the Cardinal's cabal "rakes into her private life," 173;
the Queen defends her with earnest importunity, 174;
holds the Abbe d'Estrees in contempt, 176;
the intercepted letter and its marginal note, 176;
makes a false step in her statecraft, 176;
the blunder leads to a great imbroglio, 177;
did she always use her influence over the young Queen in a purely
disinterested way? 177;
at the age of sixty still had lovers, 177;
her relations with d'Aubigny, her equerry, 178;
gallantry and _l'entetement de sa personne_, St. Simon asserts to be
her overwhelming weakness, 178;
she rashly resents the accusation of her marriage with
d'Aubigny, 179;
nicely balances Louis XIV.'s power in his grandson's Court, 180;
her egotistic and impatient ambition, 181;
the stately haughtiness of her submission to Louis XIV., 181;
her adroit flattery of Madame de Maintenon, 182;
quits Madrid as a state criminal for Italy, 184;
permitted to take up her abode at Toulouse, 184;
her artful letters and politic conduct, 185;
receives permission to appear at Versailles and justify
herself, 186;
the triumph of her restoration suddenly transforms her into "a court
divinity," 188;
she affects to be in no hurry to return to Spain, 189;
procures the admission of d'Aubigny into the cabinets of Louis XIV.
and Madame de Maintenon, 190;
authorised to form her ministry, 191;
her return to Spain prepared by the arrest of Leganez, 191;
she triumphs at Versailles, 192;
her lively appreciation of Louis XIV.'s mental qualities, 192;
the question of the prospect of her replacing Madame de
Maintenon, 193;
Louis XIV. seduced both by her grace and talent, 193;
turns all things to her advantage through her lucid common
sense, 194;
returns to Spain strengthened by disgrace, 194;
determines to break up the cabal of the grandees, 195;
foils the underhanded opposition of the high aristocracy, 196;
triumphs on the very brink of a volcano, 197;
nothing more honourable to her memory than her letters at this
period of disaster, 200;
by speeches, letters, and overtures, she consolidates the King's
authority in Old Castile, 200;
one of the most vigorous instruments ever made use of by
Providence, 201;
she flatters Madame de Maintenon about St. Cyr, 201;
sufferi