Essential Novelists - Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre Dumas

awakened Planchet and ordered him to open it.

      From this phrase, “d’Artagnan awakened Planchet,” the reader must not suppose it was night, or that day was hardly come. No, it had just struck four. Planchet, two hours before, had asked his master for some dinner, and he had answered him with the proverb, “He who sleeps, dines.” And Planchet dined by sleeping.

      A man was introduced of simple mien, who had the appearance of a tradesman. Planchet, by way of dessert, would have liked to hear the conversation; but the citizen declared to d’Artagnan that, what he had to say being important and confidential, he desired to be left alone with him.

      D’Artagnan dismissed Planchet, and requested his visitor to be seated. There was a moment of silence, during which the two men looked at each other, as if to make a preliminary acquaintance, after which d’Artagnan bowed, as a sign that he listened.

      “I have heard Monsieur d’Artagnan spoken of as a very brave young man,” said the citizen; “and this reputation which he justly enjoys had decided me to confide a secret to him.”

      “Speak, monsieur, speak,” said d’Artagnan, who instinctively scented something advantageous.

      The citizen made a fresh pause and continued, “I have a wife who is seamstress to the queen, monsieur, and who is not deficient in either virtue or beauty. I was induced to marry her about three years ago, although she had but very little dowry, because Monsieur Laporte, the queen’s cloak bearer, is her godfather, and befriends her.”

      “Well, monsieur?” asked d’Artagnan.

      “Well!” resumed the citizen, “well, monsieur, my wife was abducted yesterday morning, as she was coming out of her workroom.”

      “And by whom was your wife abducted?”

      “I know nothing surely, monsieur, but I suspect someone.”

      “And who is the person whom you suspect?”

      “A man who has pursued her a long time.”

      “The devil!”

      “But allow me to tell you, monsieur,” continued the citizen, “that I am convinced that there is less love than politics in all this.”

      “Less love than politics,” replied d’Artagnan, with a reflective air; “and what do you suspect?”

      “I do not know whether I ought to tell you what I suspect.”

      “Monsieur, I beg you to observe that I ask you absolutely nothing. It is you who have come to me. It is you who have told me that you had a secret to confide in me. Act, then, as you think proper; there is still time to withdraw.”

      “No, monsieur, no; you appear to be an honest young man, and I will have confidence in you. I believe, then, that it is not on account of any intrigues of her own that my wife has been arrested, but because of those of a lady much greater than herself.”

      “Ah, ah! Can it be on account of the amours of Madame de Bois-Tracy?” said d’Artagnan, wishing to have the air, in the eyes of the citizen, of being posted as to court affairs.

      “Higher, monsieur, higher.”

      “Of Madame d’Aiguillon?”

      “Still higher.”

      “Of Madame de Chevreuse?”

      “Of the—” d’Artagnan checked himself.

      “Yes, monsieur,” replied the terrified citizen, in a tone so low that he was scarcely audible.

      “And with whom?”

      “With whom can it be, if not the Duke of—”

      “The Duke of—”

      “Yes, monsieur,” replied the citizen, giving a still fainter intonation to his voice.

      “But how do you know all this?”

      “How do I know it?”

      “Yes, how do you know it? No half-confidence, or—you understand!”

      “I know it from my wife, monsieur—from my wife herself.”

      “Who learns it from whom?”

      “From Monsieur Laporte. Did I not tell you that she was the goddaughter of Monsieur Laporte, the confidential man of the queen? Well, Monsieur Laporte placed her near her Majesty in order that our poor queen might at least have someone in whom she could place confidence, abandoned as she is by the king, watched as she is by the cardinal, betrayed as she is by everybody.”

      “Ah, ah! It begins to develop itself,” said d’Artagnan.

      “Now, my wife came home four days ago, monsieur. One of her conditions was that she should come and see me twice a week; for, as I had the honor to tell you, my wife loves me dearly—my wife, then, came and confided to me that the queen at that very moment entertained great fears.”

      “Truly!”

      “Yes. The cardinal, as it appears, pursues her and persecutes her more than ever. He cannot pardon her the history of the Saraband. You know the history of the Saraband?”

      “PARDIEU! Know it!” replied d’Artagnan, who knew nothing about it, but who wished to appear to know everything that was going on.

      “So that now it is no longer hatred, but vengeance.”

      “Indeed!”

      “And the queen believes—”

      “Well, what does the queen believe?”

      “She believes that someone has written to the Duke of Buckingham in her name.”

      “In the queen’s name?”

      “Yes, to make him come to Paris; and when once come to Paris, to draw him into some snare.”

      “The devil! But your wife, monsieur, what has she to do with all this?”

      “Her devotion to the queen is known; and they wish either to remove her from her mistress, or to intimidate her, in order to obtain her Majesty’s secrets, or to seduce her and make use of her as a spy.”

      “That is likely,” said d’Artagnan; “but the man who has abducted her—do you know him?”

      “I have told you that I believe I know him.”

      “His name?”

      “I do not know that; what I do know is that he is a creature of the cardinal, his evil genius.”

      “But you have seen him?”

      “Yes, my wife pointed him out to me one day.”

      “Has he anything remarkable about him by which one may recognize him?”

      “Oh, certainly; he is a noble of very lofty carriage, black hair, swarthy complexion, piercing eye, white teeth, and has a scar on his temple.”

      “A scar on his temple!” cried d’Artagnan; “and with that, white teeth, a piercing eye, dark complexion, black hair, and haughty carriage—why, that’s my man of Meung.”

      “He is your man, do you say?”

      “Yes, yes; but that has nothing to do with it. No, I am wrong. On the contrary, that simplifies the matter greatly. If your man is mine, with one blow I shall obtain two revenges, that’s all; but where to find this man?”

      “I know not.”

      “Have you no information as to his abiding place?”

      “None. One day, as I was conveying my wife back to the Louvre, he was coming out as she was going in, and she showed him to me.”

      “The devil! The devil!” murmured