Part 22 (1/2)
At this news, Clorinde was seized with violent convulsions; so severe, indeed, was this attack, that her wretched husband at once sought to have the order rescinded But as it transpired, the King's wish had been instantly complied with, and the unwelcome news had to be told to Clorinde
”If you love rant me this last favour, after which, I swear it, Clorinde will never make further appeal to your kind-heartedness However quick they have been,friend cannot yet have reached the coast Let ive hi words of advice, and one last kiss before he is lost toand so profuse her tears, that M de Nesot ready there and then An hour before sunset the belfries of Havre caht up to the harbour wharf
The shi+p had just loosed herout to sea
Clorinde could recognise Melladoro standing a, she stretched out her arht to hide behind his coed him to show hiate, and the good-natured sailors helped her to cliitation and bewilderment her foot slipped, and she fell into the sea, whence she was soon rescued by several of the pluckiest of the crew
As she was being ree, the vessel sailed out of harbour M de Nesreater convenience, and had to stop there for a whole ht back on a litter to Paris
Her convalescence was but an illusion after all Hardly had she reached home when fatal symptoms appeared; she felt that she must die, but showed little concern thereat The portrait of the handsome Spaniard lay close beside her on her couch She sht it to have pity on her loneliness, or scolded it bitterly for indifference, and for going away
A short time before her death, she sent for her husband and her father, to whom she entrusted the care of her three children
”Monsieur,” said she to the President de Nesht to your nae, dearest Theodore is your son” Then turning to her father, eeping, she said briefly, ”All that to-day rehters
”Pray love them as you loved me, and be more strict with them than you ithAll that Melladoro owes them is affection Tell him, I pray you, of my constancy and ofho coreeable and after her own heart M de Nesh to adood nature must intervene, to ensure that the one ent treatment at the hands of the er of the two
CHAPTER L
Madame de Montespan's Children and Those of La Valliere--Monsieur le Dauphin
I had successively lost the first and second Coin; God also chose to take Mademoiselle de Tours from e of the Queen Her Majesty was told so, and desired to seewas the reseirl, and requested that she ht to see her Such friendliness proved unlucky, for the Infanta, as is well known, has never been able to rear one of her children,--a great pity, certainly, for she has had five, all handso
In the case of Madeed to conquer her dislike, and also sent for the Duc du Maine Despite her affection for M le Dauphin, she herself adentle's son
The Duc du Maine, Madame de Maintenon's special pupil, was so well trained to all the exigencies of his position and his rank, that such prey Than his, no s and sweet; no one could carry hihtly, which is a great pity, especially as he has such good looks, and so graceful a figure; his lameness, indeed, was entirely the result of an accident,--a sad accident, due to teething To please the King, his governess took him once to Auvez, and twice to the Pyrenees, but neither the waters nor the Auvez quack doctors could effect a cure At any rate, I was fortunate enough to bring up this handsome prince, who, if he treat ht up by the Duc de Montausier, a sort of monkish soldier, and by Bossuet, a sort of ood examples from which to profit Crammed as he is with Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, and Church history, he knows all that they teach in colleges, being totally ignorant of all that can only be learnt at the Court of a king He has no distinction of hs in loud guffaws, and even raises his voice in the presence of his father Having been born at Court, his way of bowing is not altogether aard; but what a difference between his salute and that of the King! ”Monseigneur looks just like a German prince” That speech exactly hits him off,--a portrait sketched by no other brush than that of his royal father
Monseigneur, who does not likevery jealous of the pretty Comte de Vermandois and his brother, the Duc du Maine, he tries to iant manner, but is too stiff to succeed The Duc du Maine shows hioverness, but the Co separated fro thoroughly candid and sincere, shows little restraint Often, instead of styling hineur,” he calls him merely ”Monsieur le Dauphin,” while the latter, as if such a title were common or of no account, looks at his brother andabout such petty fraternal tiffs, he said, ”With age, all that will disappear; as a ings”
M le Dauphin shows a singular preference for Madehter, brimful of wit and fun, often makes merry at the expense of her exalted adhter of Mada person it is possible to iure reminds one of the beautiful Goddesses, hom poets entertain us; she abounds in accomplishments and every sort of charm Her tender solicitude for her mother, and their constant close coence and penetration
Like the King, she is soe brown eyes, and just his Austrian lip, his shapely hand and well-turned leg, almost his selfsanancy, had no bosom to speak of, has shownat the convent The Princess, ever since she attained the age of puberty, has always see provided her with a husband in the person of the Prince de Conti, a nephew of the Prince de Conde They are devotedly attached to each other, being both as handsome as can be The Princesse de Conti enjoys the entire affection of the Queen, who becomes quite uneasy if she does not see her for five or six days
Certain foreign princes proposed for her hand, when the King replied that the presence of his daughter was as needful to hiht or the air he breathed
I have here surely drawn a ht certainly to be believed, for Madame de Conti is not fond of me at all Possibly she looks upon race; I shall never be at pains to undeceive her Until the moment of her departure, Mada before her going she took supper with me, and I certainly had no cause to read in her looks either annoyance or reproach Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who happened to call, saw us at table, and stayed to have some dessert with us She has often told me afterwards how calm and serene the duchess looked One would never have thought she was about to quit a brilliant Court for the hair shi+rt of the ascetic, and all the death-in-life of a convent I grieved for her, I wept for her, and I got her a grand gentleman as a husband
[This statement is scarcely reconcilable with the fact that Madame de la Valliere remained in a convent until her death This hter, as given in e to the Prince de Conti--EDITOR'S NOTE]