“You villain, will you finish?” cried d’Artagnan, “Athos—­what has become of Athos?”

“While fighting and retreating, as I have told Monseigneur, he found the door of the cellar stairs behind him, and as the door was open, he took out the key, and barricaded himself inside.  As we were sure of finding him there, we left him alone.”

“Yes,” said d’Artagnan, “you did not really wish to kill; you only wished to imprison him.”

“Good God!  To imprison him, monseigneur?  Why, he imprisoned himself, I swear to you he did.  In the first place he had made rough work of it; one man was killed on the spot, and two others were severely wounded.  The dead man and the two wounded were carried off by their comrades, and I have heard nothing of either of them since.  As for myself, as soon as I recovered my senses I went to Monsieur the Governor, to whom I related all that had passed, and asked, what I should do with my prisoner.  Monsieur the Governor was all astonishment.  He told me he knew nothing about the matter, that the orders I had received did not come from him, and that if I had the audacity to mention his name as being concerned in this disturbance he would have me hanged.  It appears that I had made a mistake, monsieur, that I had arrested the wrong person, and that he whom I ought to have arrested had escaped.”

“But Athos!” cried d’Artagnan, whose impatience was increased by the disregard of the authorities, “Athos, where is he?”

“As I was anxious to repair the wrongs I had done the prisoner,” resumed the innkeeper, “I took my way straight to the cellar in order to set him at liberty.  Ah, monsieur, he was no longer a man, he was a devil!  To my offer of liberty, he replied that it was nothing but a snare, and that before he came out he intended to impose his own conditions.  I told him very humbly—­for I could not conceal from myself the scrape I had got into by laying hands on one of his Majesty’s Musketeers—­I told him I was quite ready to submit to his conditions.

“‘In the first place,’ said he, ’I wish my lackey placed with me, fully armed.’  We hastened to obey this order; for you will please to understand, monsieur, we were disposed to do everything your friend could desire.  Monsieur Grimaud (he told us his name, although he does not talk much)—­Monsieur Grimaud, then, went down to the cellar, wounded as he was; then his master, having admitted him, barricaded the door afresh, and ordered us to remain quietly in our own bar.”

“But where is Athos now?” cried d’Artagnan.  “Where is Athos?”

“In the cellar, monsieur.”

“What, you scoundrel!  Have you kept him in the cellar all this time?”

“Merciful heaven!  No, monsieur!  We keep him in the cellar!  You do not know what he is about in the cellar.  Ah!  If you could but persuade him to come out, monsieur, I should owe you the gratitude of my whole life; I should adore you as my patron saint!”