Twenty Years After Chapter 19 Summary

Summary

At Vincennes the Duke of Beaufort spends a day of small pleasures—pâtés, wine and tennis—with La Ramee and the guards, during which many balls are sent into the moat. One ball is returned by a gardener across the ditch, who is revealed to be Rochefort in disguise. The duke pockets that ball and later finds inside it a folded letter from Rochefort telling him that the day after tomorrow he will receive a pie from Noirmont, the former maître d’hôtel, and that he should not open it until he is alone. The letter promises deliverance.

The duke and La Ramee plan a private supper for Pentecost during which the pâté will be served. La Ramee hesitates but accepts, on condition that Grimaud attend to serve; the duke pretends reluctance but yields. The excitement of hope quickens the duke’s imagination; he dreams of escape, subterranean passages and of being pursued. Grimaud later returns alone and, after extracting the hidden letter-ball from the duke, quietly dictates a terse set of orders to be sewn inside it: timing (“from seven to nine”), two riding horses, the window of the gallery as the point of descent. When asked what the pâté contains, Grimaud answers darkly: “Two poniards, a knotted rope and a poire d’angoisse,” suggesting weapons and tools for the planned flight while adding a cruel joke about making La Ramee eat the gag.

Key events

1. Tennis balls repeatedly land in the moat; a gardener (Rochefort) returns them, one containing a hidden letter.
2. The duke reads (then burns) Rochefort’s letter promising a pâté from Noirmont that will lead to deliverance.
3. Duke and La Ramee plan a private Pentecost supper; La Ramee insists Grimaud serve.
4. The duke is sleepless and dream-haunted, imagining escape and capture in Vincennes.
5. Grimaud obtains the ball, has the duke sign a paper, sews the escape instructions into the ball and outlines the plan tersely.
6. Grimaud reveals the pâté’s contents: two daggers, a knotted rope and a poire d’angoisse.

Analysis

This chapter pivots the narrative from confinement to the concrete possibility of escape by transforming small pleasures into instruments of conspiracy. The pâté motif—comfort food turned carrier of weapons—symbolizes how outward civility and indulgence can conceal subversion. The tennis game and the returned ball function as a theatrical device: a public pastime conceals a private communication network. Rochefort’s presence in the gardener’s role reintroduces a formerly presumed-lost ally, restoring hope to the duke and altering the emotional tenor from resignation to agitation.

The chapter develops character dynamics: the duke’s gourmandizing optimism reveals a man clinging to earthly pleasures to endure captivity; La Ramee’s combination of affection and prudence shows his loyalty and skepticism; Grimaud’s economy of speech and secret competence mark him as the engine of precise action. Dreams and sleeplessness dramatize the duke’s psychological state—hope mixed with dread—and foreshadow risk. Structurally, the chapter compresses planning and mystique into a single evening, accelerating momentum toward the coming attempt while keeping tactical details opaque until Grimaud’s curt revelations, preserving suspense. The poire d’angoisse is a darkly comic symbol—an instrument of humiliation and control—hinting at the violent, ambiguous nature of the proposed liberation.

Important quotes

“My Lord,—Your friends are watching over you and the hour of your deliverance is at hand. Ask day after to-morrow to have a pie supplied you by the new confectioner opposite the castle, and who is no other than Noirmont, your former maître d’hôtel.”

Letter (Comte de Rochefort)The secret message hidden in the tennis ball promises a pâté that will play a role in the duke's planned escape.

“All is ready for to-morrow evening. Keep watch from seven to nine. Have two riding horses ready. We shall descend by the first window in the gallery.”

Grimaud (dictating)Grimaud dictates concise, operational escape instructions to be sewn into the ball and kept secret until execution.

“Two poniards, a knotted rope and a poire d’angoisse.”

GrimaudGrimaud answers what the pâté will contain—tools and weapons for escape, with a cruelly comic suggestion about the poire d'angoisse.

Characters in Chapter 19

• Duke of Beaufort
• La Ramee
• Grimaud
• Rochefort
• Monsieur de Chavigny
• Cardinal Mazarin
• Officer