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Chapter X
Chapter X
A Mouse-Trap In The Seventeenth Century
The invention of the mouse-trap does not date from our days; as soon as
societies, in forming, had invented any kind of police, that police in its
turn, invented mouse-traps.
As perhaps our readers are not familiar with the slang of the Rue de
Jerusalem, and that it is fifteen years since we applied this word, for the
first time, to this thing, allow us to explain to them what a mouse-trap is.
When in a house, of whatever kind it may be, an individual suspected of
any crime be arrested, the arrest is held secret; four or five men are placed
in ambuscade, in the first apartment, the door is opened to all that knock,
it is closed after them, and they are arrested: so that at the end of two or
three days they have in their power almost all the familiars of the
establishment. And that is a mouse-trap.
The apartment of Master Bonacieux then became a mouse-trap, and whoever
appeared there was taken and interrogated by the cardinal`s people. It must
be observed that as a private passage led to the first floor, in which
D`Artagnan lodged, those who called to see him were exempted from this.
Besides, nobody came thither but the three musketeers; they had all been
engaged in earnest search and inquiries, but had discovered nothing. Athos
had even gone so far as to question M. de Treville, a thing which,
considering the habitual mutism of the worthy musketeer, had very much
astonished his captain. But M. de Treville knew nothing, except that the
last time he had seen the cardinal, the king and the queen, the cardinal
looked very thoughtful, the king uneasy, and the redness of the queen`s eyes
denoted that she had been deprived of sleep, or had been weeping. But this
last circumstance was not at all striking, as the queen, since her marriage,
had slept badly and wept much.
M. de Treville requested Athos, whatever might happen, to be observant
of his duty to the king, but more particularly to the queen, begging him to
convey his desires to his comrades.
As to D`Artagnan, he did not stir from his apartment. He converted his
chamber into an observatory. From his windows he saw all come who were
caught; then, having removed some of the boarding of his floor, and nothing
remaining but a simple ceiling between him and the room beneath, in which the
interrogatories were made, he heard all that passed between the inquisitors
and the accused.
The interrogatories, preceded by a minute search operated upon the
persons arrested, were almost all thus conceived.
"Has Madame Bonacieux sent anything to you for her husband, or any other
person?
"Has Monsieur Bonacieux sent anything to you for his wife, or for any
other person?
"Has either the one or the other confided anything to you by word of
mouth?"
"If they were acquainted with anything, they would not question people
in this manner," said D`Artagnan to himself. "Now, what is it they want to
know? Why, if the Duke of Buckingham is in Paris, and if he has not had, or
is not to have, some interview with the queen."
D`Artagnan was satisfied with this idea, which, after all he had heard,
was not wanting in probability.
In the meantime, the mouse-trap continued in operation, as likewise did
D`Artagnan`s vigilance.
On the evening of the day after the arrest of poor Bonacieux, as Athos
had just left D`Artagnan to go to M. de Treville`s as nine o`clock had just
struck, and as Planchet, who had not yet made the bed, was beginning his
task, a knocking was heard at the street-door; the door was instantly opened
and shut: some one was taken in the mouse-trap.
D`Artagnan flew to his hole, and laid himself down on the floor at full
length to listen.
Cries were soon heard, and then moans, which some one appeared to be
endeavoring to stifle. There were no interrogatories.
"The devil!" said D`Artagnan to himself, "it`s a woman - they are
searching her - she resists - they use force - the scoundrels!"
In spite of all his prudence, D`Artagnan restrained himself with great
difficulty from taking a part in the scene that was going on below.
"But I tell you that I am the mistress of the house, gentlemen! I tell
you I am Madame Bonacieux - I tell you I belong to the queen!" said the
unfortunate woman.
"Madame Bonacieux!" murmured D`Artagnan; "can I have been so lucky as
to have found what everybody is seeking for?"
The voice became more and more indistinct; a tumultuous movement shook
the wainscoting. The victim resisted as much as a woman could resist four
men.
"Pardon, gentlemen - par - " murmured the voice, which could now be only
heard in inarticulate sounds.
"They are binding her, they are going to drag her away," cried
D`Artagnan to himself, springing up from the floor. "My sword! good, it is
by my side. Planchet!"
"Monsieur."
