Page:Poet Lore, volume 34, 1923.djvu/78

 At precisely three, the real Racan appeared. He was out of breath and asthmatic, for Mademoiselle de Gournay lived on the fourth floor. This time the veille fille was furious, sure that he, too, was an impostor. She would not listen to the compliments that poor Racan tried to pay her.

"I do not know who you are, but I'll wager that you are the most stupid of the three! Thief, Thief!" she screamed to the top of her voice. Her neighbors, from the adjoining apartments, rushed to her help. Racan, frightened out of his wits, caught hold of the fire rope, slid to the ground floor, and rushed out of the house as if followed by all the furies.

That very day, Mademoiselle de Gournay learned the true story. Distressed beyond words, she went the next morning to excuse herself to the real Racan while he was still in bed. Bois-Robert used this prank as a plot for a comedy called The Three Orontes. He played it before Racan, who laughed until the tears came saying, "Il dit vlai, il dit vlai."

Harrassed as she was by the rattle-brains of her time, is it any wonder that the spinster was hot tempered, given to recriminations, to pestering against the innovations and the youth of her day. She knew it and said of herself:

Yet, when it was to her advantage, Marie de Gournay knew how to take a joke and how to return a soft answer. Tallemand des Réaux in his Historiettes, in which we find the Three Racans, tells an anecdote showing that Richelieu himself was not above teasing the poor vieille fille.

All her life long, Marie de Gournay struggled and fought to retain what the previous generation had given in words and expressions to the French language. She constantly used out of date terms in her own works. She launched polemic after polemic upon a changing movement she was powerless to stop. The Cardinal knew this. One day, when Bois-Robert had accompanied the spinster to him, Richelieu slyly complimented her on the many obsolete words which he had found in her Ombre. Marie, writhing within, yet smiling without, made the answer "you are laughing at the poor vieille fille, laugh on, great genius, laugh on, every one must contribute to your pleasure." The