For my part I have no fear of troubling you, since I am come, sir, to
make your fortune.
ER. (_Aside_). This is some alchymist: one of those creatures who
have nothing, and are always promising you ever so much riches.
(_Aloud_). Have you discovered that blessed stone, sir, which alone
can enrich all the kings of the earth?
ORM. Aha! what a funny idea! Heaven forbid, sir, that I should be one of
those fools. I do not foster idle dreams; I bring you here sound words
of advice which I would communicate, through you, to the King, and which
I always carry about me, sealed up. None of those silly plans and vain
chimeras which are dinned in the ears of our superintendents;
[Footnote: This is an allusion to the giver of the feast, Mons. Fouquet,
_surintendant des finances_. See also page 299, note I.]
none of your beggarly schemes which rise to no more than twenty or
thirty millions; but one which, at the lowest reckoning, will give the
King a round four hundred millions yearly, with ease, without risk or
suspicion, without oppressing the nation in any way. In short, it is a
scheme for an inconceivable profit, which will be found feasible at the
first explanation.
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