“Do not keep me in suspense,” added Fouquet, phlegmatically.
“Well, then, I have seen Madame de Chevreuse.”
“The old duchesse, do you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Her ghost, perhaps?”
“No, no; the old she-wolf herself.”
“Without teeth?”
“Possibly, but not without claws.”
“Well! what harm can she meditate against me? I am no miser with women who are not prudes. A quality always prized, even by the woman who no longer presumes to look for love.”
“Madame de Chevreuse knows very well that you are not avaricious, since she wishes to draw some money of you.”