Alexandre Dumas was already a best-selling novelist when he wrote this historical romance, combining (as he claimed) the two essentials of life--"l'action et l'amour." The Man in the Iron Mask climactically concludes the epic adventures of the three Musk3ateers: here, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and their friend D'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies.
"Get in," said the same man, opening the carriage-door and letting down the step. The king obeyed, seated himself at the back of the carriage, the padded door of which was shut and locked immediately upon him and his guide. As for the giant, he cut the fastenings by which the horses were bound, harnessed them himself, and mounted on the box of the carriage, which was unoccupied. The carriage set off immediately at a quick trot, turned into the road to Paris, and in the forest of Senart found a relay of horses fastened to the trees in the same manner the first horses had been, and without a postilion. The man on the box changed the horses, and continued to follow the road towards Paris with the same rapidity, so that they entered the city about three o'clock in the morning. They carriage proceeded along the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and, after having called out to the sentinel, "By the king's order," the driver conducted the horses into the circular inclosure of the Bastile, looking out upon the courtyard, called La Cour du Gouvernement. There the horses drew up, reeking with sweat, at the flight of steps, and a sergeant of the guard ran forward. "Go and wake the governor," said the coachman in a voice of thunder.
Alexandre Dumas was already a best-selling novelist when he wrote this historical romance, combining (as he claimed) the two essentials of life--"l'action et l'amour." The Man in the Iron Mask climactically concludes the epic adventures of the three Musk3ateers: here, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and their friend D'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies.
Table of Contents
Chapter I: The Prisoner. 3
Chapter II: How Mouston Had Become Fatter without Giving Porthos Notice Thereof, and of the Troubles Which Consequently Befell that Worthy Gentleman. 26
Chapter III: Who Messire Jean Percerin Was. 33
Chapter IV: The Patterns. 38
Chapter V: Where, Probably, Moliere Obtained His First Idea of the Bourgeois Gentilhomme. 46
Chapter VI: The Bee-Hive, the Bees, and the Honey. 53
Chapter VII: Another Supper at the Bastile. 63
Chapter VIII: The General of the Order. 69
Chapter IX: The Tempter. 77
Chapter X: Crown and Tiara. 83
Chapter XI: The Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte. 90
Chapter XII: The Wine of Melun. 94
Chapter XIII: Nectar and Ambrosia. 98
Chapter XIV: A Gascon, and a Gascon and a Half. 101
Chapter XV: Colbert. 113
Chapter XVI: Jealousy. 118
Chapter XVII: High Treason. 123
Chapter XVIII: A Night at the Bastile. 131
Chapter XIX: The Shadow of M. Fouquet. 135
Chapter XX: The Morning. 148
Chapter XXI: The King's Friend. 155
Chapter XXII: Showing How the Countersign Was Respected at the Bastile. 170
Chapter XXIII: The King's Gratitude. 177
Chapter XXIV: The False King. 185
Chapter XXV: In Which Porthos Thinks He Is Pursuing a Duchy. 192
Chapter XXVI: The Last Adieux. 196
Chapter XXVII: Monsieur de Beaufort. 201
Chapter XXVIII: Preparations for Departure. 208
Chapter XXIX: Planchet's Inventory. 215
Chapter XXX: The Inventory of M. de Beaufort. 220
Chapter XXXI: The Silver Dish. 225
Chapter XXXII: Captive and Jailers. 231
Chapter XXXIII: Promises. 240
Chapter XXXIV: Among Women. 248
Chapter XXXV: The Last Supper. 255
Chapter XXXVI: In M. Colbert's Carriage. 262
Chapter XXXVII: The Two Lighters. 269
Chapter XXXVIII: Friendly Advice. 275
Chapter XXXIX: How the King, Louis XIV., Played His Little Part. 280
Chapter XL: The White Horse and the Black. 288
Chapter XLI: In Which the Squirrel Falls, - the Adder Flies. 294
Chapter XLII: Belle-Ile-en-Mer. 302
Chapter XLIII: Explanations by Aramis. 311
Chapter XLIV: Result of the Ideas of the King, and the Ideas of D'Artagnan. 319
Chapter XLV: The Ancestors of Porthos. 322
Chapter XLVI: The Son of Biscarrat. 326
Chapter XLVII: The Grotto of Locmaria. 332
Chapter XLVIII: The Grotto. 337
Chapter XLIX: An Homeric Song. 343
Chapter L: The Death of a Titan. 348
Chapter LI: Porthos's Epitaph. 352
Chapter LII: M. de Gesvres's Round. 357
Chapter LIII: King Louis XIV. 362
Chapter LIV: M. Fouquet's Friends. 368
Chapter LV: Porthos's Will. 373
Chapter LVI: The Old Age of Athos. 377
Chapter LVII: Athos's Vision. 381
Chapter LVIII: The Angel of Death. 385
Chapter LIX: The Bulletin. 388
Chapter LX: The Last Canto of the Poem. 392
Epilogue. 396
About the Author
Dumas, Alexandre, known as Dumas fils , 1824-95, French dramatist and novelist, illegitimate son of Dumas Père. He was the chief creator of the 19th-century comedy of manners. His first important play, La Dame aux camélias (1852, tr. 1856), known in English as Camille, was a sensation. It was based on a partly autobiographical novel of the same title, which he had published in 1848. Portraying a love affair of a courtesan, the play became the vehicle of many famous actresses, and it was the basis of Verdi's opera La Traviata. Another successful play, Le Demi-Monde (1855, tr. 1858), aroused much discussion because of its portrayal of the disreputable world of French society. In later plays Dumas preached a revolt against romantic morality, the excesses of the wealthy, and bourgeois puritanism and propounded social and psychological questions. His stage works are notable for skillful construction, though the characterizations are somewhat lacking in vitality. His novels include Tristan le Roux (1850) and Diane de Lys (1853). Among his best plays are also The Money Question (1857, tr. 1915), Le Fils naturel [the natural son] (1858), Les Idées de Mme Aubray (1867), L'Étrangère [the strange woman] (1876), and Denise (1885). His early essays, Entr'actes (1878-79), are mostly on social subjects. In 1874 he was elected to the French Academy.
