Whilst D'Artagnan was returning to Planchet's house, hishead aching and bewildered with all that had happened tohim, there was passing a scene of quite a differentcharacter, and which, nevertheless is not foreign to theconversation our musketeer had just had with the king; onlythis scene took place out of Paris, in a house possessed bythe superintendent Fouquet in the village of Saint-Mande.The minister had just arrived at this country-house,followed by his principal clerk, who carried an enormousportfolio full of papers to be examined, and others waitingfor signature. As it might be about five o'clock in theafternoon, the masters had dined: supper was being preparedfor twenty subaltern guests. The superintendent did notstop: on alighting from his carriage, he, at the same bound,sprang through the doorway, traversed the apartments andgained his cabinet, where he declared he would shut himselfup to work, commanding that he should not be disturbed foranything but an order from the king. As soon as this orderwas given, Fouquet shut himself up, and two footmen wereplaced as sentinels at his door. Then Fouquet pushed a boltwhich displaced a panel that walled up the entrance, andprevented everything that passed in this apartment frombeing either seen or heard. But, against all probability, itwas only for the sake of shutting himself up that Fouquetshut himself up thus, for he went straight to a bureau,seated himself at it, opened the portfolio, and began tomake a choice amongst the enormous mass of papers itcontained. It was not more than ten minutes after he hadentered, and taken all the precautions we have described,when the repeated noise of several slight equal knocksstruck his ear, and appeared to fix his utmost attention.Fouquet raised his head, turned his ear, and listened.

The strokes continued. Then the worker arose with a slightmovement of impatience and walked straight up to a glassbehind which the blows were struck by a hand, or by someinvisible mechanism. It was a large glass let into a panel.Three other glasses, exactly similar to it, completed thesymmetry of the apartment. Nothing distinguished that onefrom the others. Without doubt, these reiterated knocks werea signal; for, at the moment Fouquet approached the glasslistening, the same noise was renewed, and in the samemeasure. "Oh! oh!" murmured the intendent, with surprise,"who is yonder? I did not expect anybody to-day." And,without doubt, to respond to that signal, he pulled out agilded nail near the glass, and shook it thrice. Thenreturning to his place, and seating himself again, "Ma foi!let them wait," said he. And plunging again into the oceanof papers unrolled before him, he appeared to think ofnothing now but work. In fact with incredible rapidity andmarvelous lucidity, Fouquet deciphered the largest papersand most complicated writings, correcting them, annotatingthem with a pen moved as if by a fever, and the work meltingunder his hands, signatures, figures, references, becamemultiplied as if ten clerks - that is to say, a hundredfingers and ten brains had performed the duties, instead ofthe five fingers and single brain of this man. From time totime, only, Fouquet, absorbed by his work, raised his headto cast a furtive glance upon a clock placed before him. Thereason of this was, Fouquet set himself a task, and whenthis task was once set, in one hour's work he, by himself,did what another would not have accomplished in a day;always certain, consequently, provided he was not disturbed,of arriving at the close in the time his devouring activityhad fixed. But in the midst of his ardent labor, the softstrokes upon the little bell placed behind the glass soundedagain, hasty, and, consequently, more urgent.

"The lady appears to be impatient," said Fouquet. "Humph! acalm! That must be the comtesse; but, no, the comtesse isgone to Rambouillet for three days. The presidente, then?Oh! no, the presidente would not assume such grand airs; shewould ring very humbly, then she would wait my goodpleasure. The greatest certainty is, that I do not know whoit can be, but that I know who it cannot be. And since it isnot you, marquise, since it cannot be you, deuce take therest!" And he went on with his work in spite of thereiterated appeals of the bell. At the end of a quarter ofan hour, however, impatience prevailed over Fouquet in histurn: he might be said to consume, rather than to completethe rest of his work; he thrust his papers into hisportfolio, and giving a glance at the mirror, whilst thetaps continued faster than ever: "Oh! oh!" said he, "whencecomes all this racket? What has happened, and who can theAriadne be who expects me so impatiently. Let us see!"

