op until they had reached the verge of the wood.
There, breathless, leaning against each other, feeling their hearts
throb wildly, they endeavored to collect their senses, but could only
succeed in doing so after the lapse of some minutes. Perceiving at last
the lights from the windows of the chateau, they decided to walk towards
them. La Valliere was exhausted with fatigue, and Aure and Athenais were
obliged to support her.

"We have escaped well," said Montalais.

"I am greatly afraid," said La Valliere, "that it was something
worse than a wolf. For my part, and I speak as I think, I should have
preferred to have run the risk of being devoured alive by some wild
animal than to have been listened to and overheard. Fool, fool that I
am! How could I have thought, how could I have said what I did?" And
saying this her head bowed like the water tossed plume of a bulrush;
she felt her limbs fail, and her strength abandoning her, and, gliding
almost inanimate from the arms of her companions, sank down upon the
turf.

Chapter XLII. The King's Uneasiness.

Let us leave poor La Valliere, who had fainted in the arms of her two
companions, and return to the precincts of the royal oak. The young
girls had hardly run twenty paces, when the sound which had so much
alarmed them was renewed among the branches. A man's figure might
indistinctly be perceived, and putting the branches of the bushes aside,
he appeared upon the verge of the wood, and perceiving that the place
was empty, burst out into a peal of laughter. It is almost superfluous
to add that the form in question was that of a young and handsome
cavalier, who immediately made a sign to another, who thereupon made his
appearance.

"What, sire," said the second figure, advancing timidly, "has your
majesty put our young sentimentalists to flight?"

"It seems so," said the king, "and you can show yourself without fear."

"Take care, sire, you will be recognized."

"But I tell you they are flown."

"This is a most fortunate meeting, sire; and, if I dared offer an
opinion to your majesty, we ought to follow them."

"They are far enough away by this time."

"They would quickly allow themselves to be overtaken, especially if they
knew who were following them."

"What do you mean by that, coxcomb that you are?"

"Why, one of them seems to have taken a fancy to me, and another
compared you to the sun."

"The greater reason why we should not show ourselves, Saint-