"The comte, sire, pretends to have perfectly understood that of the
Dryads," retorted Madame, icily.

"No doubt," said the king; "but you know the comte has the weakness to
aspire to become a member of the Academy, so that, with this object in
view, he has learnt all sorts of things of which very happily you are
ignorant; and it might possibly happen that the language of the Nymph of
the Waters might be among the number of things you have not studied."

"Of course, sire," replied Madame, "for facts of that nature one
does not altogether rely upon one's self alone; a woman's ear is not
infallible, so says Saint Augustine; and I, therefore, wished to satisfy
myself by other opinions beside my own, and as my Naiad, who, in her
character of a goddess, is polyglot,--is not that the expression, M. de
Saint-Aignan?"

"I believe so," said the latter, quite out of countenance.

"Well," continued the princess, "as my Naiad, who, in her character of
a goddess, had, at first spoken to me in English, I feared, as
you suggest, that I might have misunderstood her, and I requested
Mesdemoiselles de Montalais, de Tonnay-Charente, and de la Valliere, to
come to me, begging my Naiad to repeat to me in the French language, the
recital she had already communicated to me in English."

"And did she do so?" inquired the king.

"Oh, she is the most polite divinity it is possible to imagine! Yes,
sire, she did so; so that no doubt whatever remains on the subject. Is
it not so, young ladies?" said the princess, turning towards the left of
her army; "did not the Naiad say precisely what I have related, and
have I, in any one particular, exceeded the truth, Phyllis? I beg your
pardon, I mean Mademoiselle Aure de Montalais?"

"Precisely as you have stated, Madame," articulated Mademoiselle de
Montalais, very distinctly.

"Is it true, Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente?"

"The perfect truth," replied Athenais, in a voice quite as firm, but not
yet so distinct.

"And you, La Valliere?" asked Madame.

The poor girl felt the king's ardent look fixed upon her,--she dared
not deny--she dared not tell a falsehood; she merely bowed her head;
and everybody took it for a token of assent. Her head, however, was not
raised again, chilled as she was by a coldness more bitter than that of
death. This triple testimony overwhelmed the king. As for Saint-Aignan,
he did not even attempt to dissemble his despair, and, hardly knowing
what he said, he stamm