Carriages were already bringing the guests of Fouquet toSaint-Mande; already the whole house was getting warm withthe preparations for supper, when the superintendentlaunched his fleet horses upon the road to Paris, and goingby the quays, in order to meet fewer people on the way, soonreached the Hotel de Ville. It wanted a quarter to eight.Fouquet alighted at the corner of the Rue de Long-pont, and,on foot, directed his course towards the Place de Greve,accompanied by Gourville. At the turning of the Place theysaw a man dressed in black and violet, of dignified mien,who was preparing to get into a hired carriage, and told thecoachman to stop at Vincennes. He had before him a largehamper filled with bottles, which he had just purchased atthe cabaret with the sign of "L'Image-de-Notre-Dame."

"Eh, but! that is Vatel! my maitre d'hotel!" said Fouquet toGourville.

"Yes, monseigneur," replied the latter.

"What can he have been doing at the sign ofL'Image-de-Notre-Dame?"

"Buying wine, no doubt."

"What! buy wine for me, at a cabaret?" said Fouquet. "Mycellar, then, must be in a miserable condition!" and headvanced towards the maitre d'hotel who was arranging hisbottles in the carriage with the most minute care.

"Hola! Vatel," said he, in the voice of a master.

"Take care, monseigneur!" said Gourville, "you will berecognized."

"Very well! Of what consequence? - Vatel!

The man dressed in black and violet turned round. He had agood and mild countenance, without expression - amathematician minus the pride. A certain fire sparkled inthe eyes of this personage, a rather sly smile played roundhis lips; but the observer might soon have remarked thatthis fire and this smile applied to nothing, enlightenednothing. Vatel laughed like an absent man, and amusedhimself like a child. At the sound of his master's voice heturned round, exclaiming: "Oh! monseigneur!"

"Yes, it is I. What the devil are you doing here, Vatel?Wine! You are buying wine at a cabaret in the Place deGreve!"

"But, monseigneur," said Vatel, quietly, after having darteda hostile glance at Gourville, "why am I interfered withhere? Is my cellar kept in bad order?"

"No, certes, Vatel, no, but - - "

"But what?" replied Vatel. Gourville touched Fouquet'selbow.

"Don't be angry, Vatel, I thought my cellar - your cellar- sufficiently well stocked for us to be able to dispensewith recourse to the cellar of L'Image de-Notre-Dame."

"Eh, monsieur," said Vatel, shrinking from monseigneur tomonsieur with a degree of disdain: "your cellar is so wellstocked that when certain of your guests dine with you theyhave nothing to drink."

Fouquet, in great surprise, looked at Gourville. "What doyou mean by that?"

"I mean that your butler had not wine for all tastes,monsieur; and that M. de la Fontaine, M. Pellisson, and M.Conrart, do not drink when they come to the house - thesegentlemen do not like strong wine. What is to be done,then?"

"Well, and therefore?"

"Well, then, I have found here a vin de Joigny, which theylike. I know they come once a week to drink at theImage-de-Notre-Dame. That is the reason I am making thisprovision."

Fouquet had no more to say; he was convinced. Vatel, on hispart, had much more to say, without doubt, and it was plainhe was getting warm. "It is just as if you would reproachme, monseigneur, for going to the Rue Planche Milbray, tofetch, myself, the cider M. Loret drinks when he comes todine at your house."

"Loret drinks cider at my house!" cried Fouquet, laughing.

"Certainly he does, monsieur, and that is the reason why hedines there with pleasure."

"Vatel," cried Fouquet, pressing the hand of his maitred'hotel, "you are a man! I thank you, Vatel, for havingunderstood that at my house M. de la Fontaine, M. Conrart,and M. Loret, are as great as dukes and peers, as great asprinces, greater than myself. Vatel, you are a good servant,and I double your salary."

Vatel did not even thank his master, he merely shrugged hisshoulders a little, murmuring this superb sentiment: "To bethanked for having done one's duty is humiliating."

"He is right," said Gourville, as he drew Fouquet'sattention, by a gesture, to another point. He showed him alow-built tumbrel, drawn by two horses, upon which rockedtwo strong gibbets, bound together, back to back, by chains,whilst an archer, seated upon the cross-beam, suffered, aswell as he could, with his head cast down, the comments of ahundred vagabonds, who guessed the destination of thegibbets, and were escorting them to the Hotel de Ville.Fouquet started. "It is decided, you see," said Gourville.

"But it is not done," replied Fouquet.

"Oh, do not flatter yourself, monseigneur; if they have thuslulled your friendship and suspicions - if things have goneso far, you will be able to undo nothing."

"But I have not given my sanction."

"M. de Lyonne has ratified for you."

"I will go to the Louvre."

"Oh, no, you will not."

"Would you advise such baseness?" cried Fouquet, "would youadvise me to abandon my friends? would you advise me, whilstable to fight, to throw the arms I hold in my hand to theground?"

"I do not advise you to do anything of the kind,monseigneur. Are you in a position to quit the post ofsuperintendent at this moment?"

"No."

"Well, if the king wishes to displace you - - "

"He will displace me absent as well as present."

"Yes, but you will not have insulted him."

"Yes, but I shall have been base; now I am not willing thatmy friends should die; and they shall not die!"

"For that it is necessary you should go to the Louvre, is itnot?"

"Gourville!"

"Beware! once at the Louvre, you will be forced to defendyour friends openly, that is to say, to make a profession offaith; or you will be forced to abandon them irrevocably."

"Never!"

"Pardon me, - the king will propose the alternative to you,rigorously, or else you will propose it to him yourself."

"That is true."

"That is the reason why conflict must be avoided. Let usreturn to Saint-Mande, monseigneur."

"Gourville, I will not stir from this place, where the crimeis to be carried out, where my disgrace is to beaccomplished; I will not stir, I say, till I have found somemeans of combating my enemies."

"Monseigneur," replied Gourville, "you would excite my pity,if I did not know you for one of the great spirits of thisworld. You possess a hundred and fifty millions, you areequal to the king in position, and a hundred and fiftymillions his superior in money. M. Colbert has not even hadthe wit to have the will of Mazarin accepted. Now, when aman is the richest person in a kingdom, and will take thetrouble to spend the money, if things are done he does notlike it is because he is a poor man. Let us return toSaint-Mande, I say."

"To consult with Pellisson? - we will."

"So be it," said Fouquet, with angry eyes; - "yes, toSaint-Mande!" He got into his carriage again and Gourvillewith him. Upon their road, at the end of the FaubourgSaint-Antoine, they overtook the humble equipage of Vatel,who was quietly conveying home his vin de Joigny. The blackhorses, going at a swift pace, alarmed as they passed, thetimid hack of the maitre d'hotel, who, putting his head outat the window, cried, in a fright, "Take care of mybottles!"