Part 31

— Ah! said the king; and what has become of him, M. Colbert?

— He has just left His Eminence's chamber.

— To go where?

— To follow me.

— So that he is...?

— There, my dear Sire, waiting at your door until your good pleasure shall be to receive him.

Louis ran to the door, opened it himself, and perceived Colbert standing in the corridor and waiting.

The king trembled at the sight of that statue all clothed in black.

Colbert, bowing with profound respect, took two steps toward His Majesty.

Louis went back into the room, making a sign to Colbert to follow him.

Colbert entered. Louis dismissed the nurse, who closed the door as she went out.

Colbert stood modestly near that door.

— What have you come to tell me, sir? said Louis, much troubled at being thus surprised in his inmost thought, which he could not entirely conceal.

— That M. the cardinal has just passed away, Sire, and that I bring you his last farewell.

The king remained pensive for a moment.

During that moment, he looked attentively at Colbert; it was evident that the cardinal's last thought had returned to his mind.

— Are you the M. Colbert? he asked.

— Yes, Sire.

— Faithful servant of His Eminence, as His Eminence herself told me?

— Yes, Sire.

— Depositary of a part of his secrets?

— Of all of them.

— The friends and servants of the late His Eminence shall be dear to me, sir, and I shall take care that you are placed in my offices.

Colbert bowed.

— You are a financier, sir, I believe.

— Yes, Sire.

— And M. the cardinal employed you in his economy?

— I had that honor, Sire.

— You never personally did anything for my household, I believe.

— Pardon, Sire; it is I who had the good fortune to give M. the cardinal the idea of an economy which puts three hundred thousand francs a year into His Majesty's coffers.

— What economy, sir? asked Louis XIV.

— Your Majesty knows that the Swiss guards have silver lace on each side of their ribbons?

— No doubt.

— Well, Sire, it is I who proposed that false silver lace be put on those ribbons. It shows not at all, and a hundred thousand écus make the sustenance of a regiment for the half-year, or the price of ten thousand good muskets, or the value of a ten-gun frigate ready to put to sea.

— That is true, said Louis XIV, considering the person more attentively, and, by my faith, that is a well-placed economy; besides, it was ridiculous that soldiers should wear the same lace as noblemen.

— I am happy to be approved by His Majesty, said Colbert.

— Is that the only employment you held near the cardinal? asked the king.

— It was I whom His Eminence had charged with examining the accounts of the superintendency, Sire.

— Ah! said Louis XIV, who was about to dismiss Colbert and whom this word stopped; ah! it was you whom His Eminence had charged with auditing M. Fouquet. And the result of the audit?

— Is that there is a deficit, Sire; but if Your Majesty will deign to permit...

— Speak, M. Colbert.

— I must give Your Majesty some explanations.

— Not at all, sir; it is you who audited these accounts, give me the statement of them.

— That will be easy, Sire. Empty everywhere, money nowhere.

— Take care, sir; you attack roughly the management of M. Fouquet, who, however, as I have heard tell, is a capable man.

Colbert blushed, then turned pale, for he felt that, from that moment, he entered into strife with a man whose power balanced almost the power of him who had just died.

— Yes, Sire, a very capable man, repeated Colbert, bowing.

— But if M. Fouquet is a capable man and that, despite this capability, money is lacking, whose fault is it?

— I do not accuse, Sire, I state.

— Very well; make your accounts and present them to me. There is a deficit, you say? A deficit may be passing, credit returns, funds come in.

— No, Sire.

— For this year perhaps, I understand that; but for next year?

— Next year, Sire, is eaten as bare as the current year.

— But the year after, then?

— As next year.

— What are you telling me there, M. Colbert?

— I say that there are four years engaged in advance.

— We shall make a loan, then.

— Three have already been made, Sire.

— I shall create offices to be resigned and we shall collect the money of the charges.

