Fatality — The Three Musketeers

Milady walks the deck like a lioness put to sea. She wants to throw herself overboard and get back to France. D'Artagnan has insulted her. Athos has threatened her. She has left without revenge. She begs the captain to put her ashore. He will not. He sits between French and English cruisers and wants England. He offers a Breton port if the sea allows. The wind is contrary. Nine days out she sees only the blue coast of Finisterre. Landing and crossing would cost four more days, thirteen in all. The cardinal would be furious at her return and would hear complaints against her before her own charges. She lets Lorient and Brest pass. On the day Planchet leaves Portsmouth for France, she enters that port in triumph. Buckingham stands on the jetty in gold and diamonds. She compares herself to Judith walking into an army with a few bags of gold.

A cutter puts an officer aboard. He reads papers, calls everyone on deck, and studies her without a word. Then he takes command. Night and fog close on the harbour. She shivers. He has her packages put in the boat and offers his hand. She asks who he is. He says he is an officer of the English navy, and that in war foreigners are taken to hotels under the eye of the government. She answers in a pure English accent that she is Lady Clarik, not a foreigner. He says the measure is general. A carriage waits. No one names a destination. Houses give way to trees. She cries for help. No voice answers. She tries the door. He tells her, coolly, that she will kill herself if she jumps. She collects her face and asks if he hates her. He swears he does not. He has never seen her before.

An iron gate opens on a severe castle above the sea. Bars and outside bolts settle the question: the room is a prison. Marines bring her trunks and leave without speaking. The officer works by whistle and gesture. She asks where she is and what crime she has committed. He says his orders ended when he brought her here. The rest concerns another person. Spurs sound on the stairs. Lord de Winter comes into the lamp light, hatless, with a sword and a handkerchief. She cries that it is her brother. The castle is his. The chamber is hers. She is nearly his prisoner. He will not hear high-sounding words. They will sit and chat as brother and sister. He thanks the officer and tells Mister Felton to leave them alone.