sieur, oh, yes; and I hope to prove to you that you have
not served an ingrate. But what could these men, whom I at first took
for robbers, want with me, and why is Monsieur Bonacieux not here?"

"Madame, those men were more dangerous than any robbers could have
been, for they are the agents of the cardinal; and as to your husband,
Monsieur Bonacieux, he is not here because he was yesterday evening
conducted to the Bastille."

"My husband in the Bastille!" cried Mme. Bonacieux. "Oh, my God! What
has he done? Poor dear man, he is innocence itself!"

And something like a faint smile lighted the still-terrified features of
the young woman.

"What has he done, madame?" said d'Artagnan. "I believe that his only
crime is to have at the same time the good fortune and the misfortune to
be your husband."

"But, monsieur, you know then--"

"I know that you have been abducted, madame."

"And by whom? Do you know him? Oh, if you know him, tell me!"

"By a man of from forty to forty-five years, with black hair, a dark
complexion, and a scar on his left temple."

"That is he, that is he; but his name?"

"Ah, his name? I do not know that."

"And did my husband know I had been carried off?"

"He was informed of it by a letter, written to him by the abductor
himself."

"And does he suspect," said Mme. Bonacieux, with some embarrassment,
"the cause of this event?"

"He attributed it, I believe, to a political cause."

"I doubted from the first; and now I think entirely as he does. Then my
dear Monsieur Bonacieux has not suspected me a single instant?"

"So far from it, madame, he was too proud of your prudence, and above
all, of your love."

A second smile, almost imperceptible, stole over the rosy lips of the
pretty young woman.

"But," continued d'Artagnan, "how did you escape?"

"I took advantage of a moment when they left me alone; and as I had
known since morning the reason of my abduction, with the help of the
sheets I let myself down from the window. Then, as I believed my husband
would be at home, I hastened hither."

"To place yourself under his protection?"

"Oh, no, poor dear man! I knew very well that he was incapable of
defending me; but as he could serve us in other ways, I wished to inform
him."

"Of what?"

"Oh, that is not my secret; I must not, therefore, tell you."

"Besides," said d'Artagnan, "pardon me, madame, if, guardsman as I am,
I remind you of prudence--besides, I believe we are