“No, sire, I do not know.”

“Well, then, the fact of the appropriation of the thirteen millions, if it can be proved — ”

“But it is so already.”

“I mean if it were to be declared and certified, M.

Colbert.”

“I think it will be to-morrow, if your majesty — ”

“Were we not under M. Fouquet’s roof, you were going to say, perhaps,” replied the king, with something of nobility in his demeanor.

“The king is in his own palace wherever he may be — especially in houses which the royal money has constructed.”