Twenty Years After

Twenty Years After - Alexandre Dumas - Twenty Years After (French: Vingt ans après) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized from January to August 1845. A book of The dArtagnan Romances, it is a sequel to The Three Musketeers and precedes The Vicomte de Bragelonne (which includes the sub-plot Man in the Iron Mask).
The novel follows events in France during the Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV, and in England near the end of the English Civil War, leading up to the victory of Oliver Cromwell and the execution of King Charles I. Through the words of the main characters, particularly Athos, Dumas comes out on the side of the monarchy in general, or at least the text often praises the idea of benevolent royalty. His musketeers are valiant and just in their efforts to protect young Louis XIV and the doomed Charles I from their attackers.
The action begins during the regency of Queen Anne of Austria (term 1643–1651), with Cardinal Mazarin as First Minister. DArtagnan, who seemed to have a promising career ahead of him at the end of The Three Musketeers, has for twenty years remained a lieutenant, and seems unlikely to progress despite his ambition and the debt the queen owes him. He is summoned by Mazarin, who requires an escort; the French people detest Mazarin, and are on the brink of rebellion (La Fronde). DArtagnan is sent to the Bastille to retrieve a prisoner, who turns out to be his former adversary, the Comte de Rochefort.
After renewing his acquaintance with dArtagnan and making a promise to aid his advancement, Rochefort is brought to his audience with Mazarin, where he learns that the cause for his imprisonment was his refusal to serve Mazarin at an earlier stage. He does, however, remember his promise, and though he offers his own service to Mazarin, he refuses to watch over the Duc de Beaufort, who is imprisoned at the time, and soon learns that, in consequence, he is to be returned to the Bastille, though this does not deter him from speaking highly of the achievements of dArtagnan and the Three Musketeers.
Having determined that dArtagnan is the man he seeks, Mazarin enters the chambers of the Queen to let her know that he has enlisted the man who had served her so well twenty years earlier. The Queen, feeling guilty for having forgotten dArtagnans service, gives Mazarin a diamond ring to return to dArtagnan, one which she had previously given him that dArtagnan sold. The avaricious Mazarin merely uses the diamond to show dArtagnan that he is once again to enter the Queens service. He commissions dArtagnan to go in search of his friends.
DArtagnan is at a loss; he has completely lost touch with his friends, who have resumed their real names. Athos, the Comte de la Fère, had returned to his estate near Blois; Porthos, Monsieur du Vallon, had married a lawyers widow; and Aramis became a priest, the Abbé dHerblay. Fortune intervenes when Planchet, his old servant, enters dArtagnans chambers, attempting to escape arrest for aiding the escape of Rochefort. Through Planchet, he locates Bazin, Aramis old servant, now beadle at Notre Dame. Though Bazin is unwilling to help, dArtagnan is able to find out, through an altar boy, that Bazin makes frequent visits to Noisy. DArtagnan and Planchet go there, where they are set upon by a group who think them Frondeurs while outside the house of Madame de Longueville. When this group is satisfied that dArtagnan is not the man they seek, Aramis surprises...