Grimaud

Also known as: Monsieur Grimaud / the man · Family: La Fère · Role: lackey · First appears: Chapter 13

At first, Grimaud serves Athos, who gives him permission to speak and has educated him as a devoted lackey. In chapter 18, Jacques Chrysostom La Ramee engages him as a deputy keeper at Vincennes, while Monsieur de Chavigny praises his merits and sends him to serve La Ramee. At the same time, Grimaud secretly enters Vincennes to aid Duc de Beaufort’s escape, arranging a tennis-ball signal, preparing messages and supplies, and earning the duke’s trust despite becoming his particular aversion.

The escape plan advances through a private supper at which Grimaud is to serve La Ramee. He reveals that the pie contains weapons, a rope, and a gag; at seven o’clock he helps bind and gag La Ramee, but his descent from the rampart ends when the cord breaks and he falls into the moat. By chapter 22, Raoul is told, “Grimaud is an old and zealous servant; he will follow you,” and Grimaud remains close to Raoul while retaining La Ramee’s complete confidence. When he later leaves Raoul to return to Paris, he warns him and Count de Guiche that the monk threatens five lives, then rides away; he also reports that Miladysson is alive, grown, and on the road to Paris.

At the inn, Grimaud forces open the room after hearing cries, finds the executioner of Bethune stabbed, and stays beside him while sending for help. He later dresses a wounded man’s injury, and his long service with D’Artagnan, Porthos, and the other friends has made him something of a surgeon. He is treated by Raoul as a friend rather than merely a servant, while remaining an attendant to Aramis and serving alongside Mousqueton, Blaisois, Parry, and Planchet; during the English expedition he acts as an interpreter and discovers that a supposed wine barrel contains gunpowder, awakening D’Artagnan to warn him of the ship’s sabotage. By chapter 86, he is stationed by Aramis at the castle gate to take care of the horses.