"Oh! certainly. But tell me, do you not think it would be better that I should speak, myself, to M. Fouquet about these letters?"
"Nay, duchesse, you will do precisely whatever you please in that respect. M. Fouquet either feels, or does not feel himself to be guilty; if he really be so, I know he is proud enough not to confess it; if he be not so, he will be exceedingly offended at your menace."
"As usual, you reason like an angel," said the duchesse, as she rose from her seat.
"And so, you are now going to denounce M. Fouquet to the queen," said Aramis.
"'Denounce!' Oh! what a disagreeable word. I shall not 'denounce,' my dear friend; you now know matters of policy too well to be ignorant how easily these affairs are arranged, I shall merely side against M. Fouquet, and nothing more; and, in a war of party against party, a weapon of attack is always a weapon."
"No doubt."
"And once on friendly terms again with the queen-mother, I may be dangerous toward some persons."
"You are at perfect liberty to be so, duchesse."
"A liberty of which I shall avail myself."
"You are not ignorant, I suppose, duchesse, that M. Fouquet is on the best terms with the king of Spain."