nd a clever
man."

"Tell me his name, my lord."

"His name is yet almost unknown, sire; it is M. Colbert, my attendant.
Oh! try him," added Mazarin, in an earnest voice; "all that he has
predicted has come to pass, he has a safe glance, he is never mistaken
either in things or in men--which is more surprising still. Sire, I owe
you much, but I think I acquit myself of all towards you in giving you
M. Colbert."

"So be it," said Louis, faintly, for, as Mazarin had said, the name of
Colbert was quite unknown to him, and he thought the enthusiasm of the
cardinal partook of the delirium of a dying man. The cardinal sank back
on his pillows.

"For the present, adieu, sire! adieu," murmured Mazarin. "I am tired,
and I have yet a rough journey to take before I present myself to my new
Master. Adieu, sire!"

The young king felt the tears rise to his eyes; he bent over the dying
man, already half a corpse, and then hastily retired.

CHAPTER 49. The First Appearance of Colbert

The whole night was passed in anguish, common to the dying man and to
the king: the dying man expected his deliverance, the king awaited his
liberty. Louis did not go to bed. An hour after leaving the chamber
of the cardinal, he learned that the dying man, recovering a little
strength, had insisted upon being dressed, adorned and painted, and
seeing the ambassadors. Like Augustus, he no doubt considered the world
a great stage, and was desirous of playing out the last act of the
comedy. Anne of Austria reappeared no more in the cardinal's apartments;
she had nothing more to do there. Propriety was the pretext for her
absence. On his part, the cardinal did not ask for her: the advice the
queen had given her son rankled in his heart.

Towards midnight, while still painted, Mazarin's mortal agony came on.
He had revised his will, and as this will was the exact expression of
his wishes, and as he feared that some interested influence might take
advantage of his weakness to make him change something in it, he had
given orders to Colbert, who walked up and down the corridor which led
to the cardinal's bed-chamber, like the most vigilant of sentinels. The
king, shut up in his own apartment, dispatched his nurse every hour to
Mazarin's chamber, with orders to bring him back the exact bulletin
of the cardinal's state. After having heard that Mazarin was dressed,
painted, and had seen the ambassadors, Louis heard that the prayers
for the dying w