"Run and seek Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. One of the three will
certainly be at home, perhaps all three are. Tell them to arm, to come here,
and be quick! Ah! I remember, Athos is at M. de Treville`s."
"But where are you going, monsieur, where are you going?"
"I am going down by the window, in order to be there the sooner," cried
D`Artagnan: "on your part, put back the boards, sweep the floor, go out at
the door, and run where I bid you."
"Oh! monsieur! monsieur! you will kill yourself," cried Planchet.
"Hold your tongue, you stupid fellow," said D`Artagnan, and laying hold
of the window-frame, he let himself gently down, and the height not being
great, he did not sustain the least injury.
He then went straight to the door and knocked, murmuring:
"I will go myself and be caught in the mouse-trap, but woe be to the
cats that shall pounce upon such a mouse!"
The knocker had scarcely sounded under the hand of the young man, than
the tumult ceased, steps approached, the door was opened, and D`Artagnan,
sword in hand, rushed into the apartment of Master Bonacieux, the door of
which, doubtless, acted upon by a spring, closed after him.
Then those who dwelt in Bonacieux`s unfortunate house, together with the
nearest neighbors, heard loud cries, stamping of feet, clashing of swords,
and breaking of furniture. Then, a moment after, such as, surprised by this
tumult, had gone to their windows to learn the cause of it, could see the
door open, and four men, clothed in black, not come out of it, but fly, like
so many frightened crows, leaving on the ground, and on the corners of the
furniture, feathers from their wings; that is to say, portions of their
clothes and fragments of their cloaks.
D`Artagnan was conqueror, without much trouble, it must be confessed,
for only one of the alguazils was armed, and defended himself for form`s
sake. It is true that the three others had endeavored to knock the young man
down with chairs, stools, and crockery ware; but two or three scratches made
by the Gascon`s blade terrified them. Ten minutes had sufficed for their
defeat, and D`Artagnan remained master of the field of battle.
The neighbors who had opened their windows, with sang froid peculiar to
the inhabitants of Paris in these times of perpetual riots and disturbances,
closed them again as soon as they saw the four men in black fly away: their
instinct telling them that, for the moment, all was over.
Besides, it began to grow late, and then, as at the present day, people
went to bed early in the quarter of the Luxembourg.
On being left alone with Madame Bonacieux, D`Artagnan turned toward her;
the poor woman reclined, where she had been left, upon a fauteuil, in a
half-fainting state. D`Artagnan examined her with a rapid but an earnest
glance.
She was a charming woman, of about twenty-five years of age, dark hair,
blue eyes, and a nose slightly turned up, admirable teeth and a complexion
marbled with rose and opal. There, however, stopped the signs which might
have confounded her with a lady of rank. The hands were white, but without
delicacy: the feet did not bespeak the woman of quality. Fortunately
D`Artagnan was, as yet, not acquainted with such niceties.
While D`Artagnan was examining Madame Bonacieux, and was, as we have
said, close to her, he saw on the ground a fine cambric handkerchief, which
he mechanically picked up, and at the corner of which he recognized the same
cipher that he had seen on the handkerchief which had nearly caused him and
Aramis to cut each other`s throats.
From that time D`Artagnan had been cautious with respect to
handkerchiefs with arms on them, and he therefore placed the one he had just
picked up in Madame Bonacieux`s pocket.
At that moment Madame Bonacieux recovered her senses. She opened her
eyes, looked around her with terror, saw that the apartment was empty, and
that she was alone with her liberator. She immediately held out her hands
to him with a smile - Madame Bonacieux had the sweetest smile in the world!
"Ah! monsieur!" said she, "you have saved me: permit me to thank you."
"Madame," said D`Artagnan, "I have only done what every gentleman would
have done in my place - you owe me no thanks."
"Oh! yes, monsieur, oh! yes; and I hope to prove to you that you have
not served an ingrate. But what could these men, whom I at first took for
robbers, want with me, and why is M. Bonacieux not here?"
"Madame, those men were much more dangerous than any robbers could have
been, for they are the agents of M. the Cardinal: and as to your husband, M.
Bonacieux, he is not here, because he was yesterday evening taken away to the
Bastille."
"My husband in the Bastille!" cried Madame Bonacieux. "Oh! good God!
what can he have done? Poor dear man! he is innocence itself!"
