wever willing I may be,
to purchase such a valuable set of horses."

Fouquet darted a haughty glance at the queen-mother, who appeared to
triumph at the false position in which the minister had placed himself,
and replied:--

"Luxury is the virtue of kings, sire: it is luxury which makes them
resemble God; it is by luxury they are more than other men. With luxury
a king nourishes his subjects, and honors them. Under the mild heat
of this luxury of kings springs the luxury of individuals, a source of
riches for the people. His majesty, by accepting the gift of these six
incomparable horses, would stimulate the pride of his own breeders,
of Limousin, Perche, and Normandy; and this emulation would have
been beneficial to all. But the king is silent, and consequently I am
condemned."

During this speech, Louis was, unconsciously, folding and unfolding
Mazarin's paper, upon which he had not cast his eyes. At length he
glanced upon it, and uttered a faint cry at reading the first line.

"What is the matter, my son?" asked the queen, anxiously, and going
towards the king.

"From the cardinal," replied the king, continuing to read; "yes, yes, it
is really from him."

"Is he worse, then?"

"Read!" said the king, passing the parchment to his mother, as if he
thought that nothing less than reading would convince Anne of Austria of
a thing so astonishing as was conveyed in that paper.

Anne of Austria read in turn, and as she read, her eyes sparkled
with joy all the greater from her useless endeavor to hide it, which
attracted the attention of Fouquet.

"Oh! a regularly drawn up deed of gift," said she.

"A gift?" repeated Fouquet.

"Yes," said the king, replying pointedly to the superintendent of
finances, "yes, at the point of death, monsieur le cardinal makes me a
donation of all his wealth."

"Forty millions," cried the queen. "Oh, my son! this is very noble on
the part of his eminence, and will silence all malicious rumors; forty
millions scraped together slowly, coming back all in one heap to the
treasury! It is the act of a faithful subject and a good Christian." And
having once more cast her eyes over the act, she restored it to Louis
XIV., whom the announcement of the sum greatly agitated. Fouquet had
taken some steps backwards and remained silent. The king looked at him,
and held the paper out to him, in turn. The superintendent only bestowed
a haughty look of a second upon it; then bowing,--"Yes, sire," s