He then applied the tip of his finger to the nail parallelto the one he had drawn. Immediately the glass moved like afolding-door and discovered a secret closet, rather deep, inwhich the superintendent disappeared as if going into a vastbox. When there, he touched another spring, which opened,not a board, but a block of the wall, and he went out bythat opening, leaving the door to shut of itself. ThenFouquet descended about a score of steps which sank,winding, underground, and came to a long, subterraneanpassage, lighted by imperceptible loopholes. The walls ofthis vault were covered with slabs or tiles, and the floorwith carpeting. This passage was under the street itself,which separated Fouquet's house from the Park of Vincennes.At the end of the passage ascended a winding staircaseparallel with that by which Fouquet had entered. He mountedthese other stairs, entered by means of a spring placed in acloset similar to that in his cabinet, and from this closetan untenanted chamber furnished with the utmost elegance. Assoon as he entered, he examined carefully whether the glassclosed without leaving any trace, and, doubtless satisfiedwith his observation, he opened by means of a small gold keythe triple fastenings of a door in front of him. This timethe door opened upon a handsome cabinet sumptuouslyfurnished, in which was seated upon cushions a lady ofsurpassing beauty, who at the sound of the lock sprangtowards Fouquet. "Ah! good heavens!" cried the latter,starting back with astonishment. "Madame la Marquise deBelliere, you here?"

"Yes," murmured la marquise. "Yes; it is I, monsieur."

"Marquise! dear marquise!" added Fouquet, ready to prostratehimself. "Ah! my God! how did you come here? And I, to keepyou waiting!"

"A long time, monsieur; yes, a very long time!"

"I am happy in thinking this waiting has appeared long toyou, marquise!"

"Oh! an eternity, monsieur; oh! I rang more than twentytimes. Did you not hear me?"

"Marquise, you are pale, you tremble."

"Did you not hear, then, that you were summoned?"

"Oh, yes; I heard plainly enough, madame; but I could notcome. After your rigors and your refusals, how could I dreamit was you? If I could have had any suspicion of thehappiness that awaited me, believe me, madame, I would havequitted everything to fall at your feet, as I do at thismoment."

"Are we quite alone, monsieur?" asked the marquise, lookinground the room.

"Oh, yes, madame, I can assure you of that."

"Really?" said the marquise, in a melancholy tone.

"You sigh!" said Fouquet.

"What mysteries! what precautions!" said the marquise, witha slight bitterness of expression; "and how evident it isthat you fear the least suspicion of your amours to escape."

"Would you prefer their being made public?"

"Oh, no; you act like a delicate man," said the marquise,smiling.

"Come, dear marquise, punish me not with reproaches, Iimplore you."

"Reproaches! Have I a right to make you any?"

"No, unfortunately, no; but tell me, you, who during a yearI have loved without return or hope - - "

"You are mistaken - without hope it is true, but notwithout return."

"What! for me, of my love! there is but one proof, and thatproof I still want."

"I am here to bring it, monsieur."

Fouquet wished to clasp her in his arms, but she disengagedherself with a gesture.

"You persist in deceiving yourself, monsieur, and never willaccept of me the only thing I am willing to give you - devotion."

"Ah, then, you do not love me? Devotion is but a virtue,love is a passion."

"Listen to me, I implore you: I should not have come hitherwithout a serious motive: you are well assured of that, areyou not?"

"The motive is of very little consequence, so that you arebut here - so that I see you - so that I speak to you!"

"You are right; the principal thing is that I am herewithout any one having seen me, and that I can speak toyou." - Fouquet sank on his knees before her. "Speak!speak, madame!" said he, "I listen to you."

The marquise looked at Fouquet, on his knees at her feet,and there was in the looks of the woman a strange mixture oflove and melancholy. "Oh!" at length murmured she, "wouldthat I were she who has the right of seeing you everyminute, of speaking to you every instant! would that I wereshe who might watch over you, she who would have no need ofmysterious springs, to summon and cause to appear, like asylph, the man she loves, to look at him for an hour, andthen see him disappear in the darkness of a mystery, stillmore strange at his going out than at his coming in. Oh!that would be to live a happy woman!"

"Do you happen, marquise," said Fouquet, smiling, "to bespeaking of my wife?"

"Yes, certainly, of her I spoke."

"Well, you need not envy her lot, marquise; of all the womenwith whom I have any relations, Madame Fouquet is the one Isee the least of, and who has the least intercourse withme."

"At least, monsieur, she is not reduced to place, as I havedone, her hand upon the ornament of a glass to call you toher; at least you do not reply to her by the mysterious,alarming sound of a bell, the spring of which comes from Idon't know where; at least you have not forbidden her toendeavor to discover the secret of these communicationsunder pain of breaking off forever your connections withher, as you have forbidden all who have come here before me,and all who will come after me."

"Dear marquise, how unjust you are, and how little do youknow what you are doing in thus exclaiming against mystery;it is with mystery alone we can love without trouble; it iswith love without trouble alone that we can be happy. Butlet us return to ourselves, to that devotion of which youwere speaking, or rather let me labor under a pleasingdelusion, and believe that this devotion is love."

"Just now," repeated the marquise, passing over her eyes ahand that might have been a model for the graceful contoursof antiquity; "just now I was prepared to speak, my ideaswere clear and bold, now I am quite confused, quitetroubled; I fear I bring you bad news."

