“Oh, think you so?  Your Grace is wondrous keen as a financier!  Now take the counsel of Dubois, of D’Argenson, my very good friends.  This is what they will counsel you to do.  And I will counsel you at the same time to avail yourself of their advice.  Tell all France to bring in its gold, to enable you to put something essential under the value of all this paper money which you have been sending out so lavishly, so unthinkingly, so without stint or measure.”

“Yes.  And then?”

“Why, then, your Grace,” said Law, “then we shall see what we shall see!”

The regent again choked with anger.  Law continued.  “Go on.  Smooth down the back of this animal.  Continue to reduce these taxes.  The specie of the realm of France, as I am banker enough to know, is not more than thirteen hundred millions of livres, allowing sixty-five livres to the marc.  Yet long before this your Grace has crowded the issue of our actions until there are out not less than twenty-six hundred millions of livres in the stock of our Company.  Your Brothers Paris, your D’Argenson, your Dubois will tell you how you can make the people of France continue to believe that twice two is not four, that twice thirteen is not twenty-six!”

“But this they are doing,” broke in the regent, with a ray of hope in his face.  “This they are doing.  We have provided for that.  In the council not an hour ago the Abbe Dubois and Monsieur d’Argenson decided that the time had come to make some fixed proportion between the specie and these notes.  We have to-day framed an edict, which the Parliament will register, stating that the interests of the subjects of the king require that the price of these bank notes should be lessened, so that there may be some sort of accommodation between them and the coin of the realm.  We have ordered that the shares shall, within thirty days, drop to seventy-five hundred livres, in another thirty days to seven thousand livres, and so on, at five hundred livres a month, until at last they shall have a value of one-half what they were to-day.  Then, tell me, my wise Monsieur L’as, would not the issue of our notes and the total of our specie be equal, one with the other?  The only wrong thing is this insulting presumption of these people, who have sold actions at a price lower than we have decreed.”

Law smiled as he replied.  “You say excellently well, my master.  These plans surely show that you and your able counselors have studied deeply the questions of finance!  I have told you what would happen to-day without any decree of the king.  Now go you on, and make your decrees.  You will find that the people are much more eager for values which are going up than values which are going down.  Start your shares down hill, and you will see all France scramble for such coin, such plate, such jewels as may be within the ability of France to lay her hands upon.  Tell me, your Grace, did Monsieur d’Argenson advise you this morning as to the total issue of the actions of this Company?”