“Oh, no, poor dear man! I knew very well that he was incapable of defending me; but as he could serve us in other ways, 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, Madame, if, guardsman 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 were at home?”
“Yes, yes! You are right,” cried the affrighted Madame Bonacieux; “let us fly! Let us save ourselves.”
At these words she passed her arm under that of d’Artagnan, and urged him forward eagerly.
“But whither shall we fly—whither escape?”
“Let us first withdraw from this house; afterward we shall see.”
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 Fossés-Monsieur-le-Prince, and did not stop till they came to the Place St. Sulpice.
“And now what are we to do, and where do you wish me to conduct you?” asked d’Artagnan.
“I am at quite a loss how to answer you, I admit,” said Madame Bonacieux. “My intention was to inform M. Laporte, through my husband, in order that M. Laporte might tell us precisely what had taken