"The king, do you say, has been deeply touched?"
"To the very quick of his heart."
"But how?-in what manner?-tell me directly."
"By an adventure, the romance of which cannot be equalled."
"You know how I love to hear of such adventures, and yet you keep me waiting," said the princess, impatiently.
"Well, then-" and Monsieur paused.
"I am listening."
"Under the royal oak-you know where the royal oak is?"
"What can that matter? Under the royal oak, you were saying?"
"Well! Mademoiselle de la Valliere, fancying herself to be alone with her two friends, revealed to them her affection for the king."
"Ah!" said Madame, beginning to be uneasy, "her affection for the king?"
"Yes."
"When was this?"
"About an hour ago."
Madame started, and then said, "And no one knew of this affection?"
"No one."
"Not even his majesty?"
"Not even his majesty. The artful little puss kept her secret strictly to herself, when suddenly it proved stronger than herself, and so escaped her."
"And from whom did you get this absurd tale?"
"Why, as everybody else did, from La Valliere herself, who confessed her love to Montalais and Tonnay-Charente, who were her companions."
Madame stopped suddenly, and by a hasty movement let go her husband"s hand.
"Did you say it was an hour ago she made this confession?" Madame inquired.
"About that time."
"Is the king aware of it?"
"Why, that is the very thing which const.i.tutes the perfect romance of the affair, for the king was behind the royal oak with Saint-Aignan, and heard the whole of the interesting conversation without losing a single word of it."
Madame felt struck to the heart, saying incautiously, "But I have seen the king since, and he never told me a word about it."
"Of course," said Monsieur; "he took care not to speak of it to you himself, since he recommended every one not to say a word about it."
"What do you mean?" said Madame, growing angry.
"I mean that they wished to keep you in ignorance of the affair altogether."
"But why should they wish to conceal it from me?"
"From the fear that your friendship for the young queen might induce you to say something about it to her, nothing more."
Madame hung down her head; her feelings were grievously wounded. She could not enjoy a moment"s repose until she had met the king. As a king is, most naturally, the very last person in his kingdom who knows what is said about him, in the same way that a lover is the only one who is kept in ignorance of what is said about his mistress, therefore, when the king perceived Madame, who was looking for him, he approached her in some perturbation, but still gracious and attentive in his manner. Madame waited for him to speak about La Valliere first; but as he did not speak of her, she said, "And the poor girl?"
"What poor girl?" said the king.
"La Valliere. Did you not tell me, sire, that she had fainted?"
"She is still very ill," said the king, affecting the greatest indifference.
"But surely that will prejudicially affect the rumor you were going to spread, sire?"
"What rumor?"
"That your attention was taken up by her."
"Oh!" said the king, carelessly, "I trust it will be reported all the same."
Madame still waited; she wished to know if the king would speak to her of the adventure of the royal oak. But the king did not say a word about it. Madame, on her side, did not open her lips about it; so that the king took leave of her without having reposed the slightest confidence in her. Hardly had she watched the king move away, than she set out in search of Saint-Aignan. Saint-Aignan was never very difficult to find; he was like the smaller vessels that always follow in the wake of, and as tenders to, the larger ships. Saint-Aignan was the very man whom Madame needed in her then state of mind. And as for him, he only looked for worthier ears than others he had found to have an opportunity of recounting the event in all its details. And so he did not spare Madame a single word of the whole affair. When he had finished, Madame said to him, "Confess, now, that is his all a charming invention."
"Invention, no; a true story, yes."
"Confess, whether invention or true story, that it was told to you as you have told it to me, but that you were not there."
"Upon my honor, Madame, I was there."
"And you think that these confessions may have made an impression on the king?"
"Certainly, as those of Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente did upon me," replied Saint-Aignan; "do not forget, Madame, that Mademoiselle de la Valliere compared the king to the sun; that was flattering enough."
"The king does not permit himself to be influenced by such flatteries."
"Madame, the king is just as much Adonis as Apollo; and I saw plain enough just now when La Valliere fell into his arms."
"La Valliere fell into the king"s arms!"
"Oh! it was the most graceful picture possible; just imagine, La Valliere had fallen back fainting, and-"
"Well! what did you see?-tell me-speak!"
