read?"

"I might possibly have been mistaken, though--"

"Tell me--what was it?"

"The name of Bragelonne."

La Valliere rose hurriedly from her chair, a prey to the most painful
agitation.

"Montalais," she said, her voice broken by sobs, "all the smiling dreams
of youth and innocence have fled already. I have nothing now to conceal,
either from you or from any one else. My life is exposed to everyone's
inspection, and can be opened like a book, in which all the world can
read, from the king himself to the first passer-by. Aure, dearest Aure,
what can I do--what will become of me?"

Montalais approached close to her, and said:

"Consult your own heart, of course."

"Well; I do not love M. de Bragelonne; when I say I do not love him,
understand that I love him as the most affectionate sister could love
the best of brothers, but that is not what he requires, nor what I have
promised him."

"In fact, you love the king," said Montalais, "and that is a
sufficiently good excuse."

"Yes, I do love the king," hoarsely murmured the young girl, "and I have
paid dearly enough to pronounce those words. And now, Montalais, tell
me--what can you do, either for me, or against me, in my present
position?"

"You must speak more clearly still."

"What am I to say, then?"

"And so you have nothing very particular to tell me?"

"No!" said Louise, in astonishment.

"Very