20 LOUISE DE LA VALLItRE.
- Yoii would not have run away from Vannes as you did,
perhaps?"
- 'No; what did you say when you couldn't find me?"
- 'My dear fellow, I reflected."
- Ah, indeed; you reflect, do you? Well, and what has
that reflection led to?" "It led me to guess the whole truth."
- 'Come, then, tell me, what did you guess, after all?"
said Porthos, settling himself into an armchair, and assum- ing the airs of a sphinx. "I guessed, in the first place, that you were fortifying Belle-Isle." "There was no great difficulty in that, for you saw me at work." "Wait a minute. I also guessed something else — that you were fortifying Belle-Isle by Monsieur Fouquet's orders." "That's true. "But not all. Whenever I feel myself in train for guess- ing, I do not stop on my road; and so I guessed that Mon- sieur Fouquet wished to preserve the most absolute secrecy respecting these fortifications." "I believe that was his intention, in fact," said Porthos. "Yes; but do you know why he wished to keep it secret?" "Because it should not be known, perhaps," said Porthos. "That was his principal reason. But his wish was sub- servient to an affair of generosity " "In fact," said Porthos, "I have heard it said that Mon- sieur Fouquet was a very generous man." "To an affair of generosity which he wished to exhibit toward the king." "Oh, oh!" "You seem surprised at it?"
- Yes."
"And you did not know that?" "No." "Well, I know it, then." "You're a wizard." "Not in the slightest degree."
- 'How do you know it, then?"
"By a very simple means. I heard Monsieur Fouquet himself say so to the king." "Say what to the king?" "That he had fortified Belle-Isle on his majesty's account, luid that he made him a present of Belle-Isle." "And you heard Monsieur Fouquet say that to the king?"
