h she had accorded to "Beaufort, and," he adds,
"one may presume that a girl who previously, urged by love, had allowed
the Duke to carry her off to Candia, could do no less for a man who
showed her so much attention on the voyage back to France." More or less
just as these inductions may be, it appears quite certain that this same
prank of Mademoiselle Querouaille was the foundation of her fortunes. In
giving his friends an account of the expedition in which he had taken
part, the Marquis did not omit the episode of the Duke de Beaufort's
pretended page. Henrietta of England, to whom this romantic tale was
carried, became desirous of seeing the heroine of it, and Louise
Querouaille was therefore duly introduced to the Duchess. The fictitious
Cherubino was cunning enough to represent herself as being the victim of
a forcible abduction. Henrietta listened to her story with the liveliest
interest, took her into her household, and soon afterwards admitting her
amongst the number of her maids of honour. Louise, at the age of
nineteen, was thus at once introduced to all the pleasures and
temptations of a magnificent and dissipated court. Her introduction took
place at a critical moment (1669), and, in deciding her future, fate
has made her destiny and character matter of history.

The conquest or the ruin of Holland had long been one of the favourite
projects of Louis the Fourteenth. The Dutch, however, resisted his
overgrown power, as their ancestors had formerly defied that of Philip
the Second of Spain. In order to carry his plans into execution, Louis
found it necessary to detach England from the interests of Holland. This
was matter of some difficulty, for an alliance with France against
Holland was so odious to all parties in England, so contrary to the
national prejudices and interests, that though Louis did not despair of
cajoling or bribing Charles into such a treaty, the utmost caution and
secresy were necessary in conducting it.

The only person who was at first trusted with this negotiation was the
Duchess of Orleans. She was at this time about five-and-twenty, "a
singular mixture of discretion, or rather dissimulation, with rashness
and petulance; of exceeding haughtiness, with a winning sweetness of
manner and disposition which gained all hearts." She was not, however,
exactly pretty or well made, but had the dazzlingly fair complexion of
an Englishwoman, "un teint de rose et de jasmin," a profusion of light
h