As stated earlier in the novel, the only way for a poor young man from Gascony to make his fortune is to have the courage, daring, and bravery to attract the attention of powerful people. Fortunately, fate arranges matters so that d’Artagnan is confronted by members of the cardinal’s guard, who have the reputation of being expert swordsmen. The fact that so young a man defeats so experienced and polished a swordsman as the cardinalist Bernajoux attracts the attention of the king himself, who rewards d’Artagnan and requests that the young Gascon be placed in special troops, an honor which will lead to d’Artagnan’s later becoming a musketeer.
The modern reader is often perplexed at the blatant disregard for human life that is so often found in this “swashbuckling” type of novel, but it is a common characteristic of the genre; d’Artagnan himself seems to have little or no regard for his own life as long as he dies an honorable death at the hands of someone whom he considers noble.