And something like a faint smile glided over the still terrified
features of the young woman.
"What has he done, madame?" said D`Artagnan. "I believe that his only
crime is to have at the same time the good fortune and the misfortune be to
your husband."
"But, monsieur, you know then - "
"I know that you have been carried off, madame."
"And by whom? Do you know? Oh! if you know, tell me!"
"By a man of from forty to forty-five years of age, with black hair, a
dark complexion, and a scar on his left temple."
"That is he, that is he; but his name?"
"Ah! his name? I do not know that."
"And did my husband know I had been carried off?"
"He was informed of it by a letter written to him by the ravisher
himself."
"And does he suspect," said Madame Bonacieux, with some embarrassment,
"the cause of this event?"
"He attributed it, I believe, to a political cause."
"I suspected so myself at first, and now I think entirely as he does.
My dear M. Bonacieux has not then for an instant suspected me?"
"So far from it, madame, he was too proud of your prudence, and
particularly of your love."
A second smile stole almost imperceptibly over the rosy lips of the
pretty young woman."
"But," continued D`Artagnan, "how did you escape?"
"I took advantage of a moment at which they left me alone; and as I knew
from this morning what to think of my abduction, with the help of the sheets
I let myself down from the window; then, as I concluded my husband would be
at home, I hastened hither."
"To place yourself under his protection?"
"Oh! no, poor dear man! I knew very well that he was incapable of
defending me; but, as he could be otherwise useful to us, I wished to inform
him."
"Of what?"
"Oh! that is not my secret; I must not, therefore, tell you."
"Besides," said D`Artagnan - "pardon me, madam, if, guard as I am, I
remind you of prudence - besides, I believe we are not here in a very proper
place for imparting confidences. The men I have put to flight will return
reinforced; if they find us here, we are lost. I have sent for three of my
friends, but who knows whether they may at home?"
"Yes! yes! you are right," cried the terrified Madame Bonacieux; "let
us fly! let us save ourselves."
At these words she passed her arm under that of D`Artagnan, and pulled
him forward eagerly.
"But whither shall we fly? whither escape to?"
"Let us in the first place get away from this house; when clear of it
we shall see."
And the young woman and the young man, without taking the trouble to
shut the door after them, descended the Rue des Fossoyeurs rapidly, turned
into the Rue des Fosses-Monsieur-le-Prince, and did not stop till they came
to the Place-Saint-Surpree.
"And now, what are we to do, and whither do you wish me to conduct you?"
asked D`Artagnan.
"I am quite at a loss how to answer you, I confess," said Madame
Bonacieux; "my intention was to inform M. Laporte, by means of my husband,
in order that M. Laporte might tell us exactly what has taken place at the
Louvre in the course of the last three days, and whether there were any
danger in presenting myself there."
"But I," said D`Artagnan, "can go and inform M. Laporte."
"No doubt you could; only there is one misfortune in it, and that is
that M. Bonacieux is known at the Louvre, and would be allowed to pass;
whereas you are not known there, and the gate would be closed against you."
"Ah! bah!" said D`Artagnan; "there is no doubt you have at some wicket
of the Louvre a concierge who is devoted to you, and who, thanks to a
password, would - "
Madame Bonacieux looked earnestly at the young man.
"And if I give you this password," said she, "would you forget it as
soon as you had made use of it?"
"Parole d`honneur! by the faith of a gentleman!" said D`Artagnan, with
an accent so truthful no one could mistake it.
"Then, I believe you; you appear to be a brave young man; besides, your
fortune, perhaps, is at the end of your devotedness."
"I will do, without a promise, and voluntarily all that I can do to
serve the king and be agreeable to the queen: dispose of me, then, as a
friend."
"But I? where shall I go in the meanwhile?"
"Do you know no one from whose house M. Laporte can come and fetch you?"
"No, I know no one to whom I dare trust."
"Stop," said D`Artagnan; "we are near Athos` door. Yes, here it is."
"Who is this Athos?"
"One of my friends."
"But, if he should be at home, and see me?"
"He is not at home, and I will carry away the key, after having placed
you in his apartment."
"But if he should return?"
"Oh! he won`t return; and if he should, he will be told that I have
brought a lady with me, and that lady is in his apartment."
"But that will compromise me sadly, you know."
