The invention of the mousetrap does not date from our days; assoon as societies, in forming, had invented any kind of police,that police invented mousetraps.

As perhaps our readers are not familiar with the slang of the Ruede Jerusalem, and as it is fifteen years since we applied thisword for the first time to this thing, allow us to explain tothem what is a mousetrap.

When in a house, of whatever kind it may be, an individualsuspected of any crime is arrested, the arrest is held secret.Four or five men are placed in ambuscade in the first room. Thedoor is opened to all who knock. It is closed after them, andthey are arrested; so that at the end of two or three days theyhave in their power almost all the HABITUES of the establishment.And that is a mousetrap.

The apartment of M. Bonacieux, then, became a mousetrap; andwhoever appeared there was taken and interrogated by thecardinal's people. It must be observed that as a separatepassage led to the first floor, in which D'Artagnan lodged, thosewho called on him were exempted from this detention.

Besides, nobody came thither but the three Musketeers; they hadall been engaged in earnest search and inquiries, but haddiscovered nothing. Athos had even gone so far as to question M.de Treville - a thing which, considering the habitual reticence ofthe worthy Musketeer, had very much astonished his captain. ButM. de Treville knew nothing, except that the last time he hadseen the cardinal, the king, and the queen, the cardinal lookedvery thoughtful, the king uneasy, and the redness of the queen'seyes donated that she had been sleepless or tearful. But thislast circumstance was not striking, as the queen since hermarriage had slept badly and wept much.

M. de Treville requested Athos, whatever might happen, to beobservant of his duty to the king, but particularly to the queen,begging him to convey his desires to his comrades.

As to D'Artagnan, he did not budge from his apartment. Heconverted his chamber into an observatory. From his windows hesaw all the visitors who were caught. Then, having removed aplank from his floor, and nothing remaining but a simple ceilingbetween him and the room beneath, in which the interrogatorieswere made, he heard all that passed between the inquisitors andthe accused.

The interrogatories, preceded by a minute search operated uponthe persons arrested, were almost always framed thus: "Has MadameBonacieux sent anything to you for her husband, or any otherperson? Has Monsieur Bonacieux sent anything to you for hiswife, or for any other person? Has either of them confidedanything to you by word of mouth?"

"If they knew anything, they would not question people in thismanner," said D'Artagnan to himself. "Now, what is it they wantto know? Why, they want to know if the Duke of Buckingham is inParis, and if he has had, or is likely to have, an interview withthe queen."

D'Artagnan held onto this idea, which, from what he had heard,was not wanting in probability.

In the meantime, the mousetrap continued in operation, andlikewise D'Artagnan's vigilance.

On the evening of the day after the arrest of poor Bonacieux, asAthos had just left D'Artagnan to report at M. de Treville's, asnine o'clock had just struck, and as Planchet, who had not yetmade the bed, was beginning his task, a knocking was heard at thestreet door. The door was instantly opened and shut; someone wastaken in the mousetrap.

D'Artagnan flew to his hole, laid himself down on the floor atfull length, and listened.

Cries were soon heard, and then moans, which someone appeared tobe endeavoring to stifle. There were no questions.

"The devil!" said D'Artagnan to himself. "It seems like a woman!They search her; she resists; they use force - the scoundrels!"

In spite of his prudence, D'Artagnan restrained himself withgreat difficulty from taking a part in the scene that was goingon below.

"But I tell you that I am the mistress of the house, gentlemen!I tell you I am Madame Bonacieux; I tell you I belong to thequeen!" cried the unfortunate woman.

"Madame Bonacieux!" murmured D'Artagnan. "Can I be so lucky asto find what everybody is seeking for?"

The voice became more and more indistinct; a tumultuous movementshook the partition. The victim resisted as much as a womancould resist four men.

"Pardon, gentlemen - par - " murmured the voice, which could nowonly be heard in inarticulate sounds.

"They are binding her; they are going to drag her away," criedD'Artagnan to himself, springing up from the floor. "My sword!Good, it is by my side! Planchet!"

"Monsieur."

"Run and seek Athos, Porthos and Aramis. One of the three willcertainly be at home, perhaps all three. Tell them to take arms,to come here, and to run! Ah, I remember, Athos is at Monsieurde Treville's."

