Part 47 (1/2)
”What may that be, sire?”
”That you should have at the head of the diocese a man like M d'Herblay, and yet should not have shown hiiving Fouquet time to answer, ”we poor Breton prelates seldo, ”I will punish M Fouquet for his indifference”
”In ay, sire?”
”I will change your bishopric”
Fouquet bit his lips, but Ara you in?” continued the king
”Sixty thousand livres, sire,” said Ara an amount as that; but you possess other property, Monsieur de Vannes?”
”I have nothing else, sire; only M Fouquet pays me one thousand two hundred livres a year for his pew in the church”
”Well, M d'Herblay, I pro better than that”
”Sire-”
”I will not forget you”
Ara also bowed to him in a respectful manner, as he was accustoathered that his audience was at an end; he took his leave of the king in the sie of a country pastor, and disappeared
”He is, indeed, a re hi as he could see hier to be seen
”Sire,” replied Fouquet, ”if that bishop had been educated early in life, no prelate in the kingdohest distinctions better than he”
”His learning is not extensive, then?”
”He changed the sword for the crucifix, and that rather late in life But it matters little, if your ain on another occasion-”
”I beg you to do so But before speaking of him, let us speak of yourself, M Fouquet”
”Of me, sire?”
”Yes, I have to pay you a thousand coht hich you overwhelm me”
”I understand you, M Fouquet I confess, however, to have had certain prejudices against you”
”In that case, I was indeed unhappy, sire”
”But they exist no longer Did you not perceive-”
”I did, indeed, sire; but I awaited with resignation the day when the truth would prevail; and it seems that that day has now arrived”
”Ah! you knew, then, you were in disgrace with me?”
”Alas! sire, I perceived it”
”And do you know the reason?”
”Perfectly well; your ht that I had been wastefully lavish in expenditure”
”Not so; far from that”
”Or, rather an indifferent adht that, as the people had no money, there would be none for your ht so; but I was deceived”
Fouquet bowed
”And no disturbances, no coh,” said Fouquet
”The fact is that you have been profuse with it during the last month”
”I have more, not only for all your majesty's requirements, but for all your caprices”
”I thank you, Monsieur Fouquet,” replied the king, seriously ”I will not put you to the proof For the next two ”
”I will avail myself of the interval to amass five or six millions, which will be serviceable as money in hand in case of war”
”Five or six millions!”
”For the expenses of your majesty's household only, be it understood”
”You think war probable, M Fouquet?”
”I think that if Heaven has bestowed on the eagle a beak and claws, it is to enable hi blushed with pleasure
”We have spent a great deal of money these few days past, Monsieur Fouquet; will you not scold me for it?”
”Sire, your majesty has still twenty years of youth to enjoy, and a thousand million francs to lavish in those twenty years”
”That is a great deal of