Page:Rachel (1887 Nina H. Kennard).djvu/175

 dictate. The other members of the company, especially the female ones, might resent the despotism, enlightened though it were; none ever dared controvert Louis XIV.'s statement, "L'État c'est moi," or Rachel's, "Il n'y a que moi seule," and her lightest whims and caprices were accepted with as good grace as possible.

Alas! the day of reckoning came, when the suppressed hatred and envy excited by those years of triumph broke forth, and the dethroned sovereign, weak and unprotected, lay at the feet of her enemies. Then it was they gathered like a pack of wolves, and tore her reputation, moral and artistic, to pieces.