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278 away these illustrious dancers, when the simple, untutored pantomime of that period, far more so on account of the very indifferent acting of the august actors, had reached its culminating point of triumph, the theater almost shook with the tumultuous applause.

De Guiche shone like a sun, but like a courtly sun, which is resigned to fill a subordinate part. Disdainful of a success of which madame showed no acknowledgment, he thought of nothing but of boldly regaining the marked preference of the princess. She, however, did not bestow a single glance upon him. By degrees all his happiness, all his brilliancy, subsided into regret and uneasiness; so that his limbs lost their power, his arms hung heavily by his side, and his head seemed stupefied. The king, who had from this moment become in reality the principal dancer in the quadrille, cast a look upon his vanquished rival. De Guiche soon ceased to sustain even the character of the courtier; without applause, he danced indifferently, and very soon could not dance at all, by which means the triumph of the king and of madame was assured.

The king remained for a moment to enjoy a triumph which was as complete as it could possibly be. He then turned toward madame, for the purpose of admiring her also a little in her turn. Young persons love with more vivacity, perhaps with greater ardor and deeper passion, than others more advanced in years; but all the other feelings are at the same time developed in proportion to their youth and vigor; so that vanity being with them almost always the equivalent of love, the latter feeling, according to the laws of equipoise, never attains that degree of perfection which it acquires in men and women from thirty to thirty-five years of age. Louis thought of madame, but only after he had carefully thought of himself: and madame carefully thought of herself, without bestowing a single thought upon the king. The victim, however, of all these royal affections and vanities was poor De Guiche. Every one could observe his agitation and prostration — a prostration which was, indeed, the more remarkable since people were not accustomed to see him with his arms hanging listlessly