“No, I have not seen him.”
“Whom have you seen, then?”
“The leader of the enterprise, not that unhappy young man; the latter is merely an instrument, destined through his whole life to wretchedness, I plainly perceive.”
“Most certainly.”
“It is M. l’Abbe d’Herblay, Eveque de Vannes.”
“Your friend?”
“He was my friend, sire,” replied Fouquet, nobly.
“An unfortunate circumstance for you,” said the king, in a less generous tone of voice.
“Such friendships, sire, had nothing dishonorable in them so long as I was ignorant of the crime.”
“You should have foreseen it.”