“Admit, madame,” I said then to Madame de Maintenon, “your excessive grief for an unknown man is singular.  He was, perhaps, actually a dishonest fellow.  The accident which you come back to incessantly, and which distresses me also, is doubtless deplorable; but, after all, it is not a murder, an ambush, a premeditated assassination.  I imagine that if such a catastrophe had happened elsewhere, and been reported to us in a gazette or a book, you would have read of it with interest and commiseration; but we should not have seen you clasp your hands over your head, turn red and pale, utter loud cries, shed tears, sob, and scold a coachman, postilions, perhaps even me.  The event, would, nevertheless, be actually the same.  Admit, then, madame, and you, too, Madame d’Hudicourt, that there is an exaggeration in your sorrow, and that you would have made, both of you, two excellent comedians.”

Madame de Maintenon, piqued at these last words, sought to make us understand, and even make us admit, that there is a great difference between an event narrated to you by a third party, and an event which one has seen.  Madame de Richelieu shut her mouth pleasantly with these words:  “We know, Madame la Marquise, how much eloquence and wit is yours.  We approve all your arguments, past and to be.  Let us speak no further of an accident which distresses you; and since you require to be diverted, let us go to the Opera, which is only two leagues off.”

She consented to accompany us, for fear of proving herself entirely ridiculous; but to delay us as much as possible, she required a cup of chocolate, her favourite dish, her appetite having returned as soon as she had exhausted the possibilities of her grief.

CHAPTER IV.

Charles II., King of England.—­How Interest Can Give Memory.—­His
Grievances against France.—­The Two Daughters of the Duke of
York.—­William of Orange Marries One, in Spite of the Opposition of the
King.—­Great Joy of the Allies.—­How the King of England Understands
Peace.—­Saying of the King.—­Preparations for War.

The King, Charles Stuart, who reigned in England since the death of the usurper, Cromwell, was a grandson of Henri IV., just as much as our King.  Charles II. displayed the pronounced penchant of Henri IV. for the ladies and for pleasure; but he had neither his energy, nor his genial temper, nor his amiable frankness.  After the death of Henrietta of England, his beloved sister, he remained for some time longer our ally, but only to take great advantage from our union and alliance.  He had made use of it against the Dutch, his naval and commercial rivals, and had compelled them, by the aid of the King of France (then his friend), to reimburse him a sum of twenty-six millions, and to pay him, further, an annual tribute of twelve or fifteen thousand livres for the right of fishing round his island domains.