eeping it.

"You ask me, madame," he said, "to have this M. d'Herblay arrested?"

"I!--I ask you nothing of the kind!"

"I thought you did, madame. But as I have been mistaken, we will leave
him alone; the king has said nothing about him."

The duchesse bit her nails.

"Besides," continued Colbert, "what a poor capture would this bishop
be! A bishop game for a king! Oh! no, no; I will not even take the least
notice of him."

The hatred of the duchesse now discovered itself.

"Game for a woman!" said she, "and the queen is a woman. If she wishes
to have M. d'Herblay arrested, she has her reasons for it. Besides, is
not M. d'Herblay the friend of him who is destined to fall?"

"Oh! never mind that," said Colbert. "This man shall be spared, if he is
not the enemy of the king. Is that displeasing to you?"

"I say nothing."

"Yes--you wish to see him in prison, in the Bastille for instance."

"I believe a secret better concealed behind the walls of the Bastille
than behind those of Belle-Isle."

"I will speak to the king about it; he will clear up the point."

"And while wailing for that enlightenment, Monsieur l'Eveque de Vannes
will have escaped. I would do so."

"Escaped! he! and whither would he escape? Europe is ours, in will, if
not in fact."

"He will always find an asylum, monsieur. It is evident you know nothing
of the man you have to do with. You do not know D'Herblay; you did not
know Aramis. He was one of those four musketeers who, under the late
king, made Cardinal de Richelieu tremble, and who, during the regency,
gave so much trouble to Monseigneur Mazarin."

"But, madame, what can he do, unless he has a kingdom to back him?"

"He has one, monsieur."

"A kingdom, he! what Monsieur d'Herblay?"

"I repeat to you, monsieur, that if he wants a kingdom, he either has
it, or will have it."

"Well, as you are so earnest that this rebel should not escape, madame,
I promise you he shall not escape."

"Belle-Isle is fortified, M. Colbert, and fortified by him."

"If Belle-Isle were also defended by him, Belle-Isle is not impregnable;
and if Monsieur l'Eveque de Vannes is shut up in Belle-Isle, well,
madame, the place will be besieged, and he will be taken."

"You may be very certain, monsieur, that the zeal which you display for
the interests of the queen-mother will affect her majesty warmly, and
that you will be magnificently rewarded for it; but what shall I tell
her of your projects resp