“Your Majesty probably refers to God,” said M. de Tréville; “for I know no one except God who can be so far above Your Majesty.”

“No, Monsieur; I speak of the prop of the State, of my only servant, of my only friend⁠—of the cardinal.”

“His Eminence is not his holiness, sire.”

“What do you mean by that, Monsieur?”

“That it is only the Pope who is infallible, and that this infallibility does not extend to cardinals.”

“You mean to say that he deceives me; you mean to say that he betrays me? You accuse him, then? Come, speak; avow freely that you accuse him!”

“No, sire, but I say that he deceives himself. I say that he is ill-informed. I say that he has hastily accused Your Majesty’s Musketeers, toward whom he is unjust, and that he has not obtained his information from good sources.”