m."

"Whom have you seen, then?"

"The leader of the enterprise, not that unhappy young man; the latter
is merely an instrument, destined through his whole life to
wretchedness, I plainly perceive."

"Most certainly."

"It is M. l'Abbe d'Herblay, eveque de Vannes."

"Your friend."

"He was my friend, sire," replied Fouquet, nobly.

"An unfortunate circumstance for you," said the king in a less generous
tone of voice.

"Such friendships, sire, had nothing dishonorable in them so long as I
was ignorant of the crime."

"You should have foreseen it."

"If I am guilty, I place myself in your majesty's hands."

"Ah! Monsieur Fouquet, it was not that I meant," returned the king,
sorry to have shown the bitterness of his thought in such a manner.
"Well! I assure you that, notwithstanding the mask with which the
villain covered his face, I had something like a vague suspicion that it
might be he. But with this chief of the enterprise there was a man of
prodigious strength, the one who menaced me with a force almost
herculean, what is he?"

"It must be his friend the Baron de Valon, formerly one of the
musketeers."

"The friend of D'Artagnan? the friend of the Comte de la Fere. Ah!"
exclaimed the king, as he paused at the name of the latter, "we must not
forget the connection that existed between the conspirators and M. de
Bragelonne."

"Sire, sire, do not go too far! M. de la Fere is the most honorable man
in France. Be satisfied with those whom I deliver up to you."

"With those whom you deliver up to me, you say? Very good, for you will
deliver up those who are guilty to me."

"What does your majesty understand by that?" inquired Fouquet.

"I understand," replied the king, "that we shall soon arrive at Vaux
with a large body of troops, that we will lay violent hands upon that
nest of vipers, and that not a soul shall escape."

"Your majesty will put these men to death!" cried Fouquet.

"To the very meanest of them."

"Oh! sire."

"Let us understand each other, Monsieur Fouquet," said the king,
haughtily. "We no longer live in times when assassination was the only
and the last resource which kings had in their power. No! Heaven be
praised! I have parliaments who sit and judge in my name, and I have
scaffolds on which my supreme authority is carried out."

Fouquet turned pale. "I will take the liberty of observing to your
majesty, that any proceedings instituted respecting these matters would
bring