"I saw what ten other people saw at the same time as myself; I saw that when La Valliere fell into his arms, the king almost fainted himself."
Madame smothered a subdued cry, the only indication of her smothered anger.
"Thank you," she said, laughing in a convulsive manner, "you relate stories delightfully, M. de Saint-Aignan." And she hurried away, alone, and almost suffocated by painful emotion, towards the chateau.
Chapter XLIV. Courses de Nuit.
Monsieur quitted the princess in the best possible humor, and feeling greatly fatigued, retired to his apartments, leaving every one to finish the night as he chose. When in his room, Monsieur began to dress for the night with careful attention, which displayed itself from time to time in paroxysms of satisfaction. While his attendants were engaged in curling his hair, he sang the princ.i.p.al airs of the ballet which the violins had played, and to which the king had danced. He then summoned his tailors, inspected his costumes for the next day, and, in token of his extreme satisfaction, distributed various presents among them. As, however, the Chevalier de Lorraine, who had seen the prince return to the chateau, entered the room, Monsieur overwhelmed him with kindness. The former, after having saluted the prince, remained silent for a moment, like a sharpshooter who deliberates before deciding in what direction he will renew his fire; then, seeming to make up his mind, he said, "Have you remarked a very singular coincidence, monseigneur?"
"No; what is it?"
"The bad reception which his majesty, in appearance, gave the Comte de Guiche."
"In appearance?"
"Yes, certainly; since, in reality, he has restored him to favor."
"I did not notice it," said the prince.
"What, did you not remark, that, instead of ordering him to go away again into exile, as was natural, he encouraged him in his opposition by permitting him to resume his place in the ballet?"
"And you think the king was wrong, chevalier?" said the prince.
"Are you not of my opinion, prince?"
"Not altogether so, my dear chevalier; and I think the king was quite right not to have made a disturbance against a poor fellow whose want of judgment is more to be complained of than his intention."
"Really," said the chevalier, "as far as I am concerned, I confess that this magnanimity astonishes me to the highest degree."
"Why so?" inquired Philip.
"Because I should have thought the king had been more jealous," replied the chevalier, spitefully. During the last few minutes Monsieur had felt there was something of an irritating nature concealed under his favorite"s remarks; this last word, however, ignited the powder.
"Jealous!" exclaimed the prince. "Jealous! what do you mean? Jealous of what, if you please-or jealous of whom?"
The chevalier perceived that he had allowed an excessively mischievous remark to escape him, as he was in the habit of doing. He endeavored, therefore, apparently to recall it while it was still possible to do so. "Jealous of his authority," he said, with an a.s.sumed frankness; "of what else would you have the king jealous?"
"Ah!" said the prince, "that"s very proper."
"Did your royal highness," continued the chevalier, "solicit dear De Guiche"s pardon?"
"No, indeed," said Monsieur. "De Guiche is an excellent fellow, and full of courage; but as I do not approve of his conduct with Madame, I wish him neither harm nor good."
The chevalier had a.s.sumed a bitterness with regard to De Guiche, as he had attempted to do with regard to the king; but he thought he perceived that the time for indulgence, and even for the utmost indifference, had arrived, and that, in order to throw some light on the question, it might be necessary for him to put the lamp, as the saying is, beneath the husband"s very nose.
