- The King isn’t in the best of health, but he’s eager to join the siege as soon as he can.
- D’Artagnan is much more relaxed after his near brush with death; his only worry is that he has not heard from his friends.
- He gets a letter, however, written by the supplier of the Musketeers. It obliges him to accept twelve bottles of wine from his friends, who wish for him to toast them with it.
- D’Artagnan is pleased, and he invites a couple of his Guardsmen friends over for dinner that night.
- Due to conflicting schedules, they decide to have dinner together the day after that.
- Planchet gets help from another lackey named Fourreau, along with the would-be assassin. This man’s name is Brisemont.
- The men prepare dinner. When Brisemont pours out the wine, the first bottle is a little thick at the bottom. D’Artagnan instructs him to pour the lees (dead yeast cells) into a glass and drink it, as Brisemont is still weak from his wound.
- At the dinner, everyone is about to pick up their wine glasses when a canon sounds and they are obliged to rush out.
- It turns out that the King has arrived with ten thousand troops!
- The Musketeers proceed in before the King, and D’Artagnan spots his friends and Tréville.
- Greetings are exchanged all around, and D’Artagnan introduces his new friends, explaining that they were about to drink the wine sent by the Musketeers.
- Athos, Porthos, and Aramis deny having sent wine.
- Moreover, Athos looks at the letter from the supplier, and declares that it’s not the man’s handwriting.
- D’Artagnan wonders out loud if Milady can be behind this.
- When they return to the dining room, Brisemont is dying. He castigates D’Artagnan, saying that he was spared only to be poisoned later.
- D’Artagnan denies this.
- No one really wants to celebrate after this. D’Artagnan’s Guardsmen friends leave, and the four friends retreat into another room to discuss the situation.
- Athos says that D’Artagnan cannot live in constant fear that Milady will kill him.
- D’Artagnan accepts the situation, since he is a man, but mourns over Constance’s fate.
- Aramis points out that the letter D’Artagnan discovered indicates that Constance was moved from a prison to a convent by the Queen.
- They ask Porthos if his mistress can help them discover which convent it is. Porthos says no.
- Aramis then says he will do it.
- When questioned, he says he knows one of the Queen’s servants, but it is clear that he will write to a certain noblewoman in Tours.