Home

The Vicomte De Bragelonne Part 75

The Vicomte De Bragelonne - novelonlinefull.com

You’re read light novel The Vicomte De Bragelonne Part 75 online at NovelOnlineFull.com. Please use the follow button to get notification about the latest chapter next time when you visit NovelOnlineFull.com. Use F11 button to read novel in full-screen(PC only). Drop by anytime you want to read free – fast – latest novel. It’s great if you could leave a comment, share your opinion about the new chapters, new novel with others on the internet. We’ll do our best to bring you the finest, latest novel everyday. Enjoy

"To the owner of that money,--to the king."

"But the king did not give it all to me."

"One moment,--does not the king sign the ordonances?"

Mazarin pa.s.sed from sighs to groans. "Absolution! absolution!" cried he.

"Impossible, my lord. Rest.i.tution! rest.i.tution!" replied the Theatin.

"But you absolve me from all other sins, why not from that?"

"Because," replied the father, "to absolve you for that motive would be a sin for which the king would never absolve me, my lord."

Thereupon the confessor quitted his penitent with an air full of compunction. He then went out in the same manner he had entered.

"Oh, good G.o.d!" groaned the cardinal. "Come here, Colbert, I am very, very ill indeed, my friend."

Chapter XLVI. The Donation.

Colbert reappeared beneath the curtains.

"Have you heard?" said Mazarin.

"Alas! yes, my lord."

"Can he be right? Can all this money be badly acquired?"

"A Theatin, monseigneur, is a bad judge in matters of finance," replied Colbert, coolly. "And yet it is very possible that, according to his theological views, your eminence has been, in a certain degree, in the wrong. People generally find they have been so,--when they die."

"In the first place, they commit the wrong of dying, Colbert."

"That is true, my lord. Against whom, however, did the Theatin make out that you had committed these wrongs? Against the king?"

Mazarin shrugged his shoulders. "As if I had not saved both his state and his finances."

"That admits of no contradiction, my lord."

"Does it? Then I have received a merely legitimate salary, in spite of the opinion of my confessor?"

"That is beyond doubt."

"And I might fairly keep for my own family, which is so needy, a good fortune,--the whole, even, of which I have earned?"

"I see no impediment to that, monseigneur."

"I felt a.s.sured that in consulting you, Colbert, I should have good advice," replied Mazarin, greatly delighted.

Colbert resumed his pedantic look. "My lord," interrupted he, "I think it would be quite as well to examine whether what the Theatin said is not a snare."

"Oh! no; a snare? What for? The Theatin is an honest man."

"He believed your eminence to be at death's door, because your eminence consulted him. Did I not hear him say--'Distinguish that which the king has given you from that which you have given yourself.' Recollect, my lord, if he did not say something a little like that to you?--that is quite a theatrical speech."

"That is possible."

"In which case, my lord, I should consider you as required by the Theatin to--"

"To make rest.i.tution!" cried Mazarin, with great warmth.

"Eh! I do not say no."

"What, of all! You do not dream of such a thing! You speak just as the confessor did."

"To make rest.i.tution of a part,--that is to say, his majesty's part; and that, monseigneur, may have its dangers. Your eminence is too skillful a politician not to know that, at this moment, the king does not possess a hundred and fifty thousand livres clear in his coffers."

"That is not my affair," said Mazarin, triumphantly; "that belongs to M.

le Surintendant Fouquet, whose accounts I gave you to verify some months ago."

Colbert bit his lips at the name of Fouquet. "His majesty," said he, between his teeth, "has no money but that which M. Fouquet collects: your money, monseigneur, would afford him a delicious banquet."

"Well, but I am not the superintendent of his majesty's finances--I have my purse--surely I would do much for his majesty's welfare--some legacy--but I cannot disappoint my family."

"The legacy of a part would dishonor you and offend the king. Leaving a part to his majesty, is to avow that that part has inspired you with doubts as to the lawfulness of the means of acquisition."

"Monsieur Colbert!"

"I thought your eminence did me the honor to ask my advice?"

"Yes, but you are ignorant of the princ.i.p.al details of the question."

"I am ignorant of nothing, my lord; during ten years, all the columns of figures which are found in France, have pa.s.sed into review before me; and if I have painfully nailed them into my brain, they are there now so well riveted, that, from the office of M. Letellier, who is sober, to the little secret largesses of M. Fouquet, who is prodigal, I could recite, figure by figure, all the money that is spent in France from Ma.r.s.eilles to Cherbourg."

"Then, you would have me throw all my money into the coffers of the king!" cried Mazarin, ironically; and from whom, at the same time the gout forced painful moans. "Surely the king would reproach me with nothing, but he would laugh at me, while squandering my millions, and with good reason."

"Your eminence has misunderstood me. I did not, the least in the world, pretend that his majesty ought to spend your money."

"You said so, clearly, it seems to me, when you advised me to give it to him."

"Ah," replied Colbert, "that is because your eminence, absorbed as you are by your disease, entirely loses sight of the character of Louis XIV."

"How so?"

"That character, if I may venture to express myself thus, resembles that which my lord confessed just now to the Theatin."

Please click Like and leave more comments to support and keep us alive.

RECENTLY UPDATED MANGA

Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi Chapter 602: Easy Bacon-Style Porkbelly Author(s) : 妖精壱号, Yosei Ichigo, Eguchi Ren, 江口連 View : 2,393,356
I am a Gao Fushuai Villain

I am a Gao Fushuai Villain

I am a Gao Fushuai Villain Chapter 608: Author(s) : 向往的都市神豪 View : 621,569
Martial Peak

Martial Peak

Martial Peak Chapter 5685: Wanting the Lion's Share Author(s) : Momo,莫默 View : 14,957,164
Doomsday Wonderland

Doomsday Wonderland

Doomsday Wonderland Chapter 1251: Bohemia's Joyful Day Author(s) : 须尾俱全, Beards And Tails View : 1,047,727

The Vicomte De Bragelonne Part 75 summary

You're reading The Vicomte De Bragelonne. This manga has been translated by Updating. Author(s): Alexandre Dumas. Already has 540 views.

It's great if you read and follow any novel on our website. We promise you that we'll bring you the latest, hottest novel everyday and FREE.

NovelOnlineFull.com is a most smartest website for reading manga online, it can automatic resize images to fit your pc screen, even on your mobile. Experience now by using your smartphone and access to NovelOnlineFull.com