It goes without saying that this impatience to return
toward Paris had for a cause the danger which Mme.
Bonacieux would run of meeting at the convent of Bethune
with Milady, her mortal enemy. Aramis therefore
had written immediately to Marie Michon, the seamstress
at Tours who had such fine acquaintances, to obtain
from the queen authority for Mme. Bonacieux to
leave the convent, and to retire either into Lorraine
or Belgium. They had not long to wait for an
answer. Eight or ten days afterward Aramis received
the following letter:
My Dear Cousin, Here is the authorization from my
sister to withdraw our little servant from the convent
of Bethune, the air of which you think is bad for
her. My sister sends you this authorization with
great pleasure, for she is very partial to the little
girl, to whom she intends to be more serviceable hereafter.
I salute you,
To this letter was added an order, conceived in these
terms:
At the Louvre, August 10, 1628 The superior of the
convent of Bethune will place in the hands of the
person who shall present this note to her the novice
who entered the convent upon my recommendation and
under my patronage.
It may be easily imagined how the relationship between
Aramis and a seamstress who called the queen her sister
amused the young men; but Aramis, after having blushed
two or three times up to the whites of his eyes at
the gross pleasantry of Porthos, begged his friends
not to revert to the subject again, declaring that
if a single word more was said to him about it, he
would never again implore his cousins to interfere
in such affairs.
There was no further question, therefore, about Marie
Michon among the four Musketeers, who besides had
what they wanted: that was, the order to withdraw
Mme. Bonacieux from the convent of the Carmelites
of Bethune. It was true that this order would
not be of great use to them while they were in camp
at La Rochelle; that is to say, at the other end of
France. Therefore d’Artagnan was going
to ask leave of absence of M. de Treville, confiding
to him candidly the importance of his departure, when
the news was transmitted to him as well as to his three
friends that the king was about to set out for Paris
with an escort of twenty Musketeers, and that they
formed part of the escort.
Their joy was great. The lackeys were sent on
before with the baggage, and they set out on the morning
of the sixteenth.
The cardinal accompanied his Majesty from Surgeres
to Mauzes; and there the king and his minister took
leave of each other with great demonstrations of friendship.
