Page:The Vicomte de Bragelonne 2.djvu/18

6 the husband and wife breakfasted, and then separated till the hour of dinner, invariably fixed at two o'clock.

The sound of this bell caused a door to be opened in the offices on the left hand of the court, from which filed two maîtres d'hôtel, followed by eight scullions bearing a kind of hand-barrow loaded with dishes under silver covers.

One of the maîtres d'hôtel, the first in rank, touched one of the guards, who was snoring on his bench, slightly with his wand; he even carried his kindness so far as to place the halbert which stood against the wall in the hands of the man, stupid with sleep, after which the soldier, without explanation, escorted the viande of Monsieur to the refectory, preceded by a page and the two maîtres d'hôtel.

Wherever the viande passed, the soldiers ported arms.

Mlle. de Montalais and her companion had watched from their window the details of this ceremony, to which, by the bye, they must have been pretty well accustomed. But they did not look so much from curiosity as to be assured they should not be disturbed. So guards, scullions, maîtres d'hôtel, and pages having passed, they resumed their places at the table; and the sun, which, through the window-frame, had for an instant fallen upon those two charming countenances, now only shed its light upon the gillyflowers, primroses, and rose-tree.

"Bah!" said Mlle. de Montalais, taking her place again; "madame will breakfast very well without me!"

"Oh, Montalais, you will be punished!" replied the other girl, sitting down quietly in hers.

"Punished, indeed!—that is to say, deprived of a ride! That is just the way in which I wish to be punished. To go out in the grand coach, perched upon a doorstep; to turn to the left, twist round to the right, over roads full of ruts, where we cannot exceed a league in two hours; and then to come back straight toward the wing of the castle in which is the window of Mary de Medici, so that madame never fails to say: 'Could one believe it possible that Mary de Medici should have escaped from that window—forty-seven feet high? The mother of two princes and three princesses!' If you call that relaxation, Louise, all I ask is to be punished every day; particularly when my punishment is to remain with you and write such interesting letters as we write!"

"Montalais! Montalais! there are duties to be performed."

"You talk of them very much at your ease, my little heart!—you, who are left quite free amid this tedious