The Three Musketeers by Debbie Felder

Author:Debbie Felder [Dumas, Alexandre]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-80428-0
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

ATHOS’ SECRET

D’Artagnan was placed on guard duty at the palace for the next few days. One day, as he was on his way home, he spotted a carriage. A man was trying to pull a beautiful blond young woman out the window.

D’Artagnan drew his sword and rushed toward the carriage, shouting, “You there! Take your hands off that woman!”

The woman glanced at d’Artagnan. Then she whispered to her attacker, “Go, quickly! You’ve played your part well.”

The man ran off and disappeared down a side street. D’Artagnan hurried over to the carriage.

“Are you hurt, Madame?” he asked, recognizing her as Milady de Winter.

“Oh, no, Monsieur,” said Milady. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. How can I reward you?”

“I am rewarded by seeing that you are safe,” d’Artagnan said with a bow.

“You are a very gallant young man,” Milady said, smiling. “I would be pleased if you would call on me later. Here is my name and address.”

“I will be honored, Madame,” said d’Artagnan.

The coachman cracked his whip, and the carriage drove off. D’Artagnan continued on to Athos’ house, where he was staying.

He told Athos what had just happened.

“Beware of her, my friend,” said Athos. “Didn’t you tell me that she is one of the cardinal’s spies?”

“Yes,” d’Artagnan replied. “Perhaps I can learn something from her about his plans. Besides, she is very beautiful.”

“Never trust a woman like that, beautiful or not.” Athos looked at d’Artagnan for a moment. Then he said, “Let me tell you what a beautiful woman did to a friend of mine.

“This man was the Count de la Fère. He was a rich, young nobleman who could have married any woman he chose. But he fell in love with a young woman who was beautiful and poor. She had just come to live in his province. He knew nothing about her.

“La Fère gave her his name, his wealth, and his love. But he was a fool!”

“Why, if he loved her?” asked d’Artagnan.

“One day he found out a terrible secret about her. They were out riding. She fell from her horse, and her dress slipped down over her shoulder. There, burned into her bare shoulder, was a lily. She had been branded as a criminal by the public executioner!”

“What did the count do?” d’Artagnan asked.

“The law allowed him to put her to death. So he hanged her from a tree.”

Athos buried his face in his hands. Then he raised his head and stared straight ahead. “And that cured me of trusting beautiful women,” he muttered.

D’Artagnan had suspected that the count in the story was Athos himself. Now he was sure.

“I am sorry for you, my friend,” he said gently. “But I do not believe that I have anything to fear from Milady. I’m going to call on her now.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.