— Impossible, Sire, for there have already been creations upon creations of offices whose commissions are delivered in blank, so that the purchasers enjoy them without filling them. That is why Your Majesty cannot resign them. Moreover; upon each treaty, the superintendent has given a third rebate, so that the people are oppressed without Your Majesty profiting thereby.

The king made a movement.

— Explain that to me, M. Colbert.

— Let Your Majesty formulate clearly her thought, and tell me what she desires that I explain to her.

— You are right. Clarity, is it not?

— Yes, Sire, clarity. God is God above all because He made the light.

— Well, for example, resumed Louis XIV, if today, now that M. the cardinal is dead and that I am king, if I wished to have money?

— Your Majesty would not have any.

— Oh! this is strange, sir; how, my superintendent would not find me money?

Colbert shook his heavy head.

— What then? said the king; are the revenues of the State then so encumbered that they are no longer revenues?

— Yes, Sire, to that point.

The king frowned.

— Be it so, said he; I shall assemble the ordinances to obtain from the holders a relief, a cheap liquidation.

— Impossible, for the ordinances have been converted into notes, which notes, for ease of yield and facility of transaction, are cut into so many parts that one can no longer recognize the original.

Louis, much agitated, walked to and fro, his brow still frowned.

— But if that were as you say, M. Colbert, said he, stopping suddenly, I should be ruined even before reigning?

— You are indeed, Sire, replied the impassive aligner of figures.

— But however, sir, the money is somewhere?

— Yes, Sire, and even to begin, I bring Your Majesty a note of funds which M. the cardinal Mazarin would not relate in his will, nor in any whatsoever deed; but which he had confided to me, to me.

— To you?

— Yes, Sire, with injunction to deliver them to Your Majesty.

— How! besides the forty millions of the will?

— Yes, Sire.

— M. de Mazarin had yet other funds? Colbert bowed.

— But he was a gulf, that man! murmured the king. M. de Mazarin on one side, M. Fouquet on the other; more than a hundred millions perhaps for the two of them! It is no wonder my coffers are empty.

Colbert waited without moving.

— And is the sum you bring me worth the trouble? asked the king.

— Yes, Sire; the sum is round enough.

— It amounts to?

— To thirteen millions of livres, Sire.

— Thirteen millions! cried Louis XIV, shivering with joy. You say thirteen millions, M. Colbert.

— I said thirteen millions, yes, Your Majesty.

— That all the world ignore?

— That all the world ignore.

— Which are in your hands?

— In my hands, yes, Sire.

— And that I may have?

— In two hours.

— But where are they then?

— In the cellar of a house which M. the cardinal owned in the city and which he is pleased to leave me by a particular clause of his will.

— You know then the cardinal's will?

— I have a duplicate signed by his hand.

— A duplicate?

— Yes, Sire, and here it is.

Colbert simply drew the deed from his pocket and showed it to the king.

The king read the article relating to the donation of that house.

— But, said he, there is question here only of the house and nowhere is the money mentioned.

— Pardon, Sire, it is in my conscience.

— And M. de Mazarin trusted you for that?

— Why not, Sire?

— He, the distrustful man par excellence?

— He was not so for me, Sire, as Your Majesty may see.

Louis stopped with admiration his gaze upon that common but expressive head.

— You are an honest man, M. Colbert, said the king.

— It is not a virtue, Sire, it is a duty, coldly answered Colbert.

— But, added Louis XIV, is not that money the family's?

— If that money were the family's, it would be carried in the cardinal's will like the rest of his fortune. If that money were the family's, I who drafted the deed of donation made in favor of Your Majesty would have added the sum of thirteen millions to that of forty millions already offered you.

— How! cried Louis XIV, it is you who drafted the donation, M. Colbert?

— Yes, Sire.

— And the cardinal loved you? naively added the king.

— I had answered His Eminence that Your Majesty would not accept, said Colbert in that same tranquil tone which we have spoken of and which, even in the habits of life, had something solemn. Louis passed a hand over his brow:

«Oh! how young I am, he murmured low, to command men!»

