For a while I walked up and down my salon; but the least exertion fatigues me.  I resumed my armchair or my settee, leaving the man there like a sort of messenger, whom it was not necessary to treat with any respect.  He was bold, and asked me for a definite answer which he could take back to his Majesty.  I stared hard at him for about a minute, and then said:  “My Lord Bishop of Condom, the clerics who have been advising the King are very pleased that he should set an example to his people of self-sacrifice.  I am of their opinion; I think as they do, as you do, as the Pope does; but feeling convinced that to us, the innocent sheep, the shepherds ought first to show an example, I will consent to break off my relationship with his Majesty when you, M. de Condom, shall have broken off your intimacy with Mademoiselle de Mauleon des Vieux!”

By a retort of this kind I admit that I hoped greatly to embarrass the Bishop, and enjoy seeing his face redden with confusion.  But he was nowise disconcerted, and I confess to-day that this circumstance proved to me that there was but little truth in the rumours that were current with regard to this subject.

“Mademoiselle de Mauleon!” said he, smiling half-bitterly, half-pityingly.  “Surely, madame, your grief makes you forget what you say.  Everybody knows that she is an acquaintance of my youth, and that, since that time, having confidence in my doctrines and my counsel, she wished to have me as spiritual monitor and guide.  How can you institute a comparison between such a relationship and your own?” Then, after walking up and down for a moment, as if endeavouring to regain his self-possession, he continued: 

“However, I shall not insist further; it was signally foolish of me to speak in the name of an earthly king, when I should have invoked that of the King of Heaven.  I have received an insulting answer.  So be it.

“Farewell, madame.  I leave you to your own conscience, which, seemingly, is so tranquil that I blame myself for having sought to disturb it.”

With these words he departed, leaving me much amazed at the patience with which a man, known to be so arrogant and haughty, had received such an onslaught upon his private life and reputation.

I need scarcely say that, next day, the species of pastoral letter which my lords the Bishops of Aleth, Orleans, Soissons, and Condom had dictated to the King was succeeded by another letter, which he had dictated himself, and by which my love for him was solaced and assured.

He begged me to wait patiently for a few days, and this arrangement served my purpose very well.  I thought it most amusing that the King should have commissioned M. de Bossuet to deliver this second missive, and I believe I said as much to certain persons, which perhaps gave rise to a rumour that he actually brought me love-letters from the King.  But the purveyors of such gossip could surely know nothing of Bossuet’s