opposite direction from St. Cloud. This probability afforded him his
first consolation. If Bonacieux knew where his wife was, one might, by
extreme means, force the mercer to open his teeth and let his secret
escape. The question, then, was how to change this probability into a
certainty.

"Pardon, my dear Monsieur Bonacieux, if I don't stand upon ceremony,"
said d'Artagnan, "but nothing makes one so thirsty as want of sleep.
I am parched with thirst. Allow me to take a glass of water in your
apartment; you know that is never refused among neighbors."

Without waiting for the permission of his host, d'Artagnan went quickly
into the house, and cast a rapid glance at the bed. It had not been
used. Bonacieux had not been abed. He had only been back an hour or two;
he had accompanied his wife to the place of her confinement, or else at
least to the first relay.

"Thanks, Monsieur Bonacieux," said d'Artagnan, emptying his glass, "that
is all I wanted of you. I will now go up into my apartment. I will make
Planchet brush my boots; and when he has done, I will, if you like, send
him to you to brush your shoes."

He left the mercer quite astonished at his singular farewell, and asking
himself if he had not been a little inconsiderate.

At the top of the stairs he found Planchet in a great fright.

"Ah, monsieur!" cried Planchet, as soon as he perceived his master,
"here is more trouble. I thought you would never come in."

"What's the matter now, Planchet?" demanded d'Artagnan.

"Oh! I give you a hundred, I give you a thousand times to guess,
monsieur, the visit I received in your absence."

"When?"

"About half an hour ago, while you were at Monsieur de Treville's."

"Who has been here? Come, speak."

"Monsieur de Cavois."

"Monsieur de Cavois?"

"In person."

"The captain of the cardinal's Guards?"

"Himself."

"Did he come to arrest me?"

"I have no doubt that he did, monsieur, for all his wheedling manner."

"Was he so sweet, then?"

"Indeed, he was all honey, monsieur."

"Indeed!"

"He came, he said, on the part of his Eminence, who wished you well, and
to beg you to follow him to the Palais-Royal." [*]

*It was called the Palais-Cardinal before Richelieu gave it
to the King.

"What did you answer him?"

"That the thing was impossible, seeing that you were not at home, as he
could see."

"Well, what did he say then?"

"That you must not fail to call upon him in the course of