Colbert awaited the end of this inward monologue. He saw Louis raise his head.

— At what hour shall I send the money to Your Majesty? he asked.

— This night, at eleven o'clock. I desire that no one know I possess this money.

Colbert answered no more than if the thing had not been said for him.

— Is this sum in ingots or in coined gold?

— In coined gold, Sire.

— Good.

— Where shall I send it?

— To the Louvre. Thank you, M. Colbert.

Colbert bowed and withdrew.

— Thirteen millions! cried Louis XIV when he was alone; but it is a dream!

Then he let his brow fall into his hands, as if he were indeed sleeping.

But, after a moment, he raised his brow, shook his beautiful hair, rose, and, opening the window violently, he bathed his burning brow in the keen morning air which brought him the acrid scent of trees and the sweet perfume of flowers.

A resplendent dawn rose on the horizon and the first rays of the sun flooded with flame the brow of the young king.

— This dawn is that of my reign, murmured Louis XIV, and is it a presage you send me, Almighty God?...

Chapter L — The First Day of the Kingship of Louis XIV

In the morning, the cardinal's death spread through the castle, and from the castle into the city.

The ministers Fouquet, Lyonne, and Letellier entered the council chamber to hold council.

The king sent for them at once.

— Gentlemen, said he, M. the cardinal has lived. I let him govern my affairs; but now, I intend to govern them myself. You will give me your advice when I ask it of you. Go!

The ministers looked at one another with surprise. If they concealed a smile, it was a great effort, for they knew that the prince, raised in absolute ignorance of affairs, was taking upon himself there, out of self-love, a burden too heavy for his strength.

Fouquet took leave of his colleagues on the staircase, saying to them:

— Gentlemen, that is well rid of work for us.

And he mounted right joyfully into his coach. The others, a little uneasy at the turn events would take, returned together to Paris.

The king, toward ten o'clock, called upon his mother, with whom he had a very particular interview; then, after dinner, he got into a closed carriage and went straight to the Louvre. There, he received much company, and took a certain pleasure in noting the hesitation of all and the curiosity of each.

Toward evening, he commanded that the gates of the Louvre be closed, except one alone, that which opened on the quay. He placed there as sentinels two Swiss guards who did not speak a word of French, with orders to let in all that was baggage, but nothing else, and to let nothing out.

At precisely eleven o'clock, he heard the rolling of a heavy cart under the vault, then of another, then of a third. After which, the grating rolled dully on its hinges to close again. Soon someone scratched with a fingernail at the cabinet door. The king went to open it himself, and he saw Colbert, whose first word was this:

— The money is in Your Majesty's cellar.

Louis then went down and went himself to view the casks of species, gold and silver, which, by Colbert's care, four of his men had just rolled into a vault whose key the king had passed to Colbert that very morning. This review finished, Louis returned to his rooms, followed by Colbert, who had not warmed his immovable coldness with the least ray of personal satisfaction.

— Sir, said the king to him, what would you have me give you in reward for this devotion and this probity?

— Nothing at all, Sire.

— How, nothing? not even the occasion to serve me?

— Your Majesty would not furnish me that occasion that I would serve you no less. It is impossible for me not to be the best servant of the king.

— You shall be intendant of finances, M. Colbert.

— But there is a superintendent, Sire?

— Exactly.

— Sire, the superintendent is the most powerful man in the kingdom.

— Ah! cried Louis, reddening, you believe so?

— He will crush me in eight days, Sire; for, after all, Your Majesty gives me an audit for which force is indispensable. Intendant under a superintendent, that is inferiority.

— You want supports... you do not rely upon me?

— I had the honor to say to Your Majesty that M. Fouquet, in M. Mazarin's lifetime, was the second personage of the kingdom; but now M. Mazarin is dead, and M. Fouquet has become the first.

