The whole night was passed in anguish, common to the dyingman and to the king: the dying man expected his deliverance,the king awaited his liberty. Louis did not go to bed. Anhour after leaving the chamber of the cardinal, he learnedthat the dying man, recovering a little strength, hadinsisted upon being dressed, adorned and painted, and seeingthe ambassadors. Like Augustus, he no doubt considered theworld a great stage, and was desirous of playing out thelast act of the comedy. Anne of Austria reappeared no morein the cardinal's apartments; she had nothing more to dothere. Propriety was the pretext for her absence. On hispart, the cardinal did not ask for her: the advice the queenhad given her son rankled in his heart.

Towards midnight, while still painted, Mazarin's mortalagony came on. He had revised his will, and as this will wasthe exact expression of his wishes, and as he feared thatsome interested influence might take advantage of hisweakness to make him change something in it, he had givenorders to Colbert, who walked up and down the corridor whichled to the cardinal's bed-chamber, like the most vigilant ofsentinels. The king, shut up in his own apartment,dispatched his nurse every hour to Mazarin's chamber, withorders to bring him back the exact bulletin of thecardinal's state. After having heard that Mazarin wasdressed, painted, and had seen the ambassadors, Louis heardthat the prayers for the dying were being read for thecardinal. At one o'clock in the morning, Guenaud hadadministered the last remedy. This was a relic of the oldcustoms of that fencing time, which was about to disappearto give place to another time, to believe that death couldbe kept off by some good secret thrust. Mazarin, afterhaving taken the remedy, respired freely for nearly tenminutes. He immediately gave orders that the news should bespread everywhere of a fortunate crisis. The king, onlearning this, felt as if a cold sweat were passing over hisbrow; - he had had a glimpse of the light of liberty;slavery appeared to him more dark and less acceptable thanever. But the bulletin which followed entirely changed theface of things. Mazarin could no longer breathe at all, andcould scarcely follow the prayers which the cure ofSaint-Nicholas-des-Champs recited near him. The king resumedhis agitated walk about his chamber, and consulted, as hewalked, several papers drawn from a casket of which he alonehad the key. A third time the nurse returned. M. de Mazarinhad just uttered a joke, and had ordered his "Flora," byTitian, to be revarnished. At length, towards two o'clock inthe morning, the king could no longer resist his weariness:he had not slept for twenty-four hours. Sleep, so powerfulat his age, overcame him for about an hour. But he did notgo to bed for that hour, he slept in a fauteuil. About fouro'clock his nurse awoke him by entering the room.

"Well?" asked the king.

"Well, my dear sire," said the nurse, clasping her handswith an air of commiseration. "Well, he is dead!"

The king arose at a bound, as if a steel spring had beenapplied to his legs. "Dead!" cried he.

"Alas! yes."

"Is it quite certain?"

"Yes."

"Official?"

"Yes."

"Has the news been made public?"

"Not yet."

"Who told you, then, that the cardinal was dead?"

"M. Colbert."

"M. Colbert?"

"Yes."

"And was he sure of what he said?"

"He came out of the chamber, and had held a glass for someminutes before the cardinal's lips."

"Ah!" said the king. "And what is become of M. Colbert?"

"He has just left his eminence's chamber."

"Where is he?"

"He followed me."

"So that he is - - "

"Sire, waiting at your door, till it shall be your goodpleasure to receive him."

Louis ran to the door, opened it himself, and perceivedColbert standing waiting in the passage. The king started atsight of this statue, all clothed in black. Colbert, bowingwith profound respect, advanced two steps towards hismajesty. Louis re-entered his chamber, making Colbert a signto follow. Colbert entered; Louis dismissed the nurse, whoclosed the door as she went out. Colbert remained modestlystanding near that door.

"What do you come to announce to me, monsieur?" said Louis,very much troubled at being thus surprised in his privatethoughts, which he could not completely conceal.

"That monsieur le cardinal has just expired, sire; and thatI bring your majesty his last adieu."

The king remained pensive for a minute; and during thatminute he looked attentively at Colbert; - it was evidentthat the cardinal's last words were in his mind. "Are you,then, M. Colbert?" asked he.

