e Queen was
delivered of a fine little girl, black as ink from head to foot. They
did not tell her this at once, fearing a catastrophe, but persuaded her
to go to sleep, saying that the child had been taken away to be
christened.

The physicians met in one room, the bishops and chaplains in another. One
prelate was opposed to baptising the infant; another only agreed to this
upon certain conditions. The majority decided that it should be baptised
without the name of father or mother, and such suppression was
unanimously advocated.

The little thing, despite its swarthy hue, was most beautifully made; its
features bore none of those marks peculiar to people of colour.

It was sent away to the Gisors district to be suckled as a negro's
daughter, and the Gazette de France contained an announcement to the
effect that the royal infant had died, after having been baptised by the
chaplains.

[This daughter of the Queen lived, and was obliged to enter a Benedictine
nunnery at Moret. Her portrait is to be seen in the Sainte Genevieve
Library of Henri IV.'s College, where it hangs in the winter
saloon.--EDITOR'S NOTE.]

The little African was sent away, as may well be imagined; and the Queen
admitted that, one day soon after she was pregnant, he had hidden himself
behind a piece of furniture and suddenly jumped out upon her to give her
a fright. In this he was but too successful.

The Court ladies no longer dared come near the Queen attended by their
little blackamoors. These, however, they kept for a while longer, as if
they were mere nick-hacks or ornaments; in Paris they were still to be
seen in public. But the ladies' husbands at last got wind of the tale,
when all the little negroes disappeared.

CHAPTER XLI.

Monsieur's Second Marriage.--Princess Palatine.--The Court Turnspit.--A
Woman's Hatred.--The King's Mistress on a Par with the First Prince of
the Blood.--She Gives His Wife a Lesson.

In order to keep up appearances at his Palais Royal, Monsieur besought
the King to consent to his remarriage after the usual term of mourning
was at an end.

"Whom have you in view?" asked his brother. He replied that he proposed
to wed Mademoiselle--the grande Mademoiselle de Montpensier--on account
of her enormous wealth!

Just then Mademoiselle was head over ears in love with Lauzun. She sent
the Prince about his business, as I believe I have already stated.
Moreover, she remarked: "You had the lovelies