air, with eyes blue and bright as those of Pallas. She had inherited
some of the nobler qualities of her grandfather, Henri Quatre, and all
the graces and intriguing spirit of her mother, Henrietta Maria. Early
banished from England by the misfortunes of her family, she regarded the
country of her birth with indifference, if not abhorrence, and was a
Frenchwoman in education, manners, mind, and heart. She possessed
unbounded power over the mind of Charles the Second, whose affection for
her was said to exceed that of a brother for a sister; he had never
been known to refuse her anything she had asked for herself or others,
and Louis trusted that her fascinations would gain from the king of
England what reason and principle and patriotism would have denied.

The shrewdness of mind and inclination for intrigue which characterised
his sister-in-law's maid-of-honour did not escape the observation of
Louis. In her he found an apt as well as willing instrument in the
secret negotiation of which he had constituted her mistress the
plenipotentiary. For such compliance the manners of the time may, to a
certain extent, furnish La Querouaille with an excuse. At Versailles,
ideas of honour and morality had lost their ordinary signification: the
men envied generally the lot of Amphitryon, and the women lost every
instinct of modesty when it became a question about satisfying a caprice
of Jupiter. Breathing such a vitiated atmosphere, and having so many
lamentable examples before her eyes, Mademoiselle Querouaille saw only
the dazzling side of the proposition made to her--the hope of reigning
despotically over the heart of a great prince, and of becoming the equal
of that La Valliere whose _elevation_ was the object of so much envy and
feminine ambition.

It was arranged, therefore, that the piquant Bas-Bretonne should be
brought under the notice of the amorous Charles II. during a visit to
him, arranged to take place at Dover. In order to give the interview
between the royal brother and sister the appearance of an accidental or
family meeting, the pretext of a progress to his recently acquired
Flemish territories was resorted to by Louis, who set out with his
queen, his two mistresses De Montespan and La Valliere, the Duchess of
Orleans and Mademoiselle de Montpensier, with their respective retinues,
and attended by the most beautiful women of the Court. The splendour
exhibited on this occasion exceeded all that had been witnessed,