Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 03.djvu/179

Rh every breast, and all were in the greatest consternation, a courier arrived from court.

"A courier? from whom, and upon what account?"

He was sent by the king's confessor to the prior of the mountain. It was not Father de la Chaise who wrote, but Brother Vadbled, his valet de chambre, a man of great consequence at that time, who acquainted the archbishops with the reverend father's pleasure, who gave audiences, promised benefices, and sometimes issued lettres de cachet.

He wrote to the abbé of the mountain "that his reverence had been informed of his nephew's exploits; that his being sent to prison was through mistake; that such little accidents frequently happened, and should therefore not be attended to; and, in fine, it behooved him, the prior, to come and present his nephew the next day; that he was to bring with him that good man Gordon; and that he, Brother Vadbled, should introduce them to his reverence and M. de Louvois, who would say a word to them in his ante-chamber."

To which he added that "the history of the Huron, and his combat against the English had been related to the king; that doubtless the king would deign to take notice of him in passing through the gallery, and perhaps he might even nod his head to him."

The letter concluded by flattering him with hopes that all the ladies of the court would show their