gins to talk of the
scandal while their love affair blossoms. Aware of Louise's attachment,
the king arranges for Raoul to be sent to England for an indefinite
period.

Meanwhile, the struggle for power continues between Fouquet and Colbert.
Although the Belle-Isle plot backfired, Colbert prompts the king to ask
Fouquet for more and more money, and without his two friends to raise it
for him, Fouquet is sorely pressed. The situation gets so bad that his
new mistress, Madame de Belliere, must resort to selling all her jewels
and her gold and silver plate. Aramis, while this is going on, has grown
friendly with the governor of the Bastile, M. de Baisemeaux, a fact that
Baisemeaux unwittingly reveals to D'Artagnan while inquiring of him
as to Aramis's whereabouts. This further arouses the suspicions of the
musketeer, who was made to look ridiculous by Aramis. He had ridden
overnight at an insane pace, but arrived a few minutes after Fouquet
had already presented Belle-Isle to the king. Aramis learns from the
governor the location of a mysterious prisoner, who bears a remarkable
resemblance to Louis XIV--in fact, the two are identical. He uses
the existence of this secret to persuade a dying Franciscan monk, the
general of the society of the Jesuits, to name him, Aramis, the new
general of the order. On Aramis's advice, hoping to use Louise's
influence with the king to counteract Colbert's influence, Fouquet also
writes a love letter to La Valliere, unfortunately undated. It never
reaches its destination, however, as the servant ordered to deliver it
turns out to be an agent of Colbert's.

Louise de la Valliere (Etext 2710): Believing D'Artagnan occupied at
Fontainebleau and Porthos safely tucked away at Paris, Aramis holds a
funeral for the dead Franciscan--but in fact, Aramis is wrong in both
suppositions. D'Artagnan has left Fontainebleau, bored to tears by
the _fetes_, retrieved Porthos, and is visiting the country-house of
Planchet, his old lackey. This house happens to be right next door
to the graveyard, and upon observing Aramis at this funeral, and his
subsequent meeting with a mysterious hooded lady, D'Artagnan, suspicions
aroused, resolves to make a little trouble for the bishop. He presents
Porthos to the king at the same time as Fouquet presents Aramis, thereby
surprising the wily prelate. Aramis's professions of affection and
innocence do only a little to allay D'Artagnan's concerns, and he
continues to rega