Three Musketeers. Part one
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
Contents
Author’s Preface
1. THE THREE PRESENTS OF D’ARTAGNAN THE ELDER 2. THE ANTECHAMBER OF M. DE TREVILLE 3. THE AUDIENCE 4. THE SHOULDER OF ATHOS, THE BALDRIC OF PORTHOS AND THE HANDKERCHIEF OF ARAMIS 5. THE KING’S MUSKETEERS AND THE CARDINAL’S GUARDS 6. HIS MAJESTY KING LOUIS XIII 7. THE INTERIOR OF “THE MUSKETEERS” 8. CONCERNING A COURT INTRIGUE 9. D’ARTAGNAN SHOWS HIMSELF 10. A MOUSETRAP IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 11. IN WHICH THE PLOT THICKENS 12. GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM 13. MONSIEUR BONACIEUX 14. THE MAN OF MEUNG 15. MEN OF THE ROBE AND MEN OF THE SWORD 16. M. SEGUIER, KEEPER OF THE SEALS, LOOKS MORE THAN ONCE FOR THE BELL, IN ORDER TO RING IT, AS HE DID BEFORE 17. BONACIEUX AT HOME 18. LOVER AND HUSBAND 19. PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 20. THE JOURNEY 21. THE COUNTESS DE WINTER 22. THE BALLET OF LA MERLAISON 23. THE RENDEZVOUS 24. THE PAVILION 25. PORTHOS 26. ARAMIS AND HIS THESIS 27. THE WIFE OF ATHOS 28. THE RETURN 29. HUNTING FOR THE EQUIPMENTS 30. D’ARTAGNAN AND THE ENGLISHMAN 31. ENGLISH AND FRENCH 32. A PROCURATOR’S DINNER 33. SOUBRETTE AND MISTRESS 34. IN WHICH THE EQUIPMENT OF ARAMIS AND PORTHOS IS TREATED OF 35. A GASCON A MATCH FOR CUPID 36. DREAM OF VENGEANCE 37. MILADY’S SECRET 38. HOW, WITHOUT INCOMMODING HIMSELF, ATHOS PROCURED HIS EQUIPMENT 39. A VISION 40. A TERRIBLE VISION 41. THE SEIGE OF LA ROCHELLE 42. THE ANJOU WINE 43. THE SIGN OF THE RED DOVECOT 44. THE UTILITY OF STOVEPIPES 45. A CONJUGAL SCENE 46. THE BASTION SAINT-GERVAIS 47. THE COUNCIL OF THE MUSKETEERS 48. A FAMILY AFFAIR 49. FATALITY 50. CHAT BETWEEN BROTHER AND SISTER 51. OFFICER 52. CAPTIVITY: THE FIRST DAY 53. CAPTIVITY: THE SECOND DAY 54. CAPTIVITY: THE THIRD DAY 55. CAPTIVITY: THE FOURTH DAY 56. CAPTIVITY: THE FIFTH DAY 57. MEANS FOR CLASSICAL TRAGEDY 58. ESCAPE 59. WHAT TOOK PLACE AT PORTSMOUTH 60. IN FRANCE 61. THE CARMELITE CONVENT AT BETHUNE 62. TWO VARIETIES OF DEMONS 63. THE DROP OF WATER 64. THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK 65. TRIAL 66. EXECUTION 67. CONCLUSION
EPILOGUE
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
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 upon the Memoirs of M. d’Artagnan, printed–as were most of the works of that period, in which authors could not tell the truth without the risk of a residence, more or less long, in the Bastille–at Amsterdam, by Pierre Rouge. The title attracted me; I took them home with me, with the permission of the guardian, and devoured them.
It is not my intention here to enter into an analysis of this curious work; and I shall satisfy myself with referring such of my readers as appreciate the pictures of the period to its pages. They will therein find portraits penciled by the hand of a master; and although these squibs may be, for the most part, traced upon the doors of barracks and the walls of cabarets, they will not find the likenesses of Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, Richelieu, Mazarin, and the courtiers of the period, less faithful than in the history of M. Anquetil.
But, it is well known, what strikes the capricious mind of the poet is not always what affects the mass of readers. Now, while admiring, as others doubtless will admire, the details we have to relate, our main preoccupation concerned a matter to which no one before ourselves had given a thought.
D’Artagnan relates that on his first visit to M. de Treville, captain of the king’s Musketeers, he met in the antechamber three young men, serving in the illustrious corps into which he was soliciting the honor of being received, bearing the names of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.
We must confess these three strange names struck us; and it immediately occurred to us that they were but pseudonyms, under which d’Artagnan had disguised names perhaps illustrious, or else that the bearers of these borrowed names had themselves chosen them on the day in which, from caprice, discontent, or want of fortune, they had donned the simple Musketeer’s uniform.