CHAPTER XVIII.

Theory which makes Fouquet the Man with the Iron Mask--Arguments advanced by M. Lacroix--Some to be absolutely rejected and some discussed--Fouquet not in possession of a dangerous State Secret--Madame de Maintenon--Her Character--Her Youth--Her Relations with Monsieur and Madame Fouquet--Her honourable Reserve--The Affair of the Poisons--How Fouquet’s Name became mixed up in it--Probability of his Death being caused by an Attack of Apoplexy--Weakness of the other Arguments advanced by M. Lacroix--Oblivion into which the Surintendant had fallen--Two mysterious Arrests 232