“In what way?” said Colbert.
“I mean, monsieur, that holding this opportunity in my own hands, I will not allow it to be transferred to yours except for a sum of five hundred thousand francs.”
“I understand you perfectly, madame. But since you have fixed a price for the sale, let me now see the value of the articles to be sold.”
“Oh, a mere trifle; six letters, as I have already told you, from M. de Mazarin; and the autographs will most assuredly not be regarded as too highly priced, if they establish, in an irrefutable manner, that M. Fouquet has embezzled large sums of money from the treasury and appropriated them to his own purposes.”
“In an irrefutable manner, do you say?” observed Colbert, whose eyes sparkled with delight.
“Perfectly so; would you like to read the letters?”
“With all my heart! Copies, of course?”
“Of course, the copies,” said the duchesse, as she drew from her bosom a small packet of papers flattened by her velvet bodice. “Read,” she said.
Colbert eagerly snatched the papers and devoured them. “Excellent!” he said.
“It is clear enough, is it not?”