“Oh! why yes!” said Louis XIV; “you have found- it is you who have found, my sister.”
“I will take her; she will have no cause to complain, I suppose.”
“Oh, no; I will name her seductrice plenipotentiaire at once, and will add the dowry to the title.”
“That is well.”
“I fancy you already on your road, my dear little sister, and consoled for all your griefs.”
“I will go on two conditions. The first is, that I shall know what I am negotiating about.”
“This is it. The Dutch, you know, insult me daily in their gazettes, and by their republican attitude. I don’t like republics.”
“That may easily be conceived, Sire.”
“I see with pain that these kings of the sea- they call themselves so- keep trade from France in the Indies, and that their vessels will soon occupy all the ports of Europe. Such a power is too near me, Sister.”
“They are your allies, nevertheless.”
“That is why they were wrong in having the medal you have heard of struck,- a medal which represents Holland stopping the sun, as Joshua did, with this legend: The sun has stopped before me. There is not much fraternity in that, is there?”
“I thought you had forgotten that miserable affair.”
“I forget nothing, my sister. And if my true friends, such as your brother Charles, are willing to second me-” The Princess remained pensively silent. “Listen to me; there is the empire of the seas to be shared. In this partition, which England submits to, could I not represent the second party as well as the Dutch?”
“We have Mademoiselle de Keroualle to treat that question,” replied Madame.
“Your second condition for going, if you please, Sister?”
“The consent of Monsieur, my husband.”
“You shall have it.”
“Then I have gone, my brother.”
On hearing these words, Louis XIV turned round towards the corner of the room in which d’Artagnan, Colbert, and Aramis stood, and made an affirmative sign to his minister. Colbert then broke the conversation at the point where it happened to be, and said to Aramis, “Monsieur the Ambassador, shall we talk about business?”
D’Artagnan immediately withdrew, from politeness. He directed his steps towards the chimney, within hearing of what the King was going to say to Monsieur, who, evidently uneasy, had gone to him. The face of the King was animated. Upon his brow was stamped a will, the redoubtable expression of which already met with no more contradiction in France, and soon would meet with no more in Europe.
“Monsieur,” said the King to his brother, “I am not pleased with M. le Chevalier de Lorraine. You, who do him the honor to protect him, must advise him to travel for a few months.” These words fell with the crush of an avalanche upon Monsieur, who adored this favorite, and concentrated all his affections in him.
“In what has the chevalier been able to displease your Majesty?” cried he, darting a furious look at Madame.
“I will tell you that when he is gone,” replied the impassive King. “And also when Madame, here, shall have crossed over into England.”
“Madame! into England!” murmured Monsieur, seized with stupor.
“In a week, my brother,” continued the King, “while we two will go whither I will tell you.” And the King turned upon his heel after having smiled in his brother’s face, to sweeten a little the bitter draught he had given him.
During this time, Colbert was talking with the Duc d’Alameda. “Monsieur,” said he to Aramis, “this is the moment for us to come to an understanding. I have made your peace with the King, and I owed that clearly to a man of your merit; but as you have often expressed friendship for me, an opportunity presents itself for giving me a proof of it. You are, besides, more a Frenchman than a Spaniard. Shall we have, answer me frankly, the neutrality of Spain, if we undertake anything against the United Provinces?”
“Monsieur,” replied Aramis, “the interest of Spain is very clear. To embroil Europe with the United Provinces, against which subsists the ancient rancor arising from their acquisition of liberty, is our policy; but the King of France is allied with the United Provinces. You are not ignorant, besides, that it would be a maritime war, and that France is not in a state to make such a one with advantage.”