riably accustomed to
drink her favorite beverage.

The king listened intently to this statement, pressed his forehead
with his hand, and then inquired, in tones which indicated that he was
almost afraid to put the question, "And _Monsieur_--was he aware of
this foul plot?"

"No, sire," was the prompt reply. "_Monsieur_ can not keep a secret;
we did not venture to confide in him."

Louis appeared much relieved. After a moment's pause, he asked, with
evident anxiety, "Will you swear to this?"

"On my soul, sire," was the reply.

The king asked no more. Summoning an officer of the household, he
said, "Conduct M. Pernon to the gate of the palace, and set him at
liberty."

Such events were so common in the courts of feudal despotism in those
days of crime, that this atrocious murder seems to have produced but a
momentary impression. Poor Henrietta was soon forgotten. The tides of
gayety and fashion ebbed and flowed as ever through the saloons of the
royal palaces. No one was punished. It would hardly have been decorous
for the king to hang men for the murder of the princess, when he had
solemnly announced that she had died of a bilious fever. The Chevalier
de Lorraine was ere long recalled to court. There he lived in
unbridled profligacy, enjoying an annual income of one hundred
thousand crowns, till death summoned him to a tribunal where neither
wealth nor rank can purchase exemption from crime.

Henrietta, who was but twenty-six years of age at the time of her
death, left two daughters, but no son. _Monsieur_ soon dried his
tears. He sought a new marriage with his rich, renowned cousin, the
Duchess of Montpensier. But she declined his offered hand. With
inconceivable caprice, she was fixing her affections upon a worthless
adventurer, a miserable coxcomb, the Duke de Lauzun, who was then
disgracing by his presence the court of the Louvre. This singular
freak, an additional evidence that there is no accounting for the
vagaries of love, astonished all the courts of Europe. _Monsieur_ then
turned to the Princess Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria. The alliance
was one dictated by state policy. _Monsieur_ reluctantly assented to
it under the moral compulsion of the king. The advent of this most
eccentric of women at the French court created general astonishment
and almost consternation. She despised etiquette, and dressed in the
most _outre_ fashion, while she displayed energies of mind and
sharpness of tongue which broug