Twenty Years After Twenty Years After Twenty Years After () is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized from January to August 1845. A book of "The d'Artagnan Romances", it is a sequel to "The Three Musketeers" and precedes "The Vicomte de Bragelonne" (which includes the sub-plot "Man in the Iron Mask"). The novel follows events in France during the Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV, and in England near the end of the English Civil War, leading up to the victory of Oliver Cromwell and the execution of King Charles I. Through the words of the main characters, particularly Athos,
Twenty Years After and contrive to steal the only lifeboat before the ship can blow up, leaving Mordaunt aboard. Mordaunt escapes the blast, and pleads with the Musketeers to let him into their boat. With the exception of Athos, they contemptuously reject his appeals. Athos insists on saving him, but as he helps him into the boat, Mordaunt deliberately drags him under the water where they struggle and Mordaunt is killed. Athos rejoins the others stating: "I had a son. I wanted to live." This seems to confirm what d'Artagnan has long suspected, that the reason Athos's ward, whom he adopted after he