leave us,
and go and inform M. d'Artagnan that I have certain orders to give him."

"M. d'Artagnan, sire!" exclaimed La Valliere; "but why send for M.
d'Artagnan? I entreat you to tell me."

"Pardieu! in order to arrest this haughty, arrogant Titan, who, true to
his menace, threatens to scale my heaven."

"Arrest M. Fouquet, do you say?"

"Ah! does that surprise you?"

"In his own house?"

"Why not? If he be guilty, he is guilty in his own house as anywhere
else."

"M. Fouquet, who at this moment is ruining himself for his sovereign!"

"In plain truth, mademoiselle, it seems as if you were defending this
traitor."

Colbert began to chuckle silently. The king turned round at the sound of
this suppressed mirth.

"Sire," said La Valliere, "it is not M. Fouquet I am defending: it is
yourself."

"Me! you defend me?"

"Sire, you would be dishonoring yourself, if you were to give such an
order."

"Dishonor myself?" murmured the king, turning pale with anger. "In plain
truth, mademoiselle, you show a strange persistence in what you say."

"If I do so, sire, my only motive is that of serving your majesty,"
replied the noble-hearted girl; "for that I would risk, I would
sacrifice my very life, without the slightest reserve."

Colbert seemed inclined to grumble and complain. La Valliere, that
timid, gentle lamb, turned round upon him, and with a glance like
lightning imposed silence upon him. "Monsieur," she said, "when the king
acts well, whether, in doing so, he does either myself or those who
belong to me an injury, I have nothing to say; but were the king to
confer a benefit either upon me or mine, and if he acted badly, I should
tell him so."

"But it appears to me, mademoiselle," Colbert ventured to say, "that I
too love the king."

"Yes, monsieur, we both love him, but each in a different manner,"
replied La Valliere, with such an accent that the heart of the young
king was powerfully affected by it. "I love him so deeply, that the
whole world is aware of it; so purely, that the king himself does not
doubt my affection. He is my king and my master; I am the humblest of
his servants. But he who touches his honor touches my life. Therefore, I
repeat, that they dishonor the king who advise him to arrest M. Fouquet
under his own roof."

Colbert hung down his head, for he felt that the king had abandoned him.
However, as he bent his head, he murmured, "Mademoiselle, I have only
one word to say."

"Do