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AUTHOR’S PREFACE | In which it is proved that, notwithstanding their names’ ending in os and is, the heroes of the story which we are about to have the honor to relate to our readers have nothing mythological about them. A short time ago, while making researches in the Royal Library for my History of Louis XIV., I stumbled by chance upo... |
Chapter I.
THE THREE PRESENTS OF D’ARTAGNAN THE ELDER | On the first Monday of the month of April, 1625, the market town of Meung, in which the author of Romance of the Rose was born, appeared to be in as perfect a state of revolution as if the Huguenots had just made a second La Rochelle of it. Many citizens, seeing the women flying toward the High Street, leaving their ch... |
Chapter II.
THE ANTECHAMBER OF M. DE TRÉVILLE | M. de Troisville, as his family was still called in Gascony, or M. de Tréville, as he has ended by styling himself in Paris, had really commenced life as D’Artagnan now did; that is to say, without a sou in his pocket, but with a fund of audacity, shrewdness, and intelligence which makes the poorest Gascon gentleman of... |
Chapter III.
THE AUDIENCE | M. de Tréville was at the moment in rather ill-humor, nevertheless he saluted the young man politely, who bowed to the very ground; and he smiled on receiving D’Artagnan’s response, the Béarnese accent of which recalled to him at the same time his youth and his country—a double remembrance which makes a man smile at al... |
Chapter IV.
THE SHOULDER OF ATHOS, THE BALDRIC OF PORTHOS AND THE HANDKERCHIEF OF
ARAMIS | D’Artagnan, in a state of fury, crossed the antechamber at three bounds, and was darting toward the stairs, which he reckoned upon descending four at a time, when, in his heedless course, he ran head foremost against a Musketeer who was coming out of one of M. de Tréville’s private rooms, and striking his shoulder viol... |
Chapter V.
THE KING’S MUSKETEERS AND THE CARDINAL’S GUARDS | D’Artagnan was acquainted with nobody in Paris. He went therefore to his appointment with Athos without a second, determined to be satisfied with those his adversary should choose. Besides, his intention was formed to make the brave Musketeer all suitable apologies, but without meanness or weakness, fearing that might ... |
Chapter VI.
HIS MAJESTY KING LOUIS XIII. | This affair made a great noise. M. de Tréville scolded his Musketeers in public, and congratulated them in private; but as no time was to be lost in gaining the king, M. de Tréville hastened to report himself at the Louvre. It was already too late. The king was closeted with the cardinal, and M. de Tréville was informe... |
Chapter VII.
THE INTERIOR OF THE MUSKETEERS | When D’Artagnan was out of the Louvre, and consulted his friends upon the use he had best make of his share of the forty pistoles, Athos advised him to order a good repast at the Pomme-de-Pin, Porthos to engage a lackey, and Aramis to provide himself with a suitable mistress. The repast was carried into effect that ve... |
Chapter VIII.
CONCERNING A COURT INTRIGUE | In the meantime, the forty pistoles of King Louis XIII., like all other things of this world, after having had a beginning had an end, and after this end our four companions began to be somewhat embarrassed. At first, Athos supported the association for a time with his own means. Porthos succeeded him; and thanks to o... |
Chapter IX.
D’ARTAGNAN SHOWS HIMSELF | As Athos and Porthos had foreseen, at the expiration of a half hour, D’Artagnan returned. He had again missed his man, who had disappeared as if by enchantment. 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 w... |
Chapter X.
A MOUSETRAP IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY | The invention of the mousetrap does not date from our days; as soon as societies, in forming, had invented any kind of police, that police invented mousetraps. As perhaps our readers are not familiar with the slang of the Rue de Jerusalem, and as it is fifteen years since we applied this word for the first time to thi... |
Chapter XI.
