Part 44 (1/2)
”Oh, Madanized, I nan left no doubt on the subject”
”Did you, then, say anything very disrespectful of the king?”
”Not at all; it was one of the others who ; and my remarks must have been iddy girl,” said Mada; it was La Valliere”
Madame started as if she had not known it perfectly well already ”No, no,” she said, ”the king cannot have heard Besides, ill now try the experiment for which we came out Show me the oak Do you knohere it is?” she continued
”Alas! Madaain?”
”With my eyes shut”
”Very well; sit down on the bank where you were, where La Valliere was, and speak in the same tone and to the same effect as you did before; I will conceal myself in the thicket, and if I can hear you, I will tell you so”
”Yes, Madah for the king to have heard you, in that case-”
Athenais seemed to await the conclusion of the sentence with some anxiety
”In that case,” said Mada doubtless froress, ”in that case, I forbid you-” And Madaain increased her pace Suddenly, however, she stopped ”An idea occurs to ood idea, no doubt, Madame,” replied Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente
”Montalais must be as much embarrassed as La Valliere and yourself”
”Less so, for she is less co said less”
”That does nota little from the exact truth”
”Especially if she knows that your highness is kind enough to interest yourself about me”
”Very well, I think I have discovered what it is best for you all to pretend”
”How delightful”
”You had better say that all three of you were perfectly well aware that the king was behind the tree, or behind the thicket, whichever it nan was there too”
”Yes, Madauise it froe of so remarks you made about him”
”Well, Madame, you see very clearly that one can be overheard,” cried Athenais, ”since M de Saint-Aignan overheard us”
Madahtlessly conan's character very well,” she said, ”the favor the king shows him almost turns his brain, and he talks at random; not only so, he very often invents That is not the question; the fact re overhear?”
”Oh, yes, Madame, he certainly did,” said Athenais, in despair
”In that case, do what I said: maintain boldly that all three of you knew-mind, all three of you, for if there is a doubt about any one of you, there will be a doubt about all,-persist, I say, that you knew that the king and M de Saint-Aignan were there, and that you wished to a”
”Oh, Mada's expense; we shall never dare say that!”
”It is a siirls who explains itself What Montalais said of Malicorne, a nan, a ht have said of-”
”And which she would have given anything to recall”
”Are you sure of that?”
”Perfectly”
”Very well, an additional reason Say the whole affair was a et out of tenan will be cohed at instead of you; and lastly, the king will be punished for a curiosity unworthy of his rank Let people laugh a little at the king in this affair, and I do not think he will cooodness and sense!”
”It is to e”
”In ay?”
”How can you ask e to spare my maids of honor the reht follow? Alas! you well know that the court has no indulgence for this sort of peccadillo But we have now been walking for so before we reach it?”
”About fifty or sixty paces further; turn to the left, Madame, if you please”
”And you are sure of Montalais?” said Madame
”Oh, certainly”
”Will she do what you ask her?”
”Everything She will be delighted”
”And La Valliere-” ventured the princess
”Ah, there will be some difficulty with her, Madame; she would scorn to tell a falsehood”
”Yet, when it is in her interest to do so-”
”I ahtest difference in her ideas”