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Alexandre Dumas
D'Artagnan flies through the antechamber after the man of Meung and hits a Musketeer coming out of a private room. The blow lands on a wounded shoulder and draws a howl. D'Artagnan says he is in a hurry. A hand of iron stops him on the stair. The Musketeer is Athos, pale from the surgeon, and he will not take a cheap excuse. He tells the Gascon he is not M. de Tréville. D'Artagnan answers that a man from far away still needs no lesson in manners. They appoint a meeting near the Carmes-Deschaux at noon. Athos promises to cut off his ears if he is late. D'Artagnan says he will be ten minutes early and runs on.
At the street gate Porthos is talking with the guard. D'Artagnan tries to dart between them. The wind throws out the crimson cloak. He rolls into it and comes up with his nose on the baldric. The gold is only on the front. The back is plain buff. That is why the cloak had to stay on. Porthos swears. D'Artagnan, piqued, jokes that Porthos does not turn his back to his enemies. They set a second meeting at one o'clock behind the Luxembourg. In the streets the stranger is already gone. The chase cools D'Artagnan's head. By eleven he sees the morning clearly. He has been rude to Tréville, and he has booked two duels with men he places above all others. He blames himself for ramming Athos's bad shoulder and for the baldric joke. He decides, if he lives, to copy Aramis's manners.
He then finds Aramis outside the Hôtel d'Arguillon with three gentlemen and bows his way in. He is one too many. Seeing a handkerchief under Aramis's foot, he draws it out as a courtesy. It is richly embroidered with a coronet and arms. Aramis blushes, snatches it, and says it is not his. He shows another handkerchief marked only with his cipher. One Guard, calling himself Bois-Tracy's friend, pretends he must reclaim a wife's property. Aramis offers to split the cloth like Solomon. The Guards laugh and go. Alone, Aramis is not so kind. He says D'Artagnan knew people do not tread on cambric for no reason, and that a lady is now compromised. They trade insults until Aramis refuses to draw opposite a house full of the cardinal's creatures. He will meet D'Artagnan at two at Tréville's to name a quieter ground. D'Artagnan walks toward the Carmes saying he cannot draw back, but if he is killed, a Musketeer will do it.
You can lose three allies in an hour by treating hurry as an excuse. Racing after the man of Meung, D'Artagnan hurts Athos's wound, unmasks Porthos's baldric, and lifts a lady's handkerchief from under Aramis's foot.
When you are chasing one old slight, stop at each person you hit and ask whether this new quarrel is worth a second enemy.
D'Artagnan knows nobody in Paris, so he walks to the Carmes-Deschaux without a second. He means to offer Athos a loyal apology, yet he will not die quietly, and Athos is already waiting with his hat in his hand.
What this chapter proves — the pattern beneath the scene
In this chapter, the lesson is Choosing Your Company — The First Fight Was Not the One You Planned.
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.
Choosing Your Company
D'Artagnan flies after the man of Meung, hits Athos on a wounded shoulder, laughs at Porthos's false-gold baldric, and picks up the handkerchief Aramis dropped for a lady. Each man books him for noon. He is still a stranger. The book has already named his company.
Key Insight
You do not always pick your people with a speech. Sometimes you pick them by the three small insults you refuse to swallow in one hour.
Chapter 04
D’Artagnan, in a state of fury, crossed the antechamber at three bounds, and was darting toward the stairs, which he reckoned upon descending four at a time, when, in his heedless course, he ran head foremost against a Musketeer who was coming out of one of M. de Tréville’s private rooms, and striking his shoulder violently, made him utter a cry, or rather a howl. “Excuse me,” said D’Artagnan, endeavoring to resume his course, “excuse me, but I am in a hurry.” Scarcely had he descended the first stair, when a hand of iron seized him by the belt and…
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Make a three-row table for Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. In each row write what D'Artagnan was trying to do, what he actually touched, and the meeting time that followed. Then circle the one collision you would have refused even if the stranger was getting away.
When has haste after one lost thing made you offend the very people you wanted as company?
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