The Man in the Iron Mask
- The Prisoner
- Since Aramis’s singular transformation into a confessor of the order, Baisemeaux was no longer the same man. Up to that period the place which Aramis had held in the worthy governor’s estimation…
- How Mouston Had Become Fatter Without Giving Porthos Notice Thereof, and of the Troubles Which Consequently Befell That Worthy Gentleman
- After the departure of Athos for Blois, Porthos and d’Artagnan were seldom together. One was occupied with harassing duties for the King; the other had been making many purchases of furniture…
- Who Messire Jean Percerin Was
- The King’s tailor, Messire Jean Percerin, occupied a rather large house in the Rue St. Honoré, near the Rue de l’Arbre Sec. He was a man of great taste in elegant stuffs, embroideries, and…
- The Samples
- During all this time the crowd was slowly rolling on, leaving at every angle of the counter either a murmur or a menace, as the waves leave foam or scattered seaweed on the sands, when they retire…
- Where, Probably, Moliere Formed His First Idea of the “Bourgeois Gentilhomme”
- D’Artagnan found Porthos in the adjoining chamber; but no longer an irritated Porthos, or a disappointed Porthos, but Porthos radiant, blooming, fascinating, and chatting with Moliere, who was…
- The Beehive, the Bees, and the Honey
- The Bishop of Vannes, much annoyed at having met d’Artagnan at M. Percerin’s, returned to St. Mandé in no very good humor. Moliere, on the other hand, quite delighted at having made such a…
- Another Supper at the Bastille
- Seven o’clock sounded from the great clock of the Bastille,- that famous clock which, like all the accessories of the State prison, the very use of which is a torture, brought to the prisoners’…
- The General of the Order
- There was now a brief silence, during which Aramis never removed his eyes from Baisemeaux for a moment. The latter seemed only half decided to disturb himself thus in the middle of supper; and it was…
- The Tempter
- ”Ay Prince,” said Aramis, turning in the carriage towards his companion, “weak creature as I am, so unpretending in genius, so low in the scale of intelligent beings, it has never yet happened…
- Crown and Tiara
- Aramis was the first to descend from the carriage; he held the door open for the young man. He saw him place his foot on the mossy ground with a trembling of the whole body, and walk round the…
- The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
- The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, situated about a league from Melun, had been built by Fouquet in 1653. There was then but little money in France; Mazarin had taken all that there was, and Fouquet…
- The Wine of Melun
- The King had, in point of fact, entered Melun with the intention of merely passing through the city. The youthful monarch had an appetite for amusements. Only twice during the journey had he been…
- Nectar and Ambrosia
- Fouquet held the stirrup of the King, who having dismounted bowed graciously, and more graciously still held out his hand to him, which Fouquet, in spite of a slight resistance on the King’s part…
- A Gascon, and a Gascon and a Half
- D’Artagnan had lost no time; in fact, he was not in the habit of doing so. After having inquired for Aramis, he had looked for him in every direction until he had succeeded in finding him. Now, no…
- Colbert
- History will tell us, or rather history has told us, of the various events of the following day,- of the splendid fetes given by the superintendent to his sovereign. There was nothing but amusement…
- Jealousy
- The torches to which we have just referred, the eager attention which every one displayed, and the new ovation paid to the King by Fouquet arrived in time to suspend the effect of a resolution which…
- High Treason
- The ungovernable fury which took possession of the King at the sight and at the perusal of Fouquet’s letter to La Valliere by degrees subsided into a feeling of painful weariness. Youth, full of…
- A Night in the Bastille
- Suffering in human life is proportioned to human strength. We will not pretend to say that God always apportions to a man’s capability of endurance the anguish he permits him to suffer; such…
- The Shadow of Fouquet
- D’Artagnan, still confused and oppressed by the conversation he had just had with the King, asked himself if he were really in possession of his senses; if the scene had occurred at Vaux; if he…
- The Morning
- In contrast with the sad and terrible destiny of the King imprisoned in the Bastille, and tearing, in sheer despair, the bolts and bars of his dungeon, the rhetoric of the chroniclers of old would…
- The King’s Friend
- Fouquet was waiting with anxiety; he had already sent away many of his servants and his friends, who, anticipating the usual hour of his ordinary receptions, had called at his door to inquire after…
- How the Countersign Was Respected at the Bastille
- Fouquet tore along as fast as his horses could drag him. On the way he trembled with horror at the idea of what had just been revealed to him. “What must have been,” he thought, “the youth of…
- The King’s Gratitude
- The two men were on the point of darting towards each other, when they suddenly stopped, as a mutual recognition took place, and each uttered a cry of horror.