"But where are you going, monsieur, where are you going?"

"I am going down by the window, in order to be there the sooner,"cried D'Artagnan. "You put back the boards, sweep the floor, goout at the door, and run as I told you."

"Oh, monsieur! Monsieur! You will kill yourself," criedPlanchet.

"Hold your tongue, stupid fellow," said D'Artagnan; and layinghold of the casement, he let himself gently down from the firststory, which fortunately was not very elevated, without doinghimself the slightest injury.

He then went straight to the door and knocked, murmuring, "I willgo myself and be caught in the mousetrap, but woe be to the catsthat shall pounce upon such a mouse!"

The knocker had scarcely sounded under the hand of the young manbefore the tumult ceased, steps approached, the door was opened,and D'Artagnan, sword in hand, rushed into the rooms of M.Bonacieux, the door of which doubtless acted upon by a spring,closed after him.

Then those who dwelt in Bonacieux's unfortunate house, togetherwith the nearest neighbors, heard loud cries, stamping of feet,clashing of swords, and breaking of furniture. A moment after,those who, surprised by this tumult, had gone to their windows tolearn the cause of it, saw the door open, and four men, clothedin black, not COME out of it, but FLY, like so many frightenedcrows, leaving on the ground and on the corners of the furniture,feathers from their wings; that is to say, patches of theirclothes and fragments of their cloaks.

D'Artagnan was conqueror - without much effort, it must beconfessed, for only one of the officers was armed, and even hedefended himself for form's sake. It is true that the threeothers had endeavored to knock the young man down with chairs,stools, and crockery; but two or three scratches made by theGascon's blade terrified them. Ten minutes sufficed for theirdefeat, and D'Artagnan remained master of the field of battle.

The neighbors who had opened their windows, with the coolnesspeculiar to the inhabitants of Paris in these times of perpetualriots and disturbances, closed them again as soon as they saw thefour men in black flee - their instinct telling them that for thetime was all over. Besides, it began to grow late, and then, astoday, people went to bed early in the quarter of the Luxembourg.

On being left alone with Mme. Bonacieux, D'Artagnan turned towardher; the poor woman reclined where she had been left,half-fainting upon an armchair. D'Artagnan examined her with arapid glance.

She was a charming woman of twenty-five or twenty-six years, withdark hair, blue eyes, and a nose slightly turned up, admirableteeth, and a complexion marbled with rose and opal. There,however, ended the signs which might have confounded her with alady of rank. The hands were white, but without delicacy; thefeet did not bespeak the woman of quality. Happily, D'Artagnanwas not yet acquainted with such niceties.

While D'Artagnan was examining Mme. Bonacieux, and was, as wehave said, close to her, he saw on the ground a fine cambrichandkerchief, which he picked up, as was his habit, and at thecorner of which he recognized the same cipher he had seen on thehandkerchief which had nearly caused him and Aramis to cut eachother's throat.

>From that time, D'Artagnan had been cautious with respect tohandkerchiefs with arms on them, and he therefore placed in thepocket of Mme. Bonacieux the one he had just picked up.

At that moment Mme. Bonacieux recovered her senses. She openedher eyes, looked around her with terror, saw that the apartmentwas empty and that she was alone with her liberator. Sheextended her hands to him with a smile. Mme. Bonacieux had thesweetest smile in the world.

"Ah, monsieur!" said she, "you have saved me; permit me to thankyou."

"Madame," said D'Artagnan, "I have only done what every gentlemanwould have done in my place; you owe me no thanks."

"Oh, yes, monsieur, oh, yes; and I hope to prove to you that youhave not served an ingrate. But what could these men, whom I atfirst took for robbers, want with me, and why is MonsieurBonacieux not here?"

"Madame, those men were more dangerous than any robbers couldhave been, for they are the agents of the cardinal; and as toyour husband, Monsieur Bonacieux, he is not here because he wasyesterday evening conducted to the Bastille."

"My husband in the Bastille!" cried Mme. Bonacieux. "Oh, my God!What has he done? Poor dear man, he is innocence itself!"

And something like a faint smile lighted the still-terrifiedfeatures of the young woman.