"Yes, sire."

"His faithful servant, as his eminence himself told me?"

"Yes, sire."

"The depositary of many of his secrets?"

"Of all of them."

"The friends and servants of his eminence will be dear tome, monsieur, and I shall take care that you are well placedin my employment."

Colbert bowed.

"You are a financier, monsieur, I believe?"

"Yes, sire."

"And did monsieur le cardinal employ you in hisstewardship?"

"I had that honor, sire."

"You never did anything personally for my household, Ibelieve?"

"Pardon me, sire, it was I who had the honor of givingmonsieur le cardinal the idea of an economy which puts threehundred thousand francs a year into your majesty's coffers."

"What economy was that, monsieur?" asked Louis XIV.

"Your majesty knows that the hundred Swiss have silver laceon each side of their ribbons?"

"Doubtless."

"Well, sire, it was I who proposed that imitation silverlace should be placed upon these ribbons, it could not bedetected, and a hundred thousand crowns serve to feed aregiment during six months; and is the price of ten thousandgood muskets or the value of a vessel of ten guns, ready forsea."

"That is true," said Louis XIV., considering moreattentively, "and, ma foi! that was a well placed economy;besides, it was ridiculous for soldiers to wear the samelace as noblemen."

"I am happy to be approved of by your majesty."

"Is that the only appointment you held about the cardinal?"asked the king.

"It was I who was appointed to examine the accounts of thesuperintendent, sire."

"Ah!" said Louis, who was about to dismiss Colbert, but whomthat word stopped; "ah! it was you whom his eminence hadcharged to control M. Fouquet, was it? And the result of theexamination?"

"Is that there is a deficit, sire; but if your majesty willpermit me - - "

"Speak, M. Colbert."

"I ought to give your majesty some explanations."

"Not at all, monsieur, it is you who have controlled theseaccounts, give me the result."

"That is very easily done, sire; emptiness everywhere, moneynowhere."

"Beware, monsieur; you are roughly attacking theadministration of M. Fouquet, who, nevertheless, I haveheard say, is an able man."

Colbert colored, and then became pale, for he felt that fromthat minute he entered upon a struggle with a man whosepower almost equaled the sway of him who had just died."Yes, sire, a very able man," repeated Colbert, bowing.

"But if M. Fouquet is an able man, and, in spite of thatability, if money be wanting, whose fault is it?"

"I do not accuse, sire, I verify."

"That is well; make out your accounts, and present them tome. There is a deficit, you say? A deficit may be temporary;credit returns and funds are restored."

"No, sire."

"Upon this year, perhaps, I understand that; but upon nextyear?"

"Next year is eaten as bare as the current year."

"But the year after, then?"

"Will be just like next year."

"What do you tell me, Monsieur Colbert?"

"I say there are four years engaged beforehand.

"They must have a loan, then."

"They must have three, sire."

"I will create offices to make them resign, and the salaryof the posts shall be paid into the treasury."

"Impossible, sire, for there have already been creationsupon creations of offices, the provisions of which are givenin blank, so that the purchasers enjoy them without fillingthem. That is why your majesty cannot make them resign.Further, upon each agreement M. Fouquet has made anabatement of a third, so that the people have beenplundered, without your majesty profiting by it. Let yourmajesty set down clearly your thought, and tell me what youwish me to explain."

"You are right, clearness is what you wish, is it not?"

"Yes, sire, clearness. God is God above all things, becauseHe made light."

"Well, for example," resumed Louis XIV., "if today, thecardinal being dead, and I being king, suppose I wantedmoney?"

"Your majesty would not have any."

"Oh! that is strange, monsieur! How! my superintendent wouldnot find me any money?"

Colbert shook his large head.

"How is that?" said the king, "is the income of the state somuch in debt that there is no longer any revenue?"

"Yes, sire."

The king started. "Explain me that, M. Colbert," added hewith a frown. "If it be so, I will get together theordonnances to obtain a discharge from the holders, aliquidation at a cheap rate."

"Impossible, for the ordonnances have been converted intobills, which bills, for the convenience of return andfacility of transaction, are divided into so many parts thatthe originals can no longer be recognized."

