# VII: Touches Upon the Strange Effects a Half-Pistole May Have Upon a Beadle and a Chorister explained — Twenty Years After

> Chapter companion for Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas.

## What happens

D'Artagnan, seeking news of his old friend Aramis, tracks down Bazin, now a beadle at Notre Dame. Bazin rebuffs him, claiming ignorance of Aramis's whereabouts. D'Artagnan then encounters Rochefort, recently freed, who hints at plots against Mazarin. Using a half-pistole, D'Artagnan bribes a boy named Friquet to discover that Bazin regularly travels to Noisy, likely to visit a Jesuit convent where Aramis may be hiding.

## Themes in this chapter

### Class and Ambition

Bazin's rise from servant to beadle reflects social mobility and the pursuit of status; D'Artagnan's use of a half-pistole to bribe a boy illustrates the power of money across classes.

### Friendship and Loyalty

D'Artagnan's persistent search for Aramis underscores his loyalty to old friends, despite Bazin's resistance and Rochefort's cynical remarks.

## Character check-ins

### D'Artagnan

Seeks news of Aramis; uses bribery and surveillance to track Bazin.

### Bazin

Now a beadle at Notre Dame; refuses to reveal Aramis's location.

### Rochefort

Recently freed from the Bastille; meets D'Artagnan in the cathedral and hints at plans against Mazarin.

### Friquet

A clever boy who works as a chorister and waiter; helps D'Artagnan by discovering Bazin's destination.

### Gondy

The coadjutor, seen officiating mass at Notre Dame, courting popularity.

## Key lines

> D'Artagnan, as he crossed the Pont Neuf, congratulated himself on having found Planchet again, for at that time an intelligent servant was essential to him; nor was he sorry that through Planchet and the situation which he held in Rue des Lombards, a connection with the bourgeoisie might be commenced, at that critical period when that class were preparing to make war with the court party.

Crossing the Pont Neuf, D'Artagnan felt pleased to have reconnected with Planchet, recognizing the value of a clever servant during a time when the bourgeoisie were gearing up to oppose the court.

_Highlights D'Artagnan's strategic thinking and the political tension of the Fronde._

> Bazin wore his dress, it may be observed, with equal dignity and saintly propriety. It was not difficult to understand that he had gained the crown of his ambition and that the silver-mounted wand he brandished was in his eyes as honorable a distinction as the marshal’s baton which Condé threw, or did not throw, into the enemy’s line of battle at Fribourg.

Bazin carried himself with such solemn pride that his beadle's staff seemed as prestigious to him as a marshal's baton.

_Satirizes Bazin's self-importance and his contentment with his ecclesiastical role._

> ‘Half a pistole if you can find out,’ said d’Artagnan. ‘For me?’ cried the boy, his eyes sparkling with joy, ‘if I can find out where Bazin is going? That is not difficult. You are not joking, are you?’

D'Artagnan offered the boy a half-pistole to learn Bazin's destination, and the boy eagerly accepted, confident he could discover it.

_Illustrates the persuasive power of money and the resourcefulness of the Parisian street child._

## Links

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