The Man in the Red Cloak — The Three Musketeers

Athos's grief turns clear and hard. He has promised to answer for Milady, so he works the map. Four roads run from Béthune to Armentières. He sends Planchet, Grimaud, Bazin, and Mousqueton at daybreak, each by a different way, because lackeys draw less fear than masters and because Milady knows the gentlemen, not the servants. Three will hold a found retreat. One will ride back as guide.

Then he walks the night town asking for a house people will not name. A late walker, a watchman, and a beggar all point and recoil. The beggar leads him to a solitary house painted red, dark as a tomb. A tall pale man opens at the third knock and takes him into a laboratory of bones, bottled snakes, and dried lizards. Athos asks a service. The man starts back in terror and refuses. Athos shows two lines, a signature, and a seal. The tall man bows and says he is ready to obey. Athos goes home without another word.

At dawn D'Artagnan asks what is to be done. Athos says to wait. The nuns will bury Constance at midday. Athos skips the chapel, follows small footprints through the garden into the wood, and finds blood and a halt near Festubert where she entered the chaise. Planchet has gone farther: the wounded courier stopped, the woman changed horses, and by night she was alone at the Post in Armentières, asking to stay. The lackeys already watch the doors. At eight Athos orders the horses. Five men arm and wait. He says one of the party is still wanting, gallops off, and returns with a tall man, masked and wrapped in a large red cloak. Nobody knows the sixth rider. They trust Athos enough to follow. At nine, Planchet leads six silent men along the road the carriage took.