"Mystery! That was the charm. That speechless tongue, those prisoned features, that heart so freightened with unspoken troubles, and that breast so oppressed with its piteous secret had been there. These dank walls had known the man whose dolorous story is a sealed book forever! There was fascination in the spot." Thus Mark Twain described his enchantment with the historical legend of the man in the iron mask. Alexandre Dumas, one of France's best-selling nineteenth century writers, took a different tack. He chose to write a historical romance filled with "l'action et l'armour" and incorporating his epic characters whom he introduced in The Three Musketeers: the romantic Athos; Aramis, the intellectual cynic; the strong and energetic Porthos; and their dashing leader, D'Artagnan.
The suspense starts on the first page with the secret meeting between Aramis and Mme de Chevreuse, and thereafter the pace never slackens. Dumas, as a story-teller, is unequalled, and certainly no one ever presented history with more panache and excitement.