o they assure me, has not been restored to his
offices, and though still young, does not obtain employment in his
country, where men of feeling and of talent are innumerable. Allow us,
Sire, to summon this exceptional gentleman to my State, where French
officers win easily the kindly feelings of my nobles, accustomed as they
are to cherish all that is born in your illustrious Empire. I will give
M. de Lauzun a command worthy of him, worthy of me,--a command that will
enable him to render lasting and essential services to my Crown and to
yours. Do not refuse me this favour, which does not at all impoverish
your armies, and which may be of use to a kingdom of which you are the
protector and the friend. Accept, Sire, etc.

I did not see the answer which was vouchsafed to this singular letter;
the King did not judge me worthy to enjoy such confidence that he had
made no difficulty in granting to me formerly; but he confided in Madame
de Maintenon, and even charged her to obtain the opinion of Mademoiselle
touching this matter, and Mademoiselle, who never hid aught from me,
brought the details of it to my country-house.

This Princess, now enlightened as to the falseness of Monsieur de Lauzun,
entreated the King to give up this gentleman to the blond Queen, or to
give him a command himself.

The Marquis de Lauzun, having learnt the steps taken by the Queen of
Portugal, whom he had never been able to endure, grew violently angry,
and said in twenty houses that he had not come out of one prison to throw
himself into another.

These were all the thanks the Queen got for her efforts; and, like
Mademoiselle de Montpensier, she detested, with all her soul, the man she
had loved with all her heart.

The Marquis de Lauzun was one of the handsomest men in the world; but his
character spoiled everything.

CHAPTER XXV.

The Nephews, the Nieces, the Cousins and the Brother of Madame de
Maintenon.--The King's Debut.--The Marshal's Silver Staff.

The family of Madame de Maintenon had not only neglected but despised her
when she was poor and living on her pension of two thousand francs. Since
my protection and favour had brought her into contact with the sun that
gives life to all things, and this radiant star had shed on-her his own
proper rays and light, all her relatives in the direct, oblique, and
collateral line had remembered her, and one saw no one but them in her
antechambers, in her chamber, and at Court.

Som