Page:The Man in the Iron Mask.djvu/119

 }>

THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK. 105

come sad and full of reflection; and then, a moment after, he added, "Why do you tell me that Monsieur Colbert will be minister in four months?"

"Because Monsieur Fouquet will have ceased to be so," replied Aramis.

"He will be ruined, you mean?" said D'Artagnan.

"Completely so."

"Why does he give these fetes, then?" said the musketeer, in a tone so full of thoughtful consideration, and so well assumed, that the bishop was for the moment deceived by it. "Why did you not dissuade him from it?"

The latter part of the phrase was just a little too much, and Aramis' former suspicions were again aroused.

"It is done with the object of humoring the king.

"By ruining himself?"

"Yes, by ruining himself for the king."

"A singular calculation, that."

"Necessity."

"I don't see that, dear Aramis."

"Do you not? Have you not remarked Monsieur Colbert's daily increasing antagonism, and that he is doing his utmost to drive the king to get rid of the surintendant?"

"One must be blind not to see it."

"And that a cabal is formed against Monsieur Fouquet?"

"That is well known."

"What likelihood is there that the king would join a party formed against a man who will have spent everything he had to please him?"

"True, true," said D'Artagnan slowly, hardly convinced, yet curious to broach another phase of the conversation. "There are follies and follies," he resumed, "and I do not like those you are committing."

"What do you allude to?"

"As for the banquet, the ball, the concert, the theatricals, the tournaments, the cascades, the fireworks, the illuminations, and the presents — these are well and good, I grant; but why were not these expenses sufficient? Was it necessary to have new liveries and costumes for your whole house-hold?"

"You are quite right. I told Monsieur Fouquet that myself; he replied that if he were rich enough, he would offer the king a newly erected chateau, from the vanes at the top of the house to the very cellar; completely new inside and out; and that, as soon as the king had left, he would burn the whole building and its contents, in order that it might not be made use of by any on^ else."