Chapter 63: The Drop of Water

Summary

     Now this chapter is fairly horrific. My fears are coming true! Milady starts off by conspiratorially telling Madame Bonacieux that Rochefort is only pretending to be a messenger from the cardinal, and is actually her brother. To back this up, she takes Madame Bonacieux to the window and calls out “adieu, brother!” to Rochefort as he is galloping away. He sees the pair of women and without hesitation waves cheerily to Milady. Milady then is easily able to convince the oddly oblivious Madame Bonacieux that she ought to go with Milady when her ‘brother’s’ carriage comes to fetch her. Milady then excuses herself to pace around in the garden and finalize her plans. After an hour, Madame Bonacieux calls her. They dine together, so that they will be able to flee anytime they need to. And indeed, that time comes soon. They hear hoof beats. Madame Bonacieux is again suddenly weak and helpless, and is paralyzed with terror. Milady goes to check who is coming, and to her dismay, it is the Fearsome Four! She tells Madame Bonacieux that the cardinal’s guards had arrived and that they must flee, but Madame Bonacieux can barely walk. Milady tries to lift her and drag her, but the Musketeers are almost at the door! So, she does something terrible. She unscrews the top of a ring she is wearing, and pours some red powder into a wine glass. She then tells Madame Bonacieux to drink it for strength. The uncharacteristically meek woman does as told without questions. Milady mutters that she did not want to get revenge this way, but she must do what she can. She then leaves quickly from the back door and escapes through her planned route.

     The Fearsome Four sprint into the room, and find Madame Bonacieux alone. She and d’Artagnan have a nice moment, but then the effects of the poison start to work and Madame Bonacieux is pale and dying in agony. Oh no. She mentions her companion, who had ‘mistaken’ them for the cardinal’s guards. All of them desperately ask her who her companion was, and she finally is able to say that her name was Lady de Winter. Madame Bonacieux, weak and dizzy, calls for help. Then, in great pain, she kisses d’Artagnan and then sighs. She is dead. D’Artagnan is devastated and begins to sob over her body. Porthos and Aramis try to revive her, but to no avail. D’Artagnan faints. Suddenly, Lord de Winter shows up. He had set sail immediately after Milady, and had been relentlessly trying to find her. Now he is a minute too late, again. This is so sad! He sternly asks the Musketeers if both Madame Bonacieux and d’Artagnan are dead. They explain that d’Artagnan has only fainted (I’m not sure if this part was meant to be funny, but it was). Athos hugs d’Artagnan when he comes to, and swears revenge on Milady. Athos suddenly has taken charge. He looks as if he has a plan. He puts his companions up in a hotel, and says that they need time to grieve and to sleep. He then takes the paper with ‘Armentieres’ written on it, and tells everyone that as the husband of Milady, it is his turn to act.

Reaction

     I…have mixed feelings about this chapter. Very mixed. On one hand, I, like d’Artagnan, am devastated that Madame Bonacieux is dead. But I am devastated for more reasons than he is. I am highly upset that she was turned into a weak, helpless kitten in the chapters before her death. I refuse to believe that an intelligent and successful spy would be so gullible. Worse was the way that everyone acted after her death. They all called her an angel, and Dumas’s narration implies that she was pure, chaste, and gentle. This irritates me. The Madame Bonacieux I know was strong, spirited, and knew what she wanted. But the more egregious crime in my opinion is that now she has turned into a plot point. Do you see what Dumas has done? He warped Madame Bonacieux’s character as I described in order to make Milady look evil, and to give d’Artagnan and Athos a motive for revenge on Milady. This is awful to me, especially since I told you all in my rant how much I am fascinated by Milady’s character. Simplifying her character into ‘evil lady’ does not help anyone. And, of course, I liked the burgeoning character of Madame Bonacieux, and I am distressed that we will not get to learn more about her and see her develop. I also hate that everyone, including Milady talks about Madame Bonacieux and d’Artagnan as if they are lovers and d’Artagnan loves her more than life. I mean, her dying kiss was their first kiss! And d’Artagnan was very disloyal to her repeatedly. Milady ought to know that!

     My favorite line is Athos randomly being selfish and overdramatic while d’Artagnan is weeping: “‘Weep,’ said Athos, ‘weep, heart full of love, youth, and life! Alas, would I could weep like you!’” No comment.  Just enjoy the insanity.