e de Maintenon, rallying me upon
my absence and giving me news of my children. The King's letter was
quite short, but a king's note such as that is worth a whole pile of
commonplace letters. I transcribe it here:

I am jealous; an unusual thing for me. And I am much vexed, I confess,
with Madame de Mortemart, who might have chosen a very different moment
to be ill. I am ignorant as to the nature of her malady, but if it be
serious, and of those which soon grow more dangerous, she has played me a
very sorry trick in sending for you to act as her nurse or her physician.
Pray tell her, madame, that you are no good whatever as a nurse, being
extremely hasty and impatient in everything; while as regards medical
skill, you are still further from the mark, since you have never yet been
able to understand your own ailments, nor even explain these with the
least clearness. I must ask the Abbess momentarily to suspend her
sufferings and come to Versailles, where all my physicians shall treat
her with infinite skill; and, to oblige me, will cure her, as they know
how much I esteem and like her. Farewell, my ladies three, who in your
friendship are but as one. I should like to be there to make a fourth.
Madame de Maintenon, who loves you sincerely, will give you news of your
little family and of Saint Germain. Her letter and mine will be brought
to you and delivered by the young Comte de Chamilly. Send him back to me
at once, and don't let him, see your novices or your nuns, else he will
not want to return to me. LOUIS.

Madame de Maintenon's letter was not couched in the same playfully
mocking tone; though a marquise, she felt the distance that there was
between herself and me; besides, she always knows exactly what is the
proper thing to do. The Abbess, who is an excellent judge, thought this
letter excellently written. She wanted to have a copy of it, which made
me determine to preserve it. Here it is, a somewhat more voluminous
epistle than that of the King:

I promised you, madame, that I would inform you as often as possible of
all that interests you here, and now I keep my promise, being glad to say
that I have only pleasant news to communicate. His Majesty is
wonderfully well, and though annoyed at your journey, he has hardly lost
any of his gaiety, as seemingly he hopes to have you back again in a day
or two.

Mademoiselle de Nantes declares that she would have behaved very well in
the coach, and that she is a nearer r