- After he is arrested, Monsieur Bonacieux is taken straight to the Bastille (the most feared jail in all of Paris). He’s taken into a scary interrogation room.
- The commissary (a glorified police officer) is a highly unattractive man, but he looks intelligent.
- He asks for Bonacieux’s information. Bonacieux is fifty-one (that makes him twice his wife’s age!), a retired mercer (guy who sells things), and lived at Rue des Fossoyeurs, No. 14.
- The commissary launches into a speech about respecting government officials.
- He then instructs Bonacieux to reflect upon his behavior, and being the sniveling, selfish, cowardly guy he is, Bonacieux starts praising the Cardinal.
- The commissary tells Bonacieux that he is being accused of high treason. Bonacieux is terrified.
- The commissary begins to question Bonacieux on the abduction of his wife. Bonacieux tells him everything he knows. The commissary takes a hard, aggressive stance during the questioning and eventually has Bonacieux thrown into the dungeon.
- Bonacieux, being sniveling, selfish, and cowardly, gets upset and scared.
- The guards are not amused. They shove him into the nearest cell, where he spends the night.
- In the morning Bonacieux learns that his wife has escaped. The commissary blames Bonacieux, then questions him about D’Artagnan. Bonacieux tells the truth, and the commissary instructs his guards to bring D’Artagnan into the room.
- D’Artagnan shows up, only… it’s Athos. Bonacieux claims never to have seen him before. Athos does not deny this.
- The commissary has a difficult time believing either of them. He remains convinced that Athos really is D’Artagnan until Bonacieux points out that Athos is wearing a Musketeer’s uniform. (Remember, D’Artagnan isn’t a Musketeer.)
- Bonacieux renounces his wife and her actions over and over again as the commissary is given fresh information about Madame Bonacieux’s whereabouts and actions.
- Athos goes back to his dungeon cell and Bonacieux continues complaining about his situation.
- Later that evening, Bonacieux is bundled into a carriage where he spends a terrified ride convinced that he’s about to be executed. One by one, the carriage passes all the prime execution sites, where they kill the really famous and notorious bad guys.
- Finally, there’s only one execution site left, for the more common and less-important bad guys. The carriage stops.
- Bonacieux faints.