Part 44 (1/2)
The ti come, Madame de Maintenon said to the fair Epicurean, with a smile: ”You are one of us, are you not? The music will be delicious in the chapel to-day; you will not have a ht reproach with a smile of propriety, replied that she adored and respected everything which the , tranquilly, secluded in his golden box, could see and exa hiaze As for her, her decent and quite appropriate attitude , and of the most critical eyes
The monarch, in effect, departed, not for the Chateau of Marly, but for Trianon; and hardly had he reached there before, in a little, very close carriage, he was brought back to Versailles He went up to Madame de Maintenon's apartments by the little staircase in the Prince's Court, and stole into the glass closet without being observed, except by a solitary lackey
The ladies, believing themselves to be alone and at liberty, talked without cereh they had been but twenty years old The King was very s which were said, but he heard, without losing a word, the following dialogue or interview:
NINON DE L'ENCLOS--It is notto night I breathe that voluptuous air of independence which refreshes the blood, and puts in play its circulation I am morally the same person whom you came to see in the pretty little house in the Rue de Tournelles My dressing-gown, as you well knoas arb To-day, as then, Madame la Marquise, I should choose to place on my escutcheon the Latin device of the towns of San Marino and Lucca,--Libertas You have coratulate you upon yours, and I am surprised that you have so kept and preserved it in the reatness involve
MADAME DE MAINTENON--At the coue, and believed that I should never get to the year's end without disgust
Little by little I ireat activity and occupation, by separating us, as it were, fro niceties, both of our proper sensibility, and of our self-conceit I res, my fears, and my privations after the death of that poor man;--[It was so that she commonly spoke of her husband, Scarron]--and since labour has been the yoke iood grace to the respectable labour of education Few teachers are attached to their pupils; I attached ht It is true that it was 's children amiable and pretty, as few children are
NINON DE L'ENCLOS--From the most handsome and amiableM du Maine is your idol; the King has given hience; and you have inoculated him with your wit Is it true that Madaer your friend? That is a ru is true I regret it, and am sorry for you
MADAME DE MAINTENON--Madame de Montespan, as all Paris knows, obtained my pension for me after the death of the Queen-mother This service, comparable with a favour, will always remain in my heart and my memory I have thanked her a thousand times for it, and I always shall thank her for it At the tied herself with my fate and fortune, the Marquise, who had known me at the Hotel d'Albret, desired to retain me in France, where she destined forI did what she desired; I took charge of his numerous children out of respect for my benefactor, and attachment to herself To-day, when their first education is coift of the Maintenon estate, the Marquise pretends thatto let nition due to her i, and withdraw frohbourhood
NINON DE L'ENCLOS--Absolutely
MADAME DE MAINTENON--Yes, really, I assure you
NINON DE L'ENCLOS--A departure? An absolute retreat? Oh, it is too n your office?
MADAME DE MAINTINON--I cannot but think so,personally, and for my private satisfaction, I should be enchanted to see you quit the Court and return to society
Society is your element You know it by heart; you have shone there, and there you would shi+ne again On reappearing, you would see yourself instantly surrounded by those delicate and (pardon the expression) sensuous reeable stories, your brilliant and solid conversation Those pleasant, idle hours were lost to us when you left us, and I shall always remember them At the Court, where etiquette selects our words, as it rules our attitudes, you cannot be yourself; I must confess that frankly You do not paint your lovely face, and I aed to you for that, madame; but it is i your discourse, not with the King, perhaps, whose always calaze transparently reveals the randeurs, those royal and serene highnesses, whose artificial and factitious perfumes already filled your chapel before the incense of the sacrifice had wreathed its clouds round the high altar
The King, suddenly showing himself, so wished, reeable opportunity for which I am indebted to Madahness', slightly perfuh I be, to enjoy for a moment your witty conversation and society What! The atmosphere does not meet with your approval, and, in order to have ust her with it herself, and deprive us of her?”
”Sire,” answered Ninon, ”I have not enough power or authority to render rets will be excused, I hope, since, if rief there that she has caused us”
”One has one's detractors in every conceivable locality If Madame de Maintenon has met with one at Versailles she would not be exempt from them anywhere else At Paris, you would be without rarant me this preference,--I can very well protect my friends I think the town is ill-informed, and that Mada reatly oblige me, mademoiselle, if you will adopt this opinion and publish it in your society, which is always select, though it is so nu to other subjects, brought up, of his own accord, the place of fareneral, which happened to be vacant; and he said to Mademoiselle de l'Enclos: ”I promise you this favour with pleasure, the first which you have ever solicited ofyou to address yourself to Madame de Maintenon on every occasion when your relations or yourself have so to ask from me You must see clearly, mademoiselle, that it is well to leave ent with me for you, and your particular ambassadress”
I learnt all these curious details five or six days later fro colonel, related to me, to whom Mademoiselle de l'Enclos narrated her ad the whole of this scene, I have not altered the sense of a word; I have only sought to make up for the charm which every conversation loses that is reported by a third party as not actually an eyewitness
This confidence inforainst h my visit were an ordinary one, and asked her what one was to think of Ninon's intervieith the King
”Yes,” she said, ”his Majesty has for a long tireat desire to see her, as a person of much wit, and of whoined her to have larger eyes, and soreatly, and, I reeably surprised, to find that he had been deceived 'One can see eyes of far greater size,' his Majesty told me, 'but not more brilliant, more animated or amiable Her mouth, admirably moulded, is almost as small as Mada Georgian about it, unless I a she likes; she awaits your replies without interruption; her contradictions preserve urbanity; she is respectful without servility; her pleasant voice, although not of silver, is none the less the voice of a nymph In conclusion, I am charmed with her'”