At least he did not give him the satisfaction of showing that he had been frightened.

Colbert, so annoyingly attacked, did not give way.
"I have not been quick, monseigneur," he replied, "because I followed your example whenever you stopped." "And why did you do that, Monsieur Colbert ?" cried Fouquet, irritated by the base audacity; "as you had a superior crew to mine, why did you not either join me or pass me ?" "Out of respect," said the intendant, bowing to the ground.
Fouquet got into a carriage which the city had sent to him, we know not why or how, and he repaired to _la Maison de Nantes_, escorted by a vast crowd of people, who for several days had been agog with expectation of a convocation of the States.

Scarcely was he installed when Gourville went out to order horses on the route to Poitiers and Vannes, and a boat at Paimboef.

He performed these various operations with so much mystery, activity, and generosity, that never was Fouquet, then laboring under an attack of fever, more nearly saved, except for the counteraction of that immense disturber of human projects,--chance.

A report was spread during the night, that the king was coming in great haste on post horses, and would arrive in ten or twelve hours at the latest.