e, in this direction; yonder there are three solitary nymphs,
who seem waiting for fairies or lovers." Then they noiselessly
approached the tree that I have mentioned, and lost not a word of all the
talk in which the fair ladies were engaged.

They were discussing the last ball at the chateau. One extolled the
charms of the Marquis d'Alincour, son of Villeroi; the second mentioned
another young nobleman; while the third frankly expressed herself in
these terms:

"The Marquis d'Alincour and the Prince de Marcillac are most charming, no
doubt, but, in all conscience, who could be interested in their merits
when once the King appeared in their midst?

"Oh, oh!" cried the two others, laughing, "it's strange to hear you talk
like that; so, one has to be a king in order to merit your attention?"

"His rank as king," replied Mademoiselle de la Valliere, "is not the
astonishing part about him; I should have recognised it even in the
simple dress of a herdsman."

The three chatterers then rose and went back to the chateau. Next day,
the King, wholly occupied with what he had overheard on the previous
evening, sat musing on a sofa at his sister-in-law's, when all at once
the voice of Mademoiselle de la Beaume-le-Blanc smote his ear and brought
trouble to his heart. He saw her, noticed her melancholy look, thought
her lovelier than the loveliest, and at once fell passionately in love.

They soon got to understand one another, yet for a long while merely
communicated by means of notes at fetes, or during the performance of
allegorical ballets and operettas, the airs in which sufficiently
expressed the nature of such missives.

In order to put the Queen-mother off the scent and screen La Valliere,
the King pretended to be in love with Mademoiselle de la
Mothe-Houdancour, one of the Queen's maids of honour. He used to talk
across to her out of one of the top-story windows, and even wished her to
accept a present of diamonds. But Madame de Navailles, who took charge
of the maids of honour, had gratings put over the top-story windows, and
La Mothe-Houdancour was so chagrined by the Queen's icy manner towards
her that she withdrew to a convent. As to the Duchesse de Navailles and
her husband, they got rid of their charges and retired to their estates,
where great wealth and freedom were their recompense after such pompous
Court slavery.

The Queen-mother was still living; unlike her niece, she was not
blindfold. The ad