu!_ there is a famous fire. Whom are you going to cook?"
The two men uttered a shout of jovial laughter, and, instead of answering, threw on more wood. D'Artagnan could not take his eyes off them.
"I suppose," said one of the fire-makers, "they sent you to tell us the time - did not they?"
"Without doubt they have," said D'Artagnan, anxious to know what was going on; "why should I be here else, if it were not for that?"
"Then place yourself at the window, if you please, and observe."
D'Artagnan smiled in his mustache, made a sign to Raoul, and placed himself at the window.