"

"The protection with which you surround Mademoiselle de la Valliere does
not impose any respect."

"No equivocation, I repeat; you are perfectly aware that, as the head of
the nobility in France, I am accountable to all for the honor of every
family. You dismiss Mademoiselle de la Valliere, or whoever else it
may be--" Madame shrugged her shoulders. "Or whoever else it may be, I
repeat," continued the king; "and as, acting in that manner, you cast a
dishonorable reflection upon that person, I ask you for an explanation,
in order that I may confirm or annul the sentence."

"Annul my sentence!" exclaimed Madame, haughtily. "What! when I have
discharged one of my attendants, do you order me to take her back
again?" The king remained silent.

"This would be a sheer abuse of power, sire; it would be indecorous and
unseemly."

"Madame!"

"As a woman, I should revolt against an abuse so insulting to me; I
should no longer be able to regard myself as a princess of your blood,
a daughter of a monarch; I should be the meanest of creatures, more
humbled and disgraced than the servant I had sent away."

The king rose from his seat with anger. "It cannot be a heart," he
cried, "you have beating in your bosom; if you act in such a way with
me, I may have reason to act with corresponding severity."

It sometimes happens that in a battle a chance ball may reach its
mark. The observation which the king had made without any particular
intention, struck Madame home, and staggered her for a moment; some
day or other she might indeed have reason to dread reprisals. "At all
events, sire," she said, "explain what you require."

"I ask, madame, what has Mademoiselle de la Valliere done to warrant
your conduct toward her?"

"She is the most cunning fomenter of intrigues I know; she was the
occasion of two personal friends engaging in mortal combat; and has
made people talk of her in such shameless terms that the whole court is
indignant at the mere sound of her name."

"She! she!" cried the king.

"Under her soft and hypocritical manner," continued Madame, "she hides a
disposition full of foul and dark conceit."

"She!"

"You may possibly be deceived, sire, but I know her right well; she
is capable of creating dispute and misunderstanding between the most
affectionate relatives and the most intimate friends. You see that she
has already sown discord betwixt us two."

"I do assure you--" said the king.

"Sire, look well