of honour, Mademoiselle La Motte
Houdancourt, whom his most Christian Majesty Louis XIV. had already
honoured with his regard, Grammont was banished from the French court.

Accordingly, in the second year of the merry monarch's reign he
presented himself at Whitehall, and was received by Charles with
a graciousness that served to obliterate the memory of his late
misfortune. Nor were the courtiers less warm in their greetings than
his majesty. The men hailed him as an agreeable companion; the ladies
intimated he need not wholly abandon those tender diversions for which
he had shown such natural talent and received such high reputation at
the court of Louis XIV. He therefore promptly attached himself to the
king, whose parties he invariably attended, and whose pleasures he
continually devised; made friends with the most distinguished nobles,
whom he charmed by the grace of his manner and extravagance of
his entertainments; and took early opportunities of proving to the
satisfaction of many of the fairer sex that his character as a gallant
had by no means been exaggerated by report.

Amongst those to whom he paid especial attention were Mrs. Middleton, a
woman of fashion, and Miss Kirk, a maid of honour, to whom Hamilton,
in his memoirs of Grammont, gives the fictitious name of Warmestre.
The former was at this time in her seventeenth summer, and had been two
years a wife. Her exquisitely fair complexion, light auburn hair, and
dark hazel eyes constituted her a remarkably beautiful woman. Miss Kirk
was of a different type of loveliness, inasmuch as her skin was brown,
her eyes dark, and her complexion brilliant. As Mrs. Middleton was at
this time but little known at court, Grammont found some difficulty in
obtaining an introduction to her as promptly as he desired; but feeling
anxious to make her acquaintance, and being no laggard in love, he
without hesitation applied to her porter for admittance, and took one of
her lovers into his confidence. This latter gallant rejoiced in the name
of Jones, and subsequently became Earl of Ranelagh. In the fulness of
his heart towards one who experienced a fellow feeling, he resolved
to aid Grammont in gaining the lady's favours. This generosity being
prompted by the fact that the chevalier would rid him of a rival whom
he feared, and at the same time relieve him of an expense he could
ill afford, the lady having certain notions of magnificence which her
husband's income was unable