er the scandalous chronicle of the
lords and ladies of the court, whom the abbess knew perfectly by name,
touched lightly on the amours of the queen and the Duke of Buckingham,
talking a great deal to induce her auditor to talk a little.

But the abbess contented herself with listening and smiling without
replying a word. Milady, however, saw that this sort of narrative amused
her very much, and kept at it; only she now let her conversation drift
toward the cardinal.

But she was greatly embarrassed. She did not know whether the abbess was
a royalist or a cardinalist; she therefore confined herself to a prudent
middle course. But the abbess, on her part, maintained a reserve still
more prudent, contenting herself with making a profound inclination
of the head every time the fair traveler pronounced the name of his
Eminence.

Milady began to think she should soon grow weary of a convent life; she
resolved, then, to risk something in order that she might know how to
act afterward. Desirous of seeing how far the discretion of the good
abbess would go, she began to tell a story, obscure at first, but very
circumstantial afterward, about the cardinal, relating the amours of the
minister with Mme. d'Aiguillon, Marion de Lorme, and several other gay
women.

The abbess listened more attentively, grew animated by degrees, and
smiled.

"Good," thought Milady; "she takes a pleasure in my conversation. If she
is a cardinalist, she has no fanaticism, at least."

She then went on to describe the persecutions exercised by the cardinal
upon his enemies. The abbess only crossed herself, without approving or
disapproving.

This confirmed Milady in her opinion that the abbess was rather royalist
than cardinalist. Milady therefore continued, coloring her narrations
more and more.

"I am very ignorant of these matters," said the abbess, at length;
"but however distant from the court we may be, however remote from the
interests of the world we may be placed, we have very sad examples of
what you have related. And one of our boarders has suffered much from
the vengeance and persecution of the cardinal!"

"One of your boarders?" said Milady; "oh, my God! Poor woman! I pity
her, then."

"And you have reason, for she is much to be pitied. Imprisonment,
menaces, ill treatment-she has suffered everything. But after all,"
resumed the abbess, "Monsieur Cardinal has perhaps plausible motives for
acting thus; and though she has the look