Twenty Years After Chapter 45 Summary

Summary

D'Artagnan and Porthos accompany Cardinal Mazarin to the Palais Royal, where Mazarin praises their morning services and procures the queen's public thanks. Anne of Austria receives the two musketeers kindly; D'Artagnan speaks briefly and publicly credits his friend Porthos. The court is elated after recent victories and arrests, and Comminges recounts his exploits to the queen. The coadjutor (Gondy) unexpectedly appears; though he has just preached and is suspected of Fronde sympathies, he offers congratulations but conceals a barb. The courtiers mock him, and his pointed remark about avoiding civil war draws Mazarin’s ire. Mazarin privately fortifies his safety, while Gondy immediately begins plotting.

Gondy meets Louvières (Broussel’s son) and listens as Louvières proposes coordinated action: clergy plus citizens and parliament can drive the court to yield. Gondy is tempted but asks for time. He then summons curates from the city's populous parishes; three remain—of St. Merri, St. Sulpice, and St. Eustache. Each proposes a man who could mobilize the people: a shopkeeper Planchet, Count de Rochefort (rumored at Rue Cassette), and a beggar named Maillard who distributes holy water at St. Eustache. Gondy, disguised and accompanied by a curate, goes to observe Maillard. The beggar proves clever and influential among the poor; Gondy and the curate secure his commitment by offering five hundred pistoles now and a promise of more if he proves useful. Maillard accepts and agrees to be ready that evening, positioning himself to lead the mendicant fraternity in any uprising the coadjutor might set in motion.

Key events

1. D'Artagnan and Porthos attend the queen and receive public thanks through Mazarin's influence.
2. The coadjutor Gondy appears at court, is jeered by courtiers, and exchanges a hostile glance with Mazarin.
3. Gondy meets Louvières, who urges immediate action and promises popular support.
4. Gondy summons curates; three parishes remain to propose leaders for a popular revolt.
5. The curate of St. Eustache introduces Maillard, a beggar and leader of mendicants.
6. Gondy and a curate visit Maillard, test his influence, and pay him 500 pistoles to prepare for action at ten o'clock.
7. Maillard accepts and promises to have arrangements ready that evening.

Analysis

This chapter shifts the novel's focus from courtly triumph to the darker mechanics of popular revolt, showing how rhetoric and covert organization can weaponize the urban poor. It juxtaposes the frivolity and complacency of Anne's court—where honors and jests mask political danger—with the coadjutor's cold, strategic plotting. Gondy emerges as a crucial antagonist: urbane, pious in appearance, but politically ruthless, able to convert religious authority into revolutionary leverage. The scene with Maillard exposes a layered social order where even beggars are organized and can act as political instruments; Maillard's mixture of cunning, remorse, and ambition makes him a potent symbol of the exploited classes as both victims and actors.

Narratively, Dumas uses a court scene to seed the novel's coming urban unrest, creating dramatic irony: the triumphant court is unaware of the groundwork for insurrection being laid at its feet. The chapter uses dialogue-driven exposition to reveal motives and alignments rapidly, while the coadjutor's disguise and clandestine meetings add suspense. Foreshadowing appears in Gondy's decisive financial inducement and Maillard's confident claim to mobilize followers—both gestures that signal organized action to come. Thematically, the chapter interrogates authority—religious and royal—and shows how personal ambition (Gondy, Louvières) and social grievance (Maillard, the curates) intersect to threaten established power structures.

Important quotes

“I have nought to say, save that my life is ever at your majesty’s service, and that I shall only be happy the day I lose it for you.”

d'ArtagnanD'Artagnan answers the queen's invitation to speak, pledging his life to her and receiving public thanks.

“If occasion requires, monsieur, you will remember that man who has just gone out, will you not?”

Cardinal MazarinMazarin grabs D'Artagnan's arm and points out Gondy (the coadjutor) as a dangerous enemy to remember.

“"This evening, sir," he replied, "all will be ready."”

MaillardAfter bargaining and a payment, the beggar Maillard promises Gondy he will have arrangements prepared that night to mobilize the mendicant fraternity.

Characters in Chapter 45

• d'Artagnan
• Porthos
• Cardinal Mazarin
• Anne of Austria
• Comminges
• Monsieur de Retz (the coadjutor / Gondy)
• Abbé de Gondy
• Louvières
• Broussel
• Blancmesnil
• Nogent-Beautin
• Count de Villeroy
• Maréchal de la Meilleraie
• Planchet
• Count de Rochefort
• Maillard
• Curate of St. Merri
• Curate of St. Sulpice
• Curate of St. Eustache
• Vicar of St. Jacques de la Boucherie