ortsmouth and Greenwich."

"And then your negotiations will fail?"

"Oh! those ladies cause all negotiations to fail that they don't make
themselves."

"Do you know the idea that has struck me, sister?"

"No; tell me what it is."

"It is that by searching well around you, you might perhaps find a
female counselor to take with you to your brother whose eloquence might
paralyze the ill-will of the seven others."

"That is really an idea, sire, and I will search."

"You will find what you want."

"I hope so."

"A pretty person is necessary; an agreeable face is better than an ugly
one, is it not?"

"Most assuredly."

"An animated, lively, audacious character."

"Certainly."

"Nobility; that is, enough to enable her to approach the king without
awkwardness--little enough, so as not to trouble herself about the
dignity of her race."

"Quite just."

"And who knows a little English."

"Mon Dieu! why, some one," cried Madame, "like Mademoiselle de
Keroualle, for instance!"

"Oh! why, yes!" said Louis XIV.; "you have found--it is you who have
found, my sister."

"I will take her; she will have no cause to complain, I suppose."

"Oh! no; I will name her _seductrice plenipotentiaire_ at once, and will
add the dowry to the title."

"That is well."

"I fancy you already on your road, my dear little sister, and consoled
for all your griefs."

"I will go, on two conditions. The first is, that I shall know what I am
negotiating about."

"This is it. The Dutch, you know, insult me daily in their gazettes, and
by their republican attitude. I don't like republics."

"That may easily be conceived, sire."

"I see with pain that these kings of the sea--they call themselves
so--keep trade from France in the Indies, and that their vessels will
soon occupy all the ports in Europe. Such a power is too near me,
sister."

"They are your allies, nevertheless."

"That is why they were wrong in having the medal you have heard of
struck; a medal which represents Holland stopping the sun, as Joshua
did, with this legend: _The sun has stopped before me._ There is not
much fraternity in that, is there?"

"I thought you had forgotten that miserable affair."

"I never forget anything, my sister. And if my true friends, such as
your brother Charles, are willing to second me--" The princess remained
pensively silent.

"Listen to me; there is the empire of the seas to be shared," said Louis
XIV. "For this partition,