“I do not accuse, sire, I verify.”
“That is well; make out your accounts, and present them to me. There is a deficit, you say? A deficit may be temporary; credit returns and funds are restored.”
“No, sire.”
“Upon this year, perhaps, I understand that; but upon next year?”
“Next year is eaten as bare as the current year.”
“But the year after, then?”
“Will be just like next year.”
“What do you tell me, Monsieur Colbert?”
“I say there are four years engaged beforehand.”
“They must have a loan, then.”