Part 36 (2/2)
But hose s, as it is also to communicate our interpretations to our readers,-we should fail in our duty, if ere to leave thenorance of the result of this interview It will be found sufficiently detailed, at least we hope so, in the following chapter
Chapter xxxVII The butterfly-Chase
The king, on retiring to his aparte his ideas, found on his toilette-glass a suised He opened it and read-”Co and Mada tis to be the result of the three thousand which they had been saying to each other during the route which separated Vulaines from Fontainebleau The confused and hurried character of the note gave the king a great deal to reflect upon He occupied hihtly with his toilette, and set off to pay his visit to Madame The princess, who did not wish to have the appearance of expecting hiardens with the ladies of her suite When the king was inforone for a walk in the gardens, he collected all the gentlemen he could find, and invited the butterflies, on a large lawn bordered with heliotrope and flowering brooest of her ladies ran to and fro, and with her back turned to a high hedge, very i, hom she had appointed the rendezvous The sound of ravel walk made her turn round Louis XIV was hatless, he had struck doith his cane a peacock butterfly, which Monsieur de Saint-Aignan had picked up froround quite stunned
”You see, Mada, as he approached her, ”that I, too, a towards those who had accompanied him, said, ”Gentlemen, see if each of you cannot obtain as nal for all to retire And thereupon a curious spectacle ht have been observed; old and corpulent courtiers were seen running after butterflies, losing their hats as they ran, and with their raised canes cutting down the myrtles and the furze, as they would have done the Spaniards
The king offered Madame his arm, and they both selected, as the center of observation, a bench with a roof of boards and enius of one of the gardeners who had inaugurated the picturesque and fanciful a of that period This sheltered retreat, covered with nasturtiu roses, screened the bench, so that the spectators, insulated in the middle of the lawn, saw and were seen on every side, but could not be heard, without perceiving those whoSeated thus, the kingabout; and then, as if he were engaged with Madame in a dissertation upon the butterfly, which he had thrust through with a gold pin and fastened on his hat, said to her, ”How admirably we are placed here for conversations”
”Yes, sire, for I wished to be heard by you alone, and yet to be seen by every one”
”And I also,” said Louis
”My note surprised you?”
”Terrified me rather But what I have to tell you is more important”
”It cannot be, sire Do you know that Monsieur refuses to see uess why?”
”Ah, Mada to say to each other”
”What has happened to you, then?”
”You wish in?”
”Yes, for I have told you all”
”Well, then, as soon as I returned, I foundfor me, and she led me away to her own apartments”
”The queen-mother?” said Madame, with some anxiety, ”the matter is serious then”
”Indeed it is, for she told me but, in the first place, allow me to preface what I have to say with one remark Has Monsieur ever spoken to you about me?”
”Often”
”Has he ever spoken to you about his jealousy?”
”More frequently still”
”Of his jealousy of ham and De Guiche”
”Well, Madame, Monsieur's present idea is a jealousy ofarchly
”And it really seeround-”
”Never! at least I have not But who told you that Monsieur was jealous?”
”My mother represented to me that Monsieur entered her apartainst you, and-forgive ainst your coquetry It appears that Monsieur indulges in injustice, too”
”You are very kind, sire”
”My mother reassured him; but he pretended that people reassure hih of it”
”Would it not be better for him not toI said”
”Confess, sire, that the world is very wicked Is it possible that a brother and sister cannot converse together, or take pleasure in each other's co rise to re no har any” And she looked at the king with that proud yet provoking glance that kindles desire in the coldest and wisest of , ”that is true”
”You know very well, sire, that if it were to continue, I should be obliged to make a disturbance Do you decide upon our conduct, and say whether it has, or has not, been perfectly correct”
”Oh, certainly-perfectly correct”
”Often alone together,-for we delight in the saht possibly be led away into error, but have we been? I regard you as a brother, and nothingfrowned She continued: ”Your hand, which often itation and emotion which is the case with those who love each other, for instance-”
”Enough,” said the king, ”enough, I entreat you You have no pity-you are killing me”
”What is the matter?”
”In fact, then, you distinctly say you experience nothing when near me”
”Oh, sire! I don't say that-my affection-”