ecting this man?"

"That when once taken, he shall be shut up in a fortress from which her
secret shall never escape."

"Very well, Monsieur Colbert, and we may say, that, dating from this
instant, we have formed a solid alliance; that is, you and I, and that I
am perfectly at your service."

"It is I, madame, who place myself at yours. This Chevalier d'Herblay is
a kind of Spanish spy, is he not?"

"More than that."

"A secret ambassador!"

"Higher still."

"Stop--King Philip III. of Spain is a bigot. He is, perhaps, the
confessor of Philip III."

"You must go much higher than that."

"Mordieu!" cried Colbert, who forgot himself so far as to swear in the
presence of this great lady, of this old friend of the queen-mother--of
the Duchesse de Chevreuse, in short. "He must then be the general of the
Jesuits?"

"I believe you have guessed at last," replied the duchesse.

"Ah! then, madame, this man will ruin us all if we do not ruin him; and
we must make haste to do it, too."

"That was my opinion, monsieur, but I did not dare to give it you."

"And it is fortunate for us that he has attacked the throne, and not
us."

"But, mark this well, M. Colbert. M. d'Herblay is never discouraged; and
if he has missed one blow, he will be sure to make another: he will
begin again. If he has allowed an opportunity to escape of making a king
for himself, sooner or later, he will make another, of whom, to a
certainty, you will not be prime minister."

Colbert knitted his brow with a menacing expression.

"I feel assured that a prison will settle this affair for us, madame, in
a manner satisfactory for both." The duchesse smiled again.

"Oh! if you knew," said she, "how many times Aramis has got out of
prison!"

"Oh!" replied Colbert, "we will take care he shall not get out this
time."

"But you have not attended to what I said to you just now. Do you
remember that Aramis was one of the four invincibles whom Richelieu
dreaded? And at that period the four musketeers were not in possession
of that which they have now--money and experience."

Colbert bit his lips.

"We will renounce the idea of the prison," said he, in a lower tone; "we
will find a retreat from which the invincible will not possibly escape."

"That is well spoken, our ally!" replied the duchesse. "But it is
getting late; had we not better return?"

"The more willingly, madame, from my having my preparations to make for
setting out with the kin