D’Artagnan had run, sword in hand, through all the neighboring streets, but had found nobody resembling the man he sought for. Then he came back to the point where, perhaps, he ought to have begun, and that was to knock at the door against which the stranger had leaned; but this proved useless--for though he knocked ten or twelve times in succession, no one answered, and some of the neighbors, who put their noses out of their windows or were brought to their doors by the noise, had assured him that that house, all the openings of which were tightly closed, had not been inhabited for six months.
D'Artagnan kivont karddal loholt fel s alá a környék összes utcáiban, de senkit sem talált, aki távolról is hasonlított volna az idegenhez; végül jutott csak eszébe az, amivel kezdenie kellett volna, hogy bekopogtat a kapun, melynek bejáratában megpillantotta emberét; tíz-tizenkétszer is megdöngette az ajtót a kopogtatóval, de senki sem felelt. A szomszédokat előcsalogatta a zaj, kiálltak házuk küszöbére, vagy kidugták orrukat az ablakon, és biztosították D'Artagnant, hogy a ház fél éve teljesen lakatlan; különben is zárva minden ajtaja-ablaka.