"What has he done, madame?" said D'Artagnan. "I believe that hisonly crime is to have at the same time the good fortune and themisfortune to be your husband."

"But, monsieur, you know then - "

"I know that you have been abducted, madame."

"And by whom? Do you know him? Oh, if you know him, tell me!"

"By a man of from forty to forty-five years, with black hair, adark complexion, and a scar on his left temple."

"That is he, that is he; but his name?"

"Ah, his name? I do not know that."

"And did my husband know I had been carried off?"

"He was informed of it by a letter, written to him by theabductor himself."

"And does he suspect," said Mme. Bonacieux, with someembarrassment, "the cause of this event?"

"He attributed it, I believe, to a political cause."

"I doubted from the first; and now I think entirely as he does.Then my dear Monsieur Bonacieux has not suspected me a singleinstant?"

"So far from it, madame, he was too proud of your prudence, andabove all, of your love."

A second smile, almost imperceptible, stole over the rosy lips ofthe pretty young woman.

"But," continued D'Artagnan, "how did you escape?"

"I took advantage of a moment when they left me alone; and as Ihad known since morning the reason of my abduction, with the helpof the sheets I let myself down from the window. Then, as Ibelieved my husband would be at home, I hastened hither."

"To place yourself under his protection?"

"Oh, no, poor dear man! I knew very well that he was incapableof defending me; but as he could serve us in other ways, I wishedto inform him."

"Of what?"

"Oh, that is not my secret; I must not, therefore, tell you."

"Besides," said D'Artagnan, "pardon me, madame, if, guardsman asI am, I remind you of prudence - besides, I believe we are nothere in a very proper place for imparting confidences. The men Ihave put to flight will return reinforced; if they find us here,we are lost. I have sent for three of my friends, but who knowswhether they were at home?"

"Yes, yes! You are right," cried the affrighted Mme. Bonacieux;"let us fly! Let us save ourselves."

At these words she passed her arm under that of D'Artagnan, andurged him forward eagerly.

"But whither shall we fly - whither escape?"

"Let us first withdraw from this house; afterward we shall see."

The young woman and the young man, without taking the trouble toshut the door after them, descended the Rue des Fossoyeursrapidly, turned into the Rue des Fosses-Monsieur-le-Prince, anddid not stop till they came to the Place St. Sulpice.

"And now what are we to do, and where do you wish me to conductyou?" asked D'Artagnan.

"I am at quite a loss how to answer you, I admit," said Mme.Bonacieux. "My intention was to inform Monsieur Laporte, throughmy husband, in order that Monsieur Laporte might tell usprecisely what he taken place at the Louvre in the last threedays, and whether there is any danger in presenting myselfthere."

"But I," said D'Artagnan, "can go and inform Monsieur Laporte."

"No doubt you could, only there is one misfortune, and that isthat Monsieur Bonacieux is known at the Louvre, and would beallowed to pass; whereas you are not known there, and the gatewould be closed against you."

"Ah, bah!" said D'Artagnan; "you have at some wicket of theLouvre a CONCIERGE who is devoted to you, and who, thanks to apassword, would - "

Mme. Bonacieux looked earnestly at the young man.

"And if I give you this password," said she, "would you forget itas soon as you used it?"

"By my honor, by the faith of a gentleman!" said D'Artagnan, withan accent so truthful that no one could mistake it.

"Then I believe you. You appear to be a brave young man;besides, your fortune may perhaps be the result of yourdevotedness."

"I will do, without a promise and voluntarily, all that I can doto serve the king and be agreeable to the queen. Dispose of me,then, as a friend."

"But I - where shall I go meanwhile?"

"Is there nobody from whose house Monsieur Laporte can come andfetch you?"

"No, I can trust nobody."

"Stop," said D'Artagnan; "we are near Athos's door. Yes, here itis."

"Who is this Athos?"

"One of my friends."

"But if he should be at home and see me?"

"He is not at home, and I will carry away the key, after havingplaced you in his apartment."

"But if he should return?"

"Oh, he won't return; and if he should, he will be told that Ihave brought a woman with me, and that woman is in hisapartment."

"But that will compromise me sadly, you know."

"Of what consequence? Nobody knows you. Besides, we are in asituation to overlook ceremony."

