“Honorinde had her buried at Fontevrault, and over her tomb, at the end of the year, she built a convent, to which her immense property was given, where she retired herself as a simple nun, and of which she was appointed first abbess by the Pope who reigned at the time.

“There, madame,” added the King, “is the somewhat singular origin of the illustrious abbey which your sister rules with such eclat.  You must have remarked the boar’s head, perfectly imitated in sculpture, in the dome; that mask is the speaking history of the noble community of Fontevrault, where more than a hundred Benedictine monks obey an abbess.”

CHAPTER XI.

Fine Couples Make Fine Children.—­The Dauphine of Bavaria.—­She
Displeases Madame de Montespan.—­First Debut Relating to Madame de
Maintenon, Appointed Lady-in-waiting.—­Conversation between the Two
Marquises.

The King, in his moments of effusion and abandonment (then so full of pleasantness), had said more than once:  “If I have any physical beauty, I owe it to the Queen, my mother; if my daughters have any beauty, they owe it to me:  it is only fine couples who get fine children.”

When I saw him decided upon marrying Monseigneur le Dauphin, I reminded him of his maxim.  He fell to smiling, and answered me:  “Chance, too, sometimes works its miracles.  My choice for my son is a decided thing; my politics come before my taste, and I have asked for the daughter of the Elector of Bavaria, whose portrait I will show you.  She is not beautiful, like you; she is prettier than Benedicte, and I hope that she will not bite Monseigneur le Dauphin in her capricious transports.”

The portrait that the King showed me was a flattering one, as are, in general, all these preliminary samples.  For all that, the Princess seemed to me hideous, and even disagreeable, especially about her eyes, that portion of the face which confirms the physiognomy and decides everything.

“Monseigneur will never love that woman,” I said to the King.  “That constrained look in the pupil, those drooping eyes,—­they make my heart ache.”

“My son, happily,” his Majesty answered, “is not so difficult as you and I. He has already seen this likeness, and at the second look he was taken; and as we have assured him that the young person is well made, he cries quits with her face, and proposes to love her as soon as he gets her.”

“God grant it!” I added; and the King told me, more or less in detail, of what important personages he was going to compose his household.  The eternal Abbe Bossuet was to become first chaplain, as being the tutor-in-chief to the Dauphin; the Duchesse de Richelieu, for her great name, was going to be lady of honour; and the two posts of ladies in waiting were destined for the Marquise de Rochefort, wife of the Marshal, and for Madame de Maintenon, ex-governess of the Duc du Maine.  The gesture of disapproval which escaped me gave his Majesty pain.