D’Artagnan decides to tell Treville the entire story of Constance Bonacieux’s abduction. Afterward, Treville is certain that the entire matter was conceived by the cardinal. He tells d’Artagnan to leave Paris as soon as possible.
When d’Artagnan returns to his apartment, he is accosted by old Bonacieux, who tries to question him about his recent whereabouts. D’Artagnan notices the mud on Bonacieux’s boots and is convinced that Bonacieux did indeed aid in kidnapping his own wife. Upstairs, Planchet tells d’Artagnan that the cardinal’s captain of the guard, Monsieur de Cavois, stopped by to extend an invitation to d’Artagnan to visit the cardinal. Planchet wisely told the captain that d’Artagnan was out of town. They decide to leave immediately.
At the inn where they left Porthos, d’Artagnan orders some wine, which he shares with the innkeeper while discreetly trying to learn the whereabouts of Porthos. He learns that Porthos fought a duel and was seriously wounded, that he lost all of his money gambling, and that he has run up a large bill which he can’t pay. In addition, Porthos gave the innkeeper a letter to be posted to Porthos’s “duchess.” The innkeeper ordered his servant to deliver the letter in person and discovered that the “duchess” was only Madame Coquenard—a plain, fiftyish, lawyer’s wife.
When d’Artagnan goes to see Porthos, he pretends that he knows nothing about the dueling wound and listens attentively as Porthos fabricates a story about his tripping and hurting his knee. Obviously, he is being well cared for by his servant, Mousqueton, who knows all about poaching and getting wine by lassoing it through a small window. D’Artagnan bids farewell and tells Porthos that he will be back, about eight days later.
Lost in thought, d’Artagnan arrives at the inn in Crevecoeur where they left Aramis. He is told by the congenial hostess that Aramis is still there—at present, entertaining the local curate and the superior of the local Jesuits. When d’Artagnan approaches, Aramis’s servant tries to block the door; Bazin is anxious to serve a religious master, and he fears that d’Artagnan will lure Aramis away from his current religious meditations and commitments.
When d’Artagnan enters the room, he is stunned by the stark simplicity of the room—only religious objects are to be seen. Aramis tries to draw d’Artagnan into a ridiculously esoteric religious question concerning whether a priest should bless the congregation with one hand, with two hands, or with his fingers. After the priests leave, Aramis tells d’Artagnan that he has foresworn the world, that he hates all wordly ties, that his friends are but shadows, that love has no meaning to him, and that the world is a tomb.
Aramis then confesses to d’Artagnan that he was brought up in a seminary and that everyone fully expected that he would become a priest. When he was nineteen, however, while he was reading to a beautiful young lady, he was ordered out of the house and threatened by another guest, a young officer who was jealous of the attention which the young lady bestowed upon Aramis. Aramis left the seminary, took fencing lessons for a year, tracked down the officer, challenged him, and killed him. Now he plans to return to the seminary.
Teasingly, d’Artagnan tells Aramis that if he is determined to return to a life of celibacy, he probably won’t be interested in a perfumed letter that is sealed with a duchess’s coronet and comes from the household of Madame de Chevreuse. Suddenly, Aramis has a change of heart. He grabs the letter, reads it, and becomes ecstatic. He embraces d’Artagnan—and all worldly matters. He can hardly wait to rejoin the musketeers. He tries to mount the magnificent horse that d’Artagnan brought him, but he is still too weak to ride, so d’Artagnan leaves him at the inn to practice riding until he is stronger.
D’Artagnan then rides on to find Athos, the musketeer for whom he has a special liking because Athos carries himself with such proud, noble grace and conducts himself with such aristocratic authority.
Remembering that the innkeeper accused Athos of trying to pass counterfeit money, d’Artagnan is filled with fresh indignation and anger when he arrives. The innkeeper begs to be listened to; he explains that he had been forewarned by the authorities that some men who fit the musketeers’ descriptions were expected in the neighborhood and that they were criminals disguised as musketeers. He received a description of their uniforms, their servants, and their facial features. He tells d’Artagnan that Athos killed one of the men in the inn and seriously wounded two more; then he barricaded himself in the basement and threatened to kill anyone who tried to get near him. The innkeeper went to the police, but they wouldn’t help him because the instructions concerning the fraudulent musketeers did not come from them. They refused to interfere and arrest someone who might be one of the King’s Musketeers.
Athos remained in the basement, and now he has drunk over a hundred and fifty bottles of wine, he has eaten all the hams and sausages in the basement, and the innkeeper is almost financially ruined. Amends are finally made, however, and d’Artagnan and Athos leave Athos’s old horse with the innkeeper to compensate his losses.
At supper that night, Athos becomes very drunk and tells d’Artagnan who is bemoaning the fate of his beloved Constance Bonacieux, about his own misfortunes in love. Pretending that he is telling the story of “a young friend,” he explains that this “friend” once met a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl, fell in love with her and married her; later, while the “friend” and his young wife were out riding, she fell and, while trying to help her regain consciousness, the “friend” loosened the upper part of her dress and discovered that she had been branded on the shoulder with a fleur-de-lis, a sign that she was a convicted criminal. Athos says that his “friend” immediately hanged his young wife.
