"M. d'Artagnan, sire!" exclaimed La Valliere; "but why send for M. d'Artagnan? I entreat you to tell me."
"Pardieu! in order to arrest this haughty, arrogant Titan, who, true to his menace, threatens to scale my heaven."
"Arrest M. Fouquet, do you say?"
"Ah! does that surprise you?"
"In his own house?"
"Why not? If he be guilty, he is guilty in his own house as anywhere else."
"M. Fouquet, who at this moment is ruining himself for his sovereign!"
"In plain truth, mademoiselle, it seems as if you were defending this traitor."
Colbert began to chuckle silently. The king turned round at the sound of this suppressed mirth.
"Sire," said La Valliere, "it is not M. Fouquet I am defending: it is yourself."