Chapter 22 - Page 2

not resist admitting himself vanquished by a
petulance so thoroughly French in its nature, whose energy more than ever
increased by English humor. Like a child, he was captivated by her
radiant beauty, which her wit made still more dazzling. Madame's eyes
flashed like lightning. Wit and humor escaped from her scarlet lips like
persuasion from the lips of Nestor of old. The whole court, subdued by
her enchanting grace, noticed for the first time that laughter could be
indulged in before the greatest monarch in the world, like people who
merited their appellation of the wittiest and most polished people in
Europe.

Madame, from that evening, achieved and enjoyed a success capable of
bewildering all not born to those altitudes termed thrones; which, in
spite of their elevation, are sheltered from such giddiness. From that
very moment Louis XIV. acknowledged Madame as a person to be recognized.
Buckingham regarded her as a coquette deserving the cruelest tortures,
and De Guiche looked upon her as a divinity; the courtiers as a star
whose light might some day become the focus of all favor and power. And
yet Louis XIV., a few years previously, had not even condescended to
offer his hand to that "ugly girl" for a ballet; and Buckingham had
worshipped this coquette "on both knees." De Guiche had once looked upon
this divinity as a mere woman; and the courtiers had not dared to extol
this star in her upward progress, fearful to disgust the monarch whom
such a dull star had formerly displeased.

Let us see what was taking place during this memorable evening at the
king's card-table. The young queen, although Spanish by birth, and the
niece of Anne of Austria, loved the king, and could not conceal her
affection. Anne of Austria, a keen observer, like all women, and
imperious, like every queen, was sensible of Madame's power, and
acquiesced in it immediately, a circumstance which induced the young
queen to raise the siege and retire to her apartments. The king hardly
paid any attention to her departure, notwithstanding the pretended
symptoms of indisposition by which it was accompanied. Encouraged by the
rules of etiquette, which he had begun to introduce at the court as an
element of every relation of life, Louis XIV. did not disturb himself; he
offered his hand to Madame without looking at Monsieur his brother, and
led the young princess to the door of her apartments. It was remarked,
that at the threshold of the door, his majesty, freed from every
restraint, or not equal to the situation, sighed very deeply. The ladies
present - nothing escapes a woman's glance - Mademoiselle Montalais, for
instance - did not fail to say to each other, "the king sighed," and
"Madame sighed too." This had been indeed the case.