Mattioli’s Betrayal of Louis XIV—Participation of Duke Charles—Louis’ True Character Exhibited to World—Abduction of Mattioli—Imprisoned for Fifteen Years—Insanity—Story of the Mask—Mattioli’s Disappearance No Mystery—Explanation of the Riddle—Mattioli’s Hardships—His End. And so the truth came to light. The Duchess-Regent of Savoy wrote, herself, to Louis XIV, to tell him that Mattioli had shown her the documents relating to the negotiations for Casale, and that she had in her possession copies of them. Her minister, Signor Trucci, had had an interview with Mattioli on the subject at Turin. It afterwards transpired, through Mattioli’s own admission to Catinat, that he had betrayed the whole affair to the Conde de Melgar, the Spanish Governor of Milan, and that Melgar had provided him with a cipher for their communications on the subject; and that he, Mattioli, had had secret interviews in regard to it with one of the Inquisitors of State at Venice. Personally, I find it hard to believe with Mr. Hopkins that Mattioli acted throughout without the knowledge and consent of the Duke of Mantua. In the first place, he had no certainty of any commensurate gain to be derived from his betrayal of Louis XIV to that monarch’s adversaries—for responsible ministers of state do not generally pay largely for information before that information has been shown to be not merely negatively, but positively valuable. And Mattioli would naturally have required a very large sum in each instance to compensate him for the inevitable loss of Duke Charles’ favour when Duke Charles (always supposing the two men to have been working at cross purposes, and that the duke was in ignorance of Mattioli’s subterranean intrigues) should discover that Mattioli had disloyally wrecked his pet project of military glory, and had kept him as well out of the enjoyment of twelve thousand pounds or so. Again, consider the duke’s own behaviour throughout—his first keenness and then his amazing apathy just at the moment when his cherished desire and a large sum of money to boot were within his reach—the “sort of carousal” put forward by him as an excuse for not going to Casale to meet the troops of which he was to have been the _generalissimo_—was such the conduct of any but a man anxious to evade the fulfilment of his bargain?