I have not given him any commission to
execute."

"I will go and see, monseigneur," replied the valet, as he closed the
door. Aramis, during the interview, walked impatiently, but without a
syllable, up and down the cabinet. They waited a further ten minutes.
Fouquet rang in a manner to alarm the very dead. The valet again
presented himself, trembling in a way to induce a belief that he was the
bearer of bad news.

"Monseigneur is mistaken," he said, before even Fouquet could
interrogate him, "you must have given Toby some commission, for he
has been to the stables and taken your lordship's swiftest horse, and
saddled it himself."

"Well?"

"And he has gone off."

"Gone!" exclaimed Fouquet. "Let him be pursued, let him be captured."

"Nay, nay," whispered Aramis, taking him by the hand, "be calm, the evil
is done."

The valet quietly went out.

"The evil is done, you say?"

"No doubt; I was sure of it. And now, let us give no cause for
suspicion; we must calculate the result of the blow, and ward it off, if
possible."

"After all," said Fouquet, "the evil is not great."

"You think so?" said Aramis.

"Of course. Surely a man is allowed to write a love-letter to a woman."

"A man, certainly; a subject, no; especially, too, when the woman in
question is one with whom the king is in love."

"But the king was not in love with La Valliere a week ago! he was not in
love with her yesterday, and the letter is dated yesterday; I could not
guess the king was in love, when the king's affection was not even yet
in existence."

"As you please," replied Aramis; "but unfortunately the letter is not
dated, and it is that circumstance particularly which annoys me. If it
had only been dated yesterday, I should not have the slightest shadow of
uneasiness on your account."

Fouquet shrugged his shoulders.

"Am I not my own master," he said, "and is the king, then, king of my
brain and of my flesh?"

"You are right," replied Aramis, "do not let us attach greater
importance to matters than is necessary; and besides... Well! if we are
menaced, we have means of defense."

"Oh! menaced!" said Fouquet, "you do not place this gnat bite, as it
were, among the number of menaces which may compromise my fortune and my
life, do you?"

"Do not forget, Monsieur Fouquet, that the bit of an insect can kill a
giant, if the insect be venomous."

"But has this sovereign power you were speaking of, already vanished?"

"I am al