"Come, then, let us go to your friend's house. Where does helive?"

"Rue Ferou, two steps from here."

"Let us go!"

Both resumed their way. As D'Artagnan had foreseen, Athos wasnot within. He took the key, which was customarily given him asone of the family, ascended the stairs, and introduced Mme.Bonacieux into the little apartment of which we have given adescription.

"You are at home," said he. "Remain here, fasten the doorinside, and open it to nobody unless you hear three taps likethis;" and he tapped thrice - two taps close together and prettyhard, the other after an interval, and lighter.

"That is well," said Mme. Bonacieux. "Now, in my turn, let megive you my instructions."

"I am all attention."

"Present yourself at the wicket of the Louvre, on the side of theRue de l'Echelle, and ask for Germain."

"Well, and then?"

"He will ask you what you want, and you will answer by these twowords, 'Tours' and 'Bruxelles.' He will at once put himself atyour orders."

"And what shall I command him?"

"To go and fetch Monsieur Laporte, the queen's VALET DE CHAMBRE."

"And when he shall have informed him, and Monsieur Laporte iscome?"

"You will send him to me."

"That is well; but where and how shall I see you again?"

"Do you wish to see me again?"

"Certainly."

"Well, let that care be mine, and be at ease."

"I depend upon your word."

"You may."

D'Artagnan bowed to Mme. Bonacieux, darting at her the mostloving glance that he could possibly concentrate upon hercharming little person; and while he descended the stairs, heheard the door closed and double-locked. In two bounds he was atthe Louvre; as he entered the wicket of L'Echelle, ten o'clockstruck. All the events we have described had taken place withina half hour.

Everything fell out as Mme. Bonacieux prophesied. On hearing thepassword, Germain bowed. In a few minutes, Laporte was at thelodge; in two words D'Artagnan informed him where Mme. Bonacieuxwas. Laporte assured himself, by having it twice repeated, ofthe accurate address, and set off at a run. Hardly, however, hadhe taken ten steps before he returned.

"Young man," said he to D'Artagnan, "a suggestion."

"What?"

"You may get into trouble by what has taken place."

"You believe so?"

"Yes. Have you any friend whose clock is too slow?"

"Well?"

"Go and call upon him, in order that he may give evidence if your

having been with him at half past nine. In a court of justicethat is called an alibi."

D'Artagnan found his advice prudent. He took to his heels, andwas soon at M. de Treville's; but instead of going into thesaloon with the rest of the crowd, he asked to be introduced toM. de Treville's office. As D'Artagnan so constantly frequentedthe hotel, no difficulty was made in complying with his request,and a servant went to inform M. de Treville that his youngcompatriot, having something important to communicate, solicited aprivate audience. Five minutes after, M. de Treville was askingD'Artagnan what he could do to serve him, and what caused hisvisit at so late an hour.

"Pardon me, monsieur," said D'Artagnan, who had profited by themoment he had been left alone to put back M. de Treville's clockthree-quarters of an hour, "but I thought, as it was yet onlytwenty-five minutes past nine, it was not too late to wait uponyou."

"Twenty-five minutes past nine!" cried M. de Treville, looking atthe clock; "why, that's impossible!"

"Look, rather, monsieur," said D'Artagnan, "the clock shows it."

"That's true," said M. de Treville; "I believed it later. Butwhat can I do for you?"

Then D'Artagnan told M. de Treville a long history about thequeen. He expressed to him the fears he entertained with respectto her Majesty; he related to him what he had heard of theprojects of the cardinal with regard to Buckingham, and all witha tranquillity and candor of which M. de Treville was the morethe dupe, from having himself, as we have said, observedsomething fresh between the cardinal, the king, and the queen.

As ten o'clock was striking, D'Artagnan left M. de Treville, whothanked him for his information, recommended him to have theservice of the king and queen always at heart, and returned tothe saloon; but at the foot of the stairs, D'Artagnan rememberedhe had forgotten his cane. He consequently sprang up again,re-entered the office, with a turn of his finger set the clockright again, that it might not be perceived the next day that ithad been put wrong, and certain from that time that he had awitness to prove his alibi, he ran downstairs and soon foundhimself in the street.