The king likes you.”
“No, no,” said Fouquet, shaking his head.
“M. Colbert hates you.”
“M. Colbert! What does that matter to me?”
“He will ruin you.”
“Ah! I defy him to do that, for I am ruined already.”
At this singular confession of the superintendent, D’Artagnan cast his glance all round the room; and although he did not open his lips, Fouquet understood him so thoroughly, that he added: “What can be done with such wealth of substance as surrounds us, when a man can no longer cultivate his taste for the magnificent? Do you know what good the greater part of the wealth and