one of thy friends thou wilt ruin him in saying so.”

“Why?”

“Because he may be tried for it.”

“Ah!

absurd! they don’t burn sorcerers nowadays.”

“No? ‘Tis not a long time since the late cardinal burnt Urban Grandier, though.”

“My friend, Urban Grandier wasn’t a sorcerer, he was a learned man. He didn’t predict the future, he knew the past — often a more dangerous thing.”

Mazarin nodded an assent, but wishing to know what this prediction was, about which they disputed, he remained in the same place.