summary Raoul d'Harmental, young aristocrat came to Paris in 1711, is an adventurer rather touchy and impetuous. Having shown the last victory of Louis XIV appointed colonel on this occasion, D'Harmental is after the death of King involved the conflict between the party of the princes and the legitimate bastards. Philippe d'Orléans, legitimate prince, regent of France's Louis XV while still a child. D'Harmental first sees withdraw his regiment, which leaves no upset him. After his regiment is his mistress, Sophie d'Averno, the regent takes away. The knight is then ripe for conspiracy. The duchess, whose husband, legitimized son of Louis XIV, was deprived of his rights by the regent, makes proposals in this direction. D'Harmental must remove the Duke of Orleans and take him to Spain, the project for which he hires the services of Roquefinette captain, former military disillusioned. Waiting for the right moment to removal, hidden in a dorm room, Raoul d'Harmental désoeuvré looks at his neighbor across: a charming girl and good education, who plays the harpsichord and beautifully draws . Guessing at the Rock Bathilde a noble origin despite a modest life, Raoul quickly falls in love and manages to make contact with her. Orphan, Bathilde was collected and raised by Jean Buvat, writer and calligrapher in simple and generous spirit. The regent removal plan fails. The conspirators then trying to overthrow the regent by political means, with the support of Philip V of Spain and grand-son of Louis XIV, causing the meeting of the States General. It's the "man" Buvat, involved in the plot as a copyist, which allows the minister to the regent and Dubois thwart any conspiracy. The conspirators, distraught, plan an ultimate removal, where Harmental new failure is captured and sent to the Bastille. Bathilde, desperate to see her fiancé sentenced to death, managed to introduce him to the regent, whom she recalls the services rendered by his father Albert du Rocher. Philippe, nicknamed the debonair ultimately frees D'Harmental who marries Bathilde. The other conspirators, the Duke and Duchess of Maine in the first place, will be released a few months later.
About the Author: Alexandre Dumas (French, born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie; 24 July 1802 - 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas, père, was a French writer. His works have been translated into nearly 100 languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of high adventure were originally published as serials, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century for nearly 200 films. Dumas' last novel, The Knight of Sainte-Hermine, unfinished at his death, was completed by a scholar and published in 2005, becoming a bestseller. It was published in English in 2008 as The Last Cavalier. Prolific in several genres, Dumas began his career by writing plays, which were successfully produced from the first. He also wrote numerous magazine articles and travel books; his published works totaled 100,000 pages. In the 1840s, Dumas founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris. Dumas' father (general Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie) was born in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to a French nobleman and an enslaved African woman. At age 14, Thomas-Alexandre was taken by his father to France, where he was educated in a military academy and entered the military for what he made as an illustrious career. His father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans. He later began working as a writer, finding early success. Decades later, in the election of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1851, Dumas fell from favor, and left France for Belgium, where he stayed for several years. Upon leaving Belgium, Dumas moved to Russia for a few years, before going to Italy. In 1861 he founded and published the newspaper, L' Indipendente, which supported the Italian unification effort. In 1864 he returned to Paris.