For two days, d'Artagnan stays away from Milady; on the third day, Milady sends Kitty with a note asking d'Artagnan to call. That night, he goes to her house and instantly he notices that her face seems ravaged with torment. Even though he knows that she is a wicked woman who casts evil, hypnotic spells on men, d'Artagnan finds himself once again under her spell. He believed that his love for her was extinguished, but now he knows that it was only smoldering. Now he feels as if he would risk damnation for her smile. Milady, knowing that he loves her, asks if he will do something for her, and d'Artagnan promises that he will do anything for her.
Milady says that she has an enemy ("a mortal enemy") — but just as she is about to speak the enemy's name, d'Artagnan speaks it for her. When she inquires how he knows the man's name, he lies to her. He says that de Wardes was bragging about his seductive success with Milady and showing everyone the ring that she gave him. This revelation incenses Milady, but since d'Artagnan is going to kill de Wardes in a duel, she promises d'Artagnan sexual satisfaction that evening at eleven.
Milady's kisses are as cold as stone, but d'Artagnan is nonetheless passionately and blindly in love with her. His youth, his pride, his vanity, and his mad passion make him believe that Milady loves him. Later, after they have made love for two hours, Milady wants to discuss her revenge against de Wardes. At this point, d'Artagnan reveals that it was he and not de Wardes who made love to her in the dark last week, and that it is he who has the valuable ring.
D'Artagnan has never seen such violent hatred in a woman as that which erupts within Milady. She attacks him and during a struggle, her negligee is torn, revealing a fleur-de-lis, the mark of a convicted criminal, indelibly branded on one of her smooth white shoulders. Milady has only one thought: "Now he knew her secret, her terrible secret that no one else knew." Knowing that d'Artagnan must be killed, Milady attacks the half-naked youth with a knife. d'Artagnan is terror-stricken at Milady's face, now contorted by hatred, fury, and revenge; her lips are blood-red and her pupils are horribly dilated. Suddenly Kitty opens the door and d'Artagnan is able to escape — after quickly slipping into women's clothes.
