Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/266

254 "In that case, madame," replied the prince, "I, too, must, with great humility, accuse myself of possessing the same defect as she has."

"You also, Philip?"

"Certainly."

"Are you really jealous of these baths?"

"And why not, madame, when the king goes to the baths with my wife, and does not take the queen? Why not, when madame goes to the baths with the king, and does not do me the honor to tell me of it? And you require my sister-in-law to be satisfied, and require me to be satisfied, too."

"You are raving, my dear Philip," said Anne of Austria; "you have driven the Duke of Buckingham away; you have been the cause of Monsieur de Guiche's exile; do you now wish to send the king away from Fontainebleau?"

"I do not pretend to anything of the kind, madame," said Monsieur bitterly; "but, at least, I can withdraw, and I shall do so."

"Jealous of the king — jealous of your brother?"

"Yes, madame, I am Jealous of the king — of my own brother, and very Jealous, too."

"Really, Monsieur," exclaimed Anne of Austria, affecting to be indignant and angry, "I begin to believe you are mad, and a sworn enemy to my repose. I therefore abandon the place to you, for I have no means of defending myself against such wild conceptions."

She arose and left Monsieur a prey to the most extravagant transport of passion. He remained for a moment completely bewildered; then, recovering himself, he again went to the stables, found the groom, once more asked him for a carriage or a horse, and upon his replying that there was neither the one nor the other. Monsieur snatched a long whip from the hand of a stable-boy, and began to pursue the poor devil of a groom all round the servants' courtyard, whipping him all the while, in spite of his cries and his excuses; then, quite out of breath, covered with perspiration, and trembling in every limb, he returned to his own apartments, broke in pieces some beautiful specimens of porcelain, and then got into bed, booted and spurred as he was, crying out for some one to come to him.