Louis, very much agitated, walked about, still frowning."But, if this is as you say, Monsieur Colbert," said he,stopping all at once, "I shall be ruined before I begin toreign."

"You are, in fact, sire," said the impassible caster-up offigures.

"Well, but yet, monsieur, the money is somewhere?"

"Yes, sire, and even as a beginning, I bring your majesty anote of funds which M. le Cardinal Mazarin was not willingto set down in his testament, neither in any act whatever,but which he confided to me."

"To you?"

"Yes, sire, with an injunction to remit it to your majesty."

"What! besides the forty millions of the testament?"

"Yes, sire."

"M. de Mazarin had still other funds?"

Colbert bowed.

"Why, that man was a gulf!" murmured the king. "M. deMazarin on one side, M. Fouquet on the other, - more than ahundred millions perhaps between them! No wonder my coffersshould be empty!" Colbert waited without stirring.

"And is the sum you bring me worth the trouble?" asked theking.

"Yes, sire, it is a round sum."

"Amounting to how much?"

"To thirteen millions of livres, sire."

"Thirteen millions!" cried Louis, trembling with joy: "doyou say thirteen millions, Monsieur Colbert?"

"I said thirteen millions, yes, your majesty."

"Of which everybody is ignorant?"

"Of which everybody is ignorant."

"Which are in your hands?"

"In my hands, yes, sire."

"And which I can have?"

"Within two hours, sire."

"But where are they, then?"

"In the cellar of a house which the cardinal possessed inthe city, and which he was so kind as to leave me by aparticular clause of his will."

"You are acquainted with the cardinal's will, then?"

"I have a duplicate of it, signed by his hand."

"A duplicate?"

"Yes, sire, and here it is." Colbert drew the deed quietlyfrom his pocket and showed it to the king. The king read thearticle relative to the donation of the house.

"But," said he, "there is no question here but of the house;there is nothing said of the money."

"Your pardon, sire, it is in my conscience."

"And Monsieur Mazarin has intrusted it to you?"

"Why not, sire?"

"He! a man mistrustful of everybody?"

"He was not so of me, sire, as your majesty may perceive."

Louis fixed his eyes with admiration upon that vulgar butexpressive face. "You are an honest man, M. Colbert," saidthe king.

"That is not a virtue, it is a duty," replied Colbert,coolly.

"But," added Louis, "does not the money belong to thefamily?"

"If this money belonged to the family it would be disposedof in the testament, as the rest of his fortune is. If thismoney belonged to the family, I, who drew up the deed ofdonation in favor of your majesty, should have added the sumof thirteen millions to that of forty millions which wasoffered to you."

"How!" exclaimed Louis XIV., "was it you who drew up thedeed of donation?"

"Yes, sire."

"And yet the cardinal was attached to you?" added the kingingenuously.

"I had assured his eminence you would by no means accept thegift," said Colbert in that same quiet manner we havedescribed, and which, even in the common habits of life, hadsomething solemn in it.

Louis passed his hand over his brow. "Oh! how young I am,"murmured he, "to have the command of men."

Colbert waited the end of this monologue. He saw Louis raisehis head. "At what hour shall I send the money to yourmajesty?" asked he.

"To-night, at eleven o'clock; I desire that no one may knowthat I possess this money."

Colbert made no more reply than if the thing had not beensaid to him.

"Is the amount in ingots, or coined gold?"

"In coined gold, sire."

"That is well."

"Where shall I send it?"

"To the Louvre. Thank you, M. Colbert."

Colbert bowed and retired. "Thirteen millions!" exclaimedLouis, as soon as he was alone. "This must be a dream!" Thenhe allowed his head to sink between his hands, as if he werereally asleep. But at the end of a moment he arose, andopening the window violently he bathed his burning brow inthe keen morning air, which brought to his senses the scentof the trees, and the perfume of flowers. A splendid dawnwas gilding the horizon, and the first rays of the sunbathed in flame the young king's brow. "This is the dawn ofmy reign," murmured Louis XIV. "It's a presage sent by theAlmighty."