“Come, come, you won’t tell me you don’t know Aramis?”

“This is the first time I ever heard his name.”

“This is the first time, then, that you ever went to that house?”

“Certainly it is.”

“And you did not know that it was inhabited by a young man?”

“No.”

“My dear Madame Bonacieux, you are charming; but at the same time you are the most mysterious of women.”

“Do I lose much by that?”

“No; you are, on the contrary, adorable!”

“Give me your arm, then.”

“Most willingly. And now?”

“Now take me with you.”

“Where?”

“Where I am going.”

“But where are you going?”

“You will see, because you will leave me at the door.”

“Shall I wait for you?”

“That will be useless.”

“You will return alone, then?”

“Yes.”

“Well, madame, I perceive I must act in accordance with your wishes.”

D’Artagnan offered his arm to Madame Bonacieux, who took it, half laughing, half trembling, and both went up Rue la Harpe. When they reached there the young woman seemed to hesitate, as she had before done in the Rue Vaugirard. Nevertheless, by certain signs she appeared to recognize a door; and approaching that door,

“And now, sir,” she said, “it is here I have business. A thousand thanks for your honourable company, which has saved me from all the dangers to which, alone, I might have been exposed. But the moment has come for you to keep your word; I have reached the place of my destination.”

“If you could see my heart,” said D’Artagnan, “you would there read in it so much curiosity that you would pity me, and so much love that you would instantly satisfy my curiosity. We have nothing to fear from those who love us.”

“You speak very soon of love, sir!” she said, shaking her head.