raceful, deplorable negotiation imposed by the
great King upon his sister-in-law. She had always obeyed him (as she
herself said), and she obeyed him in this matter, rendering her brother
doubly a traitor by his abandonment of the latter condition, which
lessened his treason.

Everybody had envied the Duchess her visit to England, none knew the
bitterness it entailed. The King confided in her, and yet distrusted
her. Otherwise he would not have had her accompanied by the pretty doll,
with her baby face, whose office it was to ensnare the licentious
Charles. Henrietta was compelled to take her over to England, and, in
fact, to chaperone her. For such self-abasement the King had handsomely
rewarded the compliant maid-of-honour, promising to give her an estate,
and so much per head for each bastard she might have by Charles of
England.

Henrietta endured all this shameful bargaining, hoping that her royal
brother would obtain from the Pope the dissolution of her marriage with
the worthless, stupid, profligate Duke of Orleans, on whom her wit and
charms were equally thrown away. She might then remain at his court and
be the virtual Queen of England, by governing him through female
influence. Her brilliant hopes, however, were destined to be speedily
dissipated, and her career cut short by a painful and treacherous death.

On her return from England, two surprises awaited her: not only did she
find the Duke, her husband, exasperated against her, but what she had
least of all expected, the King very cold in his demeanour towards her.
Louis had got from her all he desired. His changed attitude emboldened a
cabal in her own household to effect her destruction. Those who formed
it were creatures of her husband's detestable favourite, the Chevalier
de Lorraine, whom they believed had been banished by the King through
her entreaties. The poor Duchess wept bitterly on finding that she had
now no support from any one about her. The Duke, in the exercise of his
marital authority, took her from Court, not permitting her any longer to
visit Versailles. The King might have insisted upon her attendance
there but did not. In tears, she suffered herself to be carried off to
St. Cloud. There she felt herself alone, with every hand against her.

The weather was excessively hot. On her arrival at St. Cloud, she took a
bath, which made her ill, but she soon recovered from it, and during two
days was tolerably well--eating and sleeping. On t