Part 63 (2/2)
”Yes, who is indebted for everything to you”
”Impossible”
”His very throne, even”
”You arebesides Louis XIV who can sit on the throne of France I know of none, not one”
”But I know one”
”Unless it be Monsieur,” said Fouquet, looking at Aramis uneasily; ”yet Monsieur-”
”It is not Monsieur”
”But how can it be, that a prince not of the royal line, that a prince without any right-”
”My king, or rather your king, will be everything that is necessary, be assured of that”
”Be careful, Monsieur d'Herblay, you make my blood run cold, and my head swim”
Aramis smiled ”There is but little occasion for that,” he replied
”Again, I repeat, you terrify h,” said Fouquet
”The day will coh too; only at the present h alone”
”But explain yourself”
”When the proper ti Have faith in ”
”The fact is, I cannot but doubt, because I do not see clearly, or even at all”
”That is because of your blindness; but a day will cohtened”
”Oh!” said Fouquet, ”hoillingly would I believe”
”You, without belief! you, who, throughat your feet, and in which, had you been alone, you would have been irretrievably sed; you, without belief; you, who froeneral attained the rank of intendant, from the rank of intendant, that of the first minister of the crown, and who from the rank of first minister will pass to that of mayor of the palace But no,” he said, with the same unaltered smile, ”no, no, you cannot see, and consequently cannot believe-what I tell you” And Aramis rose to withdraw
”One word more,” said Fouquet; ”you have never yet spoken to me in this manner, you have never yet shown yourself so confident, I should rather say so daring”
”Because it is necessary, in order to speak confidently, to have the lips unfettered”
”And that is now your case?”
”Yes”
”Since a very short time, then?”
”Since yesterday, only”
”Oh! Monsieur d'Herblay, take care, your confidence is beco audacity”
”One can well be audacious when one is powerful”
”And you are powerful?”
”I have already offered you ten millions; I repeat the offer”
Fouquet rose, profoundly agitated
”Cos and replacing them by others If, indeed, I am not really out of my senses, is or is not that what you said just now?”
”You are by no means out of your senses, for it is perfectly true I did say all that just now”
”And why did you say so?”
”Because it is easy to speak in thisraised up, when one is, one's self, far above all kings and thrones, of this world at least”
”Your power is infinite, then?” cried Fouquet
”I have told you so already, and I repeat it,” replied Ara lips
Fouquet threw himself back in his chair, and buried his face in his hands Arael of huht have looked upon a simple mortal
”Adieu,” he said to him, ”sleep undisturbed, and send your letter to La Valliere To-ain”
”Yes, to- to his senses ”But where shall we see each other?”
”At the king's proreed” And they separated
Chapter LXI The Storloomy, and as every one knew that the proaze, as his eyes were opened, was directed towards the sky Just above the tops of the trees a thick, suffocating vapor seemed to remain suspended, with barely sufficient power to rise thirty feet above the ground under the influence of the sun's rays, which was scarcely visible as a faint spot of lesser darkness through the veil of heavy ; the turf was dried up for want of ly than usual upon the boughs, which ree confused and animated murmurs, which seemed born and to exist in virtue of the sun, that respiration of nature which is unceasingly heard amidst all other sounds, could not be heard now, and never had the silence been so profound
The king had noticed the cheerless aspect of the heavens as he approached thei But as all the necessary directions had been given respecting the proly, and as, which was farelse, Louis relied upon this proination, and ill even already say, the claly decided that the appearance of the heavens had nothing whatever to do with the ed, and that, whatever the state of the weather, the promenade should take place Besides, there are certain terrestrial sovereigns who seeed existences, and there are certain tiht almost be supposed that the expressed wish of an earthly il who observed of Augustus: Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane 10 Louis attended mass as usual, but it was evident that his attention was somewhat distracted from the presence of the Creator by the re the service in reckoning more than once the number of minutes, then of seconds, which separated hiin, that is to say, the moment when Madame would set out with her maids of honor Besides, as a norant of the interviehich had taken place between La Valliere and the king Montalais, perhaps, with her usual chattering propensity, ht have been disposed to talk about it; but Montalais on this occasion was held in check by Malicorne, who had securely fastened on her pretty lips the golden padlock of mutual interest As for Louis XIV, his happiness was so extreiven Madame, or nearly so, her little piece ofIn fact, he had occasion to congratulate himself rather than to complain of it Had it not been for her ill-natured action, he would not have received the letter from La Valliere; had it not been for the letter, he would have had no interview; and had it not been for the intervieould have remained undecided His heart was filled with tooto remain in it, at thathis brows into a frohen he perceived his sister-in-law, Louis resolved to receive her in a racious manner than usual But on one condition only, that she would be ready to set out early Such was the nature of Louis's thoughts during etand of the eldest son of the Church, ought to have occupied his attention He returned to the chateau, and as the promenade was fixed for midday, and it was at present just ten o'clock, he set to work desperately with Colbert and Lyonne But even while he worked Louis went from the table to the , inasmuch as thelooked out upon Madame's pavilion: he could see M Fouquet in the courtyard, to whom the courtiers, since the favor shoards hireater attention than ever The king, instinctively, on noticing Fouquet, turned towards Colbert, as sht, a state of feeling which had arisen from the very moment one of his secretaries had entered and handed him a pocket-book, which he had put unopened into his pocket But, as there was always soht expressed by Colbert, Louis preferred, of the smiles of the two men, that of Fouquet He beckoned to the superintendent to co towards Lyonne and Colbert, he said:-”Finish this matter, place it on my desk, and I will read it athad made to him, Fouquet had hastened up the staircase, while Ara the group of courtiers and disappeared without having been even observed by the king The king and Fouquet met at the top of the staircase