“Monsieur,” said the cardinal, “if Milady de Winter has committed the crimes you lay to her charge, she shall be punished.”
“She has been punished, monseigneur.”
“And who has punished her?”
“We.”
“She is in prison?”
“She is dead.”
“Dead!” repeated the cardinal, who could not believe what he heard, “dead! Did you not say she was dead?”
“Three times she attempted to kill me, and I pardoned her; but she murdered the woman I loved. Then my friends and I took her, tried her, and condemned her.”
D’Artagnan then related the poisoning of Mme. Bonacieux in the convent of the Carmelites at Béthune, the trial in the isolated house, and the execution on the banks of the Lys.
A shudder crept through the body of the cardinal, who did not shudder readily.