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The Romances of Alexandre Dumas: The Vicomte de Bragelonne.
The Romances of Alexandre Dumas The Vicomte de Bragelonne Author:Alexandre Dumas Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XXXIV. OF THE EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES. D'artagnan lost no time; and as soon as the thing was suitable and opportune, he paid a visit to the lord- t... more »reasurer of his Majesty. He had then the satisfaction of exchanging a piece of paper covered with very ugly writing for a prodigious number of crowns, recently stamped with the image of his very gracious Majesty Charles II. D'Artagnan easily recovered his self-possession; and yet upon this occasion he could not help evincing a joy which the reader will perhaps comprehend, if he deigns to have some indulgence for a man who, since his birth, had never seen so many pieces and rouleaux of pieces placed together in an order truly agreeable to the eye. The treasurer placed all these rouleaux in bags, and closed each bag with a stamp of the arms of England, — a favor which treasurers do not accord to everybody. Then, impassive, and with all the politeness that should be shown to a man honored with the friendship of the king, he said to D'Artagnan,— "Take away your money, sir." Tour money I These words made a thousand chords vibrate in the heart of D'Artagnan, which he had never felt before. He had the bags packed in a small cart, and returned home meditating profoundly. A man who possesses three hundred thousand livres can no longer expect to wear a smooth brow; a wrinkle for every hundred thousand livres is not too much. D'Artagnan shut himself up, ate no dinner, closed his door against everybody, and with a lighted lamp and a loaded pistol on the table; watched all night, ruminating upon the means of preventing these lovely crowns, which from the coffers of the king had passed into his coffers, from passing from his coffers into the pockets of any thief whatever. The best means discovered by the Gascon was to enclose his ...« less