Page:A Nameless Nobleman.djvu/18

6 be sure, they were not all paid for in that reign; but the bill was brought in to Louis XVI. about a century later, and he, poor scapegoat, settled for all.

Yes, the Montespan was in great beauty to-night; and so evidently thought the handsome young man in the uniform of a captain of cavalry, who stood beside her, devouring her with his bold black eyes, and bending more confidentially than deferentially to catch the words murmured for his ear alone. At the entrance of the king he drew himself up, and made a movement of adieu: but the marquise, not appearing to notice the gesture, continued the conversation in a yet more familiar tone; and the Vicomte de Montarnaud, bred in the school of reckless gallantry, whether of love or war, so popular in that day, followed her lead without further hesitation or comment, so that in point of fact a more patient and humble man than Louis Dieu-donné might have felt a little annoyed at the slight to himself involved in this absorbing interest in another, displayed by his haughty mistress. A slight but ominous frown gathered upon the Olympian brow; and the courteous phrases scattered hither and thither among the expectant crowd by the "lips of fate," as some people called the royal mouth, grew scanter and more mechanical, so that several courtiers, not sure of favor, skilfully contrived to melt away behind their companions, preferring not to risk the compliments their royal master was quite capable of bestowing when in an ill humor.

Suddenly the king's eyes lightened wrathfully, and yet unaccountably; for the figure upon which they