The era and the characters are based on historical fact, but the glittering romance and fast-paced action spring from a great writer's incomparable imagination. From the perilous retrieval of the queen's gift to her lover in time to foil Richelieu's plot to the melodramatic revelation of Lady de Winter's true identity.

Perhaps the greatest "cloak and Sword" story ever written, The Three Musketeers, first published in 1844, is a tale for all time. Pitting the heroic young d'Artagnan and his noble compatriots Athos, Porthos, and Aramis against the master of intrigue, Cardinal Richelieu, and the quintessential wicked woman, Lady de Winter,Alexandre Dumas has created an enchanted France of swordplay, schemes, and assignations. The era and the characters are based on historical fact, but the glittering romance and fast-paced action spring from a great writer's incomparable imagination. From the perilous retrieval of the queen's gift to her lover in time to foil Richelieu's plot to the melodramatic revelation of Lady de Winter's true identity, The Three Musketeers is the unchallenged archetype for literary romance and a perennial delight for generations of readers.

Preface

1. The Three Gifts of Monsieur d'Artagnan the Elder

2. Monsieur de Treville's Anteroom

3. The Audience

4. Athos's Shoulder, Porthos's Shoulder Belt and Aramis's Handkerchief

5. The King's Musketeers and the Cardinal's Guards

6. His MajestyKing Louis the Thirteenth

7. The Musketeers at Home

8. A Court Intrigue

9. D'Artagnan Proves Himself

10. A Seventeenth-Century Mousetrap

11. The Plot Thickens

12. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham

13. Monsieur Bonacieux

14. The Dark Stranger

15. Magistrates and Soldiers

16. Chancellor Seguier Looks for the Bell that He Rang in His Youth

17. Monsieur and Madame Bonacieux at Home

18. The Lover and the Husband

i9. Plans

20. The Journey

21. Lady de Winter

22. The Merlaison Ballet

23. The Rendezvous

24. The Bungalow

25. Porthos

26. Aramis's Thesis

27. Athos's Wife

28. The Return

29. The Search for Equipment

30. Milady

31. Englishmen and Frenchmen

32. Lunch with the Coquenards

33. Maid and Mistress

34. Equipment for Aramis and Porthos

35. All Cats Are Gray in the Dark

36. Dreams of Vengeance

37. Milady's Secret

38. How Athos Got His Equipment without Effort

39. A Vision

40. The Cardinal

41. The Siege of La Rochelle

42. The Anjou Wine 

43. The Colombier-Rouge Inn 

44. The Usefulness of Stovepipes

45. A Conjugal Scene

46. The Saint-Gervais Bastion 

47. The Musketeers' Conference

48. A Family Matter

49. A Disastrous Setback

50. A Conversation between Relatives

51. Officer!

52. First Day of Captivity 

53. Second Day of Captivity

54. Third Day of Captivity

55. Fourth Day of Captivity

56. Fifth Day Of Captivity 

57. A Superb Dramatic Performance

58. Escape 

59. What Happened in Portsmouth on August 23, 1628

60. In France

61. The Carmelite Convent at Behune 

62. Two Types of Demon

63. The Drop of Water

64. The Man in the Red Cloak

65. The Trial

66. The Execution 

67. Conclusion

Epilogue