Carriages were already bringing the guests of Fouquet to Saint-Mande;already the whole house was getting warm with the preparations forsupper, when the superintendent launched his fleet horses upon the roadto Paris, and going by the quays, in order to meet fewer people on theway, soon reached the Hotel de Ville. It wanted a quarter to eight.Fouquet alighted at the corner of the Rue de Long-pont, and, onfoot, directed his course towards the Place de Greve, accompanied byGourville. At the turning of the Place they saw a man dressed in blackand violet, of dignified mien, who was preparing to get into a hiredcarriage, and told the coachman to stop at Vincennes. He had before hima large hamper filled with bottles, which he had just purchased at thecabaret with the sign of "L'Image-de-Notre-Dame."
"Eh, but! that is Vatel! my maitre d'hotel!" said Fouquet to Gourville.
"Yes, monseigneur," replied the latter.
"What can he have been doing at the sign of L'Image-de-Notre-Dame?"
"Buying wine, no doubt."
"What! buy wine for me, at a cabaret?" said Fouquet. "My cellar, then,must be in a miserable condition!" and he advanced towards the maitred'hotel who was arranging his bottles in the carriage with the mostminute care.
"Hola! Vatel," said he, in the voice of a master.
"Take care, monseigneur!" said Gourville, "you will be recognized."
"Very well! Of what consequence?--Vatel!
The man dressed in black and violet turned round. He had a good andmild countenance, without expression--a mathematician minus the pride. Acertain fire sparkled in the eyes of this personage, a rather sly smileplayed round his lips; but the observer might soon have remarked thatthis fire and this smile applied to nothing, enlightened nothing. Vatellaughed like an absent man, and amused himself like a child. Atthe sound of his master's voice he turned round, exclaiming: "Oh!monseigneur!"
"Yes, it is I. What the devil are you doing here, Vatel? Wine! You arebuying wine at a cabaret in the Place de Greve!"
"But, monseigneur," said Vatel, quietly, after having darted a hostileglance at Gourville, "why am I interfered with here? Is my cellar keptin bad order?"
"No, certes, Vatel, no, but----"
"But what?" replied Vatel. Gourville touched Fouquet's elbow.
"Don't be angry, Vatel, I thought my cellar--your cellar--sufficientlywell stocked for us to be able to dispense with recourse to the cellarof L'Image de-Notre-Dame."
"Eh, monsieur," said Vatel, shrinking from monseigneur to monsieur witha degree of disdain: "your cellar is so well stocked that when certainof your guests dine with you they have nothing to drink."
Fouquet, in great surprise, looked at Gourville. "What do you mean bythat?"
"I mean that your butler had not wine for all tastes, monsieur; and thatM. de la Fontaine, M. Pellisson, and M. Conrart, do not drink when theycome to the house--these gentlemen do not like strong wine. What is tobe done, then?"
"Well, and therefore?"
"Well, then, I have found here a vin de Joigny, which they like. I knowthey come once a week to drink at the Image-de-Notre-Dame. That is thereason I am making this provision."
Fouquet had no more to say; he was convinced. Vatel, on his part, hadmuch more to say, without doubt, and it was plain he was getting warm."It is just as if you would reproach me, monseigneur, for going to theRue Planche Milbray, to fetch, myself, the cider M. Loret drinks when hecomes to dine at your house."
"Loret drinks cider at my house!" cried Fouquet, laughing.
"Certainly he does, monsieur, and that is the reason why he dines therewith pleasure."
"Vatel," cried Fouquet, pressing the hand of his maitre d'hotel, "youare a man! I thank you, Vatel, for having understood that at my houseM. de la Fontaine, M. Conrart, and M. Loret, are as great as dukes andpeers, as great as princes, greater than myself. Vatel, you are a goodservant, and I double your salary."
Vatel did not even thank his master, he merely shrugged his shoulders alittle, murmuring this superb sentiment: "To be thanked for having doneone's duty is humiliating."
"He is right," said Gourville, as he drew Fouquet's attention, by agesture, to another point. He showed him a low-built tumbrel, drawn bytwo horses, upon which rocked two strong gibbets, bound together,back to back, by chains, whilst an archer, seated upon the cross-beam,suffered, as well as he could, with his head cast down, the commentsof a hundred vagabonds, who guessed the destination of the gibbets,and were escorting them to the Hotel de Ville. Fouquet started. "It isdecided, you see," said Gourville.
"But it is not done," replied Fouquet.
"Oh, do not flatter yourself, monseigneur; if they have thus lulled yourfriendship and suspicions--if things have gone so far, you will be ableto undo nothing."
"But I have not given my sanction."
"M. de Lyonne has ratified for you."
"I will go to the Louvre."
"Oh, no, you will not."
"Would you advise such baseness?" cried Fouquet, "would you advise me toabandon my friends? would you advise me, whilst able to fight, to throwthe arms I hold in my hand to the ground?"
"I do not advise you to do anything of the kind, monseigneur. Are you ina position to quit the post of superintendent at this moment?"
"No."
"Well, if the king wishes to displace you----"
"He will displace me absent as well as present."
"Yes, but you will not have insulted him."
"Yes, but I shall have been base; now I am not willing that my friendsshould die; and they shall not die!"
"For that it is necessary you should go to the Louvre, is it not?"
"Gourville!"
"Beware! once at the Louvre, you will be forced to defend your friendsopenly, that is to say, to make a profession of faith; or you will beforced to abandon them irrevocably."
"Never!"
"Pardon me,--the king will propose the alternative to you, rigorously,or else you will propose it to him yourself."
"That is true."
"That is the reason why conflict must be avoided. Let us return toSaint-Mande, monseigneur."
"Gourville, I will not stir from this place, where the crime is to becarried out, where my disgrace is to be accomplished; I will not stir, Isay, till I have found some means of combating my enemies."
"Monseigneur," replied Gourville, "you would excite my pity, if I didnot know you for one of the great spirits of this world. You possess ahundred and fifty millions, you are equal to the king in position, anda hundred and fifty millions his superior in money. M. Colbert has noteven had the wit to have the will of Mazarin accepted. Now, when a manis the richest person in a kingdom, and will take the trouble to spendthe money, if things are done he does not like it is because he is apoor man. Let us return to Saint-Mande, I say."
"To consult with Pellisson?--we will."
"So be it," said Fouquet, with angry eyes;--"yes, to Saint-Mande!" Hegot into his carriage again and Gourville with him. Upon their road, atthe end of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, they overtook the humble equipageof Vatel, who was quietly conveying home his vin de Joigny. The blackhorses, going at a swift pace, alarmed as they passed, the timid hack ofthe maitre d'hotel, who, putting his head out at the window, cried, in afright, "Take care of my bottles!"
CHAPTER 57. The Gallery of Saint-Mande
Ten Years Later Page 61