Calico Illustrated Classics: The Man in the Iron Mask
You are about to hear a secret which they think is buried with the dead While the court rejoiced and the king showed the newborn to his nobles the queen gave birth to a second son The king feared the second son might one day cause civil war Oh I understand murmured the young man This is why the second son Philippe has disappeared so completely that not a soul in France is aware of his existence except his mother Aramis continued And yourself asked the young man Do you possess about you a portrait of the king Louis XIV The bishop handed the prisoner a small portrait The prisoner seized the portrait and gazed at it And now monseigneur here is a mirror The young man eagerly compared the likeness of Louis with his own image 8
I am lost said the captive The king will never set me free I wonder which of the two is truly the king added the bishop The king Monsieur is he who is on the throne and not in prison replied Philippe Monseigneur the king will be he who after leaving his dungeon shall sit upon the throne on which his friends will place him Aramis spoke with great respect I have the honor of offering myself to your royal highness Free me from the Bastille Let me breathe the fresh air Give me spurs and a sword and then we shall begin to understand each other It is precisely my goal to give you all this and more said Aramis I wish you to be a king for the happiness of humanity And my brother If I restore you to your place on your brother’s throne he shall take yours in prison I will have the pleasure of seeing your highness 9
once again on the day my prince leaves these gloomy walls How will you give me notice of it By coming to get you If I raise myself to the very height of honor with your help to you will I offer half my power and glory said Philippe Monseigneur the nobility of your heart fills me with joy and admiration replied Aramis The prince offered his hand to the bishop who bent down upon his knee and kissed it Aramis then rapped on the door The jailer came to open it with Baisemeaux who was devoured by fear What a confession said the prison governor forcing a laugh Who would have believed he could have committed so many sins and so long in the telling 10
2 Monsieur Percerin Porthos sat on his bed with his legs dangling over the side staring at the garments scattered all over the floor D’Artagnan the captain of the King’s Musketeers watched him from the room’s threshold My friend what in the world is the matter d’Artagnan asked I have received an invitation for the festivities at Vaux said Porthos gloomily And you complain d’Artagnan asked The king has broken a hundred hearts among the nobles by refusing invitations Are you ill It’s not that It’s that I have no clothes No clothes I see at least fifty suits on the floor d’Artagnan cried 11
