ermain I was only in the second; and he charged his interpreter to tell
the King of France that the unhappy Ibrahim would never get over this
visit to his Court.

The King replied, with a smile, that he had "better become a Christian,
and stay with us."

At these words the ambassador turned pale, and glancing downwards,
withdrew, forgetting to salute his Majesty.

Then he returned, and made all his bows quite nicely; nor would he quit
the capital before he had sent me his portrait, some pretty verses in
Italian, which he had caused to be composed, and besides this, a set of
amber ornaments, the most beautiful of any worn by ladies of the harem.

Despite this imposing and costly embassy, despite the ambassador's
compliment, who referred to the King as "Eldest Son of the Sun," this
same Son of the Sun despatched seven thousand picked troops to help
Venice against the Turks. To this detachment the Venetian Republic sent
fourteen vessels laden with their own soldiers, under the leadership of
our Duc de Beaufort, Grand Admiral of France, and Lieutenant-General Duc
de Navailles.

Had these troops arrived in the nick of time, they would have saved
Candia, but by a sudden accident all was lost, and after so terrible a
reverse, the Isle of Candia, wrested from the potentates of Europe and
Christendom, fell a prey to the infidels.

A pistol-shot fired at a Turk blew up several barrels of gunpowder
belonging to a large magazine captured from the enemy. Our troops,
thinking that a mine had been sprung, fled in headlong confusion, never
even caring to save their muskets. The Turks butchered them in the most
frightful manner. In this huge massacre, some of our most promising
officers perished, and the Duc de Beaufort was never found either among
the wounded or the slain.

The young Comte de Guiche, of whom I shall presently speak, had his hand
smashed, and if on his breast he had not worn a portrait of Madame,--[The
ill-fated Duchesse d'Orleans.]--the sword of a Turk would have struck him
to the heart.

The King felt sorry that he had only despatched seven thousand men
thither. But when M. de Louvois informed him that the whole detachment
had been almost annihilated, he regretted having sent so many.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Danger of Harbouring a Malcontent.--The King's Policy with Regard to
Lorraine.--Advice of Madame de Thianges.--Conquest of Lorraine.--The
Lorraines Surrender to the Emperor.

The petty princes