g him to take directions for the next day's ceremony, as
the king was then to receive the Dutch and Spanish ambassadors. Louis
XIV. had serious causes of dissatisfaction with the Dutch; the States
had already been guilty of many mean shifts and evasions with France,
and without perceiving or without caring about the chances of a rupture,
they again abandoned the alliance with his Most Christian Majesty, for
the purpose of entering into all kinds of plots with Spain. Louis XIV.
at his accession, that is to say, at the death of Cardinal Mazarin, had
found this political question roughly sketched out; the solution was
difficult for a young man, but as, at that time, the king represented
the whole nation, anything that the head resolved upon, the body would
be found ready to carry out. Any sudden impulse of anger, the reaction
of young hot blood upon the brain, would be quite sufficient to change
an old form of policy and create another system altogether. The part
that diplomatists had to play in those days was that of arranging among
themselves the different _coups-d'etat_ which their sovereign masters
might wish to effect. Louis was not in that calm frame of mind which was
necessary to enable him to determine on a wise course of policy. Still
much agitated from the quarrel he had just had with La Valliere,
he walked hastily into his cabinet, dimly desirous of finding an
opportunity of producing an explosion after he had controlled himself
for so long a time. Colbert, as he saw the king enter, knew the position
of affairs at a glance, understood the king's intentions, and resolved
therefore to maneuver a little. When Louis requested to be informed what
it would be necessary to say on the morrow, Colbert began by expressing
his surprise that his majesty had not been properly informed by M.
Fouquet. "M. Fouquet," he said, "is perfectly acquainted with the whole
of this Dutch affair--he received the dispatches himself direct."

The king, who was accustomed to hear M. Colbert speak in not
over-scrupulous terms of M. Fouquet, allowed this remark to pass
unanswered, and merely listened. Colbert noticed the effect it had
produced, and hastened to back out, saying that M. Fouquet was not on
all occasions as blamable as at the first glance might seem to be the
case, inasmuch as at that moment he was greatly occupied. The king
looked up. "What do you allude to?" he said.

"Sire, men are but men, and M. Fouquet has his defects as wel