Part 60 (1/2)
”Yes, Madame,” the former replied
”Well, close beside the oak there is a pretty little spring, which runs et-me-nots and daffodils”
”I believe you are correct,” said the king, with so with some anxiety to his sister-in-law's narrative
”Oh! there is one, I can assure you,” said Madame; ”and the proof of it is, that the Naiad who resides in that little stream stopped nan
”Yes, indeed,” continued the princess, ”and she did so in order to conan has omitted in his recital”
”Pray relate them yourself, then,” said Monsieur, ”you can relate stories in such a charal compliment paid her
”I do not possess the poetical powers of the coht the smallest details”
”You will not be listened to with less interest on that account,” said the king, who already perceived that so hostile was intended in his sister-in-law's story
”I speak, too,” continued Madame, ”in the na creature I everme her story, that, in pursuance of that hter is the finest physic in the world, I ask perh a littleand Saint-Aignan, who noticed spreading over many of the faces present a distant and prophetic ripple of the laughter Mada themselves whether there was not some little conspiracy concealed beneath these words But Madame was deterain; she therefore resumed with the air of the erous of all her airs: ”Well, then, I passed that way,” she said, ”and as I found beneath my steps many fresh flowers newly blown, no doubt Phyllis, Amaryllis, Galatea, and all your shepherdesses had passed the sa bit his lips, for the recital was beco ”My little Naiad,” continued Mada in the bed of the rivulet; as I perceived that she accostedthe heraciously, and h she be of a second grade, is always of greater ih a princess I thereupon accosted the Naiad, and bursting into laughter, this is what she said to me: ”'Fancy, princess' You understand, sire, it is the Naiad who is speaking?”
The king bowed assentingly; and Madame continued:-”'Fancy, princess, the banks ofscene Two shepherds, full of curiosity, even indiscreetly so, have allowed theyour pardon, but I do not now remember if it was nymphs or shepherdesses she said; but it does not , at this opening, colored visibly, and Saint-Aignan, coreatest possible anxiety
”'The two shepherds,' pursued , 'followed in the wake of the three young ladies,'-no, I ht to say, of the three shepherdesses It is not alise to do that, for it may be aard for those who are followed I appeal to all the ladies present, and not one of the, as nified his assent by a gesture
”'But,' continued the Naiad, 'the shepherdesses had noticed Tyrcis and Aht of the rove of the trees' Ah, you laugh!” interrupted Mada turned pale; Saint-Aignan wiped his forehead, noith perspiration Aroups of ladies present could be heard shter and stealthy whispers
”'The shepherdesses, I was saying, noticing how indiscreet the two shepherds were, proceeded to sit down at the foot of the royal oak; and, when they perceived that their over-curious listeners were sufficiently near, so that not a syllable of what they ht say could be lost, they addressed towards them very innocently, in the most artless manner in the world indeed, a passionate declaration, which from the vanity natural to all men, and even to the most sentimental of shepherds, see, at these words, which the asse, could not restrain a flash of anger darting fronan, he let his head fall upon his breast, and concealed, under a silly laugh, the extre hiht, ”uponjest, certainly; but, really and truly, are you sure you quite understood the language of the Naiads?”
”The comte, sire, pretends to have perfectly understood that of the Dryads,” retorted Mada; ”but you know the comte has the weakness to aspire to become a member of the Academy, so that, with this object in view, he has learnt all sorts of things of which very happily you are ignorant; and it e of the Nys you have not studied”
”Of course, sire,” replied Madaether rely upon one's self alone; a woustine; and I, therefore, wished to satisfy myself by other opinions beside my own, and as lot,-is not that the expression, M de Saint-Aignan?”
”I believe so,” said the latter, quite out of countenance
”Well,” continued the princess, ”as my Naiad, who, in her character of a Goddess, had, at first spoken to ht have misunderstood her, and I requested Mesdemoiselles de Montalais, de Tonnay-Charente, and de la Valliere, to couage, the recital she had already colish”
”And did she do so?” inquired the king
”Oh, she is the ine! Yes, sire, she did so; so that no doubt whatever re ladies?” said the princess, turning towards the left of her army; ”did not the Naiad say precisely what I have related, and have I, in any one particular, exceeded the truth, Phyllis? I beg your pardon, I mean Mademoiselle Aure de Montalais?”
”Precisely as you have stated, Madame,” articulated Mademoiselle de Montalais, very distinctly
”Is it true, Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente?”
”The perfect truth,” replied Athenais, in a voice quite as firm, but not yet so distinct
”And you, La Valliere?” asked Mada's ardent look fixed upon her,-she dared not deny-she dared not tell a falsehood; she merely bowed her head; and everybody took it for a token of assent Her head, however, was not raised again, chilled as she was by a coldness more bitter than that of death This triple testinan, he did not even atte what he said, he stammered out, ”An excellent jest! admirably played!”
