e last time he had seen the cardinal, the king, and the queen,
the cardinal looked very thoughtful, the king uneasy, and the redness
of the queen's eyes donated that she had been sleepless or tearful. But
this last circumstance was not striking, as the queen since her marriage
had slept badly and wept much.

M. de Treville requested Athos, whatever might happen, to be observant
of his duty to the king, but particularly to the queen, begging him to
convey his desires to his comrades.

As to d'Artagnan, he did not budge from his apartment. He converted his
chamber into an observatory. From his windows he saw all the visitors
who were caught. Then, having removed a plank from his floor, and
nothing remaining but a simple ceiling between him and the room beneath,
in which the interrogatories were made, he heard all that passed between
the inquisitors and the accused.

The interrogatories, preceded by a minute search operated upon the
persons arrested, were almost always framed thus: "Has Madame Bonacieux
sent anything to you for her husband, or any other person? Has Monsieur
Bonacieux sent anything to you for his wife, or for any other person?
Has either of them confided anything to you by word of mouth?"

"If they knew anything, they would not question people in this manner,"
said d'Artagnan to himself. "Now, what is it they want to know? Why,
they want to know if the Duke of Buckingham is in Paris, and if he has
had, or is likely to have, an interview with the queen."

D'Artagnan held onto this idea, which, from what he had heard, was not
wanting in probability.

In the meantime, the mousetrap continued in operation, and likewise
d'Artagnan's vigilance.

On the evening of the day after the arrest of poor Bonacieux, as Athos
had just left d'Artagnan to report at M. de Treville's, as nine o'clock
had just struck, and as Planchet, who had not yet made the bed, was
beginning his task, a knocking was heard at the street door. The door
was instantly opened and shut; someone was taken in the mousetrap.

D'Artagnan flew to his hole, laid himself down on the floor at full
length, and listened.

Cries were soon heard, and then moans, which someone appeared to be
endeavoring to stifle. There were no questions.

"The devil!" said d'Artagnan to himself. "It seems like a woman! They
search her; she resists; they use force--the scoundrels!"

In spite of his prudence, d'Artagnan restrained himself with great
difficulty from