In the following essay, Garnett discusses the question of authorship of The Three Muskateers.

On the evening of 27th October 1845, an unrehearsed scene took place on the stage of the Ambigu Theatre, Paris. On the final fall of the curtain, while the applause still thundered, a man precipitated himself on the stage, where, shedding tears of mingled joy and gratitude, he embraced another man.

The first man was Auguste Maquet. The man whom he embraced was Alexandre Dumas.

The play that had been performed was The Musketeers.

Dumas fils, who narrates the incident, says that he was in a box, Maquet and his family being in the next one as ordinary spectators, they having no expectation of the occurrence of anything unusual; that the piece was nearing the end when his father summoned him by means of an attendant, and said, "If the play continues to go...