"Very well, very well," said the chevalier to himself, "I must wait for De Wardes; he will do more in one day than I in a month; for I verily believe he is even more envious than I. Then, again, it is not De Wardes I require so much as that some event or another should happen; and in the whole of this affair I see none. That De Guiche returned after he had been sent away is certainly serious enough, but all its seriousness disappears when I learn that De Guiche has returned at the very moment Madame troubles herself no longer about him. Madame, in fact, is occupied with the king, that is clear; but she will not be so much longer if, as it is a.s.serted, the king has ceased to trouble his head about her. The moral of the whole matter is, to remain perfectly neutral, and await the arrival of some new caprice and let that decide the whole affair." And the chevalier thereupon settled himself resignedly in the armchair in which Monsieur permitted him to seat himself in his presence, and, having no more spiteful or malicious remarks to make, the consequence was that De Lorraine"s wit seemed to have deserted him. Most fortunately Monsieur was in high good-humor, and he had enough for two, until the time arrived for dismissing his servants and gentlemen of the chamber, and he pa.s.sed into his sleeping-apartment. As he withdrew, he desired the chevalier to present his compliments to Madame, and say that, as the night was cool, Monsieur, who was afraid of the toothache, would not venture out again into the park during the remainder of the evening. The chevalier entered the princess"s apartments at the very moment she came in herself. He acquitted himself faithfully of the commission intrusted to him, and, in the first place, remarked all the indifference and annoyance with which Madame received her husband"s communication-a circ.u.mstance which appeared to him fraught with something fresh. If Madame had been about to leave her apartments with that strangeness of manner, he would have followed her; but she was returning to them; there was nothing to be done, therefore he turned upon his heel like an unemployed heron, appearing to question earth, air, and water about it; shook his head, and walked away mechanically in the direction of the gardens. He had hardly gone a hundred paces when he met two young men, walking arm in arm, with their heads bent down, and idly kicking the small stones out of their path as they walked on, plunged in thought. It was De Guiche and De Bragelonne, the sight of whom, as it always did, produced upon the chevalier, instinctively, a feeling of repugnance. He did not, however, the less, on that account, salute them with a very low bow, which they returned with interest. Then, observing that the park was nearly deserted, that the illuminations began to burn out, and that the morning breeze was setting in, he turned to the left, and entered the chateau again, by one of the smaller courtyards. The others turned aside to the right, and continued on their way towards the large park. As the chevalier was ascending the side staircase, which led to the private entrance, he saw a woman, followed by another, make her appearance under the arcade which led from the small to the large courtyard. The two women walked so fast that the rustling of their dresses could be distinguished through the silence of the night. The style of their mantles, their graceful figures, a mysterious yet haughty carriage which distinguished them both, especially the one who walked first, struck the chevalier.
"I certainly know those two," he said to himself, pausing upon the top step of the small staircase. Then, as with the instinct of a bloodhound he was about to follow them, one of the servants who had been running after him arrested his attention.
"Monsieur," he said, "the courier has arrived."
"Very well," said the chevalier, "there is time enough; to-morrow will do."
"There are some urgent letters which you would be glad to see, perhaps."
"Where from?" inquired the chevalier.
"One from England, and the other from Calais; the latter arrived by express, and seems of great importance."
"From Calais! Who the deuce can have to write to me from Calais?"
"I think I recognize the handwriting of Monsieur le Comte de Wardes."
"Oh!" cried the chevalier, forgetting his intention of acting the spy, "in that case I will come up at once." This he did, while the two unknown beings disappeared at the end of the court opposite to the one by which they had just entered. We shall now follow them, and leave the chevalier undisturbed to his correspondence. When they had arrived at the grove of trees, the foremost of the two halted, somewhat out of breath, and, cautiously raising her hood, said, "Are we still far from the tree?"
"Yes, Madame, more than five hundred paces; but pray rest awhile, you will not be able to walk much longer at this rate."
"You are right," said the princes, for it was she; and she leaned against a tree. "And now," she resumed, after having recovered her breath, "tell me the whole truth, and conceal nothing from me."
"Oh, Madame," cried the young girl, "you are already angry with me."
"No, my dear Athenais, rea.s.sure yourself, I am in no way angry with you. After all, these things do not concern me personally. You are anxious about what you may have said under the oak; you are afraid of having offended the king, and I wish to tranquillize you by ascertaining myself if it were possible you could have been overheard."
"Oh, yes, Madame, the king was close to us."
"Still, you were not speaking so loud that some of your remarks may not have been lost."
"We thought we were quite alone, Madame."
"There were three of you, you say?"
"Yes; La Valliere, Montalais, and myself."
"And you, individually, spoke in a light manner of the king?"
"I am afraid so. Should such be the case, will your highness have the kindness to make my peace with his majesty?"
"If there should be any occasion for it, I promise you I will do so. However, as I have already told you, it will be better not to antic.i.p.ate evil. The night is now very dark, and the darkness is still greater under the trees. It is not likely you were recognized by the king. To inform him of it, by being the first to speak, is to denounce yourself."