The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (to read list txt) π
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The Three Musketeers is the first of three adventure novels written by Alexandre Dumas featuring the character of dβArtagnan.
The young dβArtagnan leaves home in Gascony for Paris to join the Kingβs Musketeers. On his way to Paris, the letter which will introduce him to the commander of the Musketeers is stolen by a mysterious man in the town of Meung. This βMan of Meungβ turns out to be a confidant of the infamous Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister of the government of France.
When he arrives in Paris and seeks an audience with the commander of the Musketeers, dβArtagnan sees this man again and rushes to confront him. As he pushes his way out he provokes three inseparable musketeersβAthos, Porthos and Aramisβand ends up setting up duels with all three of them that afternoon. At the first of the duels he discovers, to his surprise, that each of the three is a second to the other. As they start to fight, they are ambushed by the Cardinalβs men and join forces. So begins one of the most enduring partnerships in literature.
When dβArtagnanβs landlord tells him that his wife has been kidnapped, dβArtagnan investigates, falls in love and becomes embroiled in a plot to destabilize France.
The Three Musketeers was first published in 1844 and has been adapted for stage, film, television, and animation many times; such is the endurance of its appeal. At its heart is a fast-paced tale of love and adventure.
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- Author: Alexandre Dumas
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βAnd what does he say?β asked Porthos, in a self-sufficient tone.
βHe relates that he met at Brussels Rochefort, the Γ’me damnΓ©e of the cardinal disguised as a Capuchin, and that this cursed Rochefort, thanks to his disguise, had tricked M. de Laigues, like a ninny as he is.β
βA ninny, indeed!β said Porthos; βbut is the matter certain?β
βI had it from Aramis,β replied the musketeer.
βIndeed?β
βWhy, you knew it, Porthos,β said Aramis. βI told you of it yesterday. Let us say no more about it.β
βSay no more about it? Thatβs your opinion!β replied Porthos.
βSay no more about it! Peste! You come to your conclusions quickly. What! The cardinal sets a spy upon a gentleman, has his letters stolen from him by means of a traitor, a brigand, a rascalβ βhas, with the help of this spy and thanks to this correspondence, Chalaisβs throat cut, under the stupid pretext that he wanted to kill the king and marry Monsieur to the queen! Nobody knew a word of this enigma. You unraveled it yesterday to the great satisfaction of all; and while we are still gaping with wonder at the news, you come and tell us today, βLet us say no more about it.βββ
βWell, then, let us talk about it, since you desire it,β replied Aramis, patiently.
βThis Rochefort,β cried Porthos, βif I were the esquire of poor Chalais, should pass a minute or two very uncomfortably with me.β
βAnd youβ βyou would pass rather a sad quarter-hour with the Red Duke,β replied Aramis.
βOh, the Red Duke! Bravo! Bravo! The Red Duke!β cried Porthos, clapping his hands and nodding his head. βThe Red Duke is capital. Iβll circulate that saying, be assured, my dear fellow. Who says this Aramis is not a wit? What a misfortune it is you did not follow your first vocation; what a delicious abbΓ© you would have made!β
βOh, itβs only a temporary postponement,β replied Aramis; βI shall be one someday. You very well know, Porthos, that I continue to study theology for that purpose.β
βHe will be one, as he says,β cried Porthos; βhe will be one, sooner or later.β
βSooner,β said Aramis.
βHe only waits for one thing to determine him to resume his cassock, which hangs behind his uniform,β said another musketeer.
βWhat is he waiting for?β asked another.
βOnly till the queen has given an heir to the crown of France.β
βNo jesting upon that subject, gentlemen,β said Porthos; βthank God the queen is still of an age to give one!β
βThey say that M. de Buckingham is in France,β replied Aramis, with a significant smile which gave to this sentence, apparently so simple, a tolerably scandalous meaning.
βAramis, my good friend, this time you are wrong,β interrupted Porthos. βYour wit is always leading you beyond bounds; if M. de TrΓ©ville heard you, you would repent of speaking thus.β
βAre you going to give me a lesson, Porthos?β cried Aramis, from whose usually mild eye a flash passed like lightning.
βMy dear fellow, be a musketeer or an abbΓ©. Be one or the other, but not both,β replied Porthos. βYou know what Athos told you the other day; you eat at everybodyβs mess. Ah, donβt be angry, I beg of you, that would be useless; you know what is agreed upon between you, Athos and me. You go to Madame dβAguillonβs, and you pay your court to her; you go to Madame de Bois-Tracyβs, the cousin of Madame de Chevreuse, and you pass for being far advanced in the good graces of that lady. Oh, good Lord! Donβt trouble yourself to reveal your good luck; no one asks for your secretβ βall the world knows your discretion. But since you possess that virtue, why the devil donβt you make use of it with respect to her Majesty? Let whoever likes talk of the king and the cardinal, and how he likes; but the queen is sacred, and if anyone speaks of her, let it be respectfully.β
βPorthos, you are as vain as Narcissus; I plainly tell you so,β replied Aramis. βYou know I hate moralizing, except when it is done by Athos. As to you, good sir, you wear too magnificent a baldric to be strong on that head. I will be an abbΓ© if it suits me. In the meanwhile I am a musketeer; in that quality I say what I please, and at this moment it pleases me to say that you weary me.β
βAramis!β
βPorthos!β
βGentlemen! Gentlemen!β cried the surrounding group.
βMonsieur de TrΓ©ville awaits M. dβArtagnan,β cried a servant, throwing open the door of the cabinet.
At this announcement, during which the door remained open, everyone became mute, and amid the general silence the young man crossed part of the length of the antechamber, and entered the apartment of the captain of the musketeers, congratulating himself with all his heart at having so narrowly escaped the end of this strange quarrel.
III The AudienceM. de TrΓ©ville 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 dβArtagnanβs response, the BΓ©arnese accent of which recalled to him at the same time his youth and his countryβ βa double remembrance which makes a man smile at all ages; but stepping toward the antechamber and making a sign to dβArtagnan with his hand, as if to ask his permission to finish with others before he began with him, he called three times, with a louder voice at each time, so that he ran through the intervening tones between the imperative accent and the angry accent.
βAthos! Porthos! Aramis!β
The two musketeers with whom we have already made acquaintance, and who answered to the last two of these three names, immediately quitted the group of which they had formed a part, and advanced toward the cabinet, the door of which closed after them as soon as they had entered. Their appearance, although it was not quite at ease, excited by its carelessness, at once full of dignity and submission, the admiration of dβArtagnan,
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