Part 46 (1/2)
”Sire,” replied Petitot, ”it will not be for another six weeks All these affairs and decrees have deprived me of many hours; my heart is heavy over it!”
”And why do you busy yourself with these discussions, hich your great talent has no concern?” said the King to hiion that is more concerned than ever I am a Christian, and my law is dear to me”
”And I a ”I profess the religion, I keep the law that your ancestors and mine kept before the Reforreat number of monarchs,--a proof that the Refors, as is said”
”Yes, in the case of wise and honest ood friend Petitot; but just as all your brothers have not your talents, so they have not your rectitude and loyalty, which are known toyou to be persuaded that my brothers have been calumniated”
”Yes, if one is to accuse them in the st your theologians; intercepted correspondences depose to it The allied princes, having been unable to crush me by their invasions and artillery, have recourse to internal and clandestinefailed to corrupt y, as they did at Montauban and La Rochelle, in the days of Cardinal Richelieu”
”Sire, do not believe in any such manoeuvres; all your subjects love and admire you, whatever be their faith and communion”
”Petitot, you are an ad you If I believed you had as reat affairs as for the wonders of the brush, I would make you a Counsellor of State on the instant, and a half-hour spent with me and my documents and papers of importance would be sufficient towhat has been discussed between us
Madareat alarood friend! Where will you find a sky so pure and soft as the sky of France? Where will you find a King more tenderly attached to men of merit, more particularly, to my dear and illustrious Petitot?”
At these words, pronounced with emotion, the artist felt the tears coround, respectfully kissed the hand of the monarch, and promised to complete his portrait i's miniature and my four portraits were finished without hesitation or postponement; and Petitot also consented to copy, for his Majesty, a superb Christine of Sweden, a full-length picture, painted by Le Bourdon But at the final revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he thought his conscience, or rather his vanity, co offered to allow him a chaplain of his communion, and a dispensation from all the oaths, to Petitot himself, to Boyer, his brother-in-law, and the chaplain whom they had retained with theuards--Racine's Phedre--The Pit--Allusions--The Duel--M de Monclar--The Cowled Spy--He Escapes with a Fright--M de Monclar in Jersey--Gratitude of the Marquise--Happy Memory
Lovers, in the effervescence of their passion, exaggerate to theth and intensity of their sentireeable weakness causes thes the duration of it, so that they swear eternal fidelity, a constancy, proof against all, two days after that one which shone on their lect and abandon the amiable La Valliere, and I listened to him none the less credulously and confidently when he said to me: ”Athenais, we have been created for each other: if Heaven were suddenly to deprive e dissolved, and, before the altar and the world, join your destiny, to mine”
Full of these fantastic ideas, in which my hope and desire and credulity were centred, I had accepted those body-guards of state who never left e The poor Queen had murmured: I had disdained her murmurs The public had ht against the insolent opinion of that public I could not renounce my chimera of royalty, based on innuuards in anticipation, and as a preliminary
One of thee, which went along like a ind His horse fell on the high road to Versailles; his thigh was broken, and his body horribly bruised I descended froe to see after him I confided him, with the eon of Viroflai, who lavished on him his attentions, his skill and zeal, and who sent him back quite sound after a wholeBaron de Monclar (such was the na merited my favour by this accident, and he remained sincerely and finally attached to me
At the ties, the spell which was over my eyes was dissipated The illusions of my youth were lost, and I saw, at last, the real distance which divided me from the steps of the throne The health of a still youthful Queen seemed to me as firm and unalterable then as it appeared to me weak and uncertain before The inconstancy of the ht be still in store for me, and I resolved to withdraw myself, voluntarily and with prudence, within the just li was one of uards no longer, but to reserve the divinity, who had already more than once obtained them
In these latter days, that is to say, since the e becoer the spouse of the prince, I frequently retired fronant to me, and went and passed entire weeks at Paris, where the works on e hotel, that had been suspended for divers reasons, were being resumed
A debutante, as beautiful as she was clever, was drawing the entire capital to the Comedie Francaise She obtained especial applause in the difficult part of Phedre My friends spoke marvels of it, and wished to take ed We arrived as the curtain was going up As I took my seat I noticed a certain stir in the orchestra and pit The lances were directed at my box, in which my apparition had attracted curiosity I carried low of the lights Immediately several voices were to be heard: ”Take away the fan, if you please” The young and foolish applauded this audacity; but all the better part disapproved
The actress ht the incident to an end Although deeply nificent part of Phedre, which often excited es, which every one knows by heart, two or three insolent persons abandoned theressive phrases with their applause, succeeded in directing general attention toof disorder, and probably were concerned at my embarrassment