"If it is to that bad news I owe your presence, marquise,welcome be even that bad news! or rather, marquise, sinceyou allow that I am not quite indifferent to you, let mehear nothing of the bad news, but speak of yourself."

"No, no, on the contrary, demand it of me; require me totell it to you instantly, and not to allow myself to beturned aside by any feeling whatever. Fouquet, my friend! itis of immense importance!"

"You astonish me, marquise; I will even say you almostfrighten me. You, so serious, so collected; you who know theworld we live in so well. Is it, then important?"

"Oh! very important."

"In the first place, how did you come here?"

"You shall know that presently; but first to something ofmore consequence."

"Speak, marquise, speak! I implore you, have pity on myimpatience."

"Do you know that Colbert is made intendant of thefinances?"

"Bah! Colbert, little Colbert."

"Yes, Colbert, little Colbert."

"Mazarin's factotum?"

"The same."

"Well! what do you see so terrific in that, dear marquise?little Colbert is intendant; that is astonishing, I confess,but is not terrific."

"Do you think the king has given, without a pressing motive,such a place to one you call a little cuistre?"

"In the first place, is it positively true that the king hasgiven it to him?"

"It is so said."

"Ay, but who says so?"

"Everybody."

"Everybody, that's nobody; mention some one likely to bewell informed who says so."

"Madame Vanel."

"Ah! now you begin to frighten me in earnest," said Fouquet,laughing; "if any one is well informed, or ought to be wellinformed, it is the person you name."

"Do not speak ill of poor Marguerite, Monsieur Fouquet, forshe still loves you."

"Bah! indeed? That is scarcely credible. I thought littleColbert, as you said just now, had passed over that love,and left the impression upon it of a spot of ink or a stainof grease."

"Fouquet! Fouquet! Is this the way you always treat the poorcreatures you desert?"

"Why, you surely are not going to undertake the defense ofMadame Vanel?"

"Yes, I will undertake it: for, I repeat, she loves youstill, and the proof is she saves you."

"But your interposition, marquise; that is very cunning onher part. No angel could be more agreeable to me, or couldlead me more certainly to salvation. But, let me ask you doyou know Marguerite?"

"She was my convent friend."

"And you say that she has informed you that Monsieur Colbertwas named intendant?"

"Yes, she did."

"Well, enlighten me, marquise; granted Monsieur Colbert isintendant - so be it. In what can an intendant, that is tosay my subordinate, my clerk, give me umbrage or injure me,even if he is Monsieur Colbert?"

"You do not reflect, monsieur, apparently," replied themarquise.

"Upon what?"

"This: that Monsieur Colbert hates you."

"Hates me?" cried Fouquet. "Good heavens! marquise, whencedo you come? where can you live? Hates me! why all the worldhates me, he, of course as others do."

"He more than others."

"More than others - let him."

"He is ambitious."

"Who is not, marquise?"

"'Yes, but with him ambition has no bounds."

"I am quite aware of that, since he made it a point tosucceed me with Madame Vanel."

"And obtained his end; look at that."

"Do you mean to say he has the presumption to hope to passfrom intendant to superintendent?"

"Have you not yourself already had the same fear?"

"Oh! oh!" said Fouquet, "to succeed with Madame Vanel is onething, to succeed me with the king is another. France is notto be purchased so easily as the wife of a maitre descomptes."

"Eh! monsieur, everything is to be bought; if not by gold,by intrigue."

"Nobody knows to the contrary better than you, madame, youto whom I have offered millions."

"Instead of millions, Fouquet, you should have offered me atrue, only and boundless love: I might have accepted that.So you see, still, everything is to be bought, if not in oneway, by another."

"So, Colbert, in your opinion, is in a fair way ofbargaining for my place of superintendent. Make yourselfeasy on that head, my dear marquise; he is not yet richenough to purchase it."

"But if he should rob you of it?"

"Ah! that is another thing. Unfortunately, before he canreach me, that is to say, the body of the place, he mustdestroy, must make a breach in the advanced works, and I amdevilishly well fortified, marquise."

"What you call your advanced works are your creatures, arethey not - your friends?"

"Exactly so."

"And is M. d'Eymeris one of your creatures?"

"Yes, he is."

"Is M. Lyodot one of your friends?"

"Certainly."

"M. de Vanin?"

"M. de Vanin! ah! they may do what they like with him, but- - "

"But - - "

"But they must not touch the others!"

"Well, if you are anxious they should not touch MM.d'Eymeris and Lyodot, it is time to look about you."

"Who threatens them?"

"Will you listen to me now?"

"Attentively, marquise."

