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LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE. 333 must now become a mean, stingy man; I shall be able to prove to the world that I can act or operate with my deniers as I used to do with my bags of pistoles, and from to- morrow my equipages shall be sold, my mansions mortgaged, my expenses contracted." "From to-morrow," interrupted Aramis quietly, "you will occupy yourself, without the slightest delay, with your fete at Vaux, which must hereafter be spoken of as one of the most magnificent productions of your most prosperous days." "You are mad. Chevalier d'Herblay!" "I?— you do not think that?" "What do you mean, then? Do you not know that a fete at Vaux, of the very simplest possible character, would cost four or five millions?" "I do not speak of a, fete of the very simplest possible character, my dear surintendant." "But since the fete is to be given to the king," replied Fouquet, who misunderstood Aramis' idea, "it cannot be simple." "Just so; it ought to be on a scale of the most unbounded magnificence." "In that case I shall have to spend ten or twelve millions." "You shall spend twenty, if you require it," said Aramis, in a perfectly calm, voice. "Where shall I get them?" exclaimed Fouquet. "That is my affair. Monsieur le Surintendant; and do not be uneasy for a moment about it. The money will be placed at once at your disposal, as soon as you shall have arranged the plans of jonrfete." "Chevalier! chevalier!" said Fouquet, giddy with amaze- ment, "whither are you hurrying me?" "Across the gulf into which you were about to fall," re- plied the bishop of Vannes. "Take hold of my cloak, and throw fear aside." "Why did you not tell me that sooner, Aramis? There was a day when, with one million only, you could have saved me; while to-day " "While to-day I can give you twenty," said the prelate. "Such is the case, however — the reason is very simple. On the day you speak of, I had not the million which you had need of at my disposal, while now I can easily procure the twenty millions we require." "May Heaven hear you, and save me!"