The Three Musketeers

The king is enraged that the Duke of Buckingham is in Paris. The cardinal reminds the king that they can’t arrest the duke because he is the powerful top advisor to the King of England, and an arrest would be detrimental to the fragile political relationship between the two countries. The cardinal assures the king that the queen wouldn’t think of having an affair with the duke, saying it specifically in such a way that the king is convinced the affair is happening, enraging him further. The cardinal thus builds suspicion against the queen, while outwardly proclaiming her innocence.

Queen Anne is in her chambers, despairing over her exiled friends. The king sends in Monsieur de Sequier, who works for the cardinal, with orders to read the queen’s letters. At first, the queen refuses, but ultimately gives Monsieur de Sequier a letter addressed to her brother, the leader of Austria, asking him to declare war on France to depose the cardinal. This seems treasonous, but the king is thrilled because the letter doesn’t mention an affair or the Duke of Buckingham. The cardinal suggests that the king throw a ball in the queen’s honor; the king should also ask the queen to wear her diamond studs—a gift from her husband.

When the cardinal again reminds the king to ask the queen to wear her diamonds to the upcoming ball, the king grows suspicious. When Queen Anne looks nervous about the diamonds, which she cannot wear because she has gifted them to the duke, the king’s suspicions that something is amiss are confirmed.

Constance volunteers to get the diamonds back from the duke in time for the ball. The queen has a difficult time trusting people, especially now that she knows that the cardinal knows about her affair. Constance assures the queen that her husband Monsieur Bonacieux will deliver a letter to the duke in London about the situation. The queen doesn’t have access to money, but she gives Constance a rare and precious ring to give to Bonacieux in return for his help.

Constance returns home to her husband. In the eight days since they’ve last seen each other, so much has changed that they feel awkward. Before Constance can tell him about the assignment from the queen, Bonacieux reveals that he is closely allied with Rochefort and the cardinal, assuring Constance that their financial fortunes will soon change. Constance is shocked and accuses her husband of selling “yourself, body and soul, to the demon, the devil, for money” (353). Their argument escalates, but Constance worries that her husband, whom she no longer understands or likes, will turn her in. Constance deescalates the fight and tells him she can find someone else for the job. Bonacieux leaves to report to the cardinal, and d’Artagnan arrives to offer his help to Constance.

D’Artagnan offers to complete Constance’s mission, whatever it is. At first, she isn’t sure she should disclose the details of the queen’s private life to d’Artagnan, but he vows he’d rather die than betray Queen Anne. He undertakes to go to London to meet with the Duke of Buckingham, a commitment that becomes d’Artagnan and Constance’s “mutual declaration of love” (363).

Constance gives him the money the cardinal gave to Bonacieux. From a window in d’Artagnan’s apartment, Constance and d’Artagnan watch Bonacieux meet with Rochefort. D’Artagnan recognizes the Man of Meung and wants to confront him at once, but Constance convinces him to stay and listen in on their conversation instead. Bonacieux and Rochefort ponder what Constance’s new mission might be.

D’Artagnan seeks out Treville for permission to undertake the trip to London. Treville wants to know nothing of the mission, except that it is on behalf of the Queen. He advises d’Artagnan to take other Musketeers along, and gives Athos, Porthos, and Aramis permission to accompany d’Artagnan. They have 15 days. Aramis is hesitant to go—he worries leaving will harm the mysterious woman he is keeping a secret from d’Artagnan. Ultimately, all three Musketeers agree to help d’Artagnan. He shares the money Constance gave him with them.

The three Musketeers, d’Artagnan, and their servants start off in disguise. They stop at an inn for breakfast, where Porthos gets in a fight with a man who refuses to toast the king. The others flee the scene because they worry the fight will blow their cover, leaving Porthos behind. On the road, some workmen get Aramis’s boots dirty. He curses at them, and the workers shoot at the group, wounding Aramis and one of the servants. Aramis has to stay behind to recover from his wound. That night, Athos, d’Artagnan, and their servants find an inn where the innkeeper is so welcoming that the men become suspicious. Sure enough, the next morning, the innkeeper calls for them to be arrested. Athos stays behind to fight off a mob, while d’Artagnan and his servant Planchet escape.

Planchet and d’Artagnan make it to Calais, a port city where they can take a ship to England. Meanwhile, the Comte de Wardes has been sent by the cardinal to sail to England as well. D’Artagnan gets into a fight with the Comte de Wardes, suspecting him of being there to thwart d’Artagnan’s mission. He easily defeats the comte, and then presents himself at the governor’s office. Pretending to be the comte, d’Artagnan reports a suspicious man—describing in detail the Comte de Wardes but identifying him as d’Artagnan. This will distract the Cardinal’s Guards.

D’Artagnan makes it to England. He meets with the Duke of Buckingham and presents him with Queen Anne’s letter.

The Duke of Buckingham is impressed by d’Artagnan’s ability to accomplish this dangerous task at such a young age. In his castle, he shows d’Artagnan a room devoted to Queen Anne—there, a portrait of the queen is surrounded by flowers. The duke also shows d’Artagnan the diamond studs the queen gifted him, but two are missing. The duke automatically suspects Milady, the Countess de Winter, of stealing them for the cardinal. The duke forbids any ships to leave England for France, which is as shocking as a declaration of war. The duke has his jewelry designers replicate the diamond studs immediately. When the studs are finished, the duke offers d’Artagnan a financial reward. This offends d’Artagnan, as his work is in the service of the queen. But d’Artagnan does accept four horses.

When he arrives back in Paris, Treville sends him to the Louvre.

At the ball, King Louis and Queen Anne are noticeably moody and tired. The king gets in a public argument with the queen over her diamonds, which she is not wearing. The queen assures him that she can send for the 12 diamond studs, and he insists that she does. The cardinal shows the king two studs, implying that the queen is lying. When the queen returns to the ball wearing all of her diamonds, “The king trembled with joy and the cardinal with vexation” (439). The king and the cardinal present the queen with the two diamond studs—the cardinal hopes that she is only wearing 10 of the original 12, and that this will prove her deception. However, the Queen thanks them for giving her two extra studs and reveals that she is already wearing 12—the two from the king and cardinal make 14. The Cardinal is shaken, and the Queen is triumphant.

D’Artagnan is pulled into another room by Constance, disguised in black. She can’t meet with him that night, but she’s left a note for him in his apartment.

A letter from Constance to d’Artagnan has been left in his apartment, but Planchet is distressed about this because the doors and windows were all locked, and Planchet was not the one who received the letter on d’Artagnan’s behalf. The note asks d’Artagnan to meet Constance the next night. Planchet warns d’Artagnan against the meeting, but d’Artagnan is elated to see Constance.

The next morning, when d’Artagnan sees Monsieur Bonacieux, Bonacieux confirms that his wife has returned, but says that she’s staying at the Louvre. D’Artagnan is too excited to pay attention to what this might mean.

D’Artagnan meets with Treville, who reminds him that the other three Musketeers have still not returned and need to be found. D’Artagnan promises to search for his companions. Treville warns d’Artagnan to be very careful with anything related to the cardinal, who is a cunning, resourceful, and dangerous enemy. Moreover, Treville warns d’Artagnan to avoid women who will betray him.

Later that day, Planchet again warns d’Artagnan not to go to his late-night meeting. Planchet is suspicious of Bonacieux. Despite all the warnings, d’Artagnan is determined to meet Constance as the letter requested.

D’Artagnan and Planchet set off for the meeting place, which is outside of Paris. On the way there, Planchet’s nerves get the better of him, so d’Artagnan sends him back. D’Artagnan arrives at a house in the woods, but no one appears. Suspicious, d’Artagnan climbs a tree and peers inside, where he sees disheveled rooms; it is clear that there has been a struggle. A nearby ferryman claims that he did row Madame Bonacieux across, which prompts d’Artagnan to ask an elderly man in a nearby cottage if he’s seen anything suspicious. The old man hesitates, but admits that he saw men abduct a woman from the neighboring house. D’Artagnan knows he can’t track down the men on his own.

Treville is certain that the cardinal is involved in Constance’s latest abduction. He advises d’Artagnan to leave Paris immediately and find the three Musketeers.

D’Artagnan runs into Monsieur Bonacieux again, who now seems nervous to see d’Artagnan. D’Artagnan realizes that Bonacieux fits the description of one of the kidnappers the elderly man saw during the abduction. Planchet reveals that a member of the Cardinal’s Guards had stopped by the apartment, looking for d’Artagnan; the cardinal wants a meeting.

D’Artagnan and Planchet travel to the town of Chantilly, where they discover Porthos still at the inn where he fought. He is wounded, and has not yet paid his tab, which frustrates the innkeeper. D’Artagnan assures the innkeeper that Porthos’s wealthy mistress will pay his bill. Porthos is in good spirits, happy to hear that d’Artagnan accomplished his London mission. D’Artagnan leaves him to find the other two Musketeers.

D’Artagnan finds Aramis with the Jesuits. Aramis is studying to take orders to become a priest. Aramis welcomes d’Artagnan and invites him to participate in a conversation about Aramis’s thesis, but d’Artagnan can’t follow what Aramis and two other priests are saying as they speak mostly in Latin. D’Artagnan assumes that Aramis is only becoming a priest to avoid heartbreak. He gives Aramis a perfumed note that he found at Aramis’s apartment. Aramis is thrilled by the note—which is clearly from a woman—and changes his mind about becoming a priest.

Athos is still in the inn where the innkeeper betrayed them. Athos and his servant have locked themselves in the basement and are eating and drinking everything in sight. They’re in a standoff: Athos shoots at anyone who tries to enter. The innkeeper is distraught. D’Artagnan gives him Athos’s horse as payment—an easy solution, given that he has a new, better horse from the Duke of Buckingham to give to Athos.

D’Artagnan is admitted into the basement with Athos, who drunkenly tells d’Artagnan a story about a friend—d’Artagnan quickly intuits that this is actually a story about Athos himself. The story is horrifying. Athos’s “friend” married a woman he was madly in love with, but then found out that she was guilty of stealing sacred artifacts from churches—she was marked with a fleur-de-lis brand as punishment. In response, Athos’s “friend” killed his wife by hanging her from a tree. D’Artagnan has long wondered about Athos’s constant sadness, but the idea that Athos killed his wife disturbs d’Artagnan. He pretends to fall asleep to avoid further conversation with Athos.

The next morning, Athos claims that he was drunk and probably said nonsensical things. But when d’Artagnan reminds him of their conversation, Athos looks so ashamed that d’Artagnan is certain this is really what happened to Athos.

Athos has gambled away two of the duke’s gifted horses. D’Artagnan agrees to try to win them back, but when he gets lucky in a game of dice, he accepts money instead of one horse because to him, he wants all the Musketeers to have the same type of horse. D’Artagnan and Athos leave the inn and meet up with Aramis, who has sold his gifted horse. When they all meet up with Porthos, they find out that he, too, sold his horse to pay off his expensive inn bill.

Back in Paris, Treville informs them that they are to go to war. But the Musketeers are now without horses, money, and their battle equipment.

The Musketeers and d’Artagnan worry about their lack of equipment for the impending war. Athos vows to die in a fight with a Cardinal’s Guard so he can still claim he died honorably, but not have to go into battle without proper gear.

Porthos and d’Artagnan go to church—an unusual thing for Porthos. At the church, Porthos is actively checking a woman, who is sitting next to Milady. On their way out, Porthos playfully insults Milady by offering her holy water. He speaks with the woman he has been looking at, who turns out to be his mistress Madame Coquenard. She apologizes for not sending him money at the inn, and they arrange to meet at her house, as long as Porthos pretends to be her cousin to avoid Madame Coquenard’s husband’s suspicions. Porthos is confident he can get money for his equipment from his mistress.

D’Artagnan tells Athos about what happened at church. He wants to track down Milady and figure out what she’s up to because he suspects that she’s part of the conspiracy against Constance. Athos teases that d’Artagnan must be falling in love with Milady, a beautiful English woman.

As d’Artagnan and Planchet track down Milady’s carriage, they run into Lubin, the servant of Comte de Wardes. Planchet approaches just as Milady’s carriage pulls up; in the confusion, Milady’s note is mistakenly delivered to d’Artagnan instead of Lubin. It asks to meet her at a hotel.

D’Artagnan and Planchet follow Milady’s carriage and watch as a man pulls up on a horse and starts an argument with her. The man is the Lord de Winter, Milady’s brother-in-law—the same man with whom d’Artagnan had gambled at the inn. D’Artagnan interferes in the argument, and Lord de Winter takes offense and challenges d’Artagnan to a four-on-four duel.

The three Musketeers and d’Artagnan quickly defeat the Englishmen in the duel, with Athos killing one. D’Artagnan spares Lord de Winter, who is honored by d’Artagnan’s mercy. He gives d’Artagnan money, which d’Artagnan gives to Athos. Lord de Winter insists on introducing d’Artagnan to his sister.

D’Artagnan meets Milady and is instantly captivated by her beauty. He tries to bring up the cardinal in conversation to see if Milady will admit her allegiance to him, but she avoids the topic. Milady was married to the Lord’s younger brother, though she is now a widow. Milady seems displeased that d’Artagnan spared Lord de Winter’s life, which confuses him. Milady’s maid flirts with d’Artagnan, but he only has eyes for Milady.