Page:The Vicomte de Bragelonne 2.djvu/304

 "Oh!" cried Mazarin, "there was Monsieur le Prince. I have tormented him thoroughly!"

"He is not much to be pitied; he has acquired sufficient glory and sufficient wealth."

"That may be, for Monsieur le Prince; but Monsieur Beaufort, for example — whom I made suffer so long in the dungeon of Vincennes?"

"Ah! but he was a rebel, and the safety of the state required that you should make a sacrifice. Pass on!"

"I believe I have exhausted pride. There is another sin which I am afraid to qualify."

"I will qualify it myself. Tell it."

"A great sin, reverend father."

"We shall judge, monseigneur."

"You cannot fail to have heard of certain relations which I have had — with her majesty the queen-mother — the malevolent "

"The malevolent, monseigneur, are fools. Was it not necessary, for the good of the state and the interests of the young king, that you should live in good intelligence with the queen? Pass on, pass on."

"I assure you," said Mazarin, "you remove a terrible weight from my breast."

"These are all trifles — look for something serious."

"I have had much ambition, father."

"That is the march of great minds and things, monseigneur."

"Even that trifle of the tiara?"

"To be pope is to be the first of Christians. Why should you not desire that?"

"It has been printed that, to gain that object, I have sold Cambrai to the Spaniards."

"You have, perhaps, yourself written pamphlets without too much persecuting pamphleteers."

"Then, reverend father, I have truly a clean breast. I feel nothing remaining but slight peccadilloes."

"What are they?"

"Play."

"That is rather mundane; but you were obliged by the duties of greatness to keep a good house."

"I like to win."

"No player plays to lose."

"i cheated a little."

"You took your advantage. Pass on."

"Well, reverend father, I feel nothing else upon my con-