ask my
lord ambassador the causes of the change in this General Monk?"

"And your majesty touches precisely the question," replied Athos, "for
without the miracle of which I have had the honor to speak, General
Monk would probably have remained an implacable enemy of Charles II. God
willed that a strange, bold, and ingenious idea should enter into
the mind of a certain man, whilst a devoted and courageous idea took
possession of the mind of another man. The combinations of these two
ideas brought about such a change in the position of M. Monk, that, from
an inveterate enemy, he became a friend to the deposed king."

"These are exactly the details I asked for," said the king. "Who and
what are the two men of whom you speak?"

"Two Frenchmen, sire."

"Indeed! I am glad of that."

"And the two ideas," said Mazarin;--"I am more curious about ideas than
about men, for my part."

"Yes," murmured the king.

"The second idea, the devoted, reasonable idea--the least important,
sir--was to go and dig up a million in gold, buried by King Charles I.
at Newcastle, and to purchase with that gold the adherence of Monk."

"Oh, oh!" said Mazarin, reanimated by the word million. "But Newcastle
was at the time occupied by Monk."

"Yes, monsieur le cardinal, and that is why I venture to call the idea
courageous as well as devoted. It was necessary, if Monk refused the
offers of the negotiator, to reinstate King Charles II. in possession of
this million, which was to be torn, as it were, from the loyalty and
not the royalism of General Monk. This was effected in spite of many
difficulties: the general proved to be loyal, and allowed the money to
be taken away."

"It seems to me," said the timid, thoughtful king, "that Charles II.
could not have known of this million whilst he was in Paris."

"It seems to me," rejoined the cardinal, maliciously, "that his majesty
the king of Great Britain knew perfectly well of this million, but that
he preferred having two millions to having one."

"Sire," said Athos, firmly, "the king of England, whilst in France, was
so poor that he had not even money to take the post; so destitute of
hope that he frequently thought of dying. He was so entirely ignorant of
the existence of the million at Newcastle, that but for a gentleman--one
of your majesty's subjects--the moral depositary of the million, who
revealed the secret to King Charles II., that prince would still be
vegetating in the most cruel