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โ€œTo these notes,โ€ replied the prince, โ€œyou have added portraits so faithfully painted, that I am able to recognize the persons whose characters, manners, and history you have so carefully portrayed. Monsieur, my brother, is a fine, dark young man, with a pale face; he does not love his wife, Henrietta, whom I, Louis XIV., loved a little, and still flirt with, even although she made me weep on the day she wished to dismiss Mademoiselle de la Valliere from her service in disgrace.โ€

โ€œYou will have to be careful with regard to the watchfulness of the latter,โ€ said Aramis; โ€œshe is sincerely attached to the actual king. The eyes of a woman who loves are not easily deceived.โ€

โ€œShe is fair, has blue eyes, whose affectionate gaze reveals her identity. She halts slightly in her gait; she writes a letter every day, to which I have to send an answer by M. de Saint-Aignan.โ€

โ€œDo you know the latter?โ€

โ€œAs if I saw him, and I know the last verses he composed for me, as well as those I composed in answer to his.โ€

โ€œVery good. Do you know your ministers?โ€

โ€œColbert, an ugly, dark-browed man, but intelligent enough, his hair covering his forehead, a large, heavy, full head; the mortal enemy of M. Fouquet.โ€

โ€œAs for the latter, we need not disturb ourselves about him.โ€

โ€œNo; because necessarily you will not require me to exile him, I suppose?โ€

Aramis, struck with admiration at the remark, said, โ€œYou will become very great, monseigneur.โ€

โ€œYou see,โ€ added the prince, โ€œthat I know my lesson by heart, and with Heavenโ€™s assistance, and yours afterwards, I shall seldom go wrong.โ€

โ€œYou have still an awkward pair of eyes to deal with, monseigneur.โ€

โ€œYes, the captain of the musketeers, M. dโ€™Artagnan, your friend.โ€

โ€œYes; I can well say โ€˜my friend.โ€™โ€

โ€œHe who escorted La Valliere to Le Chaillot; he who delivered up Monk, cooped in an iron box, to Charles II.; he who so faithfully served my mother; he to whom the crown of France owes so much that it owes everything. Do you intend to ask me to exile him also?โ€

โ€œNever, sire. Dโ€™Artagnan is a man to whom, at a certain given time, I will undertake to reveal everything; but be on your guard with him, for if he discovers our plot before it is revealed to him, you or I will certainly be killed or taken. He is a bold and enterprising man.โ€

โ€œI will think it over. Now tell me about M. Fouquet; what do you wish to be done with regard to him?โ€

โ€œOne moment more, I entreat you, monseigneur; and forgive me, if I seem to fail in respect to questioning you further.โ€

โ€œIt is your duty to do so, nay, more than that, your right.โ€

โ€œBefore we pass to M. Fouquet, I should very much regret forgetting another friend of mine.โ€

โ€œM. du Vallon, the Hercules of France, you mean; oh! as far as he is concerned, his interests are more than safe.โ€

โ€œNo; it is not he whom I intended to refer to.โ€

โ€œThe Comte de la Fere, then?โ€

โ€œAnd his son, the son of all four of us.โ€

โ€œThat poor boy who is dying of love for La Valliere, whom my brother so disloyally bereft him of? Be easy on that score. I shall know how to rehabilitate his happiness. Tell me only one thing, Monsieur dโ€™Herblay; do men, when they love, forget the treachery that has been shown them? Can a man ever forgive the woman who has betrayed him? Is that a French custom, or is it one of the laws of the human heart?โ€

โ€œA man who loves deeply, as deeply as Raoul loves Mademoiselle de la Valliere, finishes by forgetting the fault or crime of the woman he loves; but I do not yet know whether Raoul will be able to forget.โ€

โ€œI will see after that. Have you anything further to say about your friend?โ€

โ€œNo; that is all.โ€

โ€œWell, then, now for M. Fouquet. What do you wish me to do for him?โ€

โ€œTo keep him on as surintendant, in the capacity in which he has hitherto acted, I entreat you.โ€

โ€œBe it so; but he is the first minister at present.โ€

โ€œNot quite so.โ€

โ€œA king, ignorant and embarrassed as I shall be, will, as a matter of course, require a first minister of state.โ€

โ€œYour majesty will require a friend.โ€

โ€œI have only one, and that is yourself.โ€

โ€œYou will have many others by and by, but none so devoted, none so zealous for your glory.โ€

โ€œYou shall be my first minister of state.โ€

โ€œNot immediately, monseigneur, for that would give rise to too much suspicion and astonishment.โ€

โ€œM. de Richelieu, the first minister of my grandmother, Marie de Medici, was simply bishop of Lucon, as you are bishop of Vannes.โ€

โ€œI perceive that your royal highness has studied my notes to great advantage; your amazing perspicacity overpowers me with delight.โ€

โ€œI am perfectly aware that M. de Richelieu, by means of the queenโ€™s protection, soon became cardinal.โ€

โ€œIt would be better,โ€ said Aramis, bowing, โ€œthat I should not be appointed first minister until your royal highness has procured my nomination as cardinal.โ€

โ€œYou shall be nominated before two months are past, Monsieur dโ€™Herblay. But that is a matter of very trifling moment; you would not offend me if you were to ask more than that, and you would cause me serious regret if you were to limit yourself to that.โ€

โ€œIn that case, I have something still further to hope for, monseigneur.โ€

โ€œSpeak! speak!โ€

โ€œM. Fouquet will not keep long at the head of affairs, he will soon get old. He is fond of pleasure, consistently, I mean, with all his labors, thanks to the youthfulness he still retains; but this protracted youth will disappear at the approach of the first serious annoyance, or at the first illness he may experience. We will spare him the annoyance, because he is an agreeable and noble-hearted man; but we cannot save him from ill-health. So it is determined. When you shall have paid all M. Fouquetโ€™s debts, and restored the finances to a sound condition, M. Fouquet will be able to remain the sovereign ruler in his little court of poets and painters,โ€”we shall have made him rich. When that has been done, and I have become your royal highnessโ€™s prime minister, I shall be able to

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