Volume 3 of The d'Artagnan Romances is divided into three parts. The first begins in 1660, ten years after Volume 2, with d’Artagnan as Lieutenant of the King’s Musketeers. In this post, he is very near to achieving his dream (becoming Captain) and even nearer to his King, being young Louis XIV’s personal guard. Seeing first-hand how powerless the child King was, d’Artagnan resigns his illustrious, but dull, post to turn his sharp wit and sword toward another ambitious aim: restoration of the English monarchy. To the joy of France, Cardinal Mazarin dies, leaving a power vacuum that pulls at the ill-fated ambitions of the rich and powerful, Nicolas Fouquet. To combat Fouquet’s ambitions and wrench the nation back from the brink of bankruptcy, young Louis XIV takes the Cardinal’s dying advice and leagues with the economic and sociopolitical reformist, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Unfortunately, “The Inseparables” again find each other on different sides of the power struggle: Aramis and Porthos with Fouquet, but d’Artagnan and Athos with the King and Colbert. As d’Artagnan advises King Louis XIV, “The reign of Mazarin is over, but that of the financiers is begun. They have the money; your majesty will not often see much of it. To live under the paw of these hungry wolves is hard.” - Summary by jvanstan
Chapters
1 The Letter 20 min 2 The Messenger 17 min 3 The Interview 18 min 4 Father and Son 13 min 5 In which Something will be said of Cropoli, of Cropoli and of a Great Unknown Painter 14 min 6 The Unkown 15 min 7 Parry 14 min 8 What his Majesty King Louis XIV. was at the Age of Twenty-Two 25 min 9 In which the Unknown of the Hostelry of Les Medicis loses his Incognito 27 min 10 The Arithmetic of M. de Mazarin 21 min 11 Mazarin's Policy 24 min 12 The King and the Lieutenant 12 min 13 Mary de Mancini 14 min 14 In which the King and the Lieutenant each give Proofs of Memory 24 min 15 The Proscribed 14 min 16 Remember! 27 min 17 In which Aramis is sought and only Bazin is found 21 min 18 In which D'Artagnan seeks Porthose and only finds Mousqueton 20 min 19 What D'Artagnan went to Paris for 12 min 20 Of the Society which was formed in the Rue des Lombards, at the Sign of the Pilon d'Or 26 min 21 In which D'Artagnan prepares to travel for the Firm of Planchet and Company 19 min 22 D'Artagnan travels for the House of Planchet and Company 16 min 23 In which the Author, very unwillingly, is forced to write a Little History 30 min 24 The Treasure 18 min 25 The March 21 min 26 Heart and Mind 25 min 27 The Next Day 17 min 28 Smuggling 16 min 29 In which D'Artagnan begins to fear he has placed his Money and that of Planchet in the Sinking Fund 20 min 30 The Shares of Planchet and Company rise again to Par 15 min 31 Monk reveals himself 10 min 32 Athos and D'Artagnan meet once more at the Hostelry of the Corne du Cerf 32 min 33 The Audience 18 min 34 Of the Embarrassment of Riches 14 min 35 On the Canal 20 min 36 How D'Artagnan drew, as a Fairy would have done, a Country-seat from a Deal Box 22 min 37 How D'Artagnan regulated the "Assets" of the Company before he established its "Liabilities" 16 min 38 In which it is seen that the French Grocer had already been established in the Seventeenth Century 16 min 39 Mazarin's Gaming Party 10 min 40 An Affair of State 13 min 41 The Recital 14 min 42 In which Mazarin becomes Prodigal 10 min 43 Guendaud 10 min 44 Colbert 12 min 45 Confession of a Man of Wealth 14 min 46 The Donation 13 min 47 How Anne of Austria gave one Piece of Advice to Louis XIV., and how M. Fouquet gave him another 21 min 48 Agony 24 min 49 The First Appearance of Colbert 18 min 50 The First Day of the Royalty of Louis XIV 11 min 51 A Passion 16 min 52 D'Artagnan's Lesson 17 min 53 The King 44 min 54 The Houses of M. Fouquet 29 min 55 The Abbe Fouquet 18 min 56 M. de la Fontaine's Wine 10 min 57 The Gallery of Saint-Mande 13 min 58 Epicureans 12 min 59 A Quarter of an Hour's Delay 16 min 60 Plan of Battle 12 min 61 The Cabaret of the Image-de-Notre-Dame 19 min 62 Vive Colbert! 15 min 63 How M. D'Eymeris' Diamond passed into the Hands of M. D'Artagnan 20 min 64 Of the Notable Difference D'Artagnan finds between M. the Intendant and M. the Superintendant 19 min 65 Philosophy of the Heart and Mind 9 min 66 The Journey 14 min 67 How D'Artagnan became acquainted with a Poet, who had turned Printer for the sake of printing his own Verses 20 min 68 D'Artagnan continues his Investigations 20 min 69 In which the Reader, no doubt, will be as astonished as D'Artagnan was to meet an Old Acquaintance 16 min 70 Wherein the Ideas of D'Artagnan, at first strangely clouded, begin to clear up a little 20 min 71 A Procession at Vannes 18 min 72 The Grandeur of the Bishop of Vannes 26 min 73 In which Porthos begins to be sorry for having come with D'Artagnan 28 min 74 In which D'Artagnan makes all Speed, Porthos snores, and Aramis counsels 17 min 75 In which M. Fouquet acts 22 min 76 In which D'Artagnan finished by at length placing his Hand upon his Captains Commission 18 min 77 A Lover and his Mistress 15 min 78 In which we at length see the true Heroine of this History appear 20 min 79 Malicorne and Manicamp 12 min 80 Manicamp and Malicorne 17 min 81 The Courtyard of the Hotel Grammont 20 min 82 The Portrait of Madame 18 min 83 Havre 13 min 84 At Sea 15 min 85 The Tents 23 min 86 Night 12 min 87 From Havre to Paris 21 min 88 An Account of what the Chevalier de Lorraine thought of Madame 20 min 89 A Surprise for Madame de Montalais 21 min 90 The Consent of Athos 11 min 91 Monsieur becomes jealous of the Duke of Buckingham 22 min 92 Forever! 16 min 93 King Louis XIV. does not think Mademoiselle de la Valliere either rich enough or pretty enough 17 min 94 Sword-thrusts in the Water 21 min 95 Sword-thrusts in the Water (concluded) 19 min 96 Baisemeaux de Montlezun 21 min 97 The King's Card-table 23 min 98 M. Baisemeaux de Montlezun's Accounts 27 min 99 The Breakfast at M. de Baisemeaux's 16 min 100 The Second Floor of la Bertaudiere 22 min 101 The Two Friends 19 min 102 Madame de Belliere's Plate 14 min 103 The Dowry 18 min 104 Le Terrain de Dieu 18 min
