Montresor, one of Monsieur's gentlemen, as if to encourage
him to answer.

"He is said to be very ill just now, Sire," was the answer.

"And yet I do not see how any but your Majesty can cure him," said the
Duc de Beaufort.

"We cure nothing but the king's evil," replied Louis; "and the
complaints of the Cardinal are always so mysterious that we own we can
not understand them."

The Prince thus essayed to brave his minister, gaining strength in
jests, the better to break his yoke, insupportable, but so difficult to
remove. He almost thought he had succeeded in this, and, sustained
by the joyous air surrounding him, he already privately congratulated
himself on having been able to assume the supreme empire, and for the
moment enjoyed all the power of which he fancied himself possessed. An
involuntary agitation in the depth of his heart had warned him indeed
that, the hour passed, all the burden of the State would fall upon
himself alone; but he talked in order to divert the troublesome thought,
and, concealing from himself the doubt he had of his own inability
to reign, he set his imagination to work upon the result of his
enterprises, thus forcing himself to forget the tedious roads which had
led to them. Rapid phrases succeeded one another on his lips.

"We shall soon take Perpignan," he said to Fabert, who stood at some
distance.

"Well, Cardinal, Lorraine is ours," he added to La Vallette. Then,
touching Mazarin's arm:

"It is not so difficult to manage a State as is supposed, eh?"

The Italian, who was not so sure of the Cardinal's disgrace as most of
the courtiers, answered, without compromising himself:

"Ah, Sire, the late successes of your Majesty at home and abroad prove
your sagacity in choosing your instruments and in directing them, and--"

But the Duc de Beaufort, interrupting him with that self-confidence,
that loud voice and overbearing air, which subsequently procured him the
surname of Important, cried out, vehemently:

"Pardieu! Sire, it needs only to will. A nation is driven like a horse,
with spur and bridle; and as we are all good horsemen, your Majesty has
only to choose among us."

This fine sally had not time to take effect, for two ushers cried,
simultaneously, "His Eminence!"

The King's face flushed involuntarily, as if he had been surprised en
flagrant delit. But immediately gaining confidence, he assumed an air of
resolute haughtiness, which was not lost upon the minister.