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have guaranteed the future by this means?โ€

โ€œI hope so.โ€

โ€œWill your mother cease to regard me as an enemy?โ€

โ€œYes.โ€

โ€œWill Maria Theresa leave off speaking in Spanish before Monsieur, who has a horror of conversation held in foreign languages, because he always thinks he is being ill spoken of? and lastly,โ€ continued the princess, โ€œwill people persist in attributing a wrongful affection to the king when the truth is, we can offer nothing to each other, except absolute sympathy, free from mental reservation?โ€

โ€œYes, yes,โ€ said the king, hesitatingly. โ€œBut other things may still be said of us.โ€

โ€œWhat can be said, sire? shall we never be left in tranquillity?โ€

โ€œPeople will say I am deficient in taste; but what is my self-respect in comparison with your tranquillity?โ€

โ€œIn comparison with my honor, sire, and that of our family, you mean. Besides, I beg you to attend, do not be so hastily prejudiced against La Valliere. She is slightly lame, it is true, but she is not deficient in good sense. Moreover, all that the king touches is converted into gold.โ€

โ€œWell, Madame, rest assured of one thing, namely, that I am still grateful to you: you might even yet make me pay dearer for your stay in France.โ€

โ€œSire, some one approaches.โ€

โ€œWell!โ€

โ€œOne last word.โ€

โ€œSay it.โ€

โ€œYou are prudent and judicious, sire; but in the present instance you will be obliged to summon to your aid all your prudence, and all your judgment.โ€

โ€œOh!โ€ exclaimed Louis, laughing, โ€œfrom this very day I shall begin to act my part, and you shall see whether I am not quite fit to represent the character of a tender swain. After luncheon, there will be a promenade in the forest, and then there is supper and the ballet at ten oโ€™clock.โ€

โ€œI know it.โ€

โ€œThe ardor of my passion shall blaze more brilliantly than the fireworks, shall shine more steadily than our friend Colbertโ€™s lamps; it shall shine so dazzlingly that the queens and Monsieur will be almost blinded by it.โ€

โ€œTake care, sire, take care.โ€

โ€œIn Heavenโ€™s name, what have I done, then?โ€

โ€œI shall begin to recall the compliments I paid you just now. You prudent! you wise! did I say? Why, you begin by the most reckless inconsistencies! Can a passion be kindled in this manner, like a torch, in a moment? Can a monarch, such as you are, without any preparation, fall at the feet of a girl like La Valliere?โ€

โ€œAh! Henrietta, now I understand you. We have not yet begun the campaign, and you are plundering me already.โ€

โ€œNo, I am only recalling you to common-sense ideas. Let your passion be kindled gradually, instead of allowing it to burst forth so suddenly. Joveโ€™s thunders and lightnings are heard and seen before the palace is set on fire. Everything has its commencements. If you are so easily excited, no one will believe you are really captivated, and every one will think you out of your sensesโ€”if even, indeed, the truth itself not be guessed. The public is not so fatuous as they seem.โ€

The king was obliged to admit that Madame was an angel for sense, and the very reverse for cleverness. He bowed, and said: โ€œAgreed, Madame, I will think over my plan of attack: great military menโ€”my cousin De Conde for instanceโ€”grow pale in meditation upon their strategical plans, before they move one of the pawns, which people call armies; I therefore wish to draw up a complete plan of campaign; for you know that the tender passion is subdivided in a variety of ways. Well, then, I shall stop at the village of Little Attentions, at the hamlet of Love-Letters, before I follow the road of Visible Affection; the way is clear enough, you know, and poor Madame de Scudery would never forgive me for passing though a halting-place without stopping.โ€

โ€œOh! now we have returned to our proper senses, shall we say adieu, sire?โ€

โ€œAlas! it must be so, for see, we are interrupted.โ€

โ€œYes, indeed,โ€ said Henrietta, โ€œthey are bringing Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente and her sphinx butterfly in grand procession this way.โ€

โ€œIt is perfectly well understood, that this evening, during the promenade, I am to make my escape into the forest, and find La Valliere without you.โ€

โ€œI will take care to send her away.โ€

โ€œVery well! I will speak to her when she is with her companions, and I will then discharge my first arrow at her.โ€

โ€œBe skillful,โ€ said Madame, laughing, โ€œand do not miss the heart.โ€

Then the princess took leave of the king, and went forward to meet the merry troop, which was advancing with much ceremony, and a great many pretended flourishes of trumpets, imitated with their mouths.





Chapter XXXIX. The Ballet of the Seasons.

At the conclusion of the banquet, which was served at five oโ€™clock, the king entered his cabinet, where his tailors were awaiting him for the purpose of trying on the celebrated costume representing Spring, which was the result of so much imagination, and had cost so many efforts of thought to the designers and ornament-workers of the court. As for the ballet itself, every person knew the part he had to take in it, and how to perform it. The king had resolved to make it surprise. Hardly, therefore, had he finished his conference, and entered his own apartment, than he desired his two masters of the ceremonies, Villeroy and Saint-Aignan, to be sent for. Both replied that they only awaited his orders, and that everything was ready to begin, but that it was necessary to be sure of fine weather and a favorable night before these orders could be carried out. The king opened his window; the pale-gold hues of the evening were visible on the horizon through the vistas of the wood, and the moon, white as snow, was already mounting the heavens. Not a ripple could be noticed on the surface of the green waters; the swans themselves, even, reposing with folded wings like ships at anchor, seemed inspirations of the warmth of the air, the freshness of the water, and the silence of the beautiful evening. The king, having observed all these things, and contemplated the magnificent picture before him, gave the order which De Villeroy and De Saint-Aignan awaited; but with a view of insuring the execution of this order in a royal manner, one last question was necessary, and Louis XIV. put it to the two gentlemen in the following manner:โ€”โ€œHave you any money?โ€

โ€œSire,โ€ replied Saint-Aignan, โ€œwe have arranged everything with M. Colbert.โ€

โ€œAh! very well!โ€

โ€œYes,

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