D'Artagnans heart swelled with pride.
'I am not yet a Musketeer,but at least I must be an apprentice.'
The affair caused a great fuss.Monsieur de Treville scolded his Musketeers in public,but congratulated them in private.The King heard of it and was so impressed by D'Artagnan's bravery that he placed him as a cadet in the Guards of Monsieur d'Essart.
From then on D'Artagnan and the three Musketeers were the greatest of friends.D'Artagnan learned about life in Paris,and about the Court of King Louis Xlll and the lovely Queen Anne.He was happy,and looked forward to the day when he too would become a Musketeer.
One day,while D'Artagnan was resting in his lodgings,his landlord,Monsieur Bonacieux came upstairs to see him.
'I have heard you are a brave young man,D'Artagnan.I need help.Constancee,my wife,had been kidnapped!'
'Kidnapped?'
'My wife is seamstress to the Queen,'Monsieur Bonacieux explained.'She is more than that.She is one of the few people the Queen can trust.'
D'Artagnan had heard a great deal about the Queen.She was a lonely woman.Everyone knew that the King no longer loved her.The Cardinal had once cared for her,but she had rejected him.Now he plooted jealously against her.The English Duke of Buckingham,a powerful man in the government of his own country,had fallen deeply in love with her.But England and France were not friendly.
Monsieur Bonacieux sighed.
'I think my wife was kidnapped to see if she would tell the Queen's secrets.Only the other day she told me the Queen is frightened.She thinks the Cardinal has witten to Buckingham in her name,to lure him to Paris and into a trap.'
'You think the Cardinal has taken your wife?'
'I fear so,'replied Monsieur Bonacieux.'One of his men was seen when she was carried off.He was a gentleman with a scar on his tample.'
D'Artagnan started up.
'That sounds like the man I met at Meung!'he exclaimed.