Duty before everything.

Sheathe, then, if you please, and follow us." "Monsieur," said Aramis, parodying Jussac, "it would afford us great pleasure to obey your polite invitation if it depended upon ourselves; but unfortunately the thing is impossible--Monsieur de Treville has forbidden it.

Pass on your way, then; it is the best thing to do." This raillery exasperated Jussac.

"We will charge upon you, then," said he, "if you disobey." "There are five of them," said Athos, half aloud, "and we are but three; we shall be beaten again, and must die on the spot, for, on my part, I declare I will never appear again before the captain as a conquered man." Athos, Porthos, and Aramis instantly drew near one another, while Jussac drew up his soldiers.
This short interval was sufficient to determine d'Artagnan on the part he was to take.

It was one of those events which decide the life of a man; it was a choice between the king and the cardinal--the choice made, it must be persisted in.