“Nevertheless,” continued the man in the cloak, “it was very silly of you not to have feigned to accept the mission. You would now be in possession of the letter; the state, which is now threatened, would be safe; and you—”

“I will go to the Louvre; I will ask for Madame Bonacieux; I will tell her I have reflected upon the matter; I will resume the affair, obtain the letter, and then hasten directly to the cardinal’s.”

“Well, begone then! Make all possible haste. I will shortly come back to learn the result of your plan.”

The unknown went out.

“The wretch!” said Madame Bonacieux, addressing this other affectionate epithet to her husband.

“Silence, once more!” said D’Artagnan, pressing her hand still more tightly.

A terrible howling interrupted these reflections of D’Artagnan and Madame Bonacieux. It was her husband, who had discovered the disappearance of his money-bag, and was screaming out, “Thieves! thieves!”

Bonacieux cried for a long time. But as such cries, on account of their frequency, did not attract much notice in the Rue des Fossoyeurs, and as, besides, the mercer’s house had not been for some time in very good repute, finding that nobody came, he went out, continuing to cry aloud, and his voice died away in the direction of the Rue du Bac.

“Now he is gone, it is your turn to go,” said Madame Bonacieux. “Have courage, but above all, prudence, and remember that it is your duty to the queen!”

“To her and to you!” cried D’Artagnan. “Be satisfied, lovely Constance. I shall become worthy of her gratitude, but shall I likewise return worthy of your love?”

The young woman replied only by the vivid blush which mounted to her cheeks. A few moments later D’Artagnan went out in his turn, enveloped in a large cloak, which the sheath of a long sword held back cavalierly.

Madame Bonacieux followed him with her eyes, with that long, fond look with which a woman accompanies the man whom she feels she loves. But when he had turned the angle of the street she fell on her knees, and clasping her hands,

“Oh, my God!” cried she, “protect the queen, protect me!”