the King for two hours
before the Cardinal appeared; the whole court stood in close ranks behind
the Prince, and in the long galleries which extended from his tent.
Already longer intervals elapsed between the names of the courtiers who
were announced.

"Shall we not see our cousin the Cardinal?" said the King, turning, and
looking at 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