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Ten Years Later
45. Confession of a Man of Wealth
Alexandre Dumas
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       The Theatin entered deliberately, without being too much astonished at the noise and agitation which anxiety for the cardinal's health had raised in his household. "Come in, my reverend father," said Mazarin, after a last look at the ruelle, "come in and console me."
       "That is my duty, my lord," replied the Theatin.
       "Begin by sitting down, and making yourself comfortable, for I am going to begin with a general confession, you will afterwards give me a good absolution, and I shall believe myself more tranquil."
       "My lord," said the father, "you are not so ill as to make a general confession urgent -- and it will be very fatiguing -- take care."
       "You suspect then, that it may be long, father"
       "How can I think it otherwise, when a man has lived so completely as your eminence has done?"
       "Ah! that is true! -- yes -- the recital may be long."
       "The mercy of God is great," snuffled the Theatin.
       "Stop," said Mazarin; "there I begin to terrify myself with having allowed so many things to pass which the Lord might reprove."
       "Is not that always so?" said the Theatin naively, removing further from the lamp his thin pointed face, like that of a mole. "Sinners are so forgetful beforehand, and scrupulous when it is too late."
       "Sinners?" replied Mazarin. "Do you use that word ironically, and to reproach me with all the genealogies I have allowed to be made on my account -- I -- the son of a fisherman, in fact?"*
       *This is quite untranslatable -- it being a play upon the words pecheur, a sinner, and pecheur, a fisherman. It is in very bad taste. -- Trans.
       "Hum!" said the Theatin.
       "That is a first sin, father; for I have allowed myself made to descend from two old Roman consuls, S. Geganius Macerinus 1st, Macerinus 2d, and Proculus Macerinus 3d, of whom the Chronicle of Haolander speaks. From Macerinus to Mazarin the proximity was tempting. Macerinus, a diminutive, means leanish, poorish, out of case. Oh! reverend father! Mazarini may now be carried to the augmentative Maigre, thin as Lazarus. Look! ' and he showed his fleshless arms.
       "In your having been born of a family of fishermen I see nothing injurious to you; for -- St. Peter was a fisherman; and if you are a prince of the church, my lord, he was the supreme head of it. Pass on, if you please."
       "So much the more for my having threatened with the Bastile a certain Bounet, a priest of Avignon, who wanted to publish a genealogy of the Casa Mazarini much too marvelous."
       "To be probable?" replied the Theatin.
       "Oh! if I had acted up to his idea, father, that would have been the vice of pride -- another sin."
       "It was excess of wit, and a person is not to be reproached with such sorts of abuses. Pass on, pass on!"
       "I was all pride. Look you, father, I will endeavor to divide that into capital sins."
       "I like divisions, when well made."
       "I am glad of that. You must know that in 1630 -- alas! that is thirty-one years ago ---- "
       "You were then twenty-nine years old, monseigneur."
       "A hot-headed age. I was then something of a soldier, and I threw myself at Casal into the arquebuscades, to show that I rode on horseback as well as an officer. It is true, I restored peace between the French and the Spaniards. That redeems my sin a little."
       "I see no sin in being able to ride well on horseback," said the Theatin; "that is in perfect good taste, and does honor to our gown. As a Christian, I approve of your having prevented the effusion of blood; as a monk I am proud of the bravery a monk has exhibited."
       Mazarin bowed his head humbly. "Yes," said he, "but the consequences?"
       "What consequences?"
       "Eh! that damned sin of pride has roots without end. From the time that I threw myself in that manner between two armies, that I had smelt powder and faced lines of soldiers, I have held generals a little in contempt."
       "Ah!" said the father.
       "There is the evil; so that I have not found one endurable since that time."
       "The fact is," said the Theatin, "that the generals we have had have not been remarkable."
       "Oh!" cried Mazarin, "there was Monsieur le Prince. I have tormented him thoroughly."
       "He is not much to be pitied: he has acquired sufficient glory, and sufficient wealth."
       "That may be, for Monsieur le Prince; but M. Beaufort, for example -- whom I held suffering so long in the dungeon of Vincennes?"
       "Ah! but he was a rebel, and the safety of the state required that you should make a sacrifice. Pass on!"
       "I believe I have exhausted pride. There is another sin which I am afraid to qualify."
       "I can qualify it myself. Tell it."
       "A great sin, reverend father!"
       "We shall judge, monseigneur."
       "You cannot fail to have heard of certain relations which I have had -- with her majesty the queen-mother; -- the malevolent ---- "
       "The malevolent, my lord, are fools. Was it not necessary for the good of the state and the interests of the young king, that you should live in good intelligence with the queen? Pass on, pass on!"