— Sir, I consent that you tell me all things even yet today; but tomorrow, think on it, I shall suffer it no longer.

— Then I shall be useless to Your Majesty?

— You already are, since you fear to compromise yourself in serving me.

— I only fear being put out of condition to serve you.

— What do you want, then?

— I want Your Majesty to give me aids in the work of the intendancy.

— The place loses its value?

— It gains security.

— Choose your colleagues.

— MM. Breteuil, Marin, Hervard.

— Tomorrow, the ordinance shall appear.

— Sire, thanks!

— Is that all you ask?

— No, Sire; one more thing...

— Which?

— Let me compose a Chamber of Justice.

— What for, this Chamber of Justice?

— To judge the traitants and partisans who, for ten years, have paid badly.

— But... what shall be done to them?

— Three shall be hanged, which will make the others disgorge.

— I cannot however begin my reign with executions, M. Colbert.

— On the contrary, Sire, so as not to end it with torments.

The king did not answer.

— Does Your Majesty consent? said Colbert.

— I shall reflect, sir.

— It will be too late when reflection is made.

— Why?

— Because we have to do with men stronger than we, if they are warned.

— Compose this Chamber of Justice, sir.

— I shall compose it.

— Is that all?

— No, Sire; there is yet one important thing... What rights does Your Majesty attach to this intendancy?

— But... I know not... there are usages...

— Sire, I need that to this intendancy be devolved the right to read the correspondence with England.

— Impossible, sir, for that correspondence is opened in council; M. the cardinal himself did so.

— I thought Your Majesty had declared this morning that she would have no more council.

— Yes, I declared it.

— Then may Your Majesty be pleased to read herself and alone her letters, especially those from England; I hold particularly to that point.

— Sir, you shall have that correspondence and render me account of it.

— Now, Sire, what shall I have to do with the finances?

— All that M. Fouquet shall not do.

— That is what I asked of Your Majesty. Thanks, I depart tranquil.

He departed indeed at these words. Louis watched him depart.

Colbert was not yet a hundred paces from the Louvre when the king received a courier from England. After having looked at, sounded the envelope, the king broke it open precipitately, and found first of all a letter from King Charles II.

Here is what the English prince wrote to his royal brother:

«Your Majesty must be much troubled by the illness of M. the cardinal Mazarin; but the excess of danger can only serve you. The cardinal is condemned by his physician. I thank you for the gracious reply you made to my communication touching lady Henriette Stuart, my sister, and in eight days the princess shall depart for Paris with her court.

«It is sweet for me to recognize the fatherly friendship you have testified to me, and to call you yet more justly my brother. It is sweet for me, above all, to prove to Your Majesty how much I occupy myself with what may please her. You are silently fortifying Belle-Île-en-Mer. That is a wrong. Never shall we have war together. This measure does not trouble me; it saddens me...

«You spend there useless millions, tell it well to your ministers, and believe that my police is well informed; render me, my brother, the same services, should the case arise.»

The king rang violently, and his valet de chambre appeared.

— M. Colbert left here and cannot be far... Have him called! he cried.

The valet de chambre was about to execute the order, the king stopped him.

— No, said he, no... I see the whole plot of that man. Belle-Île belongs to M. Fouquet; Belle-Île fortified, that is a conspiracy of M. Fouquet... The discovery of this conspiracy, that is the ruin of the superintendent, and this discovery results from the England correspondence; that is why Colbert wanted that correspondence. Oh! I cannot however put all my force upon that man; he is but the head, I need the arm.

Louis suddenly uttered a joyful cry.

— I had, he said to the valet de chambre, a lieutenant of musketeers?

— Yes, Sire; M. d'Artagnan.

— He has momentarily left my service?

— Yes, Sire.

— Let him be found, and let him be here tomorrow at my levee.

The valet de chambre bowed and withdrew.

— Thirteen millions in my cellar, said the king then; Colbert holding my purse and d'Artagnan bearing my sword: I am king!

