Part 34 (2/2)
”Ah, sire, you know very well you are pretending to be , and yet feel that he possesses fewer chances of pleasing than entlele word you are saying”
The king looked at Mada?”
”What is it?”
”That you will no longer waste upon strangers, in your own apartments, the time which you owe us Shall we ainst the common enemy?”
”An alliance with you, sire?”
”Why not? Are you not a sovereign power?”
”But are you, sire, a reliable ally?”
”You shall see, madame”
”And when shall this alliance commence?”
”This very day”
”I will draw up the treaty, and you shall sign it”
”Blindly”
”Then, sire, I promise you wonders; you are the star of the court, and when youwill be resplendent”
”Oh, madame, madame,” said Louis XIV, ”you knoell that there is no brilliancy that does not proceed from yourself, and that if I assume the sun as my device, it is only an emblem”
”Sire, you flatter your ally, and you wish to deceive her,” said Madaly raised
”What! you believe I a you, when I assure you of my affection?”
”Yes”
”What ”
”What is it? I shall indeed be unhappy if I do not overco in question, sire, is not in your power, not even in the power of Heaven”
”Tell me what it is”
”The past”
”I do not understand, , precisely because he had understood her but too well
The princess took his hand in hers ”Sire,” she said, ”I have had thea period, that I have alht to ask myself to-day why you were able to accept me as a sister-in-law”
”Displease me! You have displeased me?”
”Nay, do not deny it, for I remember it well”
”Our alliance shall date fro, with a warmth that was not assumed ”You will not think any more of the past, will you? I myself am resolved that I will not I shall always remember the present; I have it before my eyes; look” And he led the princess before aand beautiful enough to overcome a saint
”It is all the same,” she murmured; ”it will not be a very worthy alliance”
”Must I swear?” inquired the king, intoxicated by the voluptuous turn the whole conversation had taken
”Oh, I will not refuse to witness a resounding oath,” said Mada knelt upon a footstool and took Madame's hand She, with a s, and which a poet ave hi face Neither of the felt Mada his face while she did so He rose immediately and left the aparthtened color, and concluded that the scene had been a stormy one The Chevalier de Lorraine, however, hastened to say, ”Nay, be cory”
Chapter xxxIV The Advisers
The king left Madaitation it would have been difficult even for himself to have explained It is ie sympathies which, suddenly and apparently without any cause, are excited, after reatest calmness and indifference, by two hearts destined to love each other Why had Louis formerly disdained, almost hated, Madame? Why did he now find the sa? And why, not only were his thoughts occupied about her, but still more, ere they so continuously occupied about her? Why, in fact, had Madaht for in another direction, shown during the last week towards the king a sereater regard It must not be supposed that Louis proposed to himself any plan of seduction; the tie which united Madame to his brother was, or at least, seemed to him, an insuperable barrier; he was even too far removed from that barrier to perceive its existence But on the doard path of those passions in which the heart rejoices, towards which youth impels us, no one can decide where to stop, not even the man who has in advance calculated all the chances of his own success or another's subard for the king , a coquette, and ardently fond of admiration Hers was one of those buoyant, ireatest obstacles to obtain an acknowledge, then, that, after having been adored by Buckinghahaative merit, so much appreciated by wo, we say, that the princess should raise her a, who not only was the first person in the kingdom, but was one of the handsomest and cleverest men in Europe As for the sudden passion hich Louis was inspired for his sister-in-law, physiology would perhaps supply an explanation by some hackneyed commonplace reasons, and nature by means of her mysterious affinity of characters Madame had the most beautiful black eyes in the world; Louis, eyes as beautiful, but blue Mada and unreserved in her manners; Louis, melancholy and diffident Surounds of interest and common curiosity, these two opposite natures wereof their reciprocal contradictions of character Louis, when he returned to his own rooed to himself that Madame was the htedly thought that she hadwith hercould not but act with all the natural vehe man who has but to express a wish to see his wish fulfilled
The first thing the king did was to announce to Monsieur that everything was quietly arranged; that Madareatest respect, the sincerest affection for him; but that she was of a proud, impetuous character, and that her susceptibilities were so acute as to require very careful ement
Monsieur replied in the reticent tone of voice he generally adopted with his brother, that he could not very well understand the susceptibilities of a woht, in his opinion, expose her to censorious reht to feel wounded, it was he, Monsieur hi replied in a quick tone of voice, which showed the interest he took in his sister-in-law, ”Thank Heaven, Madame is above censure”
”The censure of others, certainly, I admit,” said Monsieur; ”but not above , ”all I have to say, Philip, is that Madame's conduct does not deserve your censure She certainly is heedless and singular, but professes the best feelings The English character is not alell understood in France, and the liberty of English manners sometimes surprises those who do not know the extent to which this liberty is enriched by innocence”
”Ah!” said Monsieur, more and more piqued, ”from the very moment that your uilty, and I have nothinghastily, for he felt the voice of conscience ether wrong, ”what I have done, and what I have said, has been only for your happiness I was told that you complained of a want of confidence and attention on Madaed It is part of my duty to watch over your household, as over that of the humblest of my subjects I have satisfied myself, therefore, with the sincerest pleasure, that your apprehensions have no foundation”
”And,” continued Monsieur, in an interrogative tone of voice, and fixing his eyes upon his brother, ”what your majesty has discovered for Madament-have you verified for those who have been the cause of the scandal of which I co; ”I will reserve that point for future consideration”
These words comprised an order as well as a consolation; the prince felt it to be so, and withdrew
As for Louis, he went to seek his mother, for he felt that he had need of a more complete absolution than that he had just received from his brother Anne of Austria did not entertain for M de Guiche the saham She perceived, at the very first words he pronounced, that Louis was not disposed to be severe
To appear in a contradictory huood queen, in order to succeed in ascertaining the truth But Louis was no longer in his apprenticeshi+p; already forthat year he had learned how to disse to Anne of Austria, in order to per his approval only by look and gesture, he becalances, and frohted in uessed, at least suspected, his weakness for Madame Of all his auxiliaries, Anne of Austria would be the most important to secure; of all his eneerous Louis, therefore, changed his maneuvers He complained of Madame, absolved Monsieur, listened to what his mother had to say of De Guiche, as he had previously listened to what she had to say of Buckinghaained a complete victory over him, he left her