Colbert bowed.

“Why, that man was a gulf!” murmured the king. “M. de Mazarin on one side, M. Fouquet on the other, — more than a hundred millions perhaps between them! No wonder my coffers should be empty!” Colbert waited without stirring.

“And is the sum you bring me worth the trouble?” asked the king.

“Yes, sire, it is a round sum.”

“Amounting to how much?”

“To thirteen millions of livres, sire.”

“Thirteen millions!” cried Louis, trembling with joy; “do you say thirteen millions, Monsieur Colbert?”

“I said thirteen millions, yes, your majesty.”