estroys with her own hands the structure of her individual
fortunes, 268;
she imprudently attacks the Spanish inquisition, 269;
fails in the attempt and creates a host of enemies, 269;
Louis XIV. has a grudge against her for delaying the signature of
the Treaty of Utrecht, 269;
the storm darkens thickly over her head, 270;
she consults Alberoni on the choice of Elizabeth Farnese as consort
of Philip V., 270;
Alberoni deceives her in the representation of the Princess of
Parma's character, 270;
by Alberoni's first move Madame de Ursini's game was lost, 271;
she finds herself friendless in Spain, 272;
she neglects to conciliate her enemies, 272;
suspicious jealousy of domination over Philip V., 273;
scandal of the construction of the secret corridor in the
palace, 273;
her error in not renouncing the idea of the principality, 275;
Lord Lexington signs a convention with her in which Queen Anne
"_engaged to secure her a sovereignty_," 277;
Madame de Maintenon divines her concealed project, 277;
sends d'Aubigny secretly to France to negotiate with Torcy, 278;
her proud feeling of returning to France as a sovereign
princess, 278;
her towering rage on hearing of the repudiation of the convention by
Queen Anne, 279;
she believes herself tricked by the English, 279;
despatches d'Aubigny to Utrecht, 280;
selects a more important personage to continue the negotiations--the
Baron de Capres, 281;
the delay in the conclusion of the general peace imputed to
her, 282;
Madame de Maintenon's letter to her on that subject, 282;
hitherto so noble-minded, she is no longer comprehensible throughout
this affair, 283;
nothing left but to give way; and the Treaty is signed
unconditionally, 284;
her mortification at the failure of her pretensions, 284;
the Court of France is turned against her, 284;
she is addressed harshly and laconically by Madame de
Maintenon, 284;
the Duke of Berwick proves unfriendly, 284;
she keeps Philip V. from all private audience, and scandal becomes
again busy with her name, 285;
an anecdote circulated throughout the French world of fashion--the
pendant of "_Oh! pour mariee, non!_" 285;
Philip grows wearied of the complaints, murmurs, and idle talk, 286;
his exclamation "Find me a wife! our _te