nd which
you believe to be from Madame de Chevreuse--"

"Well?"

"It is a forgery."

"How can that be?"

"Yes, a forgery; it is a snare to prevent your making any resistance
when they come to fetch you."

"But it is d'Artagnan that will come."

"Do not deceive yourself. D'Artagnan and his friends are detained at the
siege of La Rochelle."

"How do you know that?"

"My brother met some emissaries of the cardinal in the uniform of
Musketeers. You would have been summoned to the gate; you would have
believed yourself about to meet friends; you would have been abducted,
and conducted back to Paris."

"Oh, my God! My senses fail me amid such a chaos of iniquities. I
feel, if this continues," said Mme. Bonacieux, raising her hands to her
forehead, "I shall go mad!"

"Stop--"

"What?"

"I hear a horse's steps; it is my brother setting off again. I should
like to offer him a last salute. Come!"

Milady opened the window, and made a sign to Mme. Bonacieux to join her.
The young woman complied.

Rochefort passed at a gallop.

"Adieu, brother!" cried Milady.

The chevalier raised his head, saw the two young women, and without
stopping, waved his hand in a friendly way to Milady.

"The good George!" said she, closing the window with an expression of
countenance full of affection and melancholy. And she resumed her seat,
as if plunged in reflections entirely personal.

"Dear lady," said Mme. Bonacieux, "pardon me for interrupting you; but
what do you advise me to do? Good heaven! You have more experience than
I have. Speak; I will listen."

"In the first place," said Milady, "it is possible I may be deceived,
and that d'Artagnan and his friends may really come to your assistance."

"Oh, that would be too much!" cried Mme. Bonacieux, "so much happiness
is not in store for me!"

"Then you comprehend it would be only a question of time, a sort of
race, which should arrive first. If your friends are the more speedy,
you are to be saved; if the satellites of the cardinal, you are lost."

"Oh, yes, yes; lost beyond redemption! What, then, to do? What to do?"

"There would be a very simple means, very natural--"

"Tell me what!"

"To wait, concealed in the neighborhood, and assure yourself who are the
men who come to ask for you."

"But where can I wait?"

"Oh, there is no difficulty in that. I shall stop and conceal myself a
few leagues hence until my brother can rejoin me. Well, I take you with
me;