IN WHICH THE PLOT THICKENS | His visit to M. de Tréville being paid, the pensive D’Artagnan took the longest way homeward. On what was D’Artagnan thinking, that he strayed thus from his path, gazing at the stars of heaven, and sometimes sighing, sometimes smiling? He was thinking of Mme. Bonacieux. For an apprentice Musketeer the young woman was... |
Chapter XII.
GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM | Mme. Bonacieux and the duke entered the Louvre without difficulty. Mme. Bonacieux was known to belong to the queen; the duke wore the uniform of the Musketeers of M. de Tréville, who, as we have said, were that evening on guard. Besides, Germain was in the interests of the queen; and if anything should happen, Mme. Bon... |
Chapter XIII.
MONSIEUR BONACIEUX | There was in all this, as may have been observed, one personage concerned, of whom, notwithstanding his precarious position, we have appeared to take but very little notice. This personage was M. Bonacieux, the respectable martyr of the political and amorous intrigues which entangled themselves so nicely together at th... |
Chapter XIV.
THE MAN OF MEUNG | The crowd was caused, not by the expectation of a man to be hanged, but by the contemplation of a man who was hanged. The carriage, which had been stopped for a minute, resumed its way, passed through the crowd, threaded the Rue St. Honoré, turned into the Rue des Bons Enfants, and stopped before a low door. The door... |
Chapter XV.
MEN OF THE ROBE AND MEN OF THE SWORD | On the day after these events had taken place, Athos not having reappeared, M. de Tréville was informed by D’Artagnan and Porthos of the circumstance. As to Aramis, he had asked for leave of absence for five days, and was gone, it was said, to Rouen on family business. M. de Tréville was the father of his soldiers. Th... |
Chapter XVI.
IN WHICH M. SÉGUIER, KEEPER OF THE SEALS, LOOKS MORE THAN ONCE FOR THE
BELL | It is impossible to form an idea of the impression these few words made upon Louis XIII. He grew pale and red alternately; and the cardinal saw at once that he had recovered by a single blow all the ground he had lost. “Buckingham in Paris!” cried he, “and why does he come?” “To conspire, no doubt, with your enemies,... |
Chapter XVII.
BONACIEUX AT HOME | It was the second time the cardinal had mentioned these diamond studs to the king. Louis XIII. was struck with this insistence, and began to fancy that this recommendation concealed some mystery. More than once the king had been humiliated by the cardinal, whose police, without having yet attained the perfection of th... |
Chapter XVIII.
LOVER AND HUSBAND | Ah, Madame,” said D’Artagnan, entering by the door which the young woman opened for him, “allow me to tell you that you have a bad sort of a husband.” “You have, then, overheard our conversation?” asked Mme. Bonacieux, eagerly, and looking at D’Artagnan with disquiet. “The whole.” “But how, my God?” “By a mode of p... |
Chapter XIX.
PLAN OF CAMPAIGN | D’Artagnan went straight to M. de Tréville’s. He had reflected that in a few minutes the cardinal would be warned by this cursed stranger, who appeared to be his agent, and he judged, with reason, he had not a moment to lose. The heart of the young man overflowed with joy. An opportunity presented itself to him in whi... |
Chapter XX.
THE JOURNEY | At two o’clock in the morning, our four adventurers left Paris by the Barrière St. Denis. As long as it was dark they remained silent; in spite of themselves they submitted to the influence of the obscurity, and apprehended ambushes on every side. With the first rays of day their tongues were loosened; with the sun ga... |
Chapter XXI.
THE COUNTESS DE WINTER | As they rode along, the duke endeavored to draw from D’Artagnan, not all that had happened, but what D’Artagnan himself knew. By adding all that he heard from the mouth of the young man to his own remembrances, he was enabled to form a pretty exact idea of a position of the seriousness of which, for the rest, the queen... |
Chapter XXII.
