he lauds in his Memoirs as infallible against the plague and
against reserve; and leaning back to receive another glass from his
esquire, he settled himself more firmly than ever upon his chair, and in
his favorite ideas.

"Yes, we are in the way here; I said so the other day to my dear Duc
de Guise, whom they have ruined. They count the minutes that we have to
live, and shake the hour-glass to hasten the descent of its sands. When
Monsieur le Cardinal-Duc observes in a corner three or four of our tall
figures, who never quitted the side of the late King, he feels that he
is unable to move those statues of iron, and that to do it would require
the hand of a great man; he passes quickly by, and dares not meddle with
us, who fear him not. He believes that we are always conspiring; and
they say at this very moment that there is talk of putting me in the
Bastille."

"Eh! Monsieur le Marechal, why do you delay your departure?" said
the Italian. "I know of no place, except Flanders, where you can find
shelter."

"Ah, Monsieur! you do not know me. So far from flying, I sought out the
King before his departure, and told him that I did so in order to save
people the trouble of looking for me; and that if I knew when he wished
to send me, I would go myself without being taken. He was as kind as I
expected him to be, and said to me, 'What, my old friend, could you
have thought that I desired to send you there? You know well that I love
you.'"

"Ah, my dear Marechal, let me compliment you," said Madame d'Effiat, in
a soft voice. "I recognize the benevolence of the King in these words;
he remembers the affection which the King, his father, had toward you.
It appears to me that he always accorded to you all that you desired for
your friends," she added, with animation, in order to put him into the
track of praise, and to beguile him from the discontent which he had so
loudly declared.

"Assuredly, Madame," answered he; "no one is more willing to recognize
his virtues than Francois de Bassompierre. I shall be faithful to him
to the end, because I gave myself, body and fortune, to his father at
a ball; and I swear that, with my consent at least, none of my family
shall ever fail in their duties toward the King of France. Although the
Besteins are foreigners and Lorrains, a shake of the hand from Henri IV
gained us forever. My greatest grief has been to see my brother die in
the service of Spain; and I have just written to my nep