en, we will leave
him alone; the king has said nothing about him."

The duchesse bit her nails.

"Besides," continued Colbert, "what a poor capture would this bishop be!
A bishop game for a king! Oh! no, no; I will not even take the slightest
notice of him."

The hatred of the duchesse now discovered itself.

"Game for a woman!" said she. "Is not the queen a woman? If she wishes
M. d'Herblay arrested, she has her reasons. Besides, is not M. d'Herblay
the friend of him who is doomed to fall?"

"Oh! never mind that," said Colbert. "This man shall be spared, if he is
not the enemy of the king. Is that displeasing to you?"

"I say nothing."

"Yes--you wish to see him in prison, in the Bastile, for instance."

"I believe a secret better concealed behind the walls of the Bastile
than behind those of Belle-Isle."

"I will speak to the king about it; he will clear up the point."

"And whilst waiting for that enlightenment, Monsieur l'Eveque de Vannes
will have escaped. I would do so."

"Escaped! he! and whither should he escape? Europe is ours, in will, if
not in fact."

"He will always find an asylum, monsieur. It is evident you know nothing
of the man you have to do with. You do not know D'Herblay; you do not
know Aramis. He was one of those four musketeers who, under the late
king, made Cardinal de Richelieu tremble, and who, during the regency,
gave so much trouble to Monseigneur Mazarin."

"But, madame, what can he do, unless he has a kingdom to back him?"

"He has one, monsieur."

"A kingdom, he! what, Monsieur d'Herblay?"

"I repeat to you, monsieur, that if he wants a kingdom, he either has it
or will have it."

"Well, as you are so earnest that this rebel should not escape, madame,
I promise you he shall not escape."

"Belle-Isle is fortified, M. Colbert, and fortified by him."

"If Belle-Isle were also defended by him, Belle-Isle is not impregnable;
and if Monsieur l'Eveque de Vannes is shut up in Belle-Isle, well,
madame, the place shall be besieged, and he will be taken."

"You may be very certain, monsieur, that the zeal you display in the
interest of the queen-mother will please her majesty mightily, and
you will be magnificently rewarded; but what shall I tell her of your
projects respecting this man?"

"That when once taken, he shall be shut up in a fortress from which her
secret shall never escape."

"Very well, Monsieur Colbert, and we may say, that, dating from this
instant, we ha