arge must, from the king----"

"With which I have been given in charge, monseigneur. I do not run after
affairs."

"Be it so. I say that this negotiation must pass through my hands. Let
us lose no precious time, then. Tell me the conditions."

"I have had the honor of assuring your eminence that only the letter of
his majesty King Charles II. contains the revelation of his wishes."

"Pooh! you are ridiculous with your obstinacy, Monsieur Athos. It is
plain you have kept company with the Puritans yonder. As to your secret,
I know it better than you do; and you have done wrongly, perhaps, in
not having shown some respect for a very old and suffering man, who
has labored much during his life, and kept the field for his ideas as
bravely as you have for yours. You will not communicate your letter to
me? You will say nothing to me? Very well! Come with me into my chamber;
you shall speak to the king--and before the king.--Now, then, one last
word: who gave you the Fleece? I remember you passed for having the
Garter; but as to the Fleece, I do not know----"

"Recently, my lord, Spain, on the occasion of the marriage of his
majesty Louis XIV., sent King Charles II. a brevet of the Fleece in
blank, Charles II. immediately transmitted it to me, filling up the
blank with my name."

Mazarin arose, and leaning on the arm of Bernouin, he returned to his
ruelle at the moment the name of M. le Prince was being announced. The
Prince de Conde, the first prince of the blood, the conqueror of Rocroy,
Lens and Nordlingen, was, in fact, entering the apartment of Monseigneur
de Mazarin, followed by his gentlemen, and had already saluted the king,
when the prime minister raised his curtain. Athos had time to see Raoul
pressing the hand of the Comte de Guiche, and send him a smile in
return for his respectful bow. He had time, likewise, to see the radiant
countenance of the cardinal, when he perceived before him, upon the
table, an enormous heap of gold, which the Comte de Guiche had won in
a run of luck, after his eminence had confided his cards to him. So
forgetting ambassador, embassy and prince, his first thought was of the
gold. "What!" cried the old man--"all that--won?"

"Some fifty thousand crowns; yes, monseigneur!" replied the Comte de
Guiche, rising. "Must I give up my place to your eminence, or shall I
continue?"

"Give up! give up! you are mad. You would lose all you have won. Peste!"

"My lord!" said the Prince de Conde,