sed with this idea, he
gave certain sealed orders on his route, while fresh horses were being
harnessed to his carriage. These orders were addressed to M. d'Artagnan,
and to certain others whose fidelity to the king was far above
suspicion.

"In this way," said Fouquet to himself, "prisoner or not, I shall have
performed the duty which I owe to my honor. The orders will not reach
them until after my return, if I should return free, and consequently
they will not have been unsealed. I shall take them back again. If I am
delayed, it will be because some misfortune will have befallen me; and
in that case assistance will be sent for me as well as for the king."

Prepared in this manner, the surintendant arrived at the Bastille; he
had traveled at the rate of five leagues and a half the hour. Every
circumstance of delay which Aramis had escaped in his visit to the
Bastille befell Fouquet. It was useless his giving his name, equally
useless his being recognized; he could not succeed in obtaining an
entrance. By dint of entreaties, threats, commands, he succeeded in
inducing a sentinel to speak to one of the subalterns, who went and told
the major. As for the governor, they did not even dare to disturb him.
Fouquet sat in his carriage, at the outer gate of the fortress, chafing
with rage and impatience, awaiting the return of the officers, who at
last reappeared with a sufficiently sulky air.

"Well," said Fouquet, impatiently, "what did the major say?"

"Well, monsieur," replied the soldier, "the major laughed in my face.
He told me that M. Fouquet was at Vaux, and that even were he at Paris,
M. Fouquet would not get up at so early an hour as the present."

"Mordieu! You are a perfect set of fools," cried the minister, darting
out of the carriage; and before the subaltern had had time to shut the
gate Fouquet sprang through it, and ran forward in spite of the soldier,
who cried out for assistance. Fouquet gained ground, regardless of the
cries of the man, who, however, having at last come up with Fouquet,
called out to the sentinel of the second gate, "Look out, look out,
sentinel!" The man crossed his pike before the minister; but the latter,
robust and active, and hurried away, too, by his passion, wrested the
pike from the soldier and struck him a violent blow on the shoulder with
it. The subaltern, who approached too closely, received his part of the
blows as well. Both of them uttered loud and furious cries, at the s