Endnotes + 

This is quite untranslatable⁠—it being a play upon the words pécheur (with a grave over the first e), a sinner, and pêcheur (with an accent circumflex over the first e), a fisherman. It is in very bad taste. —⁠Trans. ↩ + 

In most other editions, this chapter and the next are usually combined into one chapter, entitled “D’Artagnan Calls de Wardes to Account.” ↩ + 

Dumas is mistaken. The events in the following chapters occurred in 1661. ↩ + 

The verses in this chapter have been rewritten to give the flavor of them rather than the meaning. A more literal translation would look like this: + 

“Guiche is the furnisher + 

Of the maids of honor.” + 

and⁠— + 

“He has stocked the birdcage; + 

Montalais and⁠—” + 

It would be more accurate, though, to say “baited” rather than “stocked” in the second couplet. ↩ + 

The Latin translates to “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ↩ + 

“Ad majorem Dei gloriam” was the motto of the Jesuits. It translates to “For the greater glory of God.” ↩ + 

“In the presence of these men?” ↩ + 

“By this sign you shall conquer.” ↩ + 

“It rained all night long; the games will be held tomorrow.” ↩ + 

“Lord, I am not worthy.” ↩ + 

“To err is human.” ↩ + 

Potatoes were not grown in France at that time. La Siecle insists that the error is theirs, and that Dumas meant “tomatoes.” ↩ + 

“In your house.” ↩ + 

This alternate translation of the verse is closer to the original meaning. + 

“Oh! you who sadly are wandering alone, + 

Come, come, and laugh with us.” + 

↩ + 

Marie de Mancini was a former love of the king’s. He had to abandon her for the political advantages which the marriage to the Spanish Infanta, Maria Theresa, afforded. See Chapter XIII. ↩ + 

“A sun not eclipsed by many suns.” Louis’s device was the sun. ↩ + 

“To what heights may he not aspire?” Fouquet’s motto. ↩ + 

“A creature rare on earth.” ↩ + 

“With an eye always to the climax.” ↩ + 

“He is patient because he is eternal” is how the Latin translates. It is from St. Augustine. This motto was sometimes applied to the Papacy, but not to the Jesuits. ↩ + 

It is possible that the preceding conversation is an obscure allegorical allusion to the Fronde, or perhaps an intimation that the Duc was the father of Mordaunt, from Twenty Years After, but a definite interpretation still eludes modern scholars. ↩ + 

The dictates of such a service would require Raoul to spend the rest of his life outside of France, hence Athos’s and Grimaud’s extreme reactions. ↩ + 

Dumas here, and later in the chapter, uses the name Roncherat. Roncherolles is the actual name of the man. ↩ + 

In some editions, “in spite of Milady” reads “in spite of malady.” ↩ + 

“Pie” in this case refers to magpies, the prey for the falcons. ↩ + 

Anne of Austria did not die until 1666, and Dumas sets the current year as 1665. ↩ + 

Madame de Montespan would oust Louise from the king’s affections by 1667. ↩ + 

De Guiche would not return to court until 1671. ↩ + 

Madame did die of poison in 1670, shortly after returning from the mission described later. The Chevalier de Lorraine had actually been ordered out of France in 1662. ↩ + 

This particular campaign did not actually occur until 1673. ↩ + 

Jean-Paul Oliva was the actual general of the Jesuits from 1664⁠–⁠1681. ↩ + 

In earlier editions, the last line reads, “Of the four valiant men whose history we have related, there now no longer remained but one single body; God had resumed the souls.” Dumas made the revision in later editions. ↩ + 