The hatred of the duchesse now discovered itself.
“Game for a woman!” said she. “Is not the queen a woman? If she wishes M. d’Herblay arrested, she has her reasons. Besides, is not M. d’Herblay the friend of him who is doomed to fall?”
“Oh! never mind that,” said Colbert. “This man shall be spared, if he is not the enemy of the king. Is that displeasing to you?”
“I say nothing.”
“Yes—you wish to see him in prison, in the Bastile, for instance.”
“I believe a secret better concealed behind the walls of the Bastile than behind those of Belle-Isle.”
“I will speak to the king about it; he will clear up the point.”
“And whilst waiting for that enlightenment, Monsieur l’Eveque de Vannes will have escaped. I would do so.”
“Escaped! he! and whither should he escape? Europe is ours, in will, if not in fact.”
“He will always find an asylum, monsieur. It is evident you know nothing of the man you have to do with. You do not know D’Herblay; you do not know Aramis. He was one of those four musketeers who, under the late king, made Cardinal de Richelieu tremble, and who, during the regency, gave so much trouble to Monseigneur Mazarin.”