ry dearly for the hundred louis you have
from me."

No signature. Nevertheless it was plain the letter came from Milady. He
consequently kept it as a piece of evidence, and being in safety behind
the angle of the trench, he began to interrogate the wounded man. He
confessed that he had undertaken with his comrade--the same who was
killed--to carry off a young woman who was to leave Paris by the
Barriere de La Villette; but having stopped to drink at a cabaret, they
had missed the carriage by ten minutes.

"But what were you to do with that woman?" asked d'Artagnan, with
anguish.

"We were to have conveyed her to a hotel in the Place Royale," said the
wounded man.

"Yes, yes!" murmured d'Artagnan; "that's the place--Milady's own
residence!"

Then the young man tremblingly comprehended what a terrible thirst for
vengeance urged this woman on to destroy him, as well as all who loved
him, and how well she must be acquainted with the affairs of the court,
since she had discovered all. There could be no doubt she owed this
information to the cardinal.

But amid all this he perceived, with a feeling of real joy, that the
queen must have discovered the prison in which poor Mme. Bonacieux was
explaining her devotion, and that she had freed her from that prison;
and the letter he had received from the young woman, and her passage
along the road of Chaillot like an apparition, were now explained.

Then also, as Athos had predicted, it became possible to find Mme.
Bonacieux, and a convent was not impregnable.

This idea completely restored clemency to his heart. He turned toward
the wounded man, who had watched with intense anxiety all the various
expressions of his countenance, and holding out his arm to him, said,
"Come, I will not abandon you thus. Lean upon me, and let us return to
the camp."

"Yes," said the man, who could scarcely believe in such magnanimity,
"but is it not to have me hanged?"

"You have my word," said he; "for the second time I give you your life."

The wounded man sank upon his knees, to again kiss the feet of his
preserver; but d'Artagnan, who had no longer a motive for staying so
near the enemy, abridged the testimonials of his gratitude.

The Guardsman who had returned at the first discharge announced the
death of his four companions. They were therefore much astonished and
delighted in the regiment when they saw the young man come back safe and
sound.

D'Artagnan explained the sword