ut the course of
the siege, are, after her victory, the natural and almost naive
expression of delight at a success which both sides promised themselves
to render fruitful. It is an instance of poor, naked human nature caught
in the fact. But, as in other instances, she cannot play the woman with
impunity. Madame des Ursins dwells with complacency upon her description
of the fabulous _cortege_ which he has in preparation. Lackeys
innumerable, a legion of pages and gentlemen, _fiocches_ and carriages,
emblazoned with gold, a suite with which in the present day a sovereign
would not encumber himself, and which ate up the remainder of her
fortune, all these marvels by means of which it was proposed to win over
the admiration of the Spaniards to the new dynasty, were not
unserviceable also in gaining over the young Duchess of Burgundy, and
the details of them were welcomed by an approving smile in the sanctuary
of Madame de Maintenon. The Princess des Ursins being, moreover, too
knowing to exact anything in the shape of money from the King in
addition to the high favour and all-powerful protection she had just
received at his hands; she showed herself, to use her own words, _aussi
fiere que gueuse_.[19] But there is a time for all things; when we have
gained possession of the tree itself, we need not be in such a hurry to
strip it of its fruits.

[19] Letter to the Marechale de Noailles of 21st June, 1701.

CHAPTER IV.

MADAME DES URSINS ASSUMES THE FUNCTIONS OF CAMERARA-MAYOR TO THE YOUNG
QUEEN OF SPAIN--AN UNPROPITIOUS ROYAL WEDDING.

IT was, therefore, with a paraphernalia almost regal that Madame des
Ursins set forth to conduct the Princess of Savoy to her husband. Our
heroine was then in her fifty-ninth year (1701), according to most
authorities, in her sixty-second, according to others; and either age
would have been for any one else the period for retreat. But by the rare
privilege of a singular energy, physical and moral, still beautiful, and
having as yet only prepared herself for playing the grand part of her
life's drama, she was about to make that advanced age a point of
departure in her militant career, the outset of a new existence. She had
not committed the error of remaining attached to old customs or old
styles of dress, she had, as the present phrase runs, advanced with the
age. She had sympathised with it with a juvenile ardour, she had noted,
at a distance, its deviations. She was des