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Rh spoil his dress by riding. He is adorned to distraction."

And he began laughing again, while Mademoiselle betrayed the conviction that she was herself the object of this decoration; but instantly assuming an air of the utmost humility, she exclaimed, "I ought to kneel to implore your Majesty's pardon for my past offences."

"Nay," replied he, "it is I who must kneel to you, to entreat you not to speak in such a style."

"How like she is to your brother!" said Anne.

"My brother is much flattered by the discovery," said her son; while Mademoiselle wore a pleased and conscious smile.

"My life for it," whispered the Chevalier de Joinville, "that Mademoiselle is already calculating the probabilities of marrying Monsieur."

At last the Duke of Anjou arrived, dressed, as his brother said, to distraction. He wore a garb rather fanciful, of a silver-grey colour, trimmed with crimson, and a narrow edging of silver; the lace round his throat was of the finest point; and, some time before he was seen, his perfumes announced his approach. The youthful prince was just at the age when love of dress is a passion. The first appreciation of one's own face and figure