The Red Sphinx by Alexandre Dumas

Author:Alexandre Dumas
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Pegasus Books

“Well,” said the king, with a dark look and a hoarse voice, “now you’re all happy, and each of you is ready to believe that you’re in charge.”

Queen Marie, who considered herself the most important of the assembled royalty, was the first to reply. “You know better than anyone, Sire, that here you are the master, and I for one shall be the first to make an example of my obedience—but, upon the occasion of this historic retirement of Monsieur le Cardinal, allow me to give you some advice.”

“And what is that, Madame?” asked the king. “Advice from you is always welcome.”

“You should make haste to appoint a council who will manage the affairs of the realm in your absence.”

“So now, when I march away to war with my brother, you no longer fear for my health and that of my realm, Madame, as when I planned to go with Monsieur le Cardinal?”

“My son, when you resisted my pleas and those of the queen, your wife, you seemed so resolved to go that I haven’t dared to consider any alternative.”

“And who, Madame, do you propose to include in this council?”

“Well,” said the queen mother, “I certainly think Cardinal Bérulle can take the place of Monsieur de Richelieu.”

“And who else?”

“You already have Monsieur de La Vieuville for finance and Monsieur de Marillac as Keeper of the Seals. They can stay.”

The king nodded. “And the war?” he asked.

“For that you have Marshal Marillac, brother of the Keeper of the Seals. Such a council, consisting of dedicated men and chaired by you, my son, will provide for the safety of the state.”

“Then for naval affairs,” said Monsieur, “since Monsieur le Cardinal will probably resign his admiralties along with his ministry, you have Messieurs de Lorient and du Ponent.”

“You forget, Monsieur, that he bought one admiralty from Monsieur de Guise and the other from Monsieur de Montmorency, paying them a million each.”

“Then pay him back,” said Monsieur.

“With his own money?” asked the king, who had enough of a feeling of justice to regard such an act as shameful, though he knew Monsieur was perfectly capable of it.

Monsieur felt the dig, and reared under the spur. “No, Sire,” he sniffed. “With Your Majesty’s permission, I will find the money for one, and I’m sure Monsieur de Condé will pay for the other. Unless the king would prefer that I purchased both. Brothers of the king are often great admirals of the realm.”

“Very well,” said the king, “we’ll see.”

“Only,” said Marie de Médicis, “I must point out, my son, that before turning over all this wealth left by Cardinal Richelieu to Monsieur de La Vieuville in his capacity as Superintendent of Finance, the king could, on his own authority, make such gifts of largesse as seemed appropriate—with no one the wiser.”

“Not for my brother, in any case—he is wealthier than we are, it seems! He just claimed he had two million on hand to buy admiralties for du Ponent and de Lorient!”

“I said I would find the money, Sire.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.