Chapter 24: The Pavilion

Summary

     At nine o’clock, Planchet is ready and waiting as promised, and the two set of to the pavilion of St. Cloud. Planchet is uneasy about the excursion, and d’Artagnan teasingly asks him if he is afraid. They banter unpleasantly awhile, until Planchet almost manages to scare d’Artagnan too, and they pick up their pace. D’Artagnan then stops, and tells Planchet to wait there until six o’clock in the morning for him. Planchet is understandably taken aback, for it is freezing outside. D’Artagnan realizes how unreasonable his request is, and gives Planchet a small amount of money to hang out in a tavern for the night. Planchet, freezing, frantically dashes off to warm up inside. D’Artagnan presently reaches St. Cloud. He finds the gates to the pavilion, and stands outside to observe his surroundings. The pavilion is surrounded by pretty little rooms, which all have their curtains drawn – except for one room, which is softly lit. D’Artagnan smiles, imagining Madame Bonacieux inside. He waits for an hour, literally, but she doesn’t show up. Well, I must say he has dedication! Then he gets kind of desperate, and goes crazy and climbs a tree. That was apparently the right decision, because now he can see inside the room. Oh horror! It is totally ransacked, and there is clear evidence of a physical struggle. D’Artagnan panics and rushes off to the ferryman to ask him about who came to St. Cloud that day. The boatman describes a lady who sounds like it could be Madame Bonacieux. This frightens d’Artagnan even more, and he runs back to the pavilion, looking for answers. There he finds an old man in a cottage, who, after a bit of coaxing and bribery, describes what happened. Based on the old man’s description, we know that Madame Bonacieux was kidnapped by Rochefort and a few other men (including a man who sounds like M. Bonacieux, but d’Artagnan does not seem to realize that).

     D’Artagnan is grief-stricken, and goes to find Planchet. However, he cannot find him! D’Artagnan realizes that it is not even near six o’clock, so Planchet would not be expecting him yet. So, desolate, he goes into a tavern and drinks his troubles away. He also tries to listen to the people in the bar to see if he can find out more information, but he cannot. He eventually drifts off. In the morning, he comes to with a start. He checks all his belongings and person, and luckily he was not robbed during his nap. D’Artagnan steps out of the tavern, and he sees loyal Planchet waiting outside with two horses, outside a tavern that d’Artagnan overlooked during his search the night before. Oops!

Reaction

     This chapter was pretty anti-climatic in terms of action, but it was quite interesting. My favorite part of this chapter was the way Dumas describes St. Cloud. It sounds very pretty. All the soft light and clean pavilion with silvery trees all around…how nice! D’Artagnan is actually bearable because at least he seems to be concerned about Madame Bonacieux. I know I am! I can’t believe the men dragged her away by force like that, I can’t believe that her husband (most likely) is part of the kidnapping, but most of all I’m proud of her for putting up such an amazing fight against so many people that furniture was broken.

     My favorite line is Planchet totally shutting down d’Artagnan when he is teasing him: “Monsieur, we must not confound prudence with cowardice; prudence is a virtue.” And then d’Artagnan shuts up.