Alexandre Dumas: The D'Artagnan Romances - Complete Series (All 6 Books in One Edition)

Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte of Bragelonne, The Man in the Iron Mask…

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ISBN 978-80-272-3667-1

The Three Musketeers

Twenty Years After

The Vicomte of Bragelonne

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 THE THREE PRESENTS OF D’ARTAGNAN THE ELDER

Chapter 2 THE ANTECHAMBER OF M. DE TREVILLE

Chapter 3 THE AUDIENCE

Chapter 4 THE SHOULDER OF ATHOS, THE BALDRIC OF PORTHOS AND THE HANDKERCHIEF OF ARAMIS

Chapter 5 THE KING’S MUSKETEERS AND THE CARDINAL’S GUARDS

Chapter 6 HIS MAJESTY KING LOUIS XIII

Chapter 7 THE INTERIOR OF “THE MUSKETEERS”

Chapter 8 CONCERNING A COURT INTRIGUE

Chapter 9 D’ARTAGNAN SHOWS HIMSELF

Chapter 10 A MOUSETRAP IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Chapter 11 IN WHICH THE PLOT THICKENS

Chapter 12 GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Chapter 13 MONSIEUR BONACIEUX

Chapter 14 THE MAN OF MEUNG

Chapter 15 MEN OF THE ROBE AND MEN OF THE SWORD

Chapter 16 M. SEGUIER, KEEPER OF THE SEALS, LOOKS MORE THAN ONCE FOR THE BELL, IN ORDER TO RING IT, AS HE DID BEFORE

Chapter 17 BONACIEUX AT HOME

Chapter 18 LOVER AND HUSBAND

Chapter 19 PLAN OF CAMPAIGN

Chapter 20 THE JOURNEY

Chapter 21 THE COUNTESS DE WINTER

Chapter 22 THE BALLET OF LA MERLAISON

Chapter 23 THE RENDEZ-VOUS

Chapter 24 THE PAVILION

Chapter 25 PORTHOS

Chapter 26 ARAMIS AND HIS THESIS

Chapter 27 THE WIFE OF ATHOS

Chapter 28 THE RETURN

Chapter 29 HUNTING FOR THE EQUIPMENTS

Chapter 30 D’ARTAGNAN AND THE ENGLISHMAN

Chapter 31 ENGLISH AND FRENCH

Chapter 32 A PROCURATOR’S DINNER

Chapter 33 SOUBRETTE AND MISTRESS

Chapter 34 IN WHICH THE EQUIPMENT OF ARAMIS AND PORTHOS IS TREATED OF

Chapter 35 A GASCON A MATCH FOR CUPID

Chapter 36 DREAM OF VENGEANCE

Chapter 37 MILADY’S SECRET

Chapter 38 HOW, WITHOUT INCOMMODING HIMSELF, ATHOS PROCURED HIS EQUIPMENT

Chapter 39 A VISION

Chapter 40 A TERRIBLE VISION

Chapter 41 THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE

Chapter 42 THE ANJOU WINE

Chapter 43 THE SIGN OF THE RED DOVECOT

Chapter 44 THE UTILITY OF STOVEPIPES

Chapter 45 A CONJUGAL SCENE

Chapter 46 THE BASTION SAINT-GERVAIS

Chapter 47 THE COUNCIL OF THE MUSKETEERS

Chapter 48 A FAMILY AFFAIR

Chapter 49 FATALITY

Chapter 50 CHAT BETWEEN BROTHER AND SISTER

Chapter 51 OFFICER

Chapter 52 CAPTIVITY: THE FIRST DAY

Chapter 53 CAPTIVITY: THE SECOND DAY

Chapter 54 CAPTIVITY: THE THIRD DAY

Chapter 55 CAPTIVITY: THE FOURTH DAY

Chapter 56 CAPTIVITY: THE FIFTH DAY

Chapter 57 MEANS FOR CLASSICAL TRAGEDY

Chapter 58 ESCAPE

Chapter 59 WHAT TOOK PLACE AT PORTSMOUTH

Chapter 60 IN FRANCE

Chapter 61 THE CARMELITE CONVENT AT BETHUNE

Chapter 62 TWO VARIETIES OF DEMONS

Chapter 63 THE DROP OF WATER

Chapter 64 THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK

Chapter 65 TRIAL

Chapter 66 EXECUTION

Chapter 67 CONCLUSION

Chapter 68 EPILOGUE

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.

From the moment we had no rest till we could find some trace in contemporary works of these extraordinary names which had so strongly awakened our curiosity.

The catalogue alone of the books we read with this object would fill a whole chapter, which, although it might be very instructive, would certainly afford our readers but little amusement. It will suffice, then, to tell them that at the moment at which, discouraged by so many fruitless investigations, we were about to abandon our search, we at length found, guided by the counsels of our illustrious friend Paulin Paris, a manuscript in folio, endorsed 4772 or 4773, we do not recollect which, having for title, “Memoirs of the Comte de la Fere, Touching Some Events Which Passed in France Toward the End of the Reign of King Louis XIII and the Commencement of the Reign of King Louis XIV.”

It may be easily imagined how great was our joy when, in turning over this manuscript, our last hope, we found at the twentieth page the name of Athos, at the twenty-seventh the name of Porthos, and at the thirty-first the name of Aramis.

The discovery of a completely unknown manuscript at a period in which historical science is carried to such a high degree appeared almost miraculous. We hastened, therefore, to obtain permission to print it, with the view of presenting ourselves someday with the pack of others at the doors of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, if we should not succeed—a very probable thing, by the by—in gaining admission to the Academie Francaise with our own proper pack. This permission, we feel bound to say, was graciously granted; which compels us here to give a public contradiction to the slanderers who pretend that we live under a government but moderately indulgent to men of letters.

Now, this is the first part of this precious manuscript which we offer to our readers, restoring it to the title which belongs to it, and entering into an engagement that if (of which we have no doubt) this first part should obtain the success it merits, we will publish the second immediately.