- The False King
- In the mean time, usurped royalty was playing out its part bravely at Vaux. Philippe gave orders that for his petit lever, the grandes entrees, already prepared to appear before the King, should be…
- In Which Porthos Thinks He Is Pursuing a Duchy
- Aramis and Porthos, having profited by the time granted them by Fouquet, did honor to the French cavalry by their speed. Porthos did not clearly understand for what kind of mission he was forced to…
- The Last Adieux
- Raoul uttered a cry, and affectionately embraced Porthos. Aramis and Athos embraced like old men; and this embrace itself was a question for Aramis, who immediately said, “My friend, we have not…
- M. de Beaufort
- The Prince turned around at the moment when Raoul, in order to leave him alone with Athos, was shutting the door, and preparing to go with the other officers into an adjoining apartment.
- Preparations for Departure
- Athos lost no more time in combating this immutable resolution. He gave all his attention to preparing, during the two days the duke had granted him, the proper appointments for Raoul. This labor…
- Planchet’s Inventory
- Athos, during the visit to the Luxembourg by Raoul, had gone to Planchet’s residence to inquire after d’Artagnan. On arriving at the Rue des Lombards he found the shop of the grocer in great…
- The Inventory of M. de Beaufort
- To have talked of d’Artagnan with Planchet, to have seen Planchet quit Paris to bury himself in his country retreat, had been for Athos and his son like a last farewell to the noise of the…
- The Silver Plate
- The journey passed off pretty well. Athos and his son traversed France at the rate of fifteen leagues per day; sometimes more, according to the intensity of Raoul’s grief. It took them a fortnight…
- Captive and Jailers
- When they had entered the fort, and while the governor was making some preparations for the reception of his guests, “Come,” said Athos, “let us have a word of explanation while we are alone.”
- Promises
- Scarcely had d’Artagnan re-entered his apartment with his two friends, when one of the soldiers of the fort came to inform him that the governor was seeking for him. The bark which Raoul had…
- Among Women
- D’Artagnan had not been able to hide his feelings from his friends so much as he would have wished. The stoical soldier, the impassible man-at-arms, overcome by fear and presentiments, had yielded…
- The Last Supper
- The superintendent had no doubt received notice of the approaching departure, for he was giving a farewell dinner to his friends. From the bottom to the top of the house, the hurry of the servants…
- In the Carriage of M. Colbert
- As Gourville had seen, the King’s Musketeers were mounting and following their captain. The latter, who did not like to be confined in his proceedings, left his brigade under the orders of a…
- The Two Lighters
- D’Artagnan had set off, Fouquet likewise was gone, and he with a rapidity which the tender interest of his friends increased. The first moments of this journey, or better to say, of this flight…
- Friendly Advice
- Fouquet had gone to bed, like a man who clings to life, and who economizes as much as possible that slender tissue of existence of which the shocks and angles of this world so quickly wear out the…
- How the King, Louis XIV, Played His Little Part
- As Fouquet was alighting from his carriage to enter the Castle of Nantes, a man of mean appearance went up to him with marks of the greatest respect, and gave him a letter. D’Artagnan endeavored to…
- The White Horse and the Black Horse
- ”That is rather surprising,” said d’Artagnan,- “Gourville running about the streets so gayly, when he is almost certain that M. Fouquet is in danger; when it is almost equally certain that it…
- In Which the Squirrel Falls, in Which the Adder Flies
- It was two o’clock in the afternoon. The King, full of impatience, went to his cabinet on the terrace, and kept opening the door of the corridor to see what his secretaries were doing. M. Colbert…
- Belle-Isle-en-Mer
- At the extremity of the pier, upon the promenade which the furious sea beats at evening tide, two men, holding each other by the arm, were conversing in an animated and expansive tone, without the…
- The Explanations of Aramis
- ”What I have to say to you, friend Porthos, will probably surprise you, but it will instruct you.”
