"No one could possibly have entered, monsieur; since I kept the keys in my own pocket."
"And yet I find this letter in that lock yonder; some one must have put it there; it could not have come alone."
Basque opened his arms as if signifying the most absolute ignorance on the subject.
"Probably it was M. de Bragelonne himself who placed it there," said Porthos.
"In that case he must have entered here."
"How could that have been, since I have the key in my own pocket?" returned Basque, perseveringly.
Saint-Aignan crumpled up the letter in his hand, after having read it.
"There is something mysterious about this," he murmured, absorbed in thought.
Porthos left him to his reflections; but after a while returned to the mission he had undertaken.
"Shall we return to our little affair?" he said, addressing Saint-Aignan, as soon as the lackey had disappeared.