"Of what consequence can it be to you? nobody knows you! besides, we
are in a situation in which we must not be too particular."
"Come, then, let us go to your friend`s house; where does he live?"
"Rue Ferou, within two steps."
"Come, then!"
And both resumed their way. As D`Artagnan had foreseen, Athos was not
at home; he took the key, which was customarily given him as one of the
family, ascended the stairs, and introduced Madame Bonacieux in to the little
apartment of which we gave a description.
"Here, make yourself at home," said he, "wait here, fasten the door
within, and open it to nobody unless you hear three taps like these;" and he
tapped thrice; "two taps close together and pretty hard, the other at a
considerable distance and more light."
"That is all well," said Madame Bonacieux; "now, in my turn, let me give
you my orders."
"I am all attention."
"Present yourself at the wicket of the Louvre, on the side of the Rue
de l`Echelle, and ask for Germain."
"Well; and then?"
"He will ask you what you want, and you will answer by these two words
- Tours and Bruxelles. He will immediately be at your command."
"And what shall I order him to do?"
"To go and fetch M. Laporte, the queen`s valet de chambre."
"And when he shall have informed him, and M. Laporte is come?"
"You will send him to me."
"That is all very well; but where and how shall I see you again?"
"Do you, then, wish much - to see me again?"
"Certainly, I do."
"Well, let that care be mine, and be at ease."
"I depend upon your word."
"You may."
D`Artagnan bowed to Madame Bonacieux, darting at her the most loving
glance that he could possibly concentrate upon her charming little person;
and while he descended the stairs, he heard the door closed and
double-locked. In two bounds he was at the Louvre: as he entered the wicket
of l`Echelle, ten o`clock struck. All the events we have described had taken
place within an hour.
Everything fell out as Madame Bonacieux said it would On hearing the
password Germain bowed; in a few minutes Laporte was at the lodge; in two
words D`Artagnan informed him where Madame Bonacieux was. Laporte assured
himself, by having it twice repeated, of the exactitude of the address, and
set off at a run. He had, however, scarcely got ten steps before he
returned.
"Young man," said he to D`Artagnan, "I have a piece of advice to give
you."
"What is it?"
"You may get into trouble by what has taken place."
"Do you think so?"
"Yes. Have you any friend whose clock is too slow?"
"What then?"
"Go and call upon him, in order that he may give evidence of your having
been with him at half-past nine. In a court of justice that is called an
alibi."
D`Artagnan found his advice prudent he took to his heels, and was soon
at M. de Treville`s; but instead of passing to the saloon with the rest of
the world, he required to be introduced to M. de Treville`s closet. As
D`Artagnan so constantly frequented the hotel, no difficulty was made in
complying with his request, and a servant went to inform M. de Treville that
his young compatriot, having something important to communicate, solicited
a private audience. Five minutes after M. de Treville was asking D`Artagnan
what he could do to serve him, and what caused his visit at so late an hour.
"Pardon me, monsieur," said D`Artagnan, who had profited by the moment
he had been left alone to put back M. de Treville`s clock three-quarters of
an hour, "but I thought, as it was yet only twenty minutes past nine, it was
not too late to wait upon you."
"Twenty minutes past nine!" cried M. de Treville, looking at the clock;
"why, that`s impossible!"
"Look, ratheri monsieur," said D`Artagnan, "the clock shows it."
"That`s true," said M. de Treville; "I should have thought it had been
later. But what can I do for you?"
Then D`Artagnan told M. de Treville a long history about the queen. He
expressed to him the fears he entertained with respect to her majesty; he
related to him what he had heard of the projects of the cardinal with regard
to Buckingham; and all with a tranquillity and sereneness of which M. de
Treville was the more the dupe, from having himself, as we have said observed
something fresh between the cardinal, the king, and the queen.
As ten o`clock was striking, D`Artagnan left M. de Treville, who thanked
him for his information, recommended him to have the service of the king and
queen always at heart, and returned to the saloon. But at the foot of the
stairs, D`Artagnan remembered he had forgotten his cane: he consequently
sprang up again, re-entered the closet, with a turn of his finger set the
clock right again, that it might not be perceived the next day that it had
been put wrong, and certain from that time that he had a witness to prove
his alibi, he ran downstairs and soon gained the street.
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