- D’Artagnan runs home. It is now three o’clock in the morning.
- D’Artagnan runs back to his apartment (where Planchet has returned from London), and asks if anyone has brought a letter.
- Planchet says no, but that a letter has mysteriously appeared. He found a letter in D’Artagnan’s bedroom and left it untouched. He thinks it’s unnatural and warns D’Artagnan that it is evil.
- D’Artagnan rushes over and opens the letter.
- It tells D’Artagnan to go to a pavilion in St. Cloud at ten o’clock.
- D’Artagnan is overcome with joy, but Planchet gets worried.
- D’Artagnan gives Planchet some money. It doesn’t appease Planchet, however, because he still wants to know where the letter came from and what it said.
- D’Artagnan says it came from heaven.
- D’Artagnan goes to bed snuggling his letter.
- At seven in the morning, D’Artagnan leaves the house and tells Planchet that he will return at seven in the evening and he expects two horses to be ready.
- Planchet is not happy; he is convinced they’re about to go off on another dangerous adventure.
- The two argue some more, and D’Artagnan wins by questioning Planchet’s manliness.
- D’Artagnan leaves, but on his way out bumps into Monsieur Bonacieux.
- They start talking about Bonacieux’s brief stint in jail. Bonacieux then asks where D’Artagnan has been the past few days, and D’Artagnan replies that he has been on a journey with his friends. D’Artagnan tells his landlord not to worry if he stays out all night. Bonacieux turns pale and tries to excuse his violent reaction. He then tells D’Artagnan that his wife is spending the night at the palace.
- The two finally part, D’Artagnan having failed to notice during their conversation that Bonacieux may have been up to something.
- D’Artagnan visits Tréville and discusses the previous night. The Cardinal had been really angry and had left early, but the King and Queen had danced until six in the morning.
- Tréville then inquires into D’Artagnan’s well being. He warns D’Artagnan that the Cardinal is angry and wants to know who thwarted his plan of embarrassing the Queen.
- Tréville notices D’Artagnan’s diamond ring; D’Artagnan explains that the ring is from the Queen.
- Tréville advises him to sell it. He warns D’Artagnan that the ring will give him away—he has to be on his guard.
- D’Artagnan asks if he should look out for anything in particular, but Tréville says that the Cardinal has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve. He tells D’Artagnan that the least he can expect is arrest. Finally Tréville tells D’Artagnan to trust no one—especially his mistress.
- D’Artagnan blushes.
- Tréville says that the Cardinal’s favorite means of bringing down a man is through a beautiful woman. D’Artagnan thinks of Madame Bonacieux but does not suspect her at all.
- Tréville changes the subject and asks how D’Artagnan’s three friends are doing. D’Artagnan has no idea. (To recap: Porthos was last seen fighting a duel at Chantilly, Aramis was left recuperating at Crèvecoeur, and Athos had to fight accusations of forgery at Amiens.)
- D’Artagnan himself only barely escaped by fighting the Comte de Wardes. Tréville notes that De Wardes is Rochefort’s cousin and one of the Cardinal’s men.
- Tréville suggests that D’Artagnan seek out his three friends.
- D’Artagnan says he will leave tomorrow, which immediately rouses Tréville’s suspicion, and he again cautions D’Artagnan to be wary of women.
- D’Artagnan leaves Tréville feeling touched by the man’s concern.
- He visits each of his friends’ homes, but there is no new information. D’Artagnan then finds Planchet grooming the horses. Planchet asks his master if he trusts Monsieur Bonacieux, and notes that D’Artagnan changed color several times throughout the course of their conversation. Planchet says that Bonacieux left right after D’Artagnan, only heading in the opposite direction.
- D’Artagnan refuses to Planchet’s warnings seriously, and is determined to keep his ten o’clock appointment.
- He instructs Planchet to be ready by nine o’clock.
- D’Artagnan, being cautious, visits a Gascon priest for dinner instead of returning home.