Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/243

Rh "That will do. Permit me, madame, to kiss your hands, the most beautiful hands in France."

"May you be successful, sire, be the family peacemaker."

"I do not employ an ambassador," said Louis; "which is as much as to say that I shall succeed." He laughed as he left the room, and carefully dusted his dress as he went along.

When the king made his appearance in madame's apartments the courtiers, whom the news of a conjugal misunderstanding had dispersed in the various apartments, began to entertain the most serious apprehensions. A storm, too, was brewing in that direction, the elements of which the Chevalier de Lorraine, in the midst of the different groups, was analyzing with delight, contributing to the weaker, and acting, according to his own wicked designs, in such a manner with regard to the stronger, as to produce the most disastrous consequences possible. As Anne of Austria had herself said, the presence of the king gave a solemn and serious character to the event. Indeed, in the year 1662, the dissatisfaction of Monsieur with madame, and the king's intervention in the private affairs of Monsieur, was a matter of no inconsiderable moment.

The boldest, even, who had been the associates of the Comte de Guiche, had, from the first moment, held aloof from him, with a sort of nervous apprehension; and the comte himself, infected by the general panic, retired to his own apartments alone. The king entered madame's private apartments, acknowledging and returning the salutations, as he was always in the habit of doing. The ladies of honor were ranged in a line on his passage along the gallery. Although his majesty was very much preoccupied, he gave the glance of a master at the two rows of young and beautiful girls, who modestly cast down their eyes, blushing as they felt the king's gaze upon them. One only of the number, whose long hair fell in silken masses upon the most beautiful skin imaginable, was pale, and could hardly sustain herself, notwithstanding the knocks which her companion gave her with her elbow. It was La Valliere, whom Montalais supported in that manner, by whispering some of that