Rue de Vaugirard

Rue de Vaugirard, a street in the Faubourg Saint-Germain district of Paris, functions as a crucial node in the novel's web of secret meetings, hidden residences, and political intrigue, most prominently as the location of Aramis's lodgings and the site of a mysterious nocturnal exchange involving Constance Bonacieux.

Location and Character

Rue de Vaugirard is situated in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, a district that in the 1620s was becoming fashionable among the nobility and those with court connections. The street is mentioned in connection with the residences of several characters, most notably Aramis, who dwells in a little lodging composed of a boudoir, an eating room, and a bedroom on the ground floor, looking out upon a little fresh green garden, shady and impenetrable to the eyes of his neighbors. The street is also the location of a linen draper's house, number 25, which serves as a cover for meetings related to the queen's secret correspondence.

The Nighttime Encounter

The most significant event on Rue de Vaugirard occurs late one night when d'Artagnan, walking home after visiting Monsieur de Treville, observes a woman in a cloak hesitating before a house. The woman, whom d'Artagnan initially mistakes for a man due to the darkness, approaches Aramis's shutter and taps three times with her bent finger. D'Artagnan, hidden in the shadows, watches as the shutter opens slightly and the woman produces a white handkerchief, which she shows to her interlocutor. To d'Artagnan's astonishment, the person inside is not Aramis but another woman. The two women exchange handkerchiefs, and after the shutter closes, the woman outside turns and passes within four steps of d'Artagnan, who recognizes her as Constance Bonacieux. This discovery triggers a chain of events: d'Artagnan follows Constance, confronts her, and learns that she is escorting the Duke of Buckingham, disguised as a Musketeer, to a secret meeting with Queen Anne at the Louvre.

The Linen Draper's House

Rue de Vaugirard is also the location of a house that serves as a front for the queen's secret communications. Monsieur Bonacieux, during his interrogation by Cardinal Richelieu, reveals that his wife Constance would visit a linen draper at number 25 on this street. The cardinal, through his interrogation of Bonacieux, learns that this address is one of the places where Constance would go alone, leaving her husband to wait at the door. The cardinal immediately connects this address to the Duchesse de Chevreuse and the Duke of Buckingham, ordering his agent Rochefort to search the house. However, by the time the search is ordered, the occupants have already fled, the woman having left the previous night and the man that morning.

Narrative Significance

Rue de Vaugirard serves as a liminal space where the public and private spheres of the novel's intrigue intersect. It is a street where a mercer's wife can pass as a lady of quality, where a Musketeer's lodgings can become a site of secret communication, and where a linen draper's shop can be a cover for political conspiracy. The street's proximity to the Luxembourg Palace and its position in the Faubourg Saint-Germain make it an ideal location for the clandestine activities that drive the plot, allowing characters to move between the worlds of the court, the military, and the bourgeoisie with relative ease. The nighttime scene on Rue de Vaugirard is a pivotal moment of anagnorisis for d'Artagnan, revealing Constance's involvement in the queen's affairs and setting in motion his own journey to England to retrieve the diamond studs.