- There is still no information on the whereabouts of Madame Bonacieux.
- Athos refuses to leave his house to find money. There are fifteen days before the campaign starts, and Athos tells his friends that if he still doesn’t have any money when the time comes, he will pick a fight with the Cardinal’s Guards or some Englishmen in order to die with honor.
- Porthos is concocting some plan.
- Aramis says nothing.
- Three of them (minus Athos) take to the streets in long, mournful walks, hoping to find a wallet full of money on the sidewalk.
- No luck.
- Porthos, however, gets ready to execute his plan.
- D’Artagnan spies him heading to the church of St. Leu and follows him.
- Mass is going on, and Porthos looks magnificently handsome. There are two women in the church of importance. The first is "a sort of ripe beauty, rather yellow and rather dry, but erect and haughty under her black hood."
- The lady in the black hood is obviously keenly aware of Porthos’s presence, but he ignores her. He’s busy spying on a beautiful lady sitting on a red cushion near the choir.
- The lady with the red cushion is absolutely gorgeous, and D’Artagnan can tell that the woman in the black hood is jealous. D’Artagnan also recognizes the lady with the red cushion as the one from Meung, called Milady.
- D’Artagnan guesses the lady in the black hood to be the attorney’s wife, and that Porthos is taking his revenge for her stingy attitude during his time in Chantilly.
- With mass over, Porthos goes to the font of holy water ahead of the lady in the black hood. She thinks he’s going to offer it to her, but instead he offers it to the beautiful woman.
- Really angry now, the cloaked woman asks Porthos if he’s going to offer any holy water to her. Porthos smiles to himself. The plan is working!
- To make a long story short, Porthos drops all sorts of not-so-subtle hints about all the rich, wealthy, beautiful women in his life that are willing to lend him money. Madame Coquenard gets increasingly jealous. Finally, she tells him to pretend to be her cousin, who is dealing with several lawsuits.
- She warns him to be careful of her husband, who is seventy-six years old. (And, side note, when he dies she gets everything.)
- The two part on good terms.