804 LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE. For some time past the host had met with some terrible trials. Every one in the house was aware of and felt the minister's distress. No more magnificent or recklessly im- provident reunions. Money had been the pretext assigned by Fouquet, and never was any pretext, as De Gourville said, more fallacious, for there was not the slightest appear- ance of money. M. Vatel was most resolutely painstaking in keeping up the reputation of the house, and yet the gardeners who supplied the kitchens complained of a ruinous delay. The agents for the supply of 'Spanish wines frequently sent drafts which no one honored; fishermen, whom the surin- tendant engaged on the coast of Normandy, calculated that if they were paid all that was due to them, the amount would enable them to retire comfortably for the rest of their lives; fish, which, at a later period, was the cause of Vatel's death, did not arrive at all. However, on the ordinary day of reception, Fouquet's friends flocked in more numerously than ever. De Gourville and the Abbe Fou- quet talked over money matters — that is to say, the abb6 borrowed a few pistoles from De Gourville; Pelisson, seated with his legs crossed, was engaged in finishing the perora- tion of a speech with which Fouquet was to open the parlia- ment; and this speech was a masterpiece, because Pelisson wrote it for his friend — that is to say, he inserted every- thing in it which the latter would most certainly never have taken the trouble to say of his own accord. Presently Loret and La Fontaine would enter from the garden, en- gaged in a dispute upon the facility of making verses. The painters and musicians in their turn, also, were hover- ing near the dining-room. As soon as eight o'clock struck the supper would be announced, for the surintendant never kept any one waiting. It was already half-past seven, and the appetites of the guests were beginning to be declared in a very emphatic manner. As soon as all the guests were assembled, De Gourville went straight up to Pelisson, awoke him out of his reverie, and led him into the middle of a room, and closed the doors. "Well," he said, "anything new?" Pelisson raised his intelligent and gentle face, and said:
- 'I have borrowed twenty-five thousand francs of my
aunt, and I have them here in good sterling money." "Good," replied De Gourville; "ve only want one hun- dred and ninety-five thousand livres for the first payment." "The payment of what?" asked La Fontaine.
