"We cure nothing but the king's evil," replied Louis; "and the complaints
of the Cardinal are always so mysterious that we own we can not
understand them."

The Prince thus essayed to brave his minister, gaining strength in jests,
the better to break his yoke, insupportable, but so difficult to remove.
He almost thought he had succeeded in this, and, sustained by the joyous
air surrounding him, he already privately congratulated himself on having
been able to assume the supreme empire, and for the moment enjoyed all
the power of which he fancied himself possessed. An involuntary
agitation in the depth of his heart had warned him indeed that, the hour
passed, all the burden of the State would fall upon himself alone; but he
talked in order to divert the troublesome thought, and, concealing from
himself the doubt he had of his own inability to reign, he set his
imagination to work upon the result of his enterprises, thus forcing
himself to forget the tedious roads which had led to them. Rapid phrases
succeeded one another on his lips.

"We shall soon take Perpignan," he said to Fabert, who stood at some
distance.

"Well, Cardinal, Lorraine is ours," he added to La Vallette. Then,
touching Mazarin's arm:

"It is not so difficult to manage a State as is supposed, eh?"

The Italian, who was not so sure of the Cardinal's disgrace as most of
the courtiers, answered, without compromising himself: