distinguish through the blasts of wind and bluster of leaves the sound of the distant steps of an armed troop.  They can, after having listened, tell pretty nearly how many men are marching, how many arms resound, how many cannons roll.  Fouquet had then only to interrogate the silence which his arrival had produced; he found it big with menacing revelations.  The king allowed him time enough to advance as far as the middle of the chamber.  His adolescent modesty commanded this forbearance of the moment.  Fouquet boldly seized the opportunity.

“Sire,” said he, “I was impatient to see your majesty.”

“What for?” asked Louis.

“To announce some good news to you.”

Colbert, minus grandeur of person, less largeness of heart, resembled Fouquet in many points.  He had the same penetration, the same knowledge of men; moreover, that great power of self-compression which gives to hypocrites time to reflect, and gather themselves up to take a spring.  He guessed that Fouquet was going to meet the blow he was about to deal him.  His eyes glittered ominously.

“What news?” asked the king.  Fouquet placed a roll of papers on the table.

“Let your majesty have the goodness to cast your eyes over this work,” said he.  The king slowly unfolded the paper.

“Plans?” said he.

“Yes, sire.”

“And what are these plans?”

“A new fortification, sire.”

“Ah, ah!” said the king, “you amuse yourself with tactics and strategies then, M. Fouquet?”

“I occupy myself with everything that may be useful to the reign of your majesty,” replied Fouquet.

“Beautiful descriptions!” said the king, looking at the design.

“Your majesty comprehends, without doubt,” said Fouquet, bending over the paper; “here is the circle of the walls, here are the forts, there the advanced works.”

“And what do I see here, monsieur?”

“The sea.”

“The sea all round?”

“Yes, sire.”

“And what is, then, the name of this place of which you show me the plan?”

“Sire, it is Belle-Ile-en-Mer,” replied Fouquet with simplicity.

At this word, at this name, Colbert made so marked a movement, that the king turned round to enforce the necessity for reserve.  Fouquet did not appear to be the least in the world concerned by the movement of Colbert, or the king’s signal.

“Monsieur,” continued Louis, “you have then fortified Belle-Isle?”

“Yes, sire; and I have brought the plan and the accounts to your majesty,” replied Fouquet; “I have expended sixteen hundred livres in this operation.”

“What to do?” replied Louis, coldly, having taken the initiative from a malicious look of the intendant.

“For an aim very easy to seize,” replied Fouquet.  “Your majesty was on cool terms with Great Britain.”

“Yes; but since the restoration of King Charles II.  I have formed an alliance with him.”