-two millions; and next that
King Louis should consent to a marriage, the strangest certainly ever
resolved upon. Strange, indeed, that she, the grand-daughter of Henry
the Great, Mademoiselle d'Eu, Mademoiselle de Dombes, Mademoiselle
d'Orleans, Mademoiselle the King's first cousin, the Mademoiselle
destined to the throne, should ask the King's permission to marry a
Gascon cadet. Louis, as the sequel to an overture made to him by several
nobles collectively, friends of Lauzun, with M. de Montausier at their
head, granted his permission. But when the question arose, thanks to the
blind vanity of Lauzun, of their union being celebrated at the Louvre
and in the face of all France, like an alliance "of crown to crown;"
when a feeling which was shared by every member of the royal house was
on the point of communicating itself to all the sovereign families of
Europe, Louis, with great reason, began to take account of the political
interests which this whim of the Princess brought into play, and
retracted, as King, the authority which he had given as head of a
family. Contemporary writers seem never tired of dwelling upon the
manifestations of Mademoiselle's grief, at times as laughable as at
others it was touching; receiving the condolence of all the Court as
though she had been a lone widow, Madame de Sevigne tells us, and
exclaiming excitedly in her despair to every fresh visitor, as she
pointed to the vacant place in her bed, "He should be there! he should
be there!"

This took place on the 18th of December, 1670. On the 25th of November,
1671, M. de Lauzun was arrested, thrown into the Bastille, and taken
thence to Pignerol, where he was subjected to a captivity of ten years.
What passed in that interval has proved a great subject of controversy
amongst ingenious writers. The most probable explanation seems to be
that, notwithstanding the King's refusal, the marriage between Lauzun
and Mademoiselle had been accomplished. The evidence of twenty different
persons might be cited in support of the fact, but one may suffice. An
historian of the last century, M. Anquetil, relates that at the Chateau
d'Eu, in 1774, an apartment was still pointed out which had been
occupied by Lauzun, situated above that of the princess, and
communicating by a secret staircase with her alcove. At the same period,
Anquetil saw at Treport a tall person resembling Mademoiselle not only
in her figure, but strikingly like her portraits. She seemed to