”A just punish, in a hoarse voice ”Oh! ould think, after the chastise to surprise what is passing in the heart of shepherdesses? assuredly I shall not, for one; and, you, gentleroup of courtiers
Mada's annoyance; and was full of delight, thinking that her story had been, or was to be, the terhed at the two stories without co about them, he turned towards De Guiche, and said to hi to say? Do you pity M Tyrcis and M Amyntas, for instance?”
”I pity them with all my soul,” replied De Guiche; ”for, in very truth, love is so sweet a fancy, that to lose it, fancy though it may be, is to lose more than life itself If, therefore, these two shepherds thought themselves beloved,-if they were happy in that idea, and if, instead of that happiness, they meet not only that empty void which resembles death, but jeers and jests at love itself, which is worse than a thousand deaths,-in that case, I say that Tyrcis and Amyntas are the two ht, too, Monsieur de Guiche,” said the king; ”for, in fact, the injury in question is a very hard return for a little harmless curiosity”
”That is as much to say, then, that the story of ?” asked Madame, innocently
”Nay, Mada the princess by the hand; ”your Naiad, on the contrary, has pleased me, and the more so, because she was so truthful, and because her tale, I ought to add, is confirmed by the testimony of unimpeachable witnesses”
These words fell upon La Valliere, accone, could have exactly defined The look and the king's reirl, ith her head upon Montalais's shoulder, see this circumstance, of which no one, moreover, took any notice, and, contrary to his usual custoenerally he remained late in Madame's apartments, he took his leave, and retired to his own side of the palace Saint-Aignan followed hi the rooht Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente, less sensitive than La Valliere, was not htened, and did not faint However, it nan had hardly been so y
The king returned to his apartments with hurried steps The reason he walked as fast as he did was probably to avoid tottering in his gait He see a trace of a ayety of manner, which every one had rehted to perceive, had not perhaps been understood in its true sense: but his stormy departure, his disordered countenance, all knew, or at least thought they could tell the reason of Madame's levity of manner, her somewhat bitter jests,-bitter for persons of a sensitive disposition, and particularly for one of the king's character; the great rese and an ordinary ned for the precipitate and unexpected departure of his h in other respects, did not, however, at first see anything extraordinary in it It was quite sufficient for her to have inflicted soht wound upon the vanity or self-esteeements he had contracted, seemed to have undertaken to disdain, without cause, the noblest and highest prize in France It was not an unimportant matter for Mada perceive the difference which existed between the bestowal of his affections on one in a high station, and the running after each passing fancy, like a youth fresh froher placed affections, recognizing their dignity and their illi in them a certain etiquette and display-a h position, but found even repose, security, eneral respect therein On the contrary, in the debasement of a co hisand sarcastic remarks; he would forfeit his character of infallibility and inviolability Having descended to the region of petty human miseries, he would be subjected to paltry contentions In one word, to convert the royal divinity into aat his heart, or rather even at his face, like the meanest of his subjects, was to inflict a terrible blow upon the pride of that generous nature Louis was more easily captivated by vanity than affection Madaeance, and it has been seen, also, in what manner she carried it out Let it not be supposed, however, that Madame possessed such terrible passions as the heroines of the s fro, a in her nature, but rather froination, or ambition, than frourated that epoch of light and fleeting auished the hundred and twenty years that intervened between the middle of the seventeenth century, and the last quarter of the eighteenth Madas under their true aspect; she knew that the king, her august brother-in-law, had been the first to ridicule the humble La Valliere, and that, in accordance with his usual custom, it was hardly probable he would ever love the person who had excited his laughter, even had it been only for a moment Moreover, was not her vanity ever present, that evil influence which plays so important a part in that comedy of dramatic incidents called the life of a woman? Did not her vanity tell her, aloud, in a subdued voice, in a whisper, in every variety of tone, that she could not, in reality, she a princess, young, beautiful, and rich, be compared to the poor La Valliere, as youthful as herself it is true, but far less pretty, certainly, and utterly without money, protectors, or position? And surprise need not be excited with respect to Madareatest characters are those who flatter themselves the most in the comparisons they draeen themselves and others, between others and themselves It may perhaps be asked as Madame's motive for an attack so skillfully conceived and executed Why was there such a display of forces, if it were not seriously her intention to dislodge the king from a heart that had never been occupied before, in which he seee? Was there any necessity, then, for Madareat an importance to La Valliere, if she did not fear her? Yet Madame did not fear La Valliere in that direction in which an historian, who knows everything, sees into the future, or rather, the past Madame was neither a prophetess nor a sibyl; nor could she, any more than another, read ritten in that terrible and fatal book of the future, which records in its es the most serious events No, Mada availed hiether feminine in their nature; she wished to prove to him that if he made use of offensive weapons of that nature, she, a woh descent, would assuredly discover in the arsenal of her iainst the thrusts of a monarch Moreover, she wished his are held of no account, or, at all events, that kings who fight on their own behalf, like ordinary individuals, may witness the fall of their crown in the