Fouquet had no sooner dismissed Vanel than he began to reflect for a few moments--"A man never can do too much for the woman he has once loved.
Marguerite wishes to be the wife of a procureur-general--and why not confer this pleasure upon her? And, now that the most scrupulous and sensitive conscience will be unable to reproach me with anything, let my thoughts be bestowed on her who has shown so much devotion for me.
Madame de Belliere ought to be there by this time," he said, as he turned towards the secret door.
After he had locked himself in, he opened the subterranean pa.s.sage, and rapidly hastened towards the means of communicating between the house at Vincennes and his own residence. He had neglected to apprise his friend of his approach, by ringing the bell, perfectly a.s.sured that she would never fail to be exact at the rendezvous; as, indeed, was the case, for she was already waiting. The noise the superintendent made aroused her; she ran to take from under the door the letter he had thrust there, and which simply said, "Come, marquise; we are waiting supper for you." With her heart filled with happiness Madame de Belliere ran to her carriage in the Avenue de Vincennes, and in a few minutes she was holding out her hand to Gourville, who was standing at the entrance, where, in order the better to please his master, he had stationed himself to watch her arrival. She had not observed that Fouquet"s black horse arrived at the same time, all steaming and foam-flaked, having returned to Saint-Mande with Pelisson and the very jeweler to whom Madame de Belliere had sold her plate and her jewels. Pelisson introduced the goldsmith into the cabinet, which Fouquet had not yet left. The superintendent thanked him for having been good enough to regard as a simple deposit in his hands, the valuable property which he had every right to sell; and he cast his eyes on the total of the account, which amounted to thirteen hundred thousand francs. Then, going for a few moments to his desk, he wrote an order for fourteen hundred thousand francs, payable at sight, at his treasury, before twelve o"clock the next day.
"A hundred thousand francs profit!" cried the goldsmith. "Oh, monseigneur, what generosity!"
"Nay, nay, not so, monsieur," said Fouquet, touching him on the shoulder; "there are certain kindnesses which can never be repaid. This profit is only what you have earned; but the interest of your money still remains to be arranged." And, saying this, he unfastened from his sleeve a diamond b.u.t.ton, which the goldsmith himself had often valued at three thousand pistoles. "Take this," he said to the goldsmith, "in remembrance of me. Farewell; you are an honest man."
"And you, monseigneur," cried the goldsmith, completely overcome, "are the n.o.blest man that ever lived."
Fouquet let the worthy goldsmith pa.s.s out of the room by a secret door, and then went to receive Madame de Belliere, who was already surrounded by all the guests. The marquise was always beautiful, but now her loveliness was more dazzling than ever. "Do you not think, gentlemen,"
said Fouquet, "that madame is more than usually beautiful this evening?
And do you happen to know why?"
"Because madame is really the most beautiful of all women," said some one present.
"No; but because she is the best. And yet--"
"Yet?" said the marquise, smiling.
"And yet, all the jewels which madame is wearing this evening are nothing but false stones." At this remark the marquise blushed most painfully.
"Oh, oh!" exclaimed all the guests, "that can very well be said of one who has the finest diamonds in Paris."
"Well?" said Fouquet to Pelisson, in a low tone.
"Well, at last I have understood you," returned the latter; "and you have done exceedingly well."
"Supper is ready, monseigneur," said Vatel, with majestic air and tone.
The crowd of guests hurried, more quickly than is usually the case with ministerial entertainments, towards the banqueting-room, where a magnificent spectacle presented itself. Upon the buffets, upon the side-tables, upon the supper-table itself, in the midst of flowers and light, glittered most dazzlingly the richest and most costly gold and silver plate that could possibly be seen--relics of those ancient magnificent productions the Florentine artists, whom the Medici family patronized, sculptured, chased, and moulded for the purpose of holding flowers, at a time when gold existed still in France. These hidden marvels, which had been buried during the civil wars, timidly reappeared during the intervals of that war of good taste called La Fronde; at a time when n.o.blemen fighting against n.o.bleman killed, but did not pillage each other. All the plate present had Madame de Belliere"s arms engraved upon it. "Look," cried La Fontaine, "here is a P and a B."
But the most remarkable object present was the cover which Fouquet had a.s.signed to the marquise. Near her was a pyramid of diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, antique cameos, sardonyx stones, carved by the old Greeks of Asia Minor, with mountings of Mysian gold; curious mosaics of ancient Alexandria, set in silver; ma.s.sive Egyptian bracelets lay heaped on a large plate of Palissy ware, supported by a tripod of gilt bronze, sculptured by Benvenuto Cellini. The marquise turned pale, as she recognized what she had never expected to see again. A profound silence fell on every one of the restless and excited guests. Fouquet did not even make a sign in dismissal of the richly liveried servants who crowded like bees round the huge buffets and other tables in the room.
