Page:Ten Years Later 2.djvu/160

148 TEN TEARS LATER. ' "I don't deny it." "Well, there is at once an income of fifty thousand francs; you have held the post three years, and must have received in that time one hundred and fifty thousand francs," "You forget one circumstance, dear Monsieur d'Ar- tagnan." "What is that?" "That while you received your appointment as captain from the king himself, I received mine as governor from Messrs, Tremblay and Louviere," "Quite right, and Tremblay was not a man to let you have the post for nothing," "Nor was Louviere either; the result was, that I gave seventy-five thousand francs to Tremblay as his share." "Very agreeable, that! and to Louviere?" "The same." "Money down?" "No; that vv^ould have been impossible. The king did not wish, or, rather. Monsieur Mazarin did not wish, to have the appearance of removing those two gentlemen, who had sprung from the barricades; he permitted them, there- fore, to make certain extravagant conditions for their retirement," "What are those conditions?" "Tremble! — three years' income for the good-will," "The deuce! so that the hundred and fifty thousand francs have passed into their hands?" "Precisely so." "And beyond that?" "A sum of one hundred and fifty thousand francs, or fifteen thousand pistoles, whichever you please, in three payments." "Exorbitant enough," "Yes, but that is not all," "What besides?" "In default of the fulfillment by me of any one of those conditions, those gentlemen enter upon their functions again. The king has been induced to sign that," "It is enormous, incredible!" "Such is the fact, however." "I do indeed pity you, Baisemeaux. But why, in the name of fortune, did Monsieur Mazarin grant you this pre- tended favor? It would have been far better to have refused you altogether."