"But, your Grace, I am entirely serious."
"Oh, come, spoil not so good a jest by qualifying, I beseech you! England or France, indeed—ah, Monsieur L'as, Monsieur L'as!"
"Your own city of New Orléans, Sire, will lie at the gate of a realm greater than all France. Your Grace will hand to the young king, when he shall come of age, a realm excellently worth the ownership of any king."
"You say rich. In what way?" asked the regent. "We have not had so much of returns after all. Look at Crozat? Look at—"
"Oh fie, Crozat! Your Grace, he solved not the first problem of real commerce. He never dreamed the real richness of America."
Philippe sat thoughtful, his finger tips together. "Why have we not heard of these things?" said he.
"Because of men like Crozat, of men like your governors and intendants at Quebec. Because, your Grace, as you know very well, of the same reason which sent me once from Paris, and kept me so long from laying before you these very plans of which I now would speak."
"And that cause?"
"Maintenon."
"Oh, ah! Indeed—that is to say—"