- Result of the Ideas of the King and the Ideas of d’Artagnan
- The blow was direct; it was severe, mortal. D’Artagnan, furious at having been anticipated by an idea of the King, did not however yet despair; and reflecting upon the idea he had brought back from…
- The Ancestors of Porthos
- When d’Artagnan had quitted Aramis and Porthos, the latter returned to the principal fort to converse with the greater liberty. Porthos, still thoughtful, was a constraint upon Aramis, whose mind…
- The Son of Biscarrat
- The Bretons of the isle were very proud of this victory; Aramis did not encourage them in the feeling. “What will happen,” said he to Porthos, when everybody had gone home, “will be that the…
- The Grotto of Locmaria
- The cavern of Locmaria was sufficiently distant from the pier to render it necessary for our friends to husband their strength to arrive there. Besides, the night was advancing; midnight had struck…
- The Grotto
- In spite of the sort of divination which was the remarkable side of the character of Aramis, the event, subject to the chances of things over which uncertainty presides, did not fall out exactly as…
- An Homeric Song
- It is time to pass into the other camp, and to describe at once the combatants and the field of battle. Aramis and Porthos had gone to the grotto of Locmaria with the expectation of finding in that…
- The Death of a Titan
- At the moment when Porthos, more accustomed to the darkness than all these men coming from open daylight, was looking round him to see if in this night Aramis were not making him some signal, he felt…
- The Epitaph of Porthos
- Aramis, silent, icy, trembling like a timid child, arose shivering from the stone. A Christian does not walk upon tombs. But though capable of standing, he was not capable of walking. It might be…
- The Round of M. de Gesvres
- D’Artagnan was not accustomed to resistances like that he had just experienced. He returned profoundly irritated to Nantes. Irritation, with this vigorous man, vented itself in an impetuous attack…
- Louis XIV
- The King was seated in his cabinet, with his back turned towards the door of entrance. In front of him was a mirror in which while turning over his papers he could see with a glance those who came…
- The Friends of M. Fouquet
- The King had returned to Paris, and with him d’Artagnan, who in twenty-four hours, having made with the greatest care all possible inquiries at Belle-Isle, had learned nothing of the secret so well…
- Porthos’s Will
- At Pierrefonds everything was in mourning. The courts were deserted, the stables closed, the parterres neglected. In the basins, the fountains, formerly so spreading, noisy, and sparkling, had…
- The Old Age of Athos
- While all these affairs were separating forever the four musketeers, formerly bound together in a manner that seemed indissoluble, Athos, left alone after the departure of Raoul, began to pay his…
- The Vision of Athos
- When this fainting of Athos had ceased, the count, almost ashamed of having given way before this supernatural event, dressed himself and ordered his horse, determined to ride to Blois to open more…
- The Angel of Death
- Athos was at this part of his marvelous vision when the charm was suddenly broken by a great noise rising from the outward gates of the house. A horse was heard galloping over the hard gravel of the…
- The Bulletin
- The Duc de Beaufort wrote to Athos. The letter destined for the living only reached the dead. God had changed the address. ”My Dear Count,” wrote the Prince in his large, bad, schoolboy’s…
- The Last Canto of the Poem
- On the morrow all the nobility of the provinces, of the environs, and from wherever messengers had carried the news, were seen to arrive. D’Artagnan had shut himself up, unwilling to speak to…
- Epilogue
- Four years after the scene we have just described, two horsemen, well mounted, traversed Blois early in the morning, for the purpose of arranging a birding-party which the King intended to make in…
- Epilogue
- Contrary to what generally happens, whether in politics or morals, each kept his promise and did honor to his engagements.
More Information
- The Man in the Iron Mask• (paperback)
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“The Man in the Iron Mask concludes the epic adventures of the three Muskateers, as Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and their friend D'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies.” (Alexandre Dumas)
- Ten Years Later
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Volume 1 of Le Vicomte de Bragellone, the story that includes The Man in the Iron Mask: Raoul sets off the events that lead to the end of the story. Aramis no doubt continues his plottings.
- The Missing Viscount
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There are some chapters missing between “Ten Years Later” and “Louise de la Valliere”. These are the probable chapter titles that belong here.
- Louise de la Valliere
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Volume 3 of Le Vicomte de Bragellone, the Musketeer work which includes The Man in the Iron Mask: Wherein d’Artagnan begins to suspect Aramis of wrongful deeds.