THE BALLET OF LA MERLAISON | On the morrow, nothing was talked of in Paris but the ball which the aldermen of the city were to give to the king and queen, and in which their Majesties were to dance the famous La Merlaison—the favorite ballet of the king. Eight days had been occupied in preparations at the Hôtel de Ville for this important evening... |
Chapter XXIII.
THE RENDEZVOUS | D’Artagnan ran home immediately, and although it was three o’clock in the morning and he had some of the worst quarters of Paris to traverse, he met with no misadventure. Everyone knows that drunkards and lovers have a protecting deity. He found the door of his passage open, sprang up the stairs and knocked softly in ... |
Chapter XXIV.
THE PAVILION | At nine o’clock D’Artagnan was at the Hôtel des Gardes; he found Planchet all ready. The fourth horse had arrived. Planchet was armed with his musketoon and a pistol. D’Artagnan had his sword and placed two pistols in his belt; then both mounted and departed quietly. It was quite dark, and no one saw them go out. Plan... |
Chapter XXV.
PORTHOS | Instead of returning directly home, D’Artagnan alighted at the door of M. de Tréville, and ran quickly up the stairs. This time he had decided to relate all that had passed. M. de Tréville would doubtless give him good advice as to the whole affair. Besides, as M. de Tréville saw the queen almost daily, he might be abl... |
Chapter XXVI.
ARAMIS AND HIS THESIS | D’Artagnan had said nothing to Porthos of his wound or of his procurator’s wife. Our Béarnais was a prudent lad, however young he might be. Consequently he had appeared to believe all that the vainglorious Musketeer had told him, convinced that no friendship will hold out against a surprised secret. Besides, we feel al... |
Chapter XXVII.
THE WIFE OF ATHOS | We have now to search for Athos,” said D’Artagnan to the vivacious Aramis, when he had informed him of all that had passed since their departure from the capital, and an excellent dinner had made one of them forget his thesis and the other his fatigue. “Do you think, then, that any harm can have happened to him?” aske... |
Chapter XXVIII.
THE RETURN | D’Artagnan was astounded by the terrible confidence of Athos; yet many things appeared very obscure to him in this half revelation. In the first place it had been made by a man quite drunk to one who was half drunk; and yet, in spite of the incertainty which the vapor of three or four bottles of Burgundy carries with i... |
Chapter XXIX.
HUNTING FOR THE EQUIPMENTS | The most preoccupied of the four friends was certainly D’Artagnan, although he, in his quality of Guardsman, would be much more easily equipped than Messieurs the Musketeers, who were all of high rank; but our Gascon cadet was, as may have been observed, of a provident and almost avaricious character, and with that (ex... |
Chapter XXX.
D’ARTAGNAN AND THE ENGLISHMAN | D’Artagnan followed Milady without being perceived by her. He saw her get into her carriage, and heard her order the coachman to drive to St. Germain. It was useless to try to keep pace on foot with a carriage drawn by two powerful horses. D’Artagnan therefore returned to the Rue Férou. In the Rue de Seine he met Pla... |
Chapter XXXI.
ENGLISH AND FRENCH | The hour having come, they went with their four lackeys to a spot behind the Luxembourg given up to the feeding of goats. Athos threw a piece of money to the goatkeeper to withdraw. The lackeys were ordered to act as sentinels. A silent party soon drew near to the same enclosure, entered, and joined the Musketeers. Th... |
Chapter XXXII.
A PROCURATOR’S DINNER | However brilliant had been the part played by Porthos in the duel, it had not made him forget the dinner of the procurator’s wife. On the morrow he received the last touches of Mousqueton’s brush for an hour, and took his way toward the Rue aux Ours with the steps of a man who was doubly in favor with fortune. His he... |
Chapter XXXIII.
SOUBRETTE AND MISTRESS | Meantime, as we have said, despite the cries of his conscience and the wise counsels of Athos, D’Artagnan became hourly more in love with Milady. Thus he never failed to pay his diurnal court to her; and the self-satisfied Gascon was convinced that sooner or later she could not fail to respond. One day, when he arrive... |
Chapter XXXIV.
