The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ten Years Later, by Alexandre Dumas, Pere

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Title: Ten Years Later
Chapters 1-104

Author: Alexandre Dumas, Pere

Posting Date: August 15, 2008 [EBook #1258]
Release Date: March, 1998

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN YEARS LATER ***

Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer

TEN YEARS LATER

by Alexandre Dumas

THE VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE.

Volume I.

CHAPTER 1. The Letter.

Towards the middle of the month of May, in the year 1660, at nine
o'clock in the morning, when the sun, already high in the heavens, was
fast absorbing the dew from the ramparts of the castle of Blois a little
cavalcade, composed of three men and two pages, re-entered the city by
the bridge, without producing any other effect upon the passengers of
the quay beyond a first movement of the hand to the head, as a salute,
and a second movement of the tongue to express, in the purest French
then spoken in France: "There is Monsieur returning from hunting." And
that was all.

Whilst, however, the horses were climbing the steep acclivity which
leads from the river to the castle, several shop-boys approached the
last horse, from whose saddle-bow a number of birds were suspended by
the beak.

On seeing this, the inquisitive youths manifested with rustic freedom
their contempt for such paltry sport, and, after a dissertation among
themselves upon the disadvantages of hawking, they returned to their
occupations; one only of the curious party, a stout, stubby, cheerful
lad, having demanded how it was that Monsieur, who, from his great
revenues, had it in his power to amuse himself so much better, could be
satisfied with such mean diversions.

"Do you not know," one of the standers-by replied, "that Monsieur's
principal amusement is to weary himself?"

The light-hearted boy shrugged his shoulders with a gesture which said
as clear as day: "In that case I would rather be plain Jack than a
prince." And all resumed their labors.

In the meanwhile, Monsieur continued his route with an air at once so
melancholy and so majestic, that he certainly would have attracted