The Return of the Musketeers Page #4

God save the king!

To hell with Mazarin!

To hell with Mazarin! God save the king!

What appalling handwriting.

Oh.

Ah! Careful, man.

Here, let me.

Why do the working class delight in

destroying the property of their betters?

Via, via, go away, please.

[ mumbling ]

so, the English civil war

is over, eh?

And roundheads

have captured their king.

But Cromwell doesn't say

what they will do with him.

Depose him and then --

king Charles' death

is inevitable.

And France must not interfere.

General Cromwell insists.

Roundhead diplomacy. Does he think

he can cut off a crowned head,

even an English one, and royal France

will stand by doing nothing?

What will France do?

Stand by, protest it.

My ministry wouldn't last

a day if I declared war.

We shall be nosily neutral.

You may give monsieur Cromwell my word,

provided no one knows I've given it.

He's the winner,

so I must be friends with him.

But how long will you waste your talent

serving that Anglo-Saxon savage?

Your eminence knows of a more

civilized service? Infinitely.

I can always use reliable agents and

I pay better than monsieur Cromwell.

Cardinal.

Sire? This rubble at the gate.

I will not --

who is this lady?

Sire, may I present you

mademoiselle Dewinter?

An English...

Diplomatist.

English diplomacy

is beautiful.

- Your majesty.

- Rise, ma'amselle.

You look disturbed.

Pardon, sir, I had understood

that your majesty was,

forgive me,

much younger.

Who told you that?

He did, I suppose.

- Well, I shall be 11 next year.

- Only 11? Oh, your majesty's teasing me.

You see, cardinal?

I am not a child anymore.

You may go. I wish

to speak to ma'amselle.

Forgive him, ma'amselle.

He's a tiresome fellow.

A useful accountant,

but he is rather old.

[ sighing ]

Ooh, ooh!

Ahh! Aah!

Ooh! Ooh!

They're not real, you know.

What did you say to Mazarin?

That the duke of Beaufort escaped, thanks

to a dozen of his men who held us off.

Ooh-ooh-ooh!

So, he kicked us out.

No barony for Porthos,

no promotion for me.

You see before you two unemployed

gentlemen. I cannot say I'm sorry.

You two were made for better

stuff than serving Mazarin.

On my way here I saw a woman

disguised as a priest...

Kill a headsman

with his own axe.

- Young women nowadays, eh?

- She said he was her mother's murderer.

He and four other men

20 years ago.

Good god.

I didn't believe her at first.

But then she explained and...

We talked

and we... Talked.

What'd she look like?

What did she say?

Her name was Justine Dewinter.

Her mother was English.

And her looks --

she's beautiful.

Justine Dewinter.

Did she say who the

other four men were?

She said their headsman

had led her to them, but --

oh, my god.

You three?

And Aramis.

But it wasn't murder, Raoul.

I know what you think of musketeers,

but we're not assassins.

Milady Dewinter was evil.

She deserved to die.

One of us loved her,

you see.

She haunts us still...

Through her daughter,

Rochefort's bastard.

Oh, I have heard

of the child over the years.

How she grew into an

assassin like her mother.

A courier,

a spy for Oliver Cromwell.

Once she knows our names,

her mother's executioners,

what will she do?

One thing we must do,

we must...

Prepare ourselves.

[ queen ]

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

[ sighing ]

Grave news, madame,

it seems likely...

That the English will cut off

their king's head.

Don't be silly.

They can't.

Isn't he my brother-in-law?

Your son's uncle, in fact.

Cromwell intends to put him

on trial for treason.

That's impossible. Kings can't

commit treason, be put on trial.

I mean, where would it end?

It's unthinkable.

His people will never permit it.

The people of England,

madame, will permit anything,

except cruelty to horses

or a rise in the price of beer.

King Charles must be saved.

He's one of us. I'm sorry, my dear.

Only a miracle can pluck Charles

Stuart's head from beneath the axe.

Chevreuse!

Chevreuse!

[ bleating ]

[ bleating ]

Look at me.

Look at my stomach.

Now that's

a king's stomach.

I think.

Oh!

A king is always head and

shoulders above his subjects.

Where are you going?

I'll teach you to meddle with a king.

You heard her.

Quick, quick, quick.

Go, go, go, please.

Congratulations, I've never seen

his majesty so captivated.

Little monsters are just

as susceptible as big ones.

But your eminence is troubled?

My eminence is enraged.

You will tell general Cromwell

that the queen, dio mio, women,

proposes to send

a party of ruffians,

Uh-huh. French ruffians, if you

please, to rescue king Charles.

It is none of my doing.

Make that clear.

Who are they?

A pair of blunderers.

D'artagnan and Porthos.

She's sending for them today.

And a retired bully named Athos.

D'artagnan, Porthos, Athos.

I'll inform the general.

And remind him I am not to blame.

He will oblige me

by disposing of these rascals.

Have no fear.

Oliver Cromwell is a very thorough man.

[ groaning ]

[ groan ]

Both ends again.

Here, there's teeth marks in it.

Oh, my flaming knee.

Oh, my wrist.

Think that's bad,

you should've humped her mother.

You? What do you want?

Mazarin's bloodhounds

are at my heels.

I've, I've been in hiding and then

I heard you were here in Paris!

Justine, you must help me.

Why should I?

My god, girl, I'm your father.

Ah, you remembered.

Your memory wasn't so keen when

you abandoned me in England.

Your inconvenient bastard. How

often have I seen you since?

I've been rotting these

five years in the bastille.

And you can rot in it forever.

Get out.

Justine!

Justine, you can't turn me away.

I have to get out of France.

You can take me on

your passport... As a servant.

Please, Justine,

have you no pity at all?

As much as you had for me or for my mother,

whose murderers you left unpunished.

What could I do?

I was bleeding my life out...

In the church at Armentieres

when they took her.

That was 20 years ago.

Have you even tried to look for them?

For the comte De la Fer?

What do you know of him?

Only his name,

but not the other three.

Who were they?

Better you should never know.

Believe me, child,

they are fatal men.

Their names, dear father,

are your passport to England.

Or shall I call the

cardinal's bloodhounds?

Aramis, Porthos.

- D'artagnan.

- And Athos,

the comte de la fer.

[ queen ] Once I gave you a diamond

ring, monsieur D'Artagnan,

and you and these brave

gentlemen saved my honour.

Perhaps my life. Now

you go to save the life...

Of my brother-monarch and

I have no ring to give you.

Nothing indeed, except my prayers.

God bless you all.

So young, so gallant.

Godspeed you gentlemen. You will always

have the love and gratitude of your queen.

And we know what that's worth.

You can stop grovelling, boy.

She's gone.

Royalty is superb.

We are to get our throats cut rescuing

a foreign king and pay our own expenses.

Why do we do it?

Because she's a queen.

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