Execution of Milady

The execution of Milady de Winter is the final, decisive act of the long-running conflict between the four friends and the woman who has tried repeatedly to destroy them. It is not a state-sanctioned punishment but a private judgment carried out by a self-constituted tribunal of her victims, meeting in a remote house on the banks of the Lys River. The scene brings together every strand of the novel's vengeance plot: the poisoning of Constance Bonacieux, the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham, the attempted murder of d'Artagnan, and the older, hidden crime of Athos's marriage to a branded woman. The executioner who performs the beheading is not a hired professional but the brother of the priest Milady seduced and ruined years before, making the punishment a personal reckoning as well as a collective one.

The Tribunal and the Accusations

On a stormy night near midnight, the four friends, Lord de Winter, and a masked man in a red cloak surround Milady in the isolated cottage where she has taken refuge. Athos, acting as the presiding judge, calls each accuser forward in turn. D'Artagnan speaks first, charging Milady with poisoning Constance Bonacieux, with attempting to poison him through the Anjou wine that killed Brisemont instead, and with urging him to murder the Comte de Wardes. Porthos and Aramis bear witness to these crimes. Lord de Winter then accuses her of causing the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham by corrupting his guard, John Felton, and of poisoning his own brother, Milady's second husband, to inherit his fortune. Finally, Athos himself steps forward and reveals the oldest crime: that he married her when she was a young girl, only to discover the fleur-de-lis branded on her shoulder, the mark of a convicted criminal.

The Executioner's Testimony

When Milady defiantly challenges anyone to prove the branding was just, the man in the red cloak removes his mask. She recognizes him instantly and cries out in terror: he is the Executioner of Lille. He tells the full story of her past. As a young nun at the convent of Templemar, she seduced a young priest, his brother, and persuaded him to steal sacred vessels so they could flee together. Both were arrested; the priest was condemned to ten years' imprisonment and branding. The executioner, bound by his duty, branded his own brother. Milady escaped by seducing the jailer's son. The priest later escaped as well, rejoined Milady, and lived with her in Berry, passing as her brother, until she abandoned him to marry the Comte de la Fere—Athos. When the priest learned that his brother had been imprisoned in his place, he returned to Lille, surrendered, and hanged himself in his cell. The executioner was then freed. "That is the crime of which I accuse her; that is the cause for which she was branded," he concludes.

The Sentence and the Journey to the River

After hearing the executioner's testimony, Athos asks each of the four judges what penalty they demand. D'Artagnan, Lord de Winter, Porthos, and Aramis each reply in a hollow voice: "The punishment of death." Athos pronounces the sentence: "Charlotte Backson, Comtesse de la Fere, Milady de Winter, your crimes have wearied men on earth and God in heaven. If you know a prayer, say it—for you are condemned, and you shall die." Milady, who had been on her knees, rises in a last flash of pride but cannot sustain it. She is dragged out of the cottage by the lackeys. As they walk toward the river, she whispers to Grimaud and Mousqueton, offering a thousand pistoles each to help her escape. Athos overhears and orders the lackeys replaced with Planchet and Bazin. The executioner binds her hands and feet. She screams that they are assassins, that she is too young to die, that she will enter a convent. D'Artagnan, the youngest of the men, falters and cannot bear to watch. Athos draws his sword and blocks his path, saying, "If you take one step farther, d'Artagnan, we shall cross swords together." D'Artagnan sinks to his knees and prays.

The Beheading and the Casting into the River

The executioner places Milady in a boat and rows across the Lys. On the far bank, she manages to untie the cord around her feet and runs, but the ground is wet; she slips and falls to her knees. She remains there, head bowed, hands clasped, as if accepting that heaven has denied her aid. From the opposite bank, the four friends and Lord de Winter watch as the executioner raises his large sword. A moonbeam falls on the blade. His arms descend with sudden force; they hear the hiss of the scimitar and the cry of the victim, then see a truncated mass sink beneath the blow. The executioner spreads his red cloak on the ground, lays the body and head inside, ties the bundle by its four corners, and carries it back into the boat. In the middle of the stream he stops, suspends the burden over the water, and cries in a loud voice, "Let the justice of God be done!" He lets the corpse drop into the depths of the Lys, which closes over it. The four friends, who have remained on the right bank, fall to their knees.