hat rights does
your majesty attach to this office of intendant?"

"Well--I do not know--the customary ones."

"Sire, I desire that this office be invested with the right of reading
the correspondence with England."

"Impossible, monsieur, for that correspondence is kept from the council;
monsieur le cardinal himself carried it on."

"I thought your majesty had this morning declared that there should no
longer be a council?"

"Yes, I said so."

"Let your majesty then have the goodness to read all the letters
yourself, particularly those from England; I hold strongly to this
article."

"Monsieur, you shall have that correspondence, and render me an account
of it."

"Now, sire, what shall I do with respect to the finances?"

"Everything M. Fouquet has not done."

"That is all I ask of your majesty. Thanks, sire, I depart in peace;"
and at these words he took his leave. Louis watched his departure.
Colbert was not yet a hundred paces from the Louvre when the king
received a courier from England. After having looked at and examined the
envelope, the king broke the seal precipitately, and found a letter from
Charles II. The following is what the English prince wrote to his royal
brother:--

"Your majesty must be rendered very uneasy by the illness of M. le
Cardinal Mazarin; but the excess of danger can only prove of service to
you. The cardinal is given over by his physician. I thank you for the
gracious reply you have made to my communication touching the Princess
Henrietta, my sister, and, in a week, the princess and her court will
set out for Paris. It is gratifying to me to acknowledge the fraternal
friendship you have evinced towards me, and to call you, more justly
than ever, my brother. It is gratifying to me, above everything, to
prove to your majesty how much I am interested in all that may please
you. You are having Belle-Isle-en-Mer secretly fortified. That is wrong.
We shall never be at war against each other. That measure does not make
me uneasy, it makes me sad. You are spending useless millions, tell your
ministers so; and rest assured that I am well informed; render me the
same service, my brother, if occasion offers."

The king rang his bell violently, and his valet de chambre appeared.
"Monsieur Colbert is just gone; he cannot be far off. Let him be called
back!" exclaimed he.

The valet was about to execute the order, when the king stopped him.

"No," said he, "no, I see the whole