IN WHICH THE EQUIPMENT OF ARAMIS AND PORTHOS IS TREATED OF | Since the four friends had been each in search of his equipments, there had been no fixed meeting between them. They dined apart from one another, wherever they might happen to be, or rather where they could. Duty likewise on its part took a portion of that precious time which was gliding away so rapidly—only they had ... |
Chapter XXXV.
A GASCON A MATCH FOR CUPID | The evening so impatiently waited for by Porthos and by D’Artagnan at last arrived. As was his custom, D’Artagnan presented himself at Milady’s at about nine o’clock. He found her in a charming humor. Never had he been so well received. Our Gascon knew, by the first glance of his eye, that his billet had been delivere... |
Chapter XXXVI.
DREAM OF VENGEANCE | That evening Milady gave orders that when M. d’Artagnan came as usual, he should be immediately admitted; but he did not come. The next day Kitty went to see the young man again, and related to him all that had passed on the preceding evening. D’Artagnan smiled; this jealous anger of Milady was his revenge. That even... |
Chapter XXXVII.
MILADY’S SECRET | D’Artagnan left the hôtel instead of going up at once to Kitty’s chamber, as she endeavored to persuade him to do—and that for two reasons: the first, because by this means he should escape reproaches, recriminations, and prayers; the second, because he was not sorry to have an opportunity of reading his own thoughts a... |
Chapter XXXVIII.
HOW, WITHOUT INCOMMDING HIMSELF, ATHOS PROCURES HIS EQUIPMENT | D’Artagnan was so completely bewildered that without taking any heed of what might become of Kitty he ran at full speed across half Paris, and did not stop till he came to Athos’s door. The confusion of his mind, the terror which spurred him on, the cries of some of the patrol who started in pursuit of him, and the hoo... |
Chapter XXXIX.
A VISION | At four o’clock the four friends were all assembled with Athos. Their anxiety about their outfits had all disappeared, and each countenance only preserved the expression of its own secret disquiet—for behind all present happiness is concealed a fear for the future. Suddenly Planchet entered, bringing two letters for D... |
Chapter XL.
A TERRIBLE VISION | The cardinal leaned his elbow on his manuscript, his cheek upon his hand, and looked intently at the young man for a moment. No one had a more searching eye than the Cardinal de Richelieu, and D’Artagnan felt this glance run through his veins like a fever. He however kept a good countenance, holding his hat in his han... |
Chapter XLI.
THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE | The Siege of La Rochelle was one of the great political events of the reign of Louis XIII., and one of the great military enterprises of the cardinal. It is, then, interesting and even necessary that we should say a few words about it, particularly as many details of this siege are connected in too important a manner w... |
Chapter XLII.
THE ANJOU WINE | After the most disheartening news of the king’s health, a report of his convalescence began to prevail in the camp; and as he was very anxious to be in person at the siege, it was said that as soon as he could mount a horse he would set forward. Meantime, Monsieur, who knew that from one day to the other he might expe... |
Chapter XLIII.
THE SIGN OF THE RED DOVECOT | Meanwhile the king, who, with more reason than the cardinal, showed his hatred for Buckingham, although scarcely arrived was in such a haste to meet the enemy that he commanded every disposition to be made to drive the English from the Isle of Ré, and afterward to press the siege of La Rochelle; but notwithstanding his... |
Chapter XLIV.
THE UTILITY OF STOVEPIPES | It was evident that without suspecting it, and actuated solely by their chivalrous and adventurous character, our three friends had just rendered a service to someone the cardinal honored with his special protection. Now, who was that someone? That was the question the three Musketeers put to one another. Then, seeing... |
Chapter XLV.