"Without interrupting me?"

"Speak."

"Well, this morning Marguerite sent for me."

"And what did she want with you?"

"`I dare not see M. Fouquet myself,' said she."

"Bah! why should she think I would reproach her? Poor woman,she vastly deceives herself."

"`See him yourself,' said she, `and tell him to beware of M.Colbert.'"

"What! she warned me to beware of her lover?"

"I have told you she still loves you."

"Go on, marquise."

"`M. Colbert,' she added, `came to me two hours ago, toinform me he was appointed intendant.'"

"I have already told you marquise, that M. Colbert wouldonly be the more in my power for that."

"Yes, but that is not all: Marguerite is intimate, as youknow, with Madame d'Eymeris and Madame Lyodot."

"I know it."

"Well, M. Colbert put many questions to her, relative to thefortunes of those two gentlemen, and as to the devotion theyhad for you."

"Oh, as to those two, I can answer for them; they must bekilled before they will cease to be mine."

"Then, as Madame Vanel was obliged to quit M. Colbert for aninstant to receive a visitor, and as M. Colbert isindustrious, scarcely was the new intendant left alone,before he took a pencil from his pocket, and as there waspaper on the table, began to make notes."

"Notes concerning d'Eymeris and Lyodot?"

"Exactly."

"I should like to know what those notes were about."

"And that is just what I have brought you."

"Madame Vanel has taken Colbert's notes and sent them tome?"

"No, but by a chance which resembles a miracle, she has aduplicate of those notes."

"How could she get that?"

"Listen; I told you that Colbert found paper on the table."

"Yes."

"That he took a pencil from his pocket."

"Yes."

"And wrote upon that paper."

"Yes."

"Well, this pencil was a lead-pencil, consequently hard; soit marked in black upon the first sheet, and in white uponthe second."

"Go on."

"Colbert, when tearing off the first sheet, took no noticeof the second."

"Well?"

"Well, on the second was to be read what had been written onthe first, Madame Vanel read it, and sent for me."

"Yes, yes."

"Then, when she was assured I was your devoted friend, shegave me the paper, and told me the secret of this house."

"And this paper?" said Fouquet, in some degree of agitation.

"Here it is, monsieur - read it," said the marquise.

Fouquet read:

"Names of the farmers of revenue to be condemned by theChamber of Justice: D'Eymeris, friend of M. F.; Lyodot,friend of M. F.; De Vanin, indif."

"D'Eymeris and Lyodot!" cried Fouquet, reading the papereagerly again.

"Friends of M. F.," pointed the marquise with her finger.

"But what is the meaning of these words: `To be condemned bythe Chamber of Justice'?"

"Dame!" said the marquise, "that is clear enough, I think.Besides, that is not all. Read on, read on;" and Fouquetcontinued, - -"The two first to death, the third to bedismissed, with MM. d'Hautemont and de la Vallette, who willonly have their property confiscated."

"Great God!" cried Fouquet, "to death, to death! Lyodot andD'Eymeris. But even if the Chamber of Justice should condemnthem to death, the king will never ratify theircondemnation, and they cannot be executed without the king'ssignature."

"The king has made M. Colbert intendant."

"Oh!" cried Fouquet, as if he caught a glimpse of the abyssthat yawned beneath his feet, "impossible! impossible! Butwho passed a pencil over the marks made by Colbert?"

"I did. I was afraid the first would be effaced."

"Oh! I will know all."

"You will know nothing, monsieur; you despise your enemy toomuch for that."

"Pardon me, my dear marquise; excuse me; yes, M. Colbert ismy enemy, I believe him to be so; yes, M. Colbert is a manto be dreaded, I admit. But I! I have time, and as you arehere, as you have assured me of your devotion, as you haveallowed me to hope for your love, as we are alone - - "

"I came here to save you, Monsieur Fouquet, and not to ruinmyself," said the marquise, rising - "therefore, beware!- - "

"Marquise, in truth you terrify yourself too much at least,unless this terror is but a pretext - - "

"He is very deep, very deep; this M. Colbert: beware!"

Fouquet, in his turn, drew himself up. "And I?" asked he.

"And you, you have only a noble heart. Beware! beware!"

"So?"

"I have done what was right, my friend, at the risk of myreputation. Adieu!"

"Not adieu, au revoir!"

"Perhaps," said the marquise, giving her hand to Fouquet tokiss, and walking towards the door with so firm a step, thathe did not dare to bar her passage. As to Fouquet, heretook, with his head hanging down and a fixed cloud on hisbrow, the path of the subterranean passage along which ranthe metal wires that communicated from one house to theother, transmitting, through two glasses, the wishes andsignals of hidden correspondents.