Chapter 48

Chapter XLVIII:
Fontainebleau at Two o'Clock in the Morning.

As we have seen, Saint-Aignan had quitted the king's apartment at the
very moment the superintendent entered it. Saint-Aignan was charged with
a mission that required dispatch, and he was going to do his utmost to
turn his time to the best advantage. He whom we have introduced as the
king's friend was indeed an uncommon personage; he was one of those
valuable courtiers whose vigilance and acuteness of perception threw all
other favorites into the shade, and counterbalanced, by his close
attention, the servility of Dangeau, who was not the favorite, but the
toady of the king. M. de Saint-Aignan began to think what was to be done
in the present position of affairs. He reflected that his first
information ought to come from De Guiche. He therefore set out in search
of him, but De Guiche, whom we saw disappear behind one of the wings, and
who seemed to have returned to his own apartments, had not entered the
chateau. Saint-Aignan therefore went in quest of him, and after having
turned, and twisted, and searched in every direction, he perceived
something like a human form leaning against a tree. This figure was as
motionless as a statue, and seemed deeply engaged in looking at a window,
although its curtains were closely drawn. As this window happened to be
Madame's, Saint-Aignan concluded that the form in question must be that
of De Guiche. He advanced cautiously, and found he was not mistaken. De
Guiche had, after his conversation with Madame, carried away such a
weight of happiness, that all of his strength of mind was hardly
sufficient to enable him to support it. On his side, Saint-Aignan knew
that De Guiche had had something to do with La Valliere's introduction to
Madame's household, for a courtier knows everything and forgets nothing;
but he had never learned under what title or conditions De Guiche had
conferred his protection upon La Valliere. But, as in asking a great
many questions it is singular if a man does not learn something, Saint-
Aignan reckoned upon learning much or little, as the case might be, if he
questioned De Guiche with that extreme tact, and, at the same time, with
that persistence in attaining an object, of which he was capable. Saint-
Aignan's plan was as follows: If the information obtained was
satisfactory, he would inform the king, with alacrity, that he had
lighted upon a pearl, and claim the privilege of setting the pearl in
question in the royal crown. If the information were unsatisfactory, -
which, after all, might be possible, - he would examine how far the king
cared about La Valliere, and make use of his information in such a manner
as to get rid of the girl altogether, and thereby obtain all the merit of
her