06 July 2007

How to write a pardon

"By My Hand, and for the good of the State, the bearer has done what has been done."

Cardinal Richelieu, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père.

2 comments:

Maureen said...

That ain't no pardon, that's a blank check! IIRC, in the book, one of the musketeers managed to have somebody get this letter outta Richelieu so that, if they were ever caught doing something, oh, not quite on the up-and-up, they could just produce that handy little "permission slip" and get off scot-free.

Leta said...

The Cardinal gave the pardon to M'lady because she was intending to kill someone, which the Cardinal could neither be aware of nor officially condone. Athos got it from her more or less at swordpoint.