A CONJUGAL SCENE | As Athos had foreseen, it was not long before the cardinal came down. He opened the door of the room in which the Musketeers were, and found Porthos playing an earnest game of dice with Aramis. He cast a rapid glance around the room, and perceived that one of his men was missing. “What has become of Monseigneur Athos?... |
Chapter XLVI.
THE BASTION SAINT-GERVAIS | On arriving at the lodgings of his three friends, D’Artagnan found them assembled in the same chamber. Athos was meditating; Porthos was twisting his mustache; Aramis was saying his prayers in a charming little Book of Hours, bound in blue velvet. “Pardieu, gentlemen,” said he. “I hope what you have to tell me is wort... |
Chapter XLVII.
THE COUNCIL OF THE MUSKETEERS | As Athos had foreseen, the bastion was only occupied by a dozen corpses, French and Rochellais. “Gentlemen,” said Athos, who had assumed the command of the expedition, “while Grimaud spreads the table, let us begin by collecting the guns and cartridges together. We can talk while performing that necessary task. These ... |
Chapter XLVIII.
A FAMILY AFFAIR | Athos had invented the phrase, family affair. A family affair was not subject to the investigation of the cardinal; a family affair concerned nobody. People might employ themselves in a family affair before all the world. Therefore Athos had invented the phrase, family affair. Aramis had discovered the idea, the lacke... |
Chapter XLIX.
FATALITY | Meantime Milady, drunk with passion, roaring on the deck like a lioness that has been embarked, had been tempted to throw herself into the sea that she might regain the coast, for she could not get rid of the thought that she had been insulted by D’Artagnan, threatened by Athos, and that she had quit France without bei... |
Chapter L.
CHAT BETWEEN BROTHER AND SISTER | During the time which Lord de Winter took to shut the door, close a shutter, and draw a chair near to his sister-in-law’s fauteuil, Milady, anxiously thoughtful, plunged her glance into the depths of possibility, and discovered all the plan, of which she could not even obtain a glance as long as she was ignorant into w... |
Chapter LI.
OFFICER | Meanwhile, the cardinal looked anxiously for news from England; but no news arrived that was not annoying and threatening. Although La Rochelle was invested, however certain success might appear—thanks to the precautions taken, and above all to the dyke, which prevented the entrance of any vessel into the besieged cit... |
Chapter LII.
CAPTIVITY: THE FIRST DAY | Let us return to Milady, whom a glance thrown upon the coast of France has made us lose sight of for an instant. We shall find her still in the despairing attitude in which we left her, plunged in an abyss of dismal reflection—a dark hell at the gate of which she has almost left hope behind, because for the first time... |
Chapter LIII.
CAPTIVITY: THE SECOND DAY | Milady dreamed that she at length had D’Artagnan in her power, that she was present at his execution; and it was the sight of his odious blood, flowing beneath the ax of the headsman, which spread that charming smile upon her lips. She slept as a prisoner sleeps, rocked by his first hope. In the morning, when they en... |
Chapter LIV.
CAPTIVITY: THE THIRD DAY | Felton had fallen; but there was still another step to be taken. He must be retained, or rather he must be left quite alone; and Milady but obscurely perceived the means which could lead to this result. Still more must be done. He must be made to speak, in order that he might be spoken to—for Milady very well knew tha... |
Chapter LV.
CAPTIVITY: THE FOURTH DAY | The next day, when Felton entered Milady’s apartment he found her standing, mounted upon a chair, holding in her hands a cord made by means of torn cambric handkerchiefs, twisted into a kind of rope one with another, and tied at the ends. At the noise Felton made in entering, Milady leaped lightly to the ground, and tr... |
Chapter LVI.
CAPTIVITY: THE FIFTH DAY | Milady had however achieved a half-triumph, and success doubled her forces. It was not difficult to conquer, as she had hitherto done, men prompt to let themselves be seduced, and whom the gallant education of a court led quickly into her net. Milady was handsome enough not to find much resistance on the part of the f... |
Chapter LVII.
