"Well, then, the fact of the appropriation of the thirteen millions, if it can be proved—"
"But it is so already."
"I mean if it were to be declared and certified, M. Colbert."
"I think it will be to-morrow, if your majesty—"
"Were we not under M. Fouquet's roof, you were going to say, perhaps," replied the king, with something of nobleness in his manner.
"The king is in his own palace where-ever he may be, and especially in houses which his own money has paid for."
"I think," said Philippe, in a low tone to Aramis, "that the architect who constructed this dome ought, anticipating what use could be made of it, so to have contrived that it might easily be made to fall on the heads of scoundrels such as that M. Colbert."
"I thought so too," replied Aramis; "but M. Colbert is so very near the king at this moment."
"That is true, and that would open the succession."
"Of which your younger brother would reap all the advantage, monseigneur. But stay, let us keep quiet, and go on listening."