first encounter; and that, in fact, if he had expected to be adored by all the ladies of the court from the very first, from a confident reliance on his mere appearance, it was a pretension which waseven, for certain persons who filled a higher position than others, and that a lesson taught in season to this royal personage, who assu hireat service Such, indeed, were Mada The sequel itself was not thought of And in this manner, it will be seen that she had exercised all her influence over thedetails, had arranged the co was completely bewildered by it; for the first time since he had escaped from the trammels of M de Mazarin, he found himself treated as a man Similar severity from any of his subjects would have been at once resisted by hith comes with battle But to match one's self omen, to be attacked by theirls from the country, who had come from Blois expressly for that purpose; it was the depth of dishonor for a young sovereign full of the pride his personal advantages and royal power inspired hi he could do-neither reproaches, nor exile-nor could he even show the annoyance he felt To manifest vexation would have been to admit that he had been touched, like Hamlet, by a sword from which the button had been reainst women-huhter on their side, as aall the responsibility of the affair to these wo to do with the intrigue, how delightedly would Louis have seized the opportunity of turning the Bastile to personal account But there, again, the king's anger paused, checked by reason To be the master of armies, of prisons, of an alht in the service of a petty grudge, would be unworthy not only of a monarch, but even of a man It was necessary, therefore, simply to s the affront in silence, and to wear his usual gentleness and graciousness of expression It was essential to treat Madame as a friend As a friend!-Well, and why not? Either Madaator of the affair, or the affair itself had found her passive If she had been the instigator of it, it certainly was a bold measure on her part, but, at all events, it was but natural in her Who was it that had sought her in the earliest moments of her married life to whisper words of love in her ear? Who was it that had dared to calculate the possibility of coe vow-a crime, too, still more deplorable on account of the relationshi+p between them? Who was it that, shi+elded behind his royal authority, had said to this young creature: be not afraid, love but the king of France, who is above all, and a ainst all attacks, even from your own remorse? And she had listened to and obeyed the royal voice, had been influenced by his ensnaring tones; and when,to him, she saw herself repaid for her sacrifice by an infidelity the , since it was occasioned by a woman far beneath her in the world
Had Madae, she would have been right If, on the contrary, she had rerounds had the king to be angry with her on that account? Was it for her to restrain, or rather could she restrain, the chattering of a few country girls? and was it for her, by an excess of zeal that ht have beenit, the is were like so 's pride; but when he had carefully, in his own one over all the various causes of complaint, Louis was surprised, upon due reflection-in other words, after the wound has been dressed-to find that there were other causes of suffering, secret, unendurable, and unrevealed There was one circumstance he dared not confess, even to hi had its seat in his heart The fact is, he had perratified by La Valliere's innocent confusion He had dreamed of a pure affection-of an affection for Louis the n-of an affection free from all self-interest; and his heart, siined it to be, had to meet that other heart that had revealed itself to hi in the complicated history of love, is the double inoculation of love to which any two hearts are subjected; the one loves nearly always before the other, in the sa after the other In this way, the electric current is established, in proportion to the intensity of the passion which is first kindled The more Mademoiselle de la Valliere showed her affection, the 's affection had increased And it was precisely that which had annoyed his majesty For it was now fairly demonstrated to hi his heart away in its course, because there had been no confession of love in the case-because the confession was, in fact, an insult towards the n; and finally, because-and the word, too, burnt like a hot iron-because, in fact, it was nothing but a irl, therefore, who, in strictness, could not lay claience-who had been selected by Mada position, had not only aroused the king's regard, but had, , a lance, to indicate with his finger, to throw his handkerchief And, since the previous evening, his irl that he could think and dreaination had been occupied by clothing her ie with charms to which she could not lay claim In very truth, he whom such vast interests suly, had, since the previous evening, consecrated every moment of his time, every throb of his heart, to this sole dream It was, indeed, either toohinan was present, was poured out in the nan had taken refuge in a corner of the roo over His own personal disappointer of the king He coious pride of offended eneral, and in those of powerful kings in particular, he began to ask hier, as yet held in suspense, would not soon ter upon his own head, for the very reason that others were guilty, and he innocent In point of fact, the king, all at once, did arrest his hurried pace; and, fixing a look full of anger upon Saint-Aignan, suddenly cried out: ”And you, Saint-Aignan?”
Saint-Aignan nify, ”Well, sire?”
”Yes; you have been as silly as nan
”You permitted us to be deceived by this shaitation was such as to make him tremble in every limb, ”let me entreat your majesty not to exasperate yourself Women, you know, are characters full of imperfections, created for the ood from them is to require thereatest consideration for hiun to acquire over his emotions that command which he preserved over thee to his own dignity in displaying soan object ”No,” he said, hastily; ”you are ry; I can only wonder that we should have been turned into ridicule so cleverly and with such audacity by these young girls I aht have inforh to leave the matter for our own hearts to decide”