One of the maitres d'hotel, the first in rank, touched one of the
guards, who was snoring on his bench, slightly with his wand; he even
carried his kindness so far as to place the halbert which stood against
the wall in the hands of the man stupid with sleep, after which the
soldier, without explanation, escorted the viande of Monsieur to the
refectory, preceded by a page and the two maitres d'hotel.

Wherever the viande passed, the soldiers ported arms.

Mademoiselle de Montalais and her companion had watched from their
window the details of this ceremony, to which, by the bye, they must
have been pretty well accustomed. But they did not look so much from
curiosity as to be assured they should not be disturbed. So guards,
scullions, maitres d'hotel, and pages having passed, they resumed their
places at the table; and the sun, which, through the window-frame, had
for an instant fallen upon those two charming countenances, now only
shed its light upon the gilliflowers, primroses, and rosetree.

"Bah!" said Mademoiselle de Montalais, taking her place again; "Madame
will breakfast very well without me!"

"Oh! Montalais, you will be punished!" replied the other girl, sitting
down quietly in hers.

"Punished, indeed!--that is to say, deprived of a ride! That is just
the way in which I wish to be punished. To go out in the grand coach,
perched upon a doorstep; to turn to the left, twist round to the right,
over roads full of ruts, where we cannot exceed a league in two hours;
and then to come back straight towards the wing of the castle in which
is the window of Mary de Medici, so that Madame never fails to say:
'Could one believe it possible that Mary de Medici should have escaped
from that window--forty-seven feet high? The mother of two princes and
three princesses!' If you call that relaxation, Louise, all I ask is to
be punished every day; particularly when my punishment is to remain with
you and write such interesting letters as we write!"

"Montalais! Montalais! there are duties to be performed."

"You talk of them very much at your ease, dear child!--you, who are left
quite free amidst this tedious court. You are the only person that reaps
the advantages of them without incurring the trouble,--you, who are
really more one of Madame's maids of honor than I am, because Madame
makes her affection for your father-in-law glance off upon you; so that
you enter this dull house as the birds fly into yonder court, inhal