       "I assure you," said Mazarin, "you remove a terrible weight from my breast."
       "These are all trifles! -- look for something serious."
       "I have had much ambition, father."
       "That is the march of great minds and things, my lord."
       "Even the longing for the tiara?"
       "To be pope is to be the first of Christians. Why should you not desire that?"
       "It has been printed that, to gain that object, I had sold Cambria to the Spaniards."
       "You have, perhaps, yourself written pamphlets without severely persecuting pamphleteers."
       "Then, reverend father, I have truly a clean breast. I feel nothing remaining but slight peccadilloes."
       "What are they?"
       "Play."
       "That is rather worldly: but you were obliged by the duties of greatness to keep a good house."
       "I like to win."
       "No player plays to lose."
       "I cheated a little."
       "You took your advantage. Pass on."
       "Well! reverend father, I feel nothing else upon my conscience. Give me absolution, and my soul will be able, when God shall please to call it, to mount without obstacle to the throne ---- "
       The Theatin moved neither his arms nor his lips. "What are you waiting for, father?" said Mazarin.
       "I am waiting for the end."
       "The end of what?"
       "Of the confession, monsieur."
       "But I have ended."
       "Oh, no; your eminence is mistaken."
       "Not that I know of."
       "Search diligently."
       "I have searched as well as possible."
       "Then I shall assist your memory."
       "Do."
       The Theatin coughed several times. "You have said nothing of avarice, another capital sin, nor of those millions," said he.
       "What millions, father?"
       "Why, those you possess, my lord."
       "Father, that money is mine, why should I speak to you about that?"
       "Because, see you, our opinions differ. You say that money is yours, whilst I -- I believe it is rather the property of others."
       Mazarin lifted his cold hand to his brow, which was beaded with perspiration. "How so?" stammered he.
       "This way. Your excellency has gained much wealth -- in the service of the king."
       "Hum! much -- that is, not too much."
       "Whatever it may be, whence came that wealth?
       "From the state."
       "The state, that is the king."
       "But what do you conclude from that, father?" said Mazarin, who began to tremble.
       "I cannot conclude without seeing a list of the riches you possess. Let us reckon a little, if you please. You have the bishopric of Metz?"
       "Yes."
       "The abbeys of St. Clement, St. Arnould, and St. Vincent, all at Metz?"
       "Yes."
       "You have the abbey of St. Denis, in France, a magnificent property?"
       "Yes, father."
       "You have the abbey of Cluny, which is rich?"
       "I have."
       "That of St. Medard at Soissons, with a revenue of one hundred thousand livres?"
       "I cannot deny it."
       "That of St. Victor, at Marseilles, -- one of the best in the south?"
       "Yes, father."
       "A good million a year. With the emoluments of the cardinalship and the ministry, I say too little when I say two millions a year."
       "Eh!"
       "In ten years that is twenty millions, -- and twenty millions put out at fifty per cent give, by progression, twenty-three millions in ten years."
       "How well you reckon for a Theatin!"
       "Since your eminence placed our order in the convent we occupy, near St. Germain des Pres, in 1641, I have kept the accounts of the society."
       "And mine likewise, apparently, father."
       "One ought to know a little of everything, my lord."
       "Very well. Conclude, at present."
       "I conclude that your baggage is too heavy to allow you to pass through the gates of Paradise."
       "Shall I be damned?"
       "If you do not make restitution, yes."
       Mazarin uttered a piteous cry. "Restitution! -- but to whom, good God?"
       "To the owner of that money, -- to the king."
       "But the king did not give it all to me."
       "One moment, -- does not the king sign the ordonnances?"
       Mazarin passed from sighs to groans. "Absolution! absolution!" cried he.
       "Impossible, my lord. Restitution! restitution!" replied the Theatin.
       "But you absolve me from all other sins, why not from that?"
       "Because," replied the father, "to absolve you for that motive would be a sin for which the king would never absolve me, my lord."
       Thereupon the confessor quitted his penitent with an air full of compunction. He then went out in the same manner he had entered.
       "Oh, good God!" groaned the cardinal. "Come here, Colbert, I am very, very ill indeed, my friend."
