[gmw]

From Pevear.

It was a dark and stormy night.

The lady thought she was alone and hopefully safe in the forest. Ten men burst in on her, one of which turns out to be the man that branded her all those years ago. Is that not some excuse for the very bravest person to say:

“Oh, no, no!”—getting up and backing towards the wall. “Help me! help me!” she cried in a hoarse voice, turning to the wall, as if she could open a way through it with her hands.

But, by the time we get to:

“Oh, mercy! mercy! forgive me!” the wretched woman cried, falling to her knees.

Milady uttered a dreadful cry and moved several paces towards her judges, dragging herself on her knees.

It's no longer certain that at least some of this behaviour is not manipulative. We've already seen what she is capable of during her captivity in England.

And, in any case, we eventually move on to:

“You are cowards, you are wretched assassins, it takes ten of you to cut one woman’s throat! Watch out, for if I’m not rescued, I will be avenged.”

This does not sound cowed or cowardly to me, although it does continue to more desperate pleas of being too young to die, and

“Oh, my God!” she cried, “my God! are you going to drown me?”

But this is followed with:

There was something so heartrending in these cries that d’Artagnan, who at first had been the most relentless in his pursuit of Milady, sank down on a stump and hung his head, stopping his ears with the palms of his hands. And yet, despite that, he still heard her threatening and crying out.

D’Artagnan was the youngest of all these men, and his heart failed him.

“Oh, I can’t bear to see this frightful spectacle! I can’t consent that the woman should die like this!”

So her cries are having an effect. Remember that a variation of this sort of thing is how she escapes from captivity in England (she keeps trying things until she finds one that looks like working), but over there we get to see it from her perspective, so the deception is obvious. And it was made obvious in those scenes that she was never going to go quietly. Here we don't get her perspective, and even if we did, it must be obvious that the chances of escape are almost non-existent - but still she keeps trying. Until...

“I am lost!” Milady murmured in English. “I must die.”

Then she stood up by herself and cast around her one of those bright glances that seemed to spring from a blazing eye.

She saw nothing.

She listened and heard nothing.

She had only enemies around her.

“Where am I to die?” she asked.

“On the other bank,” replied the executioner.

[...]

During the crossing, Milady had managed to untie the rope that bound her feet. On reaching the shore, she jumped out lightly and started running.

But the ground was wet; on reaching the top of the embankment, she slipped and fell to her knees.

A superstitious idea must have struck her. She understood that heaven was refusing her its aid, and she remained in the attitude in which she found herself, her head bowed and her hands joined.

I don't find that an especially undignified ending on her part, though it casts no honour on the men.