Prior to each of d’Artagnan’s dueling encounters with the three musketeers, Dumas creates tension by making us guess how the hero will confront each of them and yet emerge with honor from each encounter. This question, of course, is ultimately obviated by the appearance of the cardinal’s guards and by d’Artagnan’s decision to fight on the side of the musketeers. His brilliant although unorthodox swordsmanship wins him the respect of the musketeers, and thus through a stroke of luck, d’Artagnan becomes, as it were, an unofficial “fourth musketeer.” Not until later in the novel, however, will he become an official musketeer.
