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486 skill than any of the courtiers; in short, it was delightful to see or to hear him.

The Queen, anxious to be spared the confusion of declaring her sentiments to him herself, desired Floride to make him understand, that so many marks of kindness from a young and beautiful queen ought not to be a matter of indifference to him. Floride was very much embarrassed by this commission, for she had been unable to avoid the fate of all who had seen the Chevalier, and she thought it would be too amiable on her part to prefer her mistress's interests to her own; so that, at each opportunity the Queen gave her of talking to him, instead of speaking of the beauty and great qualifications of that princess, she told him only of her ill-humour, and of what her women endured from her; of the injustice she did them, of the bad use she made of the power she usurped in the kingdom; and, finally, drawing a comparison between their sentiments, she said, "I am not born a queen, but really I ought to have been one. I have so much generosity in my nature, that I am anxious to do good to everybody. Ah! if I were in that high station," continued she, "how happy would I make the handsome Fortuné. He would love me out of gratitude, if he could not love me from inclination."

The young Chevalier was quite dismayed at this conversation, and knew not what to answer, and therefore carefully avoided these tête-à-têtes with her; and the impatient Queen never failed to ask her, what impression she had made for her upon Fortuné. "He thinks so little of himself," said she, "and is so bashful, that he will not believe anything I tell him of you, or he pretends not to believe it, because he is preoccupied by some other passion." "I believe so too," said the alarmed Queen; "but is it possible he will not yield to his ambition?" "And is it possible," replied Floride, "that you would owe his heart to your crown? so young and beautiful as you are, possessing a thousand attractions; is it necessary to have recourse to the splendour of a diadem?" "One has recourse to everything," replied the Queen, "when it is to subdue a rebellious heart."

Floride saw clearly that it was impossible to cure her mistress of her infatuation for him. The Queen each day expected some happy result from the labours of her confidant, but she made so little progress with Fortuné, that she was at length compelled to seek the means of obtaining a personal