Mme. Bonacieux

Also known as: Bonacieux / Constance / Constance Bonacieux / Dear Constance / Madame Bonacieux / Mme Bonacieux / the mercer’s wife / the poor little Madame Bonacieux / the poor woman / the young woman · Family: civilian · Role: wife of Monsieur Bonacieux · First appears: Chapter 9

Mme. Bonacieux, also known as Constance, was the wife of M. Bonacieux, though she came to hate him after he refused to carry Anne of Austria’s letter to London. She was goddaughter to Laporte and known to belong to the queen. After being abducted, she escaped by lowering herself from a window with sheets; D’Artagnan then defeated the cardinal’s agents and rescued her, sheltering her in Athos’s apartment. She thanked him for saving her, and their connection quickly became a courtship: she was “in heart neither more nor less than an accepted lover.”

Constance helped D’Artagnan and Laporte continue the queen’s mission, identified her initials as “C. B., Constance Bonacieux,” and revealed that the disguised man accompanying her was Buckingham. She conducted Buckingham into the Louvre, at one point locking him in an apartment, while remaining devoted to Anne of Austria, declaring, “I am your Majesty’s, body and soul.” When Anne of Austria entrusted her with a letter for Buckingham and gave her a ring to finance the mission, Constance tried to involve M. Bonacieux, but he refused; she instead gave the cardinal’s moneybag to D’Artagnan, and their mutual love was declared.

Constance later arranged to meet D’Artagnan at St. Cloud, but armed men abducted her from the pavilion. D’Artagnan believed she had been taken by Milady, learned that she might still be alive, and eventually recognized her in a passing carriage. Evidence placed her safely in a convent; in 1628, D’Artagnan learned she was at Béthune, and Anne of Austria authorized her release, sending D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis to rescue her. At Béthune, Milady recognized her, deceived her by claiming to be her best friend, and poisoned her wine; Constance died while D’Artagnan held her.