at she had solicited the clemency of the monarch, she
bitterly reproached them for their interference, declaring that they
were liars and traitors, and that she would die rather than submit to
such a humiliation.[275]

During the exile of the Marquise, the King, whose passion for
Mademoiselle de Bueil had begun to decrease, and who discovered that
mere personal beauty offered no equivalent for the wit and fascinations
of his old favourite, resolved to provide for her, as he had previously
done for Mademoiselle de la Bourdaisiere, by bestowing her upon a
husband; and he accordingly effected her marriage with Henri de Harlay,
Comte de Chesy, a young noble whose poverty, as well as his want of
Court influence, gave every security for his ready submission to all the
exactions of his royal master.[276]

The monarch, whom absence had thus only sufficed to render more devoted
than ever to the Marquise, and who had resolved under all circumstances
to pardon her, continued to employ every method in his power to induce
her to avow her error, although in searching her papers numerous letters
had been discovered which revealed an amount of infidelity on her part
that should have awakened his pride, and induced him to abandon her to
her fate; and at length, despairing that any minor influence would
suffice to alter her resolution, and to lower her pride, he instructed
M. de Sully to see her, and if possible to convince her of the injury
which she was doing to her own cause by the obstinacy with which she
rejected the suggestions of the King.

The minister had no alternative save obedience; and he consequently
presented himself at the residence of Madame de Verneuil, whom he found
as self-possessed and as self-confident as in the palmiest days of her
prosperity. Instead of concessions she made conditions, and complained
loudly and arrogantly of the proceedings of the sovereign; by whom she
declared that she had been outraged in her honour, and from whom she
sought redress rather than indulgence. This tirade was seasoned by
professions of piety and repentance which were appreciated at their real
value by her listener; who, having suffered her to exhaust herself by
her own vehemence, instead of temporizing with her vanity as her friends
had previously done, took up the subject in his turn, and told her that
she would do well to remember that she was at that moment a prisoner
under suspicion of treason, and that she might consider her