The Three Musketeers · Chapter
X: A Mousetrap in the Seventeenth Century explained
D'Artagnan, hearing Madame Bonacieux's cries from the adjacent room, rescues her from four men sent by the Cardinal.
What happens
D'Artagnan, hearing Madame Bonacieux's cries from the adjacent room, rescues her from four men sent by the Cardinal. After a brief struggle, he defeats them and helps her escape. They discuss her abduction and her husband's imprisonment, and D'Artagnan later visits M. de Tréville to establish an alibi by tampering with the clock.
Themes in this chapter
Courage and Heroism
D'Artagnan risks his life by leaping from a window and fighting four armed men to rescue Madame Bonacieux.
Deception and Disguise
D'Artagnan manipulates M. de Tréville's clock to create a false alibi, demonstrating cunning and deceit.
Power and Politics
The Cardinal's agents act with impunity, and the abduction is tied to political intrigues involving the queen and Buckingham.
Characters to notice
- D'Artagnan
Rescues Madame Bonacieux from the Cardinal's agents and later creates an alibi by adjusting M. de Tréville's clock.
- Constance Bonacieux
Rescued by D'Artagnan; she recounts her escape from abduction and seeks to inform M. Laporte about events at the Louvre.
- Planchet
Sent by D'Artagnan to fetch Athos, Porthos, and Aramis for assistance.
- M. de Tréville
D'Artagnan visits him to establish an alibi; Tréville is deceived by the altered clock.
- Monsieur Bonacieux
Mentioned as having been taken to the Bastille the previous evening.
Key passages
“I belong to the queen!” cried the unfortunate woman. “Madame Bonacieux!” murmured d’Artagnan. “Can I be so lucky as to find what everybody is seeking for?””
The woman cries out that she serves the queen, and D'Artagnan realizes he has found Madame Bonacieux, whom many are searching for.
D'Artagnan recognizes Madame Bonacieux as the queen's loyalist.
“I will go myself and be caught in the mousetrap, but woe be to the cats that shall pounce upon such a mouse!”
D'Artagnan decides to enter the trap deliberately, warning that he will fight back fiercely.
D'Artagnan's bold plan to confront the attackers directly.
“D’Artagnan was conqueror—without much effort, it must be confessed, for only one of the officers was armed, and even he defended himself for form’s sake.”
D'Artagnan easily defeats the four men, as only one had a weapon and fought halfheartedly.
The fight is brief and one-sided due to the opponents' lack of resolve.