Louise de la Valliere | Page 5

Mordaunt, the son of Milady, who seeks to
avenge his mother's death at the musketeers' hands, thwarts their valiant
efforts. Undaunted, our heroes return to France just in time to help save
the young Louis XIV, quiet the Fronde, and tweak the nose of Cardinal
Mazarin.
The third novel, The Vicomte de Bragelonne (serialized October, 1847
– January, 1850), has enjoyed a strange history in its English
translation. It has been split into three, four, or five volumes at various
points in its history. The five-volume edition generally does not give
titles to the smaller portions, but the others do. In the three- volume
edition, the novels are entitled The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de
la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. For the purposes of this
etext, I have chosen to split the novel as the four-volume edition does,
with these titles: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise
de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. In the first two etexts:
The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Etext 2609): It is the year 1660, and
D'Artagnan, after thirty-five years of loyal service, has become
disgusted with serving King Louis XIV while the real power resides
with the Cardinal Mazarin, and has tendered his resignation. He
embarks on his own project, that of restoring Charles II to the throne of
England, and, with the help of Athos, succeeds, earning himself quite a
fortune in the process. D'Artagnan returns to Paris to live the life of a
rich citizen, and Athos, after negotiating the marriage of Philip, the
king's brother, to Princess Henrietta of England, likewise retires to his
own estate, La Fere. Meanwhile, Mazarin has finally died, and left
Louis to assume the reigns of power, with the assistance of M. Colbert,
formerly Mazarin's trusted clerk. Colbert has an intense hatred for M.
Fouquet, the king's superintendent of finances, and has resolved to use
any means necessary to bring about his fall. With the new rank of
intendant bestowed on him by Louis, Colbert succeeds in having two of

Fouquet's loyal friends tried and executed. He then brings to the king's
attention that Fouquet is fortifying the island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer, and
could possibly be planning to use it as a base for some military
operation against the king. Louis calls D'Artagnan out of retirement and
sends him to investigate the island, promising him a tremendous salary
and his long- promised promotion to captain of the musketeers upon his
return. At Belle-Isle, D'Artagnan discovers that the engineer of the
fortifications is, in fact, Porthos, now the Baron du Vallon, and that's
not all. The blueprints for the island, although in Porthos's handwriting,
show evidence of another script that has been erased, that of Aramis.
D'Artagnan later discovers that Aramis has become the bishop of
Vannes, which is, coincidentally, a parish belonging to M. Fouquet.
Suspecting that D'Artagnan has arrived on the king's behalf to
investigate, Aramis tricks D'Artagnan into wandering around Vannes in
search of Porthos, and sends Porthos on an heroic ride back to Paris to
warn Fouquet of the danger. Fouquet rushes to the king, and gives him
Belle-Isle as a present, thus allaying any suspicion, and at the same
time humiliating Colbert, just minutes before the usher announces
someone else seeking an audience with the king.
Ten Years Later (Etext 2681): As 1661 approaches, Princess Henrietta
of England arrives for her marriage, and throws the court of France into
complete disorder. The jealousy of the Duke of Buckingham, who is in
love with her, nearly occasions a war on the streets of Le Havre,
thankfully prevented by Raoul's timely and tactful intervention. After
the marriage, though, Monsieur Philip becomes horribly jealous of
Buckingham, and has him exiled. Before leaving, however, the duke
fights a duel with M. de Wardes at Calais. De Wardes is a malicious
and spiteful man, the sworn enemy of D'Artagnan, and, by the same
token, that of Athos, Aramis, Porthos, and Raoul as well. Both men are
seriously wounded, and the duke is taken back to England to recover.
Raoul's friend, the Comte de Guiche, is the next to succumb to
Henrietta's charms, and Monsieur obtains his exile as well, though De
Guiche soon effects a reconciliation. But then the king's eye falls on
Madame Henrietta during the comte's absence, and this time Monsieur's
jealousy has no recourse. Anne of Austria intervenes, and the king and
his sister- in-law decide to pick a young lady with whom the king can
pretend to be in love, the better to mask their own affair. They

unfortunately select Louise de la Valliere, Raoul's fiancee. While the
court is in residence at Fontainebleau, the king unwitting overhears
Louise confessing her love for him while chatting with her friends
beneath the royal oak, and the king promptly