"Gentlemen," he said, "all this plate which you behold once belonged to Madame de Belliere, who, having observed one of her friends in great distress, sent all this gold and silver, together with the heap of jewels now before her, to her goldsmith. This n.o.ble conduct of a devoted friend can well be understood by such friends as you. Happy indeed is that man who sees himself loved in such a manner. Let us drink to the health of Madame de Belliere."
A tremendous burst of applause followed his words, and made poor Madame de Belliere sink back dumb and breathless in her seat. "And then,"
added Pelisson, who was always affected by a n.o.ble action, as he was invariably impressed by beauty, "let us also drink to the health of him who inspired madame"s n.o.ble conduct; for such a man is worthy of being worthily loved."
It was now the marquise"s turn. She rose, pale and smiling; and as she held out her gla.s.s with a faltering hand, and her trembling fingers touched those of Fouquet, her look, full of love, found its mirror in that of her ardent and generous-hearted lover. Begun in this manner, the supper soon became a _fete_; no one tried to be witty, but no one failed in being so. La Fontaine forgot his Gorgny wine, and allowed Vatel to reconcile him to the wines of the Rhone, and those from the sh.o.r.es of Spain. The Abbe Fouquet became so kind and good-natured, that Gourville said to him, "Take care, monsieur l"abbe; if you are so tender, you will be carved and eaten."
The hours pa.s.sed away so joyously, that, contrary to his usual custom, the superintendent did not leave the table before the end of the dessert. He smiled upon his friends, delighted as a man is whose heart becomes intoxicated before his head--and, for the first time, looked at the clock. Suddenly a carriage rolled into the courtyard, and, strange to say, it was heard high above the noise of the mirth which prevailed.
Fouquet listened attentively, and then turned his eyes towards the ante-chamber. It seemed as if he could hear a step pa.s.sing across it, a step that, instead of pressing the ground, weighed heavily upon his heart. "M. d"Herblay, bishop of Vannes," the usher announced. And Aramis"s grave and thoughtful face appeared upon the threshold of the door, between the remains of two garlands, of which the flame of a lamp had just burnt the thread that once united them.
Chapter XLVIII. M. de Mazarin"s Receipt.
Fouquet would have uttered an exclamation of delight on seeing another friend arrive, if the cold air and averted aspect of Aramis had not restored all his reserve. "Are you going to join us at dessert?" he asked. "And yet you would be frightened, perhaps, at the noise which our wild friends here are making?"
"Monseigneur," replied Aramis, respectfully, "I will begin by begging you to excuse me for having interrupted this merry meeting; and then, I will beg you to give me, as soon as your pleasure is attended to, a moment"s audience on matters of business."
As the word "business" had aroused the attention of some of the epicureans present, Fouquet rose, saying: "Business first of all, Monsieur d"Herblay; we are too happy when matters of business arrive only at the end of a meal."
As he said this, he took the hand of Madame de Belliere, who looked at him with a kind of uneasiness, and then led her to an adjoining _salon_, after having recommended her to the most reasonable of his guests. And then, taking Aramis by the arm, he led him towards his cabinet. As soon as Aramis was there, throwing aside the respectful air he had a.s.sumed, he threw himself into a chair, saying: "Guess whom I have seen this evening?"
"My dear chevalier, every time you begin in that manner, I am sure to hear you announce something disagreeable."
"Well, and this time you will not be mistaken, either, my dear friend,"
replied Aramis.
"Do not keep me in suspense," added Fouquet, phlegmatically.
"Well, then, I have seen Madame de Chevreuse."
"The old d.u.c.h.esse, do you mean?"
"Yes."
"Her ghost, perhaps?"
"No, no; the old she-wolf herself."
"Without teeth?"
"Possibly, but not without claws."
"Well! what harm can she meditate against me? I am no miser with women who are not prudes. A quality always prized, even by the woman who no longer presumes to look for love."
"Madame de Chevreuse knows very well that you are not avaricious, since she wishes to draw some money of you."
"Indeed! under what pretext?"
"Oh! pretexts are never wanting with _her_. Let me tell you what it is: it seems that the d.u.c.h.esse has a good many letters of M. de Mazarin"s in her possession."
"I am not surprised at that, for the prelate was gallant enough."
"Yes, but these letters have nothing whatever to do with the prelate"s love affairs. They concern, it is said, financial matters rather."
"And accordingly they are less interesting."
"Do you not suspect what I mean?"
"Not at all."
"Have you never heard speak of a prosecution being inst.i.tuted for an embezzlement, or appropriation rather, of public funds?"
"Yes, a hundred, nay, a thousand times. Ever since I have been engaged in public matters I have hardly heard of anything else. It is precisely your own case, when, as a bishop, people reproach you for impiety; or, as a musketeer, for your cowardice; the very thing of which they are always accusing ministers of finance is the embezzlement of public funds."