Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/98

Rh 88 TEX YEARS LATEE. attendants at the cluUeau had treated with indifference and contempt. And so Mme. Henrietta once more returned to the Louvre, with her heart more swollen with grief and bitter recollections than her daughter, whose disposition was fickle and forgetful, returned to it with triumph and delight. She knew but too well that present brilliant recep- tion was paid to the happy mother of a king restored to his throne, and that throne second to none in Europe, while the worse than indifferent reception she had before met with was paid to her, the daughter of Henry IV., as a punishment for having been unhappy. After the princesses had been installed in their apartments and had rested them- selves, the gentlemen who had formed their escort having, in like manner, recovered from their fatigue, they resumed their accustomed habits and occupations. Raoul began by setting off to see his father, who had left for Blois. He then tried to see M. d'Artagnan, who, however, being en- gaged in the organization of a military household for the king, could not be found anywhere. Bragelonne next sought out De Guiche, but the comte was occupied in a long conference with his tailors and with Manicamp, which consumed his whole time. With the Duke of Buckingham he fared still worse, for the duke was purchasing horses after horses, diamonds upon diamonds. He monopolized every embroiderer, jeweler, and tailor that Paris could boast of. Between De Guiche and himself a vigorous contest ensued, invariably a most courteous one, in which, in order to insure success, the duke was ready to spend a million; while the Marechal de Grammont had only allowed his son sixty thousand francs. So Buckingham laughed and spent his money. Guiche groaned in despair, and would have shown it more violently, had it not been for the advice De Bragelonne gave him. "A million!" repeated De Guiche daily; ''I must submit. Why will not the marechal advance me a portion of my patrimony?" "Because you will throw it away," said Eaoul. "What can that matter to him? If I am to die of it, I shall die of it, and then I shall need nothing further." "But what need is there to die?" said Raoul. "I do not wish to be conquered in elegance by an English- man." "My dear comte," said Manicamp, "elegance is not a costly commodity, it is only a very difficult one." "Yes, but difficult things cost a good deal of money, and I have only got sixty thousand francs."