"Well?"
"And he has gone off."
"Gone!" exclaimed Fouquet. "Let him be pursued, let him be captured."
"Nay, nay," said Aramis, taking him by the hand, "be calm, the evil is done now."
"The evil is done, you say?"
"No doubt; I was sure of it. And now, let us give no cause for suspicion; we must calculate the result of the blow, and ward it off, if possible."
"After all," said Fouquet, "the evil is not great."
"You think so," said Aramis.
"Of course. Surely a man is allowed to write a love-letter to a woman."
"A man, certainly; a subject, no; especially, too, when the woman in question is one with whom the king is in love."