The Three Musketeers (The Modern Library) - Alexandre Dumas [76]
“You are accused of high treason,” he said slowly.
“So I have been told, Monseigneur.” Bonacieux was careful to address his questioner by the title he had heard the officer use. “But I swear I know nothing of all this.”
“You have plotted with your wife,” the Cardinal repressed a smile, “with Madame de Chevreuse and with My Lord Duke of Buckingham.”
“No, Monseigneur, but I have heard my wife mention those names.”
“Under what circumstances?”
“I heard my wife say that the Cardinal de Richelieu lured the Duke of Buckingham to Paris in order to ruin both him and the Queen.”
“Your wife said that?” the Cardinal demanded.
“Yes, Monseigneur. But I told her she was wrong to talk about such things. I said that His Eminence was incapable—”
“Hold your tongue, fool!”
“That is exactly what my wife said, Monseigneur.”
“Do you know who abducted your wife?”
“No, Monseigneur.”
“Yet you have suspicions.”
“Ay, Monseigneur, I had suspicions. But I dismissed them after talking with Monsieur le Commissaire.”
“Your wife escaped. Did you know that?”
“I learned it in prison, Monseigneur. I was told of it by Monsieur le Commissaire, a most kindly and understanding gentleman.”
Again the Cardinal repressed a smile:
“Then you are ignorant of what has happened to your wife since her flight?”
“Ay, Monseigneur. Doubtless she returned to the Louvre.”
“She had not returned by one o’clock this morning.”
“Ah God! What can have happened to her?”
“We shall find out, you may be sure. No one can conceal anything from the Cardinal. The Cardinal knows everything.”
“In that case, Monseigneur, do you think the Cardinal would kindly tell me what has happened to my wife?”
“He may and he may not. First, you must confess all you know of your wife’s relations with Madame de Chevreuse.”
“Monseigneur, I know nothing at all. I have never seen Madame de Chev—”
“When you went to call for your wife at the Louvre, did you always take her straight home?”
“Almost never. She always had to do some shopping. I usually left her at the draper’s.”
“What draper’s?”
“There were two, Monseigneur.”
“Where did they live?”
“One in the Rue de Vaugirard, the other in the Rue de La Harpe.”
“Did you accompany your wife into these houses?”
“Never, Monseigneur. I used to wait at the door.”
“What excuse did she give you for going in alone?”
“She gave me no excuse. She told me to wait and I waited.”
“What an accommodating husband you are, Monsieur Bonacieux!”
The haberdasher thrilled as he heard himself addressed by name. Things seemed to be going better; perhaps his trouble was clearing up.
“Would you recognize the doors of these houses?”
“Certainly.”
“Where exactly are these drapers’ establishments?”
“Number 25 Rue de Vaugirard, Number 75 Rue de La Harpe.”
“Excellent!” the Cardinal commented. Then he took up a silver bell, rang it and, addressing an officer who appeared immediately:
“Find out if Rochefort is here,” he whispered. “If so, send him in at once.”
“The Comte de Rochefort is here and craves immediate audience with Your Eminence.”
(“Your Eminence,” Bonacieux thought, his eyes agoggle.)
Five seconds later, the door opened, a person entered—
“That’s the man,” Bonacieux cried.
“The man?”
“That’s the man who abducted my wife.”
His Eminence again shook the silver bell. The officer reappeared:
“Hand this fellow over to the guards. I shall want him presently.”
“No, no, Monseigneur, it is not the man . . . I made a mistake . . . I was thinking of another man who does not look like this gentleman at all . . . This gentleman here is a respectable man. . . .”
“Take away this idiot,” the Cardinal said curtly. Once again Bonacieux found an officer picking him up bodily and conveying him forcibly to a pair of guards.
The gentleman whose entrance caused Bonacieux’s dismissal watched his exit impatiently. As soon as the door closed, he turned to the Cardinal:
“They saw each other,” he whispered.
“You mean—?”
“The Queen .