The Room in the Dragon Volant · Chapter
I See Three Men in a Mirror explained
The narrator prepares for his secret midnight rendezvous, making financial arrangements and disguising his departure.
What happens
The narrator prepares for his secret midnight rendezvous, making financial arrangements and disguising his departure. He visits Paris, exploring Notre Dame and nearby streets, and stumbles into a curiosity shop where he sees in a mirror three men in earnest conversation: Colonel Gaillarde, the Marquis d'Harmonville, and a pale, mean-looking stranger. He avoids detection and returns to the Dragon Volant as night falls.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
The narrator disguises his true intentions, fabricates a story for his host, and uses a secret door; the mirror reveals a hidden meeting that may be more than it seems.
Isolation and Vulnerability
The narrator acts alone in his risky venture, feeling suspense and awe as the crisis approaches, and is isolated from his servant and friends.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Makes financial arrangements, visits Paris, and discovers the three men in the mirror.
- Colonel Gaillarde
Seen in the mirror at the curiosity shop, in earnest conversation with the Marquis and a third man.
- Marquis d'Harmonville
Seen in the mirror at the curiosity shop, meeting with Colonel Gaillarde and a mean-looking stranger.
- St. Clair
Given money and instructions by the narrator; left in charge of the room.
Key passages
“It was no business of mine to inquire what brought Colonel Gaillarde and the Marquis together, in so shabby, and even dirty a place, or who the mean person, biting the feather end of his pen, might be.”
The narrator decides not to question why the Colonel and the Marquis were meeting in such a grimy spot, nor the identity of the shabby man with the pen.
The narrator deliberately avoids investigating the suspicious meeting, showing his focus on his own plans.
“I do not think there is anything of the coward in my nature; but I confess, as the crisis approached, I felt something of the suspense and awe of a soldier going into action.”
Though not a coward, the narrator admits to feeling the tension and fear of a soldier before battle as his secret venture nears.
Reveals the narrator's internal state and the high stakes he perceives.