Twenty Years After

Alexandre Dumas

Description

Twenty Years After is the second of the d'Artagnan Romances, following The Three Musketeers. It is set during the early reign of King Louis XIV in France and the English Civil War in England, leading to Cromwell's victory over King Charles I. The musketeers fight valiantly to protect their monarch, and many previous characters or their children are reprieved from the first novel.

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781775410171
• Langue: English

Extrait

TWENTY YEARS AFTER
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ALEXANDRE DUMAS
 
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Twenty Years After First published in 1845.
ISBN 978-1-775410-17-1
© 2009 THE FLOATING PRESS.
While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike.
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Contents
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1 - The Shade of Cardinal Richelieu 2 - A Nightly Patrol 3 - Dead Animosities 4 - Anne of Austria at the Age of Forty-Six 5 - The Gascon and the Italian 6 - D'Artagnan in His Fortieth Year 7 - Touches Upon the Strange Effects a Half-Pistole May HaveUpon a Beadle and a Chorister 8 - How D'Artagnan, on Going to a Distance to Discover Aramis,Discovers His Old Friend on Horseback Behind His OwnPlanchet 9 - The Abbe D'Herblay 10 - Monsieur Porthos Du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds 11 - How D'Artagnan, in Discovering the Retreat of Porthos,Perceives that Wealth Does Not Necessarily ProduceHappiness 12 - In Which it is Shown that if Porthos was Discontented withHis Condition, Mousqueton was Completely Satisfied with His 13 - Two Angelic Faces 14 - The Castle of Bragelonne 15 - Athos as a Diplomatist 16 - The Duc de Beaufort 17 - Describes How the Duc de Beaufort Amused His Leisure Hoursin the Donjon of Vincennes 18 - Grimaud Begins His Functions 19 - In Which the Contents of the Pates Made by the Successor ofFather Marteau Are Described 20 - One of Marie Michon's Adventures 21 - The Abbe Scarron 22 - Saint Denis 23 - One of the Forty Methods of Escape of the Duc de Beaufort 24 - The Timely Arrival of D'Artagnan in Paris 25 - An Adventure on the High Road 26 - The Rencontre 27 - The Four Old Friends Prepare to Meet Again 28 - The Place Royale 29 - The Ferry Across the Oise 30 - Skirmishing 31 - The Monk 32 - The Absolution 33 - Grimaud Speaks 34 - On the Eve of Battle 35 - A Dinner in the Old Style 36 - A Letter from Charles the First 37 - Cromwell's Letter 38 - Henrietta Maria and Mazarin 39 - How, Sometimes, the Unhappy Mistake Chance for Providence 40 - Uncle and Nephew 41 - Paternal Affection 42 - Another Queen in Want of Help 43 - In Which it is Proved that First Impulses Are Oftentimes theBest 44 - Te Deum for the Victory of Lens 45 - The Beggar of St. Eustache 46 - The Tower of St. Jacques de la Boucherie 47 - The Riot 48 - The Riot Becomes a Revolution 49 - Misfortune Refreshes the Memory 50 - The Interview 51 - The Flight 52 - The Carriage of Monsieur Le Coadjuteur 53 - How D'Artagnan and Porthos Earned by Selling Straw, the OneTwo Hundred and Nineteen, and the Other Two Hundred andFifteen Louis D'Or 54 - In Which We Hear Tidings of Aramis 55 - The Scotchman 56 - The Avenger 57 - Oliver Cromwell 58 - Jesus Seigneur 59 - In Which it is Shown that Under the Most TryingCircumstances Noble Natures Never Lose Their Courage, norGood Stomachs Their Appetites 60 - Respect to Fallen Majesty 61 - D'Artagnan Hits on a Plan 62 - London 63 - The Trial 64 - Whitehall 65 - The Workmen 66 - Remember! 67 - The Man in the Mask 68 - Cromwell's House 69 - Conversational 70 - The Skiff "Lightning" 71 - Port Wine 72 - End of the Port Wine Mystery 73 - Fatality 74 - How Mousqueton, After Being Very Nearly Roasted, Had a NarrowEscape of Being Eaten 75 - The Return 76 - The Ambassadors 77 - The Three Lieutenants of the Generalissimo 78 - The Battle of Charenton 79 - The Road to Picardy 80 - The Gratitude of Anne of Austria 81 - Cardinal Mazarin as King 82 - Precautions 83 - Strength and Sagacity 84 - Strength and Sagacity — Continued 85 - The Oubliettes of Cardinal Mazarin 86 - Conferences 87 - In Which We Begin to Think that Porthos Will Be at Last aBaron, and D'Artagnan a Captain 88 - Shows How with Threat and Pen More is Effected than by theSword 89 - In Which it is Shown that it is Sometimes More Difficult forKings to Return to the Capitals of Their Kingdoms, than toMake an Exit 90 - Conclusion Endnotes
1 - The Shade of Cardinal Richelieu
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In a splendid chamber of the Palais Royal, formerly styledthe Palais Cardinal, a man was sitting in deep reverie, hishead supported on his hands, leaning over a gilt and inlaidtable which was covered with letters and papers. Behind thisfigure glowed a vast fireplace alive with leaping flames;great logs of oak blazed and crackled on the polished brassandirons whose flicker shone upon the superb habiliments ofthe lonely tenant of the room, which was illumined grandlyby twin candelabra rich with wax-lights.
Any one who happened at that moment to contemplate that redsimar — the gorgeous robe of office — and the rich lace,or who gazed on that pale brow, bent in anxious meditation,might, in the solitude of that apartment, combined with thesilence of the ante-chambers and the measured paces of theguards upon the landing-place, have fancied that the shadeof Cardinal Richelieu lingered still in his accustomedhaunt.
It was, alas! the ghost of former greatness. Franceenfeebled, the authority of her sovereign contemned, hernobles returning to their former turbulence and insolence,her enemies within her frontiers — all proved the greatRichelieu no longer in existence.
In truth, that the red simar which occupied the wonted placewas his no longer, was still more strikingly obvious fromthe isolation which seemed, as we have observed, moreappropriate to a phantom than a living creature — from thecorridors deserted by courtiers, and courts crowded withguards — from that spirit of bitter ridicule, which,arising from the streets below, penetrated through the verycasements of the room, which resounded with the murmurs of awhole city leagued against the minister; as well as from thedistant and incessant sounds of guns firing — let off,happily, without other end or aim, except to show to theguards, the Swiss troops and the military who surrounded thePalais Royal, that the people were possessed of arms.
The shade of Richelieu was Mazarin. Now Mazarin was aloneand defenceless, as he well knew.
"Foreigner!" he ejaculated, "Italian! that is their mean yetmighty byword of reproach — the watchword with which theyassassinated, hanged, and made away with Concini; and if Igave them their way they would assassinate, hang, and makeaway with me in the same manner, although they have nothingto complain of except a tax or two now and then. Idiots!ignorant of their real enemies, they do not perceive that itis not the Italian who speaks French badly, but those whocan say fine things to them in the purest Parisian accent,who are their real foes.
"Yes, yes," Mazarin continued, whilst his wonted smile, fullof subtlety, lent a strange expression to his pale lips;"yes, these noises prove to me, indeed, that the destiny offavorites is precarious; but ye shall know I am no ordinaryfavorite. No! The Earl of Essex, 'tis true, wore a splendidring, set with diamonds, given him by his royal mistress,whilst I — I have nothing but a simple circlet of gold,with a cipher on it and a date; but that ring has beenblessed in the chapel of the Palais Royal, [1] so they willnever ruin me, as they long to do, and whilst they shout,'Down with Mazarin!' I, unknown, and unperceived by them,incite them to cry out, 'Long live the Duke de Beaufort' oneday; another, 'Long live the Prince de Conde;' and again,'Long live the parliament!'" And at this word the smile onthe cardinal's lips assumed an expression of hatred, ofwhich his mild countenance seemed incapable. "Theparliament! We shall soon see how to dispose," he continued,"of the parliament! Both Orleans and Montargis are ours. Itwill be a work of time, but those who have begun by cryingout: Down with Mazarin! will finish by shouting out, Downwith all the people I have mentioned, each in his turn.
"Richelieu, whom they hated during his lifetime and whomthey now praise after his death, was even less popular thanI am. Often he was driven away, oftener still had he a dreadof being sent away. The queen will never banish me, and evenwere I obliged to yield to the populace she would yield withme; if I fly, she will fly; and then we shall see how therebels will get on without either king or queen.
"Oh, were I not a foreigner! were I but a Frenchman! were Ibut of gentle birth!"
The position of the cardinal was indeed critical, and recentevents had added to his difficulties. Discontent had longpervaded the lower ranks of society in France. Crushed andimpoverished by taxation — imposed by Mazarin, whoseavarice impelled him to grind them down to the very dust —the people, as the Advocate-General Talon described it, hadnothing left to them except their souls; and as those couldnot be sold by auction, they began to murmur. Patience hadin vain been recommended to them by reports of brilliantvictories gained by France; laurels, however, were not meatand drink, and the people had for some time been in a stateof discontent.
Had this been all, it might not, perhaps, have greatlysignified; for when the lower classes alone complained, thecourt of France, separated as it was from the poor by theintervening classes of the gentry and the bourgeoisie,seldom listened to their voice; but unluckily, Mazarin hadhad the imprudence to attack the magistrates and had sold noless than twelve appointments in the Court of Requests, at ahigh price; and as the officers of that court paid verydearly for their places, and as the addition of twelve newcolleagues would necessarily lower the value of each place,the old functionaries formed a union amongst themselves,and, enraged, swore on the Bible not to allow of thisaddition to their number, but to resist all the persecutionswhich might ensue; and should any one of them chance toforfeit his post b