It was evident that without suspecting it, and actuatedsolely by their chivalrous and adventurous character, ourthree friends had just rendered a service to someone thecardinal honored with his special protection.

Now, who was that someone? That was the question the threeMusketeers put to one another. Then, seeing that none oftheir replies could throw any light on the subject, Porthoscalled the host and asked for dice.

Porthos and Aramis placed themselves at the table and beganto play. Athos walked about in a contemplative mood.

While thinking and walking, Athos passed and repassed beforethe pipe of the stove, broken in halves, the other extremitypassing into the chamber above; and every time he passed andrepassed he heard a murmur of words, which at length fixedhis attention. Athos went close to it, and distinguishedsome words that appeared to merit so great an interest thathe made a sign to his friends to be silent, remaininghimself bent with his ear directed to the opening of thelower orifice.

"Listen, Milady," said the cardinal, "the affair isimportant. Sit down, and let us talk it over."

"Milady!" murmured Athos.

"I listen to your Eminence with greatest attention," replieda female voice which made the Musketeer start.

"A small vessel with an English crew, whose captain is on myside, awaits you at the mouth of Charente, at fort of thePoint. He will set sail tomorrow morning."

"I must go thither tonight?"

"Instantly! That is to say, when you have received myinstructions. Two men, whom you will find at the door ongoing out, will serve you as escort. You will allow me toleave first; then, after half an hour, you can go away inyour turn."

"Yes, monseigneur. Now let us return to the mission withwhich you wish to charge me; and as I desire to continue tomerit the confidence of your Eminence, deign to unfold it tome in terms clear and precise, that I may not commit anerror."

There was an instant of profound silence between the twointerlocutors. It was evident that the cardinal wasweighing beforehand the terms in which he was about tospeak, and that Milady was collecting all her intellectualfaculties to comprehend the things he was about to say, andto engrave them in her memory when they should be spoken.

Athos took advantage of this moment to tell his twocompanions to fasten the door inside, and to make them asign to come and listen with him.

The two Musketeers, who loved their ease, brought a chairfor each of themselves and one for Athos. All three thensat down with their heads together and their ears on thealert.

"You will go to London," continued the cardinal. "Arrivedin London, you will seek Buckingham."

"I must beg your Eminence to observe," said Milady, "thatsince the affair of the diamond studs, about which the dukealways suspected me, his Grace distrusts me."

"Well, this time," said the cardinal, "it is not necessaryto steal his confidence, but to present yourself frankly andloyally as a negotiator."

"Frankly and loyally," repeated Milady, with an unspeakableexpression of duplicity.

"Yes, frankly and loyally," replied the cardinal, in thesame tone. "All this negotiation must be carried onopenly."

"I will follow your Eminence's instructions to the letter.I only wait till you give them."

"You will go to Buckingham in my behalf, and you will tellhim I am acquainted with all the preparations he has made;but that they give me no uneasiness, since at the first stephe takes I will ruin the queen."

"Will he believe that your Eminence is in a position toaccomplish the threat thus made?"

"Yes; for I have the proofs."

"I must be able to present these proofs for hisappreciation."

"Without doubt. And you will tell him I will publish thereport of Bois-Robert and the Marquis de Beautru, upon theinterview which the duke had at the residence of Madame theConstable with the queen on the evening Madame the Constablegave a masquerade. You will tell him, in order that he maynot doubt, that he came there in the costume of the GreatMogul, which the Chevalier de Guise was to have worn, andthat he purchased this exchange for the sum of threethousand pistoles."

"Well, monseigneur?"

"All the details of his coming into and going out of thepalace - on the night when he introduced himself in thecharacter of an Italian fortune teller - you will tell him,that he may not doubt the correctness of my information;that he had under his cloak a large white robe dotted withblack tears, death's heads, and crossbones - for in case of asurprise, he was to pass for the phantom of the White Ladywho, as all the world knows, appears at the Louvre everytime any great event is impending."

"Is that all, monseigneur?"

"Tell him also that I am acquainted with all the details ofthe adventure at Amiens; that I will have a little romancemade of it, wittily turned, with a plan of the garden andportraits of the principal actors in that nocturnalromance."

"I will tell him that."

"Tell him further that I hold Montague in my power; thatMontague is in the Bastille; that no letters were found uponhim, it is true, but that torture may make him tell much ofwhat he knows, and even what he does not know."

"Exactly."

