Perhaps the greatest "cloak and sword" story ever written, The Three Musketeers, first published in 1844, is a tale foe all time. Pitting the heroic young d'Artagnan and his noble compatriots Athos, Porthos, and Aramis against the master of intrigue, Cardinal Richelieu, and the quintessential wicked woman, Lady de winter, Alexandre Dumas has created an anchanted france of swordplay, schemes, and assignations. The era and the characters are based on historical fact, but the glittering romance and fast-paced aaction spring from a great writer's incomparable imagination. From the perilous retrieval of the queen's gift to her lover in time to foil Richelieu's plot to the melodramatic revelation of Lady de Winter's true identity, The Three Musketeers is the unchallenged archetype for literary romance and a perennial delight for generations readers.