MEANS FOR CLASSICAL TRAGEDY | After a moment of silence employed by Milady in observing the young man who listened to her, Milady continued her recital. “It was nearly three days since I had eaten or drunk anything. I suffered frightful torments. At times there passed before me clouds which pressed my brow, which veiled my eyes; this was delirium.... |
Chapter LVIII.
ESCAPE | As Lord de Winter had thought, Milady’s wound was not dangerous. So soon as she was left alone with the woman whom the baron had summoned to her assistance she opened her eyes. It was, however, necessary to affect weakness and pain—not a very difficult task for so finished an actress as Milady. Thus the poor woman was... |
Chapter LIX.
WHAT TOOK PLACE AT PORTSMOUTH
AUGUST 23, 1628 | Felton took leave of Milady as a brother about to go for a mere walk takes leave of his sister, kissing her hand. His whole body appeared in its ordinary state of calmness, only an unusual fire beamed from his eyes, like the effects of a fever; his brow was more pale than it generally was; his teeth were clenched, and... |
Chapter LX.
IN FRANCE | The first fear of the King of England, Charles I., on learning of the death of the duke, was that such terrible news might discourage the Rochellais; he tried, says Richelieu in his Memoirs, to conceal it from them as long as possible, closing all the ports of his kingdom, and carefully keeping watch that no vessel sho... |
Chapter LXI.
THE CARMELITE CONVENT AT BÉTHUNE | Great criminals bear about them a kind of predestination which makes them surmount all obstacles, which makes them escape all dangers, up to the moment which a wearied Providence has marked as the rock of their impious fortunes. It was thus with Milady. She escaped the cruisers of both nations, and arrived at Boulogne... |
Chapter LXII.
TWO VARIETIES OF DEMONS | Ah,” cried Milady and Rochefort together, “it is you!” “Yes, it is I.” “And you come?” asked Milady. “From La Rochelle; and you?” “From England.” “Buckingham?” “Dead or desperately wounded, as I left without having been able to hear anything of him. A fanatic has just assassinated him.” “Ah,” said Rochefort, wit... |
Chapter LXIII.
THE DROP OF WATER | Rochefort had scarcely departed when Mme. Bonacieux re-entered. She found Milady with a smiling countenance. “Well,” said the young woman, “what you dreaded has happened. This evening, or tomorrow, the cardinal will send someone to take you away.” “Who told you that, my dear?” asked Milady. “I heard it from the mout... |
Chapter LXIV.
THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK | The despair of Athos had given place to a concentrated grief which only rendered more lucid the brilliant mental faculties of that extraordinary man. Possessed by one single thought—that of the promise he had made, and of the responsibility he had taken—he retired last to his chamber, begged the host to procure him a ... |
Chapter LXV.
TRIAL | It was a stormy and dark night; vast clouds covered the heavens, concealing the stars; the moon would not rise till midnight. Occasionally, by the light of a flash of lightning which gleamed along the horizon, the road stretched itself before them, white and solitary; the flash extinct, all remained in darkness. Ever... |
Chapter LXVI.
EXECUTION | It was near midnight; the moon, lessened by its decline, and reddened by the last traces of the storm, arose behind the little town of Armentières, which showed against its pale light the dark outline of its houses, and the skeleton of its high belfry. In front of them the Lys rolled its waters like a river of molten t... |
Chapter LXVII.
CONCLUSION | On the sixth of the following month the king, in compliance with the promise he had made the cardinal to return to La Rochelle, left his capital still in amazement at the news which began to spread itself of Buckingham’s assassination. Although warned that the man she had loved so much was in great danger, the queen, ... |
EPILOGUE | La Rochelle, deprived of the assistance of the English fleet and of the diversion promised by Buckingham, surrendered after a siege of a year. On the twenty-eighth of October, 1628, the capitulation was signed. The king made his entrance into Paris on the twenty-third of December of the same year. He was received in t... |
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