Page:The Vicomte de Bragelonne 2.djvu/509

THE VICOMTE DE BRAG ELONNE. 497 pocket money for his royal highness. You understand, Monsieur Colbert, this evening before eight o'clock. " And with these words, bowing respectfully to the king, the surintendant made his exit backward, without honoring with a single look the envious man whose head he had, just half-shaved. Colbert tore his ruffles to pieces in his rage, and bit his lips till they bled. Fouquet had not passed the door of the cabinet, when an usher, pushing by him, exclaimed: "A courier from Bre- tagne for his majestj'." "Monsieur d'Herblay was right," murmured Fouquet, pulling out his watch; "an hour and fifty-five minutes. It was quite truel" rm bto, Note.— For the information of the reader, Dumas' Histories.] Romances should be read in their chronological order as follows: 1st, The Three Guardsmen; 2d, Twenty Years After; 3d, The Vicomte ie Bragelonne; 4th, Ten Years Later, 5th, Louise de la Valliere; 60^ l^he Man in the Iron Mask *~