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本书目录

1. The Letter.
2. The Messenger.
3. The Interview.
4. Father and Son.
5. In which Something will be said of Cropoli--of Cropoli and of a Great Unknown Painter.
6. The Unknown.
7. Parry.
8. What his Majesty King Louis XIV. was at the Age of Twenty-Two
9. In which the Unknown of the Hostelry of Les Medici loses his Incognito.
10. The Arithmetic of M. de Mazarin
11. Mazarin's Policy
12. The King and the Lieutenant
13. Mary de Mancini
14. In which the King and the Lieutenant each give Proofs of Memory
15. The Proscribed
16. "Remember!"
17. In which Aramis is sought and only Bazin is found
18. In which D'Artagnan seeks Porthos, and only finds Mousqueton
19. What D'Artagnan went to Paris for
20. Of the Society which was formed in the Rue des Lombards, at the Sign of the Pilon d'Or, to carry out M. d'Artagnan's Idea
21. In which D'Artagnan prepares to travel for the Firm of Planchet and Company
22. D'Artagnan travels for the House of Planchet and Company
23. In which the Author, very unwillingly, is forced to write a Little History
24. The Treasure
25. The March
26. Heart and Mind
27. The Next Day
28. Smuggling
29. In which D'Artagnan begins to fear he has placed his Money and that of Planchet in the Sinking Fund
30. The Shares of Planchet and Company rise again to Par
31. Monk reveals himself
32. Athos and D'Artagnan meet once more at the Hostelry of the Corne du Cerf
33. The Audience.
34. Of the Embarrassment of Riches
35. On the Canal
36. How D'Artagnan drew, as a Fairy would have done, a Country-seat from a Deal Box
37. How D'Artagnan regulated the "Assets" of the Company before he established its "Liabilities"
38. In which it is seen that the French Grocer had already been established in the Seventeenth Century
39. Mazarin's Gaming Party
40. An Affair of State
41. The Recital
42. In which Mazarin becomes Prodigal
43. Guenaud
44. Colbert
45. Confession of a Man of Wealth
46. The Donation
47. How Anne of Austria gave one Piece of Advice to Louis XIV., and how M. Fouquet gave him another
48. Agony
49. The First Appearance of Colbert
50. The First Day of the Royalty of Louis XIV
51. A Passion
52. D'Artagnan's Lesson
53. The King
54. The Houses of M. Fouquet
55. The Abbe Fouquet
56. M. de la Fontaine's Wine
57. The Gallery of Saint-Mande
58. Epicureans
59. A Quarter of an Hour's Delay
60. Plan of Battle
61. The Cabaret of the Image-de-Notre-Dame
62. Vive Colbert!
63. How M. d'Eymeris's Diamond passed into the Hands of M. D'Artagnan.
64. Of the Notable Difference D'Artagnan finds between Monsieur the Intendant and Monsieur the Superintendent
65. Philosophy of the Heart and Mind
66. The Journey
67. How D'Artagnan became acquainted with a Poet, who had turned Printer for the sake of printing his own Verses
68. D'Artagnan continues his Investigations
69. In which the Reader, no doubt, will be as astonished as D'Artagnan was to meet an Old Acquaintance
70. Wherein the Ideas of D'Artagnan, at first strangely clouded, begin to clear up a little
71. A Procession at Vannes
72. The Grandeur of the Bishop of Vannes
73. In which Porthos begins to be sorry for having come with D'Artagnan
74. In which D'Artagnan makes all Speed, Porthos snores, and Aramis counsels
75. In which Monsieur Fouquet acts
76. In which D'Artagnan finishes by at length placing his Hand upon his Captain's Commission
77. A Lover and his Mistress
78. In which we at length see the true Heroine of this History appear
79. Malicorne and Manicamp
80. Manicamp and Malicorne
81. The Courtyard of the Hotel Grammont
82. The Portrait of Madame
83. Havre
84. At Sea
85. The Tents
86. Night
87. From Havre to Paris
88. An Account of what the Chevalier de Lorraine thought of Madame
89. A Surprise for Madame de Montalais
90. The Consent of Athos
91. Monsieur becomes jealous of the Duke of Buckingha
92. Forever!
93. King Louis XIV. does not think Mademoiselle de la Valliere either rich enough or pretty enough for a Gentleman of the Rank of the Vicomte de Bragelonne
94. Sword-thrusts in the Water
95. Sword-thrusts in the Water (concluded)
96. Baisemeaux de Montlezun
97. The King's Card-table
98. M. Baisemeaux de Montlezun's Accounts
99. The Breakfast at Monsieur de Baisemeaux's
100. The Second Floor of la Bertaudiere
101. The Two Friends
102. Madame de Belliere's Plate
103. The Dowry
104. Le Terrain de Dieu