"I will tell them to you directly; they are not very difficult to fulfil."
"And should I refuse them?"
"Do you really intend to refuse them?" asked the Jesuit, softly.
Fougereuse bit his lips; he had already said too much. The Jesuit was a worthy pupil of his master, and the marquis felt that should he oppose him he would be the loser.
"What does the society ask of me?" he said, after a pause.
"Two things—an important service and a guarantee."
"And what does it offer?"
"The position of his majesty the king's prime minister."
The marquis sprang up as if electrified.