ses; Madame de
Belliere flew after her, catching her in her arms, and saying: "Madame,
in the name of his safety, do not betray anything, do not manifest
alarm."

Pelisson ran to have the horses put to the carriages. And, in the
meantime, Gourville gathered in his hat all that the weeping friends
were able to throw into it of gold and silver--the last offering, the
pious alms made to misery by poverty. The surintendant, dragged along by
some, carried by others, was shut up in his carriage. Gourville took the
reins, and mounted the box. Pelisson supported Madame Fouquet, who had
fainted. Madame de Belliere had more strength, and was well paid for
it; she received Fouquet's last kiss. Pelisson easily explained this
precipitate departure by saying that an order from the king had summoned
the minister to Nantes.

Chapter XXXVI. In M. Colbert's Carriage.

As Gourville had seen, the king's musketeers were mounting and following
their captain. The latter, who did not like to be confined in his
proceedings, left his brigade under the orders of a lieutenant, and set
off on post horses, recommending his men to use all diligence. However
rapidly they might travel, they could not arrive before him. He had
time, in passing along the Rue des Petits-Champs, to see something
which afforded him plenty of food for thought and conjecture. He saw M.
Colbert coming out from his house to get into his carriage, which was
stationed before the door. In this carriage D'Artagnan perceived the
hoods of two women, and being rather curious, he wished to know the
names of the ladies hid beneath these hoods. To get a glimpse at them,
for they kept themselves closely covered up, he urged his horse so near
the carriage, that he drove him against the step with such force as to
shake everything containing and contained. The terrified women uttered,
the one a faint cry, by which D'Artagnan recognized a young woman, the
other an imprecation, in which he recognized the vigor and _aplomb_ that
half a century bestows. The hoods were thrown back: one of the women
was Madame Vanel, the other the Duchesse de Chevreuse. D'Artagnan's
eyes were quicker than those of the ladies; he had seen and known them,
whilst they did not recognize him; and as they laughed at their fright,
pressing each other's hands,--

"Humph!" said D'Artagnan, "the old duchesse is no more inaccessible to
friendship than formerly. _She_ paying her court to the mistress of M.
Colbert! P