"There, then!" cried all voices at once; "there, then! is there an
instant to be lost?"

Madame Fouquet rushed downstairs, calling for her horses; Madame de
Belliere flew after her, catching her in her arms, and saying:

"Madame, in the name of his safety, do not show anything, do not
manifest any alarm."

Pellisson ran to have the horses put to the carriages. And, in the
meantime, Gourville gathered in his hat all that the weeping friends
were able to throw into it of gold and silver--the last offering, the
pious alms made to misfortune by poverty. The surintendant, dragged
along by some, carried by others, was shut up in his carriage. Gourville
took the reins, and mounted the box. Pellisson supported Madame Fouquet,
who had fainted. Madame de Belliere had more strength, and was well paid
for it; she received Fouquet's last kiss. Pellisson easily explained
this precipitate departure by saying that an order from the king had
summoned the minister to Nantes.

CHAPTER CX.

IN THE CARRIAGE OF M. COLBERT.

As Gourville had seen, the king's musketeers were mounting and following
their captain. The latter, who did not like to be confined in his
proceedings, left his brigade under the orders of a lieutenant, and set
off, on his part, upon post horses, recommending his men to use all
diligence. However rapidly they might travel, they could not arrive
before him. He had time, in passing along the Rue des Petits-Champs, to
see a thing which afforded him plenty of food for thought, and
conjecture. He saw M. Colbert coming out from his house to get into his
carriage, which was stationed before the door. In this carriage
D'Artagnan perceived the hoods of two women, and being rather curious,
he wished to know the names of the women concealed beneath these hoods.
To get a glimpse at them, for they kept themselves closely covered up,
he urged his horse so near to the carriage, that he drove him against
the step with such force as to shake everything containing and
contained. The terrified women uttered, the one a faint cry, by which
D'Artagnan recognized a young woman, the other an imprecation, by which
he recognized the vigor and _aplomb_ which half a century bestows. The
hoods were thrown back: one of the women was Madame Vanel, the other was
the Duchesse de Chevreuse. D'Artagnan's eyes were quicker than those of
the ladies; he had seen and known them, while they did not recognize
him; and as they laughed at their fr