s
are honorable."

"Honorable intentions with such a face!" cried Madame de Saint-Remy.

"I thank you in the name of my face, madame," said Malicorne.

"Come, my daughter, come," continued Madame de Saint-Remy; "we will
go and inform madame that at the very moment she is weeping for her
husband, at the moment when we are all weeping for a master in this
old castle of Blois, the abode of grief, there are people who amuse
themselves with flirtations!"

"Oh!" cried both the accused, with one voice.

"A maid of honor! a maid of honor!" cried the old lady, lifting her
hands towards heaven.

"Well! it is there you are mistaken, madame," said Montalais, highly
exasperated; "I am no longer a maid of honor, of madame's at least."

"Have you given in your resignation, mademoiselle? That is well! I
cannot but applaud such a determination, and I do applaud it."

"I do not give in my resignation, madame; I take another service,--that
is all."

"In the _bourgeoisie_ or in the _robe?_" asked Madame de Saint-Remy,
disdainfully.

"Please to learn, madame, that I am not a girl to serve either
_bourgeoises_ or _robines_; and that instead of the miserable court at
which you vegetate, I am going to reside in a court almost royal."

"Ha, ha! a royal court," said Madame de Saint-Remy, forcing a laugh; "a
royal court! What do you think of that, my daughter?"

And she turned towards Mademoiselle de la Valliere, whom she would by
main force have dragged away from Montalais, and who instead of obeying
the impulse of Madame de Saint-Remy, looked first at her mother and then
at Montalais with her beautiful conciliatory eyes.

"I did not say a royal court, madame," replied Montalais; "because
Madame Henrietta of England, who is about to become the wife of S. A.
R. Monsieur, is not a queen. I said almost royal, and I spoke correctly,
since she will be sister-in-law to the king."

A thunderbolt falling upon the castle of Blois would not have astonished
Madame de Saint-Remy more than the last sentence of Montalais.

"What do you say? of Son Altesse Royale Madame Henrietta?" stammered out
the old lady.

"I say I am going to belong to her household, as maid of honor; that is
what I say."

"As maid of honor!" cried, at the same time, Madame de Saint-Remy with
despair, and Mademoiselle de la Valliere with delight.

"Yes, madame, as maid of honor."

The old lady's head sank down as if the blow had been too severe for
her. But, almos