1 An Adventure in Meung

CLASSIC STARTS The Three Musketeers Retold from the Alexandre Dumas original

CHAPTER 1 An Adventure in Meung The town of Meung was used to disturbances of one sort or another, but on that first Monday in April 1625, there seemed to be something special happening. People were shouting and running toward an inn called the Jolly Miller, where a large crowd was watching a young man named D'Artagnan. A few days earlier, D'Artagnan's father had sent him on a journey to find fortune, adventure, and honor. He had also given his

son a letter that would introduce him to Monsieur de Tréville, the leader of the Musketeers. D'Artagnan was just eighteen years old. He was wearing a faded blue cloak and a little hat with a feather tucked into it. His face was long, thin, and tanned, with high cheekbones and a wide jaw. Too tall to be a child, but too short to be an adult, he looked like a farmer's son on a long journey. Only the large sword hanging from his belt distinguished him as a fighter. It was D'Artagnan's old yellow horse that had created the sensation. It walked strangely and looked even stranger. As he tied his horse to a post outside the Jolly Miller, D'Artagnan saw a man inside who seemed to be about forty-five years old, with pale skin, piercing black eyes, a black moustache, and a scar across his cheek. He and some men were laughing at D'Artagnan.

Tired of being embarrassed, D'Artagnan challenged the man to a duel. They drew swords, but then the man's friends attacked. D'Artagnan fought them all until someone hit him from behind and knocked him unconscious. When D'Artagnan awoke, he found that the innkeeper had taken him upstairs. Through the window, he saw the stranger again. He was speaking to a young woman in a horse-drawn carriage. She seemed to be around twenty-five years old, and she was beautiful. The man handed her a box. Through the open window, D'Artagnan heard him tell the woman to take the box to London on orders from the Cardinal. Then he heard the man call her Milady.

The man left before D'Artagnan could catch up with him to finish their duel. Upset and injured, D'Artagnan returned to the inn and stayed for several days. He spent most of his money paying for his stay. When he finally looked for the letter that would introduce him to Monsieur de Tréville, it was gone! The innkeeper told D'Artagnan that it had fallen from his pocket when he had been knocked out. The man with the scar had seen the letter and seemed very interested in it.

"That scoundrel stole my letter," D'Artagnan said. "I swear I'll find him." D'Artagnan left the inn and made his way to Paris. When he arrived at Monsieur de Tréville's mansion, he saw many Musketeers practicing with swords, and heard them talking about the Cardinal and his guards. Although the King ruled France, everyone knew that the Cardinal wanted to take power. Cardinal Richelieu led the church. He had his own soldiers, the Cardinal's Guards, who often fought with the Musketeers. On the stairs, D'Artagnan passed a tall Musketeer dressed in a sky-blue shirt and a long crimson cloak. Across his chest hung a magnificent golden sash called a baldric. This was not the regular uniform, and the other Musketeers were teasing him about it.