d hearing the stroke of midnight, had
made an examination of the orangery. The first door, barricaded
with furniture, had aroused in him certain suspicions, but without
communicating his suspicions to any one he had patiently worked his way
into the midst of all that confusion. Then he came to the corridor,
all the doors of which he found open; so, too, was the door of Athos's
chamber and that of the park. From the latter point it was easy to
follow tracks on the snow. He saw that these tracks tended toward the
wall; on the other side he found similar tracks, then footprints of
horses and then signs of a troop of cavalry which had moved away in
the direction of Enghien. He could no longer cherish any doubt that
the cardinal had been carried off by the three prisoners, since the
prisoners had disappeared at the same time; and he had hastened to Saint
Germain to warn the queen of that disappearance.

Anne had enforced the utmost secrecy and had disclosed the event to
no one except the Prince de Conde, who had sent five or six hundred
horsemen into the environs of Saint Germain with orders to bring in any
suspicious person who was going away from Rueil, in whatsoever direction
it might be.

Now, since D'Artagnan did not constitute a body of horsemen, since he
was alone, since he was not going away from Rueil and was going to
Saint Germain, no one paid any attention to him and his journey was not
obstructed in any way.

On entering the courtyard of the old chateau the first person seen
by our ambassador was Maitre Bernouin in person, who, standing on the
threshold, awaited news of his vanished master.

At the sight of D'Artagnan, who entered the courtyard on horseback,
Bernouin rubbed his eyes and thought he must be mistaken. But D'Artagnan
made a friendly sign to him with his head, dismounted, and throwing his
bridle to a lackey who was passing, he approached the valet-de-chambre
with a smile on his lips.

"Monsieur d'Artagnan!" cried the latter, like a man who has the
nightmare and talks in his sleep, "Monsieur d'Artagnan!"

"Himself, Monsieur Bernouin."

"And why have you come here?"

"To bring news of Monsieur de Mazarin--the freshest news there is."

"What has become of him, then?"

"He is as well as you and I."

"Nothing bad has happened to him, then?"

"Absolutely nothing. He felt the need of making a trip in the Ile de
France, and begged us--the Comte de la Fere and Monsieur du Vallon--to
accompany h