to one of the estates which he had conferred upon her. The
daily increasing alienation led the king more frequently to seek the
soothing society of the calm, gentle, serious Madame de Maintenon.
Her fascinations of person and mind won his admiration, while her
virtues commanded his respect.

Such was the posture of affairs when preparations were made for the
reception of the dauphiness with the utmost magnificence. The costumes
of Madame de Maintenon were particularly remarked for their splendor,
being covered with jewels and embroidered with gold.

"Madame de Maintenon, although in her forty-fifth year, had lost no
charm save that of youth, which had been replaced by a stately grace,
and a dignified self-possession that rendered it almost impossible to
regret the lighter and less finished attractions of buoyancy and
display. Her hands and arms were singularly beautiful; her eyes had
lost nothing of their fire; her voice was harmoniously modulated, and
there was in the whole of her demeanor unstudied ease, which was as
far removed from presumption as from servility."[O]

[Footnote O: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. ii., p. 274.]

Madame de Montespan was so annoyed by the honors conferred upon Madame
de Maintenon that she was betrayed into saying, "I pity the young
foreigner, who can not fail to be eclipsed in every way by her
_Mistress of the Robes_."

Early in the year 1680 Madame de Maintenon and M. Bossuet, bishop of
Meaux, who had educated the dauphin, accompanied by a suitable
retinue, proceeded to Schelestadt to receive the dauphiness. Here the
ceremony of marriage by proxy was to be solemnized. The king and the
dauphin proceeded as far as Vitry le Francais to receive the bride.
She was not beautiful, "but she was," writes Madame de Sevigne, "very
graceful; her hands and arms were exquisitely moulded. She had so fine
a figure, so admirable a carriage, such handsome teeth, such
magnificent hair, and so much amiability of manner, that she was
courteous without being insipid, familiar without losing her dignity,
and had so charming a deportment that she might be pardoned for not
pleasing at first sight."

Louis seemed quite delighted with his new daughter-in-law, and devoted
himself much to her entertainment. She was accompanied by her sister,
the Princess of Tuscany, who was extremely beautiful. The king, in
conversation with Mary Ann, remarked, "You never mentioned to me the
fact that the Princess o