He returns to each of the places where he left them, and finding them all safe, they return to Paris — only to discover that they must buy equipment for the king's next military maneuver: the siege of La Rochelle. Each of the musketeers must find some way of getting money — something they are always short of.
While pondering how to get some cash, d'Artagnan sees Milady by accident and is overwhelmed by her beauty; he follows her and tries to protect her from a bothersome man who turns out to be her brother-in-law. The brother-in-law challenges d'Artagnan to a duel and they fight. D'Artagnan overpowers him, but spares his life. In appreciation for his life, the brother-in-law — Lord de Winter — introduces d'Artagnan to Milady, Lady de Winter. Meanwhile, Milady's maid sees d'Artagnan and falls in love with him, and later she tells him that Milady is madly in love with Count de Wardes, the man whom d'Artagnan wounded just before sailing to London. She also gives d'Artagnan a love note which Milady has written to de Wardes. D'Artagnan is so furious that he forges de Wardes' signature on a return letter to Milady, arranging a dark, nighttime rendezvous with Milady. While she thinks that she's making love to de Wardes, d'Artagnan will be making passionate love to her.
The plan works, and afterward Milady is so satisfied that she gives d'Artagnan an elegant sapphire ring surrounded with diamonds, promising to have "that stupid d'Artagnan" killed for having wounded de Wardes, the man she thinks she's been making love to in the darkness.
Later, d'Artagnan is furious, and, in order to get revenge against her, he answers another love note of hers to de Wardes, signing de Wardes' name under a flippant reminder that Milady has to "wait her turn." Milady is so incensed that she asks d'Artagnan to kill de Wardes, and as prepayment she goes to bed with him. d'Artagnan is so enamored by Milady's loveliness that he impulsively reveals that this is not the first time that he has made love to her: earlier, when she thought that she was making love in the dark to de Wardes — she wasn't. D'Artagnan was in bed with her.
