Prestige · $2.99/month
Chapter audio, theme analysis, and downloads
Alexandre Dumas
D'Artagnan leaves the hotel instead of climbing to Kitty. He knows he loves Milady and that she does not love him. Honour would send him home to write that he and De Wardes have been the same man, so he cannot fight that duel. Vengeance wants her to want him under his own name. He walks the Place Royale six or seven times, watching the light behind her blinds, until the light dies and his last hesitation dies with it. He flies to Kitty's door. The girl is pale and shaking and tries to hold him back. Milady has heard him and says come in. Kitty almost names the plot, then stays silent so she will not lose him forever.
Two hours pass. A secret voice tells him he is only an instrument until he kills De Wardes. Pride shuts that voice. When the room is calmer, Milady asks if the duel is arranged. He says it is too late for sword thrusts and tries to talk her into pardon. She asks, in the dark, if he is afraid. At daylight he confesses: the De Wardes of Thursday and the D'Artagnan of today are the same person. He expects tears. She strikes his chest. Her India linen tears from her shoulder. He sees the fleur-de-lis, the executioner's mark she hid even from her maid.
She takes a small poniard with a golden haft from a casket and springs at him. He draws his sword, holds the point at her throat, and works back to Kitty's door while she overturns the furniture. They bolt the door. She stabs through the wood. Kitty muffles him in a flowered robe, a hood, a cloak, and slippers. The porter is drawing the cord when Milady cries from the window not to open. He flees. When she loses sight of him, she falls fainting in her chamber.
Honesty can feel like honour and still hand someone a weapon. D'Artagnan confesses that he was De Wardes on Thursday, her linen tears, and he sees the fleur-de-lis she hid even from Kitty before she takes the gold-hafted poniard.
Before you confess to be loved as yourself, name what the other person loses if the story is true.
He runs across half Paris in Kitty's flowered robe, chased by a patrol and hooted at by men on their way to work. He nearly breaks Athos's door. Grimaud takes him for a woman, then an assassin, until the hood comes off.
What this chapter proves — the pattern beneath the scene
In this chapter, the lesson is Honour vs. Necessity — A Trial Honour Will Not Name.
The card below names the pattern this chapter proves — carry it with you into Dumas's yard at Meung, the noon fight, the diamond road, the bastion breakfast, and the trial on the Lys.
Honour vs. Necessity
D'Artagnan sees the brand. The love-play ends. He knows the mark Athos hanged a woman for. Milady knows he has seen it. From this night she will not forgive the witness. Honour has become a secret that kills.
Key Insight
A mark that cannot survive daylight will hunt the person who saw it. If your honour depends on nobody having looked, it is already a warrant.
Chapter 37
D’Artagnan left the hôtel instead of going up at once to Kitty’s chamber, as she endeavored to persuade him to do—and that for two reasons: the first, because by this means he should escape reproaches, recriminations, and prayers; the second, because he was not sorry to have an opportunity of reading his own thoughts and endeavoring, if possible, to fathom those of this woman. What was most clear in the matter was that D’Artagnan loved Milady like a madman, and that she did not love him at all. In an instant D’Artagnan perceived that the best way in which he…
Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.
List what D'Artagnan hopes the Thursday confession will buy, then list what Milady loses once he has seen the brand. Write one sentence stating the cost he did not name before he spoke.
When did you tell a hard truth to be chosen as yourself, and what file or fact did the other person then have to protect?
Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature
Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats
Other theme-by-theme analyses from this book.
The Cassock He Asked For
Follow the Gascon who wants a cassock and is offered a commission.
The First Fight Was Not the One You Planned
Watch whom you stand beside when the first fight is not the one you planned.
Breakfast on a Bastion
Stay with the diamond run, the bastion, and the ride to Béthune.
Every Smile Hides a Warrant
Hear the court before you trust a smile or a warrant.
A Blank the Cardinal Already Signed
See what it costs to please a king and a cardinal at once.
Deep diving the literary elements.
Guides, life skills, and the full library.More ways to read The Three Musketeers: guides, life skills, and the wider library.
Unlock study guides and downloads, early access, and exclusive content — and support free access for everyone.
