yed her: women love revenge; but their resentments seldom last long;
and if you had remained in the neighbourhood till the next day, I will be
hanged if she would not have given you satisfaction for the first night's
sufferings." Hamilton being of a different opinion, the Chevalier de
Grammont resolved to maintain his assertion by a case in point; and,
addressing himself to the king: "Sir," said he, "your majesty, I suppose,
must have known Marion de l'Orme, the most charming creature in all
France: though she was as witty as an angel, she was as capricious as a
devil. This beauty having made me an appointment, a whim seized her to
put me off, and to give it to another; she therefore wrote me one of the
tenderest billets in the world, full of the grief and sorrow she was in,
by being obliged to disappoint me; on account of a most terrible
headache, that obliged her to keep her bed, and deprived her of the
pleasure of seeing me till the next day. This headache coming all of a
sudden, appeared to me very suspicious; and, never doubting but it was
her intention to jilt me: 'Very well, mistress coquette,' said I to
myself, 'if you do not enjoy the pleasure of seeing me this day, you
shall not enjoy the satisfaction of seeing another.'

"Hereupon, I detached all my servants, some of whom patrolled about her
house, whilst others watched her door; one of the latter brought me
intelligence that no person had gone into her house all the afternoon;
but that a foot-boy had gone out as it grew dark; that he followed him as
far as the Rue Saint Antoine, where this boy met another, to whom he only
spoke two or three words. This was sufficient to confirm my suspicions,
and make me resolve either to make one of the party, or to disconcert it.

[Marion de l'Orme, born at Chalons, in Champagne, was esteemed the
most beautiful woman of her times. It is believed that she was
secretly married to the unfortunate Monsieur Cinqmars. After his
death, she became the mistress of Cardinal Richelieu, and, at last,
of Monsieur d'Emery, superintendent of the finances.]

"As the bagnio where I lodged was at a great distance from the Marais, as
soon as the night set in I mounted my horse, without any attendant. When
I came to the Place-Royale, the servant, who was sentry there, assured me
that no person was yet gone into Mademoiselle de l'Orme's house: I rode
forward towards the Rue Saint Antoine; and, just as I was going out of
the Pla