eving it)
related it to all France. But this prognostication need not alarm you,
madame," she added; "a King like ours is incapable of such an
extravagance, and if he were to determine on it, it would not have my
countenance nor approval.

"I do not think that thus far I have passed due limits; the granddaughter
of a great noble, of a first gentleman of the chamber, I have been able
to become a lady in waiting without offending the eyes; but the lady in
waiting will never be Queen, and I give you my permission to insult me
publicly when I am."

Such was this conversation, to which I have not added a word. We shall
see soon how Madame de Maintenon kept her word to me, and if I am not
right in owing her a grudge for this promise with a double meaning, with
which it was her caprice to decoy me by her shuffling.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Birth of the Duc d'Anjou.--The Present to the Mother.--The Casket of
Patience.--Departure of the King for the Army.--The King Turns a Deaf
Ear.--How That Concerns Madame de Maintenon.--The Prisoner of the
Bastille.--The Danger of Caricatures.--The Administrative
Thermometer.--Actors Who Can neither Be Applauded nor Hissed.--Relapse of
the Prisoner.--Scarron's Will.--A Fine Subject for Engraving.--Madame de
Maintenon's Opinion upon the Jesuits.--The Audience of the Green
Salon.--Portions from the Refectory.--Madame de Maintenon's Presence of
Mind.--I Will Make You Schoolmaster.

Madame la Dauphine, greatly pleased with her new position, in that she
represented the person of the Queen, had already given birth to M. le Duc
de Bourgogne; she now brought into the world a second son, who was at
once entitled Duc d'Anjou. The King, to thank her for this gift, made
her a present of an oriental casket, which could only be opened by a
secret spring, and that not before one had essayed it for half an hour.
Madame la Dauphine found in it a superb set of pearls and four thousand
new louis d'or. As she had no generosity in her heart, she bestowed no
bounties on her entourage. The King this year made an expedition to
Flanders. Before getting into his carriage he came and passed half an
hour or forty minutes with me, and asked me if I should not go and pass
the time of his absence at the Petit-Bourg.

"At Petit-Bourg and at Bourbon," I answered, "unless you allow me to
accompany you." He feigned not to have heard me, and said: "Lauzun, who,
eleven or twelve years ago, refused the baton of a ma