"

"The traitor!" murmured Mme. Bonacieux.

"Silence!" said d'Artagnan, taking her hand, which, without thinking of
it, she abandoned to him.

"Never mind," continued the man in the cloak; "you were a fool not
to have pretended to accept the mission. You would then be in present
possession of the letter. The state, which is now threatened, would be
safe, and you--"

"And I?"

"Well you--the cardinal would have given you letters of nobility."

"Did he tell you so?"

"Yes, I know that he meant to afford you that agreeable surprise."

"Be satisfied," replied Bonacieux; "my wife adores me, and there is yet
time."

"The ninny!" murmured Mme. Bonacieux.

"Silence!" said d'Artagnan, pressing her hand more closely.

"How is there still time?" asked the man in the cloak.

"I go to the Louvre; I ask for Mme. Bonacieux; I say that I have
reflected; I renew the affair; I obtain the letter, and I run directly
to the cardinal."

"Well, go quickly! I will return soon to learn the result of your trip."

The stranger went out.

"Infamous!" said Mme. Bonacieux, addressing this epithet to her husband.

"Silence!" said d'Artagnan, pressing her hand still more warmly.

A terrible howling interrupted these reflections of d'Artagnan and Mme.
Bonacieux. It was her husband, who had discovered the disappearance of
the moneybag, and was crying "Thieves!"

"Oh, my God!" cried Mme. Bonacieux, "he will rouse the whole quarter."

Bonacieux called a long time; but as such cries, on account of their
frequency, brought nobody in the Rue des Fossoyeurs, and as lately the
mercer's house had a bad name, finding that nobody came, he went out
continuing to call, his voice being heard fainter and fainter as he went
in the direction of the Rue du Bac.

"Now he is gone, it is your turn to get out," said Mme. Bonacieux.
"Courage, my friend, but above all, prudence, and think what you owe to
the queen."

"To her and to you!" cried d'Artagnan. "Be satisfied, beautiful
Constance. I shall become worthy of her gratitude; but shall I likewise
return worthy of your love?"

The young woman only replied by the beautiful glow which mounted to her
cheeks. A few seconds afterward d'Artagnan also went out enveloped in a
large cloak, which ill-concealed the sheath of a long sword.

Mme. Bonacieux followed him with her eyes, with that long, fond look
with which he had turned the angle of the street, she fell on her knees,
and clasping her hands, "