Twenty Years After · Chapter
Saint Denis explained
Athos prepares Raoul for his departure, giving him a sword and offering paternal advice.
What happens
Athos prepares Raoul for his departure, giving him a sword and offering paternal advice. They visit the cathedral of Saint Denis, where Athos reflects on the legacy of King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, teaching Raoul to distinguish between the king and royalty. After an emotional farewell, Raoul departs while Athos prays in the cathedral.
Themes in this chapter
Honor and Duty
Athos instructs Raoul on serving the king and royalty with loyalty, emphasizing the duty of a gentleman to uphold honor even unto death.
Aging and Change
Athos reflects on his own youth and the passage of time as he prepares Raoul for departure, feeling the weight of loss and the transition to a new generation.
Characters to notice
- Athos
Prepares Raoul's departure, furbishes his sword, and gives him a bag of louis. Accompanies Raoul to the cathedral, delivers a lesson on royalty, and bids an emotional farewell.
- Raoul
Sleeps peacefully as Athos watches over him. Receives his father's sword and instructions, then departs for his first campaign.
- Olivain
The lackey who follows Athos from Blois; packs Raoul's valise and later accompanies Raoul until Grimaud joins him.
Key passages
“The day had begun to break when Athos arose and dressed himself. It was plain, by a paleness still greater than usual, and by those traces which loss of sleep leaves on the face, that he must have passed almost the whole of the night without sleeping.”
Athos rose at dawn, looking unusually pale and sleepless.
Shows Athos's anxiety over Raoul's departure.
“He remembered that all the first part of his life had been embittered by a woman and he thought with alarm of the influence love might assume over so fine, and at the same time so vigorous an organization as that of Raoul.”
Athos recalled how a woman had poisoned his own youth and worried that love might similarly harm Raoul.
Reveals Athos's protective concern and his own painful past.
“This temporary sepulture is,” he said, “that of a man who was of feeble mind, yet one whose reign was full of great events; because over this king watched the spirit of another man, even as this lamp keeps vigil over this coffin and illumines it.”
Athos points to the coffin of Louis XIII, calling him weak but noting that Richelieu's spirit guided his reign.
Athos's lesson on the true source of power behind the throne.