15 MEN OF THE ROBE AND MEN OF THE SWORD

On the day after these events had taken place, Athos not having
reappeared, M. de Treville was informed by d'Artagnan and Porthos of the
circumstance. As to Aramis, he had asked for leave of absence for five
days, and was gone, it was said, to Rouen on family business.

M. de Treville was the father of his soldiers. The lowest or the least
known of them, as soon as he assumed the uniform of the company, was as
sure of his aid and support as if he had been his own brother.

He repaired, then, instantly to the office of the LIEUTENANT-CRIMINEL.
The officer who commanded the post of the Red Cross was sent for, and by
successive inquiries they learned that Athos was then lodged in the Fort
l'Eveque.

Athos had passed through all the examinations we have seen Bonacieux
undergo.

We were present at the scene in which the two captives were confronted
with each other. Athos, who had till that time said nothing for fear
that d'Artagnan, interrupted in his turn, should not have the time
necessary, from this moment declared that his name was Athos, and not
d'Artagnan. He added that he did not know either M. or Mme. Bonacieux;
that he had never spoken to the one or the other; that he had come,
at about ten o'clock in the evening, to pay a visit to his friend M.
d'Artagnan, but that till that hour he had been at M. de Treville's,
where he had dined. "Twenty witnesses," added he, "could attest the
fact"; and he named several distinguished gentlemen, and among them was
M. le Duc de la Tremouille.

The second commissary was as much bewildered as the first had been
by the simple and firm declaration of the Musketeer, upon whom he was
anxious to take the revenge which men of the robe like at all times to
gain over men of the sword; but the name of M. de Treville, and that of
M. de la Tremouille, commanded a little reflection.

Athos was then sent to the cardinal; but unfortunately the cardinal was
at the Louvre with the king.

It was precisely at this moment that M. de Treville, on leaving the
residence of the LIEUTENANT-CRIMINEL and the governor of the Fort
l'Eveque without being able to find Athos, arrived at the palace.

As captain of the Musketeers, M. de Treville had the right of entry at
all times.

It is well known how violent the king's prejudices were against the
queen, and how carefully these prejudices were kept up by the cardinal,
who in affairs of intrigue mistrusted wo