"Interesting. I always wondered what it was, but never thought it appropriate to ask a woman about... Well, you know how it is. I'll make this plain from the start, Monsieur...?" Le Brun left the word hanging as he searched for the name.

"De Nehon."

"Yes, of course, Monsieur De Nehon as you can see from the chaos outside, I'm a very busy man. I agreed to meet with you only because Madame Ruebal mentioned your skill as a glassier and said something vague about a new process."

"Well, let's get directly to business then," Louis said, opening the case. "Madame Ruebal was correct about a new process. As you no doubt know, glass and mirrors are made by a blowing, shaping, and cutting process that leaves ripples and imperfections by even the finest craftsmen. But this," he said, removing a mirror, "this is made differently and has no imperfections."

Le Brun set his notepad aside and delicately took the mirror from Louis. "It's thin," he said looking at it on edge before admiring his round fleshy face in its depths. He turned the mirror to different angles, then walked to the windows overlooking the courtyard and compared the surfaces. "This is cast, is it not?"

"It is."

He turned and walked quickly toward Louis. "This is marvelous!" he said excitedly. "How did you do it? No, never mind that, can you make more of these?"

Louis reached inside and pulled out the other five, one by one, placing them edge to edge on the desk so that they made a larger whole. Le Brun placed the sixth on the desk to complete the rectangle. "I can make as many as you need Monsieur. In fact, I was hoping to produce several thousand of these for the Gallery of Mirrors concession."

LeBrun's eyes fixed on Louis. "Interesting idea Monsieur De Nehon, very interesting. Tell me please, can you make larger ones?"

Louis swallowed hard. "No Monsieur, this is as large as I've been able to produce yet, but I've only been producing these pieces for five months. I'm sure with a little more time I could--."

Le Brun held up his hand to cut him off. "I understand. You'll have your time. I want to use pieces of this quality in the project, but there is another problem that may take time. There is someone else who has been promised the concession, but his pieces don't come close to these," he said looking down at himself.

"Joubert."

Le Brun looked up at him and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Yes, Joubert. Do you know him?"

"I know of him."