Chapter LI — A Passion

The very day of his arrival, on returning from the Palais-Royal, Athos, as we have seen, entered his hotel in the rue Saint-Honoré. He found there the Vicomte de Bragelonne, who awaited him in his chamber, conversing with Grimaud.

It was no easy thing to converse with the old servant; two men alone possessed that secret: Athos and d'Artagnan. The first succeeded, because Grimaud sought to make him speak himself; d'Artagnan, on the contrary, because he knew how to make Grimaud talk.

Raoul was occupied in getting the voyage to England recounted to him, and Grimaud had told it in all its details with a certain number of gestures and eight words, neither more nor less.

He had first indicated, by an undulating movement of the hand, that his master and he had crossed the sea.

— For some expedition? Raoul had asked.

Grimaud, lowering his head, had answered: Yes.

— Where M. the count ran dangers? questioned Raoul.

Grimaud slightly shrugged his shoulders as to say:

— Neither too much nor too little.

— But still, what dangers! insisted Raoul.

Grimaud showed the sword, he showed the fire and a musket hanging on the wall.

— M. the count then had an enemy there? cried Raoul.

— Monck, replied Grimaud.

— It is strange, continued Raoul, that M. the count persists in regarding me as a novice and in not making me share the honor or the danger of those encounters.

Grimaud smiled.

It was at this moment that Athos returned.

The host was lighting the stairway, and Grimaud, recognizing his master's step, ran to meet him, which cut short the interview.

But Raoul was launched; in the way of interrogation, he did not stop, and, taking the count's two hands with a lively but respectful tenderness:

— How is it, sir, said he, that you depart for a dangerous voyage without saying farewell to me, without asking the aid of my sword, to me who ought to be a support for you, since I have strength; to me, whom you have raised as a man? Ah! sir, would you then expose me to that cruel trial of never seeing you again?

— Who told you, Raoul, that my voyage was dangerous? replied the count, depositing his mantle and hat in Grimaud's hands, who had just ungirt his sword.

— I, said Grimaud.

— And why so? said Athos severely.

Grimaud was embarrassed; Raoul anticipated him by answering for him.

— It is natural, sir, that this good Grimaud tell me the truth of what concerns you. By whom shall you be loved, supported, if not by me?

Athos did not reply. He made a friendly gesture which dismissed Grimaud, then sat in an armchair, while Raoul remained standing before him.

— Be that as it may, continued Raoul, your voyage was an expedition... and that steel, that fire threatened you.

— Let us speak no more of that, vicomte, said Athos gently; I departed quickly, it is true; but the service of King Charles II required that prompt departure. As for your uneasiness, I thank you for it, and I know I may count on you... You lacked for nothing, vicomte, in my absence?

— No, sir, thanks.

— I had ordered Blaisois to have a hundred pistoles counted out to you at the first need of money.

— Sir, I have not seen Blaisois.

— You did without money, then?

— Sir, there remained to me thirty pistoles from the sale of the horses I took at my last campaign, and M. the prince had the goodness to make me win two hundred pistoles at his play, three months ago.

— You play?... I do not like that, Raoul.

— I never play, sir; it is M. the prince who ordered me to hold his cards at Chantilly... one evening when a courier from the king had come. I obeyed; the gain of the party, M. the prince commanded me to take.

— Is that a habit of the house, Raoul? said Athos, frowning.

— Yes, sir; each week, M. the prince, upon one cause or another, makes a like advantage to one of his gentlemen. There are fifty gentlemen with His Highness; my turn fell this time.

— Very well! you went then to Spain?

— Yes, sir, I made a very fine voyage, and very interesting.

— It is a month since you returned?

— Yes, sir.

— And since that month?

— Since that month...

— What have you done?

— My service, sir.

— You did not go to my house, at La Fère?

Raoul blushed. Athos looked at him with his fixed and tranquil eye.

“Stories of the world, in your language.”