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10 the moral code of those days, nor above all the code Montespan, objected to the devotion of anybody's husband to anybody else's wife, it was nevertheless, as both the marquise and her admirer felt, a little out of taste that a man should in the same breath ask per mission of the king to marry a charming young girl, and of the king's mistress to carry her colors through the wars.

Louis glanced from the one face to the other, and took a pinch of snuff with uncommon zest.

"The good news is nevertheless true, monsieur," said he, in his most débonnaire and gracious tone. "I love to reward the good soldiers who win so many laurels for me; and, as monsieur your father tells me your heart is set upon this marriage, I have consented, not only that it shall take place in the royal chapel, but that Madame de Montarnaud shall be entertained at court during your absence in the approaching campaign in Holland. The nuptials may be, I fear, a little hurried but you shall have permission to fly to Montarnaud at the earliest possible hour to-morrow."

The king passed on; Madame de Montespan stifled a yawn, and turned her back upon the young man, who with a brow as black as night made his way to the lower end of the hall, where his father awaited him with a pale and frightened face.