"Then add that his Grace has, in the precipitation withwhich he quit the Isle of Re, forgotten and left behind himin his lodging a certain letter from Madame de Chevreusewhich singularly compromises the queen, inasmuch as itproves not only that her Majesty can love the enemies of theking but that she can conspire with the enemies of France.You recollect perfectly all I have told you, do you not?"

"Your Eminence will judge: the ball of Madame the Constable;the night at the Louvre; the evening at Amiens; the arrestof Montague; the letter of Madame de Chevreuse."

"That's it," said the cardinal, "that's it. You have anexcellent memory, Milady."

"But," resumed she to whom the cardinal addressed thisflattering compliment, "if, in spite of all these reasons,the duke does not give way and continues to menace France?"

"The duke is in love to madness, or rather to folly,"replied Richelieu, with great bitterness. "Like the ancientpaladins, he has only undertaken this war to obtain a lookfrom his lady love. If he becomes certain that this warwill cost the honor, and perhaps the liberty, of the lady ofhis thoughts, as he says, I will answer for it he will looktwice."

"And yet," said Milady, with a persistence that proved shewished to see clearly to the end of the mission with whichshe was about to be charged, "if he persists?"

"If he persists?" said the cardinal. "That is notprobable."

"It is possible," said Milady.

"If he persists - " His Eminence made a pause, and resumed:"If he persists - well, then I shall hope for one of thoseevents which change the destinies of states."

"If your Eminence would quote to me some one of these eventsin history," said Milady, "perhaps I should partake of yourconfidence as to the future."

"Well, here, for example," said Richelieu: "when, in 1610,for a cause similar to that which moves the duke, King HenryIV, of glorious memory, was about, at the same time, toinvade Flanders and Italy, in order to attack Austria onboth sides. Well, did there not happen an event which savedAustria? Why should not the king of France have the samechance as the emperor?"

"Your Eminence means, I presume, the knife stab in the Ruede la Feronnerie?"

"Precisely," said the cardinal.

"Does not your Eminence fear that the punishment inflictedupon Ravaillac may deter anyone who might entertain the ideaof imitating him?"

"There will be, in all times and in all countries,particularly if religious divisions exist in thosecountries, fanatics who ask nothing better than to becomemartyrs. Ay, and observe - it just occurs to me that thePuritans are furious against Buckingham, and their preachersdesignate him as the Antichrist."

"Well?" said Milady.

"Well," continued the cardinal, in an indifferent tone, "theonly thing to be sought for at this moment is some woman,handsome, young, and clever, who has cause of quarrel withthe duke. The duke has had many affairs of gallantry; andif he has fostered his amours by promises of eternalconstancy, he must likewise have sown the seeds of hatred byhis eternal infidelities."

"No doubt," said Milady, coolly, "such a woman may befound."

"Well, such a woman, who would place the knife of JacquesClement or of Ravaillac in the hands of a fanatic, wouldsave France."

"Yes; but she would then be the accomplice of anassassination."

"Were the accomplices of Ravaillac or of Jacques Clementever known?"

"No; for perhaps they were too high-placed for anyone todare look for them where they were. The Palace of Justicewould not be burned down for everybody, monseigneur."

"You think, then, that the fire at the Palace of Justice wasnot caused by chance?" asked Richelieu, in the tone withwhich he would have put a question of no importance.

"I, monseigneur?" replied Milady. "I think nothing; I quotea fact, that is all. Only I say that if I were named Madamede Montpensier, or the Queen Marie de Medicis, I should useless precautions than I take, being simply called MiladyClarik."

"That is just," said Richelieu. "What do you require,then?"

"I require an order which would ratify beforehand all that Ishould think proper to do for the greatest good of France."

"But in the first place, this woman I have described must befound who is desirous of avenging herself upon the duke."

"She is found," said Milady.

"Then the miserable fanatic must be found who will serve asan instrument of God's justice."

"He will be found."

"Well," said the cardinal, "then it will be time to claimthe order which you just now required."

"Your Eminence is right," replied Milady; "and I have beenwrong in seeing in the mission with which you honor meanything but that which it really is - that is, to announceto his Grace, on the part of your Eminence, that you areacquainted with the different disguises by means of which hesucceeded in approaching the queen during the fete given byMadame the Constable; that you have proofs of the interviewgranted at the Louvre by the queen to a certain Italianastrologer who was no other than the Duke of Buckingham;that you have ordered a little romance of a satirical natureto be written upon the adventures of Amiens, with a plan ofthe gardens in which those adventures took place, andportraits of the actors who figured in them; that Montagueis in the Bastille, and that the torture may make him saythings he remembers, and even things he has forgotten; thatyou possess a certain letter from Madame de Chevreuse, foundin his Grace's lodging, which singularly compromises notonly her who wrote it, but her in whose name it was written.Then, if he persists, notwithstanding all this - as that is,as I have said, the limit of my mission - I shall havenothing to do but to pray God to work a miracle for thesalvation of France. That is it, is it not, monseigneur,and I shall have nothing else to do?"

"That is it," replied the cardinal, dryly.

"And now," said Milady, without appearing to remark thechange of the duke's tone toward her - "now that I havereceived the instructions of your Eminence as concerns yourenemies, Monseigneur will permit me to say a few words tohim of mine?"

"Have you enemies, then?" asked Richelieu.

"Yes, monseigneur, enemies against whom you owe me all yoursupport, for I made them by serving your Eminence."

"Who are they?" replied the duke.

"In the first place, there is a little intrigante namedBonacieux."

"She is in the prison of Nantes."

"That is to say, she was there," replied Milady; "but thequeen has obtained an order from the king by means of whichshe has been conveyed to a convent."

"To a convent?" said the duke.

"Yes, to a convent."

"And to which?"

"I don't know; the secret has been well kept."

"But I will know!"

"And your Eminence will tell me in what convent that womanis?"

"I can see nothing inconvenient in that," said the cardinal.

"Well, now I have an enemy much more to be dreaded by methan this little Madame Bonacieux."

"Who is that?"

"Her lover."

"What is his name?"

"Oh, your Eminence knows him well," cried Milady, carriedaway by her anger. "He is the evil genius of both of us.It is he who in an encounter with your Eminence's Guardsdecided the victory in favor of the king's Musketeers; it ishe who gave three desperate wounds to De Wardes, youremissary, and who caused the affair of the diamond studs tofail; it is he who, knowing it was I who had MadameBonacieux carried off, has sworn my death."

"Ah, ah!" said the cardinal, "I know of whom you speak."

"I mean that miserable D'Artagnan."

"He is a bold fellow," said the cardinal.

"And it is exactly because he is a bold fellow that he isthe more to be feared."

"I must have," said the duke, "a proof of his connectionwith Buckingham."

"A proof?" cried Milady; "I will have ten."

"Well, then, it becomes the simplest thing in the world; getme that proof, and I will send him to the Bastille."

"So far good, monseigneur; but afterwards?"

"When once in the Bastille, there is no afterward!" said thecardinal, in a low voice. "Ah, pardieu!" continued he, "ifit were as easy for me to get rid of my enemy as it is easyto get rid of yours, and if it were against such people yourequire impunity - "

"Monseigneur," replied Milady, "a fair exchange. Life forlife, man for man; give me one, I will give you the other."

"I don't know what you mean, nor do I even desire to knowwhat you mean," replied the cardinal; "but I wish to pleaseyou, and see nothing out of the way in giving you what youdemand with respect to so infamous a creature - the more soas you tell me this D'Artagnan is a libertine, a duelist,and a traitor."

"An infamous scoundrel, monseigneur, a scoundrel!"

"Give me paper, a quill, and some ink, then," said thecardinal.

"Here they are, monseigneur."

There was a moment of silence, which proved that thecardinal was employed in seeking the terms in which heshould write the note, or else in writing it. Athos, whohad not lost a word of the conversation, took his twocompanions by the hand, and led them to the other end of theroom.

"Well," said Porthos, "what do you want, and why do you notlet us listen to the end of the conversation?"

"Hush!" said Athos, speaking in a low voice. "We have heardall it was necessary we should hear; besides, I don'tprevent you from listening, but I must be gone."

"You must be gone!" said Porthos; "and if the cardinal asksfor you, what answer can we make?"

"You will not wait till he asks; you will speak first, andtell him that I am gone on the lookout, because certainexpressions of our host have given me reason to think theroad is not safe. I will say two words about it to thecardinal's esquire likewise. The rest concerns myself;don't be uneasy about that."

"Be prudent, Athos," said Aramis.

"Be easy on that head," replied Athos; "you know I am coolenough."

Porthos and Aramis resumed their places by the stovepipe.

As to Athos, he went out without any mystery, took hishorse, which was tied with those of his friends to thefastenings of the shutters, in four words convinced theattendant of the necessity of a vanguard for their return,carefully examined the priming of his pistols, drew hissword, and took, like a forlorn hope, the road to the camp.