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Show I CONDENSED CLASSICS TWENTY YEARS AFTER j By ALEXANDRE DUMAS S V : Condensation by J J' Rev. R. Perry Eush, D. D. X One nuia could hardly have written the extruonl iniiry number of bookd tHut nre credited to Alexandre Duqibm. The fact n angrily brought up la the novelist's lifetime, Home boHtlle critic! polutiue: to an output of tit) voluiueii In a NlnKlc yenr und UMkiag bow llilfi cuuld be JUHtltled. Duiilum did emiiloy a host of collaborator collab-orator nnd bin partiality for Jokes made his practice neeui worse tbun It really iyu.h. On one occnslun an ardent admirer ventured to remark that he lind found a mistake In KeOffrunhy in one of the novels. "'Which one t '' asked Dumas. The worshiper Kave the title. "Oh, the devil:" cried the novelist, "I have not rend It. Let me sec, who did thnt for me It was the rascal AuKuste. I'll fix him for that." The truth about "Dumas and Company" Com-pany" Is Involved and difficult to reach. There are novels bearing bis name that the great romancer probably bad little to do with. Ilut these are not his great talcs. Ills principal collaborator was An-iruste An-iruste Mnquet. He was an able writer, but. as many critics have pointed out, Maquet without Dumas would hardly be remembered today, while Dumns without Maquet would still be Dnmas. Almost always, when he worked with Maquet, Dumas would suggest the subject sub-ject for a story. Then he would draw up ib outline nnd put down chapter headings and divisions. Mnquet would fill In the outline nnd afterwards Dumns Du-mns would rewrite the whole story, usually adding nnd altering a tremendous tremen-dous amount and Infusing It with the genius that was lacking. It was Mnquet Mn-quet who worked with Dnmas upon 'The Three Musketeers" and Its sequels. FEW of us with red blood in our veins ever lese our interest in deeds of valor and adventure, nnd Dumas Is a master in his deiinea- thin of soldiers of fortune their fatal marksmanship, -their matchless wielding wield-ing of sword and rapier, and their hairbreadth escapes. In "Twenty Tears After" he presents pre-sents his "Three Musketeers" somewhat some-what more matured and not as rollicking rollick-ing as when w e met them In their early manhood, but just as ready to champion cham-pion the needy and unfortunate. Louis XIII of France is dead. Ilis son, the king, is hut ten years of age. The mighty Richelieu is in his grave. Muzaiin is cardinal, and though but a ghost of his illustrious predecessor, he holds almost absolute control over the queen Anne of Austria. The conditions are opportune for a story of personal daring and bloody encounter. en-counter. Mazarin is an Itaiinn and is universally uni-versally hated. Paris is leagued against the ministry, and the soldiers .if the royal guard are attacked and their lieutenant Cummings is wounded. Everywhere there nre forebodings fore-bodings and cries of "Down with Mazarin." Maz-arin." The cardinal disguises himself and inspects the city. He finds the "Frondeurs" the insurrectionists in fail sway. Somehow he must secure trusty servants or downfall awaits l.im. D'Artagnan, the lieutenant of the musketeers, is recommended, together to-gether with his three sturdy colleagues. col-leagues. Count de Itochefort is brought from confinement in the Bastile to testify tes-tify to D'Artagnan's allegiance, and is freed by the mob while being taken hack to prison. Mazarin is in despair and tells the queen that "the whole world conspires to break their bonds," nnd D'Artagnan is directed to find his three friends and attach them to the royal service. Aramls Abbe D'ller-hlay D'ller-hlay is an ecclesiastic in love with Madame de Longueville. He hates the cardinal and refuses. Forthos the giant living in luxury lux-ury as Monsieur de Valon de Bracleus de Fierrefonds, desires above all else to be a baron. Hs enlists. Aihos Monsieur de la Fere reformed re-formed from drink and devoted to a yotini; ward Viscount de Brngelonne N t:Il, as of old, a noble-minded lover of the people, and will not serve the cardinal. Two for and two against' Mazarin. therefore the musketeers make their way to Paris, where there is great exciter. lent because of a prophecy that rvie i!e Beaufort the grandson oil Henry IV and the idol of the populace will escape from the dungeon of Vin-rennos Vin-rennos before Whitsuntide. Beaufort luut-s Mazarin and uses ingenious r.',''.::s of ridiculing him. Grimaud, a servant of Athos. is set to guard him, and lie. with Count de Rochefort, effect ef-fect hi:- escape; and D'Artagnan nnd Forrhos. seeking to recapture hinj. have an encounter in which they are lak-'ii prisoner by Athos and Aramis. but are sot free and the four pledge mutual friendship. Meanwhile the r reparations for insurrection are intensified in-tensified and a new ally of the populate popu-late cause is found in Abbe Scarron "rhe queen's invalid." who is in control con-trol of the mendicants of Taris. and whose pension has been cut off by Maz irin. Another important character charac-ter is also introduced at this juncture a wounded soldier calls for a priest, find he who responds proves to be the Monk Mordaunt, a desperate character charac-ter whose sole aim is to avenge the death of his mother. In which the "Three Musketeers" participated. Learning from the man to whom he ministered that he had been the executioner ex-ecutioner of Milady, Mordaunt stabs him to the heart and then makes his I escape. j At this time Lord de Winter uncle of Mordaunt comes quietly to Paris to convey a letter from Charles I of : England to Queen Henrietta, who is ' an exile In France, telling of 1 lie des- j perate straits in which he is pluced by j the troops of Oliver Cromwell and di- j recting her to entreat Mazarin to grant 1 him asylum. Henrietta goes to plead with the cardinal, but is preceded by j Mordaunt, who is an envoy of Cromwell, Crom-well, bearing from the Puritan leader j the message that "to receive King diaries will be equal to flagrant hostilities." hostil-ities." The queen's petition Is accordingly 1 refused, and she is in great despair; but De Winter tells her there are four men who might be able to save her , husband. Of the four Athos and Aramis Ara-mis are persuaded to make the venture, ven-ture, and they leave for Boulogne secretly, se-cretly, followed and spied upon by Mordaunt, leaving D'Artagnan and j Porthos in the service of Mazarin. ; But affairs grow worse in Paris, j The archbishop of the city Is ridiculed at court when he warns the queen not to provoke civil war, and though tho cardinal tries to assuage his anger , by a gift of gold, he goes forth as a leader of the Frondlsts and Instructs j his curates . to excite insurrection. I Count de Rochefort commands a de- i tachment of soldiers, and Abbe Scar- J ron, the Beggar of St. Eustache, displays dis-plays a signal from the tower of St. : Jacques which summons thousands to barricade the streets. Every Frondist wears a straw in his hat. Everywhere there are cries of "Down with Mazarin" "Long live ! Broussel." Riot Is rampant in all I parts of the city and the tumult ! swells to a revolution. The mob presses forward to the very gates of the royal palace, demanding the release re-lease of Counsellor Broussel, who has j been imprisoned. "Never!" cries the queen, but the gates are stormed and ' she yields, and Broussel Is enthusiastically enthusi-astically welcomed by the populace. Affairs are now so serious that the queen resolves to leave Paris. D'Artagnan D'Art-agnan and Porthos effect her escape and that of Mazarin, and the court is established at St. Germain ; after which the two cavaliers are sent to England with a message from Mazarin to Cromwell. They are ordered to obey an officer who proves to be Mordaunt of whom Aramls has by letter warned them to beware. They make their way to the royalist camp at Newcastle, where Mordaunt bribes the Scotch Highlanders to desert their king, and when Charles attempts to escape, an engagement takes place, during which D'Artagnan and Porthos take two prisoners, who turn out to be their old friends Athos and Aramis. Mordaunt Mor-daunt recognizes them and is, by Cromwell, Crom-well, allowed to dispose of them as he will, but they get away before he can seize them. The four musketeers meet and resolve re-solve to rescue King Charles. They get the captain of his guard into a game of cards and make the attempt, but Mordaunt appears with soldierH i and they flee to London, disguise themselves, them-selves, and attend the trial and execution exe-cution of the king. They" corner Mordaunt Mor-daunt in Cromwell's house, but he escapes es-capes from them by a secret passage, and they plan to get back to France. They engage a vessel to take them across the channel, but Mordaunt is ahead of them, hiding in the cabin. There are five barrels of powder aboard which he intends to explode after making his escape in a small boat. But his diabolical plan is discovered, dis-covered, and the four friends with their servants out the small boat adrift; the vessel blows up and Mordaunt, Mor-daunt, trying to drown Athos, is killed. The musketeers reach France and find the Parisians furious. The queen, ! having been asked to retire, had an- j swered with a threat, and the popu- I lace demanded that Mazarin retire at once from court, and In a week from France. Civil war ensues, and at the I battle of Charenton Aramis and Athos I learn that D'Artagnan and Porthos have been arrested. Athos goes to the 1 queen to secure their release and is himself seized and all three are imprisoned im-prisoned in the pavilion of the orangery or-angery at Rouel ; but they overcome the guard and seize Mazarin and bear ; him away to Porthos' chateau, where they make him sign a treaty with the j Frondists, which is afterwards con- ' firmed by the queen. j Porthos obtains his barony and D'Artagnan is made captain of the musketeers. The queen returns to Paris. Aramis leaves for Normandy, accompanied by Madame de Longueville. Longue-ville. Athos retires to his escate at Bragelonne, Porthos goes back to Bracieux. j D'Artagnan remains in the royal service hoping some day to be mare- ! cbal of France, saying to Madeleine, ! his hostess: "Give me your apart- ment on the first floor, now that 1 am a captain in the musketeers I must make an appearance. Neverlhe- I less, still keep my room on the fifth story for me; cue never knows what may happen." Copyright. 1919. by the Post Publishing Co. (The Boston Post). Copyripht In the . United KijiKdom. the Iominions. its Colonies Col-onies and dependencies, under the copyright copy-right act. by the Post PiTtr-I'-shins Co.. Eoston, Mass., U. S. A. All rights reserved. |