d and grieved to find
themselves antagonists and rivals. Happily they had a saving wit, both
of them, and made a treaty of peace, by which it was recognised and
agreed that, since their patrimony was small, it should be neither
divided nor drawn upon, in order that it might make of M. de Lauzun, when
he came to marry, a rich man and a great lord. The two rivals, in the
excess of their love, stipulated that this indivisible inheritance should
be drawn for by lot, that the victorious number should have M. de Lauzun
thrown in, and that the losing number should go and bury herself in a
convent.

Mademoiselle d'Aumale--that is to say, the pretty blonde--won M. de
Lauzun; but he, being bizarre in his tastes, and who only had a fancy for
the brunette (the less charming of the two), went and besought the King
to refuse his consent.

Mademoiselle d'Aumale thought of dying of grief and pique, and, as a
consequence of her despair, listened to the proposals of the King of
Portugal, and consented to take a crown.

The disgrace and imprisonment of her old friend having reached her ear,
this princess gave him the honour of her tears, although she had two
husbands alive. Twice she had solicited his liberty, which was certainly
not granted in answer to her prayers.

When she learned of the release of the prisoner, she showed her joy
publicly at it, in the middle of her Court; wrote her congratulations
upon it to Mademoiselle, apparently to annoy her, and, a few days
afterwards, indited with her own hand the letter you are going to read,
addressed to the King, which was variously criticised.

TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF FRANCE.

BROTHER:--Kings owe one another no account of their motives of action,
especially when their authority falls heavily upon the officers of their
own palace, till then invested with their confidence and overwhelmed with
the tokens of their kindness. The disgrace of the Marquis de Lauzun can
only appear in my eyes an act of justice, coming as it does from the
justest of sovereigns. So I confined myself in the past to soliciting
for this lord--gifted with all the talents, with bravery and merit--your
Majesty's pity and indulgence. He owed later the end of his suffering,
not to my instances, but to your magnanimity. I rejoice at the change in
his destiny, and I have charged my ambassador at your Court to express my
sincere participation in it. To-day, Sire, I beg you to accept my
thanks. M. de Lauzun, s