nd turned
round, thinking that it was the king who had returned. She was deceived,
however, for it was Madame who appeared at the door. What did she now
care for Madame! Again she sank down, her head supported by her
_prie-dieu_ chair. It was Madame, agitated, irritated and threatening.
But what was that to her?

"Mademoiselle," said the princess, standing before La Valliere, "this is
very fine, I admit, to kneel, and pray, and make a pretense of being
religious; but however submissive you may be in your addresses to
Heaven, it is desirable that you should pay some little attention to the
wishes of those who reign and rule here below."

La Valliere raised her head painfully in token of respect.

"Not long since," continued Madame, "a certain recommendation was
addressed to you, I believe."

La Valliere's fixed and wild gaze showed how entire her forgetfulness or
her ignorance was.

"The queen recommended you," continued Madame, "to conduct yourself in
such a manner that no one could be justified in spreading any reports
about you."

La Valliere darted an inquiring look toward her.

"I will not," continued Madame, "allow my household, which is that of
the first princess of the blood, to set an evil example to the court;
you would be the cause of such an example. I beg you to understand,
therefore, in the absence of any witness of your shame, for I do not
wish to humiliate you, that you are from this moment at perfect liberty
to leave, and that you can return to your mother at Blois."

La Valliere could not sink lower, nor could she suffer more than she had
already suffered. Her countenance did not even change, but she remained
with her hands crossed over her knees like the figure of the Magdalen.

"Did you hear me?" said Madame.

A shiver, which passed through her whole frame, was La Valliere's only
reply; and as the victim gave no other sign of life, Madame left the
room. And then, her very respiration suspended, and her blood almost
congealed, as it were, in her veins, La Valliere by degrees felt that
the pulsations of her wrists, her neck, and temples began to throb more
and more heavily. These pulsations, as they gradually increased, soon
changed into a species of brain fever, and in her temporary delirium
she saw the figures of her friends contending with her enemies, floating
before her vision. She heard, too, mingled together in her deafened
ears, words of menace and words of fond affection; she seemed