"How so? For if what you say be true of the accommodating disposition of this girl for the king and Madame, the king will give her all the money she can ask for." "The king has money, then?" asked Aramis. "I suppose so, for he has not asked me for any more." "Be easy; he will ask for some soon." "Nay, more than that, I had thought he would have spoken to me about the _fete_ at Vaux, but he never said a word about it." "He will be sure to do so, though." "You must think the king's disposition a very cruel one, Monsieur d'Herblay." "It is not he who is so." "He is young, and therefore his disposition is a kind one." "He is young, and either he is weak, or his passions are strong; and Monsieur Colbert holds his weaknesses and his passions in his villainous grasp." "You admit that you fear him?--" "I do not deny it." "In that case I am lost." "Why so?" "My only influence with the king has been through the money I commanded, and now I am a ruined man." "Not so." "What do you mean by 'not so?' Do you know my affairs better than myself?" "That is not unlikely." "If he were to request this _fete_ to be given?" "You will give it, of course." "But where is the money to come from?" "Have you ever been in want of any?" "Oh, if you only knew at what a cost I procured the last supply!" "The next shall cost you nothing." "But who will give it me?" "I will." "What! give me six millions?" "Ten, if necessary." "Upon my word, D'Herblay," said Fouquet, "your confidence alarms me more than the king's displeasure. Who can you possibly be, after all?" "You know me well enough, I should think." "Of course; but what is it you are aiming at?" "I wish to see upon the throne of France a king devoted to Monsieur Fouquet, and I wish Monsieur Fouquet to be devoted to me." "Oh!" exclaimed Fouquet, pressing his hand, "as for belonging to you. I am yours entirely: but believe me, my dear D'Herblay, you are deceiving yourself." "In what respect?" "The king will never become devoted to me." "I do not remember to have said that the king would be devoted to you." "Why, on the contrary, you have this moment said so." "I did not say the king: I said a king." "Is it not all the same?" "No, on the contrary, it is quite different." "I do not understand you." "You will do so shortly then. Suppose, for instance, the king in question were to be a very different person to Louis XIV." "Another person?" "Yes, who is indebted for everything to you." "Impossible!" "His very throne even." "You are mad, D'Herblay! There is no man living besides Louis XIV. who can sit on the throne of France. I see none, not one." "Unless it be Monsieur," said Fouquet, looking at Aramis uneasily, "yet Monsieur--" "It is not Monsieur." "But how can it be that a prince not of the royal line, that a prince without any right--" "My king, or rather your king, will be everything that is necessary, be assured of that."