“It is I, madame, who place myself at yours. This Chevalier d’Herblay is a kind of Spanish spy, is he not?”
“Much more.”
“A secret ambassador?”
“Higher still.”
“Stop—King Phillip III. of Spain is a bigot. He is, perhaps, the confessor of Phillip III.”
“You must go higher even than that.”
“Mordieu!” cried Colbert, who forgot himself so far as to swear in the presence of this great lady, of this old friend of the queen-mother. “He must then be the general of the Jesuits.”
“I believe you have guessed it at last,” replied the duchesse.
“Ah! then, madame, this man will ruin us all if we do not ruin him; and we must make haste, too.”
“Such was my opinion, monsieur, but I did not dare to give it you.”