He learned that the king, during the last fortnight, had been gloomy; that the queen-mother was ill and much depressed; that Monsieur, the king's brother, was exhibiting a devotional turn; that Madame had the vapors; and that M.de Guiche was gone to one of his estates.

He learned that M.Colbert was radiant; that M.Fouquet consulted a fresh physician every day, who still did not cure him, and that his principal complaint was one which physicians do not usually cure, unless they are political physicians.

The king, D'Artagnan was told, behaved in the kindest manner to M.Fouquet, and did not allow him to be ever out of his sight; but the surintendant, touched to the heart, like one of those fine trees a worm has punctured, was declining daily, in spite of the royal smile, that sun of court trees.

D'Artagnan learned that Mademoiselle de la Valliere had become indispensable to the king; that the king, during his sporting excursions, if he did not take her with him, wrote to her frequently, no longer verses, but, which was much worse, prose, and that whole pages at a time.

Thus, as the political Pleiad of the day said, the _first king in the world_ was seen descending from his horse _with an ardor beyond compare_, and on the crown of his hat scrawling bombastic phrases, which M.de Saint-Aignan, aide-de-camp in perpetuity, carried to La Valliere at the risk of foundering his horses.