t of whom had only had
the effect of redoubling the ardour of his desires. His happiness was
retarded by an incident of a very extraordinary nature, one which caused
him personally much unpleasantness, and moreover, gave his young bride a
bad impression of the character of a nation she was about to rule over.
For the supper, which was prepared for her after the marriage ceremony,
the viands had been cooked partly in the Spanish, partly in the French
fashion, because at Turin the art of the celebrated _Chef_ Vatel had
been adopted. But the Spanish ladies whose duty it was, under the
direction of Madame des Ursins, to serve the dishes, did not expect such
a strange commencement of their functions. All their national
susceptibilities were aroused at the sight, and determined to wean
abruptly their new Queen from the customs of her own country, and to
impose upon her, from the moment of her very first repast, the diet of
Spain, they did not hesitate to upset all the French dishes, without a
single exception, in order to serve up nothing but Spanish cookery. The
King said nothing; and the Princess des Ursins, notwithstanding her
stupefaction and secret wrath, was unwilling to commence her career in
Spain by scenes of reproach and severity. The Queen also, whose natural
vivacity and tender age could not be expected to observe the same
restraint, had, nevertheless, sufficient control over herself at first
to keep silence. But when she found herself with the King and Madame des
Ursins in the apartment allotted to their privacy, her displeasure burst
forth, and with so much the greater force that it had been so long
restrained and that no foreign eye hindered its manifestation. She shed
tears plentifully, sobbed, regretted the absence of her Piedmontese
ladies, waxed indignant at the audacity and rudeness of the Spanish
dames, and even declared that she would proceed no further, but would
return to Piedmont. Night came on, the king left her to undress, and
waited to be summoned to his bride's apartment; but the young Queen,
"_entetee, comme une enfant qu'elle etait_," says Saint Simon, "for she
was scarcely fourteen," appeared disposed to attribute to the King
himself, the rude conduct of his subjects; and in spite of all reasoning
on the subject, and the remonstrances of Madame des Ursins, replied that
she would sleep alone and go back as quickly as possible to Turin. It
may easily be guessed how untoward and disagreeable such an