e Mme. Bonacieux
knocked, as at the shutter, three light and regular taps. When he had
gained the angle of the street, he turned. The door had been opened, and
shut again; the mercer's pretty wife had disappeared.

D'Artagnan pursued his way. He had given his word not to watch Mme.
Bonacieux, and if his life had depended upon the spot to which she was
going or upon the person who should accompany her, d'Artagnan would have
returned home, since he had so promised. Five minutes later he was in
the Rue des Fossoyeurs.

"Poor Athos!" said he; "he will never guess what all this means. He will
have fallen asleep waiting for me, or else he will have returned home,
where he will have learned that a woman had been there. A woman with
Athos! After all," continued d'Artagnan, "there was certainly one with
Aramis. All this is very strange; and I am curious to know how it will
end."

"Badly, monsieur, badly!" replied a voice which the young man recognized
as that of Planchet; for, soliloquizing aloud, as very preoccupied
people do, he had entered the alley, at the end of which were the stairs
which led to his chamber.

"How badly? What do you mean by that, you idiot?" asked d'Artagnan.
"What has happened?"

"All sorts of misfortunes."

"What?"

"In the first place, Monsieur Athos is arrested."

"Arrested! Athos arrested! What for?"

"He was found in your lodging; they took him for you."

"And by whom was he arrested?"

"By Guards brought by the men in black whom you put to flight."

"Why did he not tell them his name? Why did he not tell them he knew
nothing about this affair?"

"He took care not to do so, monsieur; on the contrary, he came up to me
and said, 'It is your master that needs his liberty at this moment and
not I, since he knows everything and I know nothing. They will believe
he is arrested, and that will give him time; in three days I will tell
them who I am, and they cannot fail to let me go.'"

"Bravo, Athos! Noble heart!" murmured d'Artagnan. "I know him well
there! And what did the officers do?"

"Four conveyed him away, I don't know where--to the Bastille or Fort
l'Eveque. Two remained with the men in black, who rummaged every place
and took all the papers. The last two mounted guard at the door during
this examination; then, when all was over, they went away, leaving the
house empty and exposed."

"And Porthos and Aramis?"

"I could not find them; they did not come."

"But they may come a