The Vicomte de Bragelonne

 

 

By 

 

Alexandre Dumas père


CONTENTS:

 

Introduction: 5

Chapter I: The Letter. 7

Chapter II: The Messenger. 14

Chapter III: The Interview. 22

Chapter IV: Father and Son. 30

Chapter V: In which Something will be said of Cropoli - of Cropoli and of a Great Unknown Painter. 35

Chapter VI: The Unknown. 40

Chapter VII: Parry. 46

Chapter VIII: What his Majesty King Louis XIV. was at the Age of Twenty-Two. 52

Chapter IX: In which the Unknown of the Hostelry of Les Medici loses his Incognito. 61

Chapter X: The Arithmetic of M. de Mazarin. 71

Chapter XI: Mazarin's Policy. 79

Chapter XII: The King and the Lieutenant. 86

Chapter XIII: Mary de Mancini. 91

Chapter XIV: In which the King and the Lieutenant each give Proofs of Memory. 96

Chapter XV: The Proscribed. 104

Chapter XVI: "Remember!" 109

Chapter XVII: In which Aramis is sought, and only Bazin is found. 118

Chapter XVIII: In which D'Artagnan seeks Porthos, and only finds Mousqueton. 127

Chapter XIX: What D'Artagnan went to Paris for. 135

Chapter XX: Of the Society which was formed in the Rue des Lombards, at the Sign of the Pilon d'Or, to carry out M. d'Artagnan's Idea. 140

Chapter XXI: In which D'Artagnan prepares to travel for the Firm of Planchet & Company. 151

Chapter XXII: D'Artagnan travels for the House of Planchet and Company. 156

Chapter XXIII: In which the Author, very unwillingly, is forced to write a Little History. 161

Chapter XXIV: The Treasure. 172

Chapter XXV: The Marsh. 179

Chapter XXVI: Heart and Mind. 187

Chapter XXVII: The Next Day. 195

Chapter XXVIII: Smuggling. 201

Chapter XXIX: In which D'Artagnan begins to fear he has placed his Money and that of Planchet in the Sinking Fund. 208

Chapter XXX: The Shares of Planchet and Company rise again to Par. 215

Chapter XXXI: Monk reveals Himself. 221

Chapter XXXII: Athos and D'Artagnan meet once more at the Hostelry of the Corne du Cerf. 224

Chapter XXXIII: The Audience. 235

Chapter XXXIV: Of the Embarrassment of Riches. 241

Chapter XXXV: On the Canal. 247

Chapter XXXVI: How D'Artagnan drew, as a Fairy would have done, a Country-Seat from a Deal Box. 254

Chapter XXXVII: How D'Artagnan regulated the "Assets" of the Company before he established its "Liabilities." 262

Chapter XXXVIII: In which it is seen that the French Grocer had already been established in the Seventeenth Century. 267

Chapter XXXIX: Mazarin's Gaming Party. 273

Chapter XL: An Affair of State. 277

Chapter XLI: The Recital. 282

Chapter XLII: In which Mazarin becomes Prodigal. 287

Chapter XLIII: Guénaud. 291

Chapter XLIV: Colbert. 295

Chapter XLV: Confession of a Man of Wealth. 299

Chapter XLVI: The Donation. 306

Chapter XLVII: How Anne of Austria gave one Piece of Advice to Louis XIV., and how M. Fouquet gave him Another. 311

Chapter XLVIII: Agony. 318

Chapter XLIX: The First Appearance of Colbert. 326

Chapter L: The First Day of the Royalty of Louis XIV. 335

Chapter LI: A Passion. 340

Chapter LII: D'Artagnan's Lesson. 347

Chapter LIII: The King. 355

Chapter LIV: The Houses of M. Fouquet. 374

Chapter LV: The Abbé Fouquet. 385

Chapter LVI: M. de la Fontaine's Wine. 392

Chapter LVII: The Gallery of Saint-Mandé. 396

Chapter LVIII: Epicureans. 400

Chapter LIX: A Quarter of an Hour's Delay. 405

Chapter LX: Plan of Battle. 411

Chapter LXI: The Cabaret of the Image-de-Notre-Dame. 416

Chapter LXII: Vive Colbert! 422

Chapter LXIII: How M. d'Eymeris's Diamond passed into the Hands of M. d'Artagnan. 427

Chapter LXIV: Of the Notable Difference D'Artagnan finds between Monsieur the Intendant and Monsieur the Superintendent. 435

Chapter LXV: Philosophy of the Heart and Mind. 442

Chapter LXVI: The Journey. 445

Chapter LXVII: How D'Artagnan became Acquainted with a Poet, who had turned Printer for the Sake of Printing his own Verses. 449

Chapter LXVIII: D'Artagnan continues his Investigations. 457

Chapter LXIX: In which the Reader, no Doubt, will be as astonished as D'Artagnan was to meet an Old Acquaintance. 465

Chapter LXX: Wherein the Ideas of D'Artagnan, at first strangely clouded, begin to clear up a little. 471

Chapter LXXI: A Procession at Vannes. 480

Chapter LXXII: The Grandeur of the Bishop of Vannes. 486

Chapter LXXIII: In which Porthos begins to be sorry for having come with D'Artagnan. 496

Chapter LXXIV: In which D'Artagnan makes all Speed, Porthos snores, and Aramis counsels. 508

Chapter LXXV: In which Monsieur Fouquet Acts. 515

Footnotes. 525

 

 


Introduction:

 

In the months of March-July in 1844, in the magazine Le Siècle, the first portion of a story appeared, penned by the celebrated playwright Alexandre Dumas. It was based, he claimed, on some manuscripts he had found a year earlier in the Bibliotheque Nationale while researching a history he planned to write on Louis XIV. They chronicled the adventures of a young