Chapter 58: Escape

Summary

     Luckily for her, Milady’s wound is not serious. She rests all night, with the hope that Felton would arrive by breakfast time. To her horror, he does not. Instead, Lord de Winter pays her a visit in the evening. He seems quite happy with himself. He says that he has sent Felton away because he noticed that the poor Puritan had been getting corrupted by Milady. Unsurprisingly, Milady is distraught. Her beautiful plans are ruined! The wind screams around her prison, and she howls in rage and frustration along with it. However, after a while, she hears a tapping on her window. It is Felton! He snuck back to break her out. She is ecstatic! Felton files through the bars on her window while Milady pretends to sleep for an agonized hour. Then, he gallantly carries her down. They just manage to escape being noticed by a patrol. Then, Felton takes Milady to a small vessel that he has hired. The captain will not be paid all of his fare until Milady is safely taken to France. Milady is still upset about failing her mission, and blurts out that she wishes the Duke of Buckingham would not sail either. Felton stares at her, and then says that the duke will not sail. Milady realizes that Felton wants to kill the duke, and is overwhelmed by weird, evil, affection for Felton. She praises him, and cries out that if he dies, she will die with him. It’s nice to see her being kind to Felton, but she seems so frightening in this scene! I’m not sure why, but she really does scare me with her coldhearted intentions here. She agrees to wait till 10:00 for him, and then sail if he does not arrive. The vessel takes Milady to a safe bay, where it will wait until 10:00. Felton leaves to complete his mission and find the duke.

Reaction

     Wow! Intense. Dumas wrote this chapter very well – I began to lose my admiration for Milady, and start to be a little scared of her again. She seems so genuinely heartless over here. She is ruining Felton’s life. Now he is going to try to kill the duke, for an imagined crime! I really hope he fails and escapes, and forgets about Milady. She is dangerous.

     My favorite quote is from the ship’s captain, who randomly exclaims “Safe and sound, as true as my name's Jack Butler” which is so weird, because that was in the middle of an important moment between Milady and Felton! But I really think that Dumas has a talent for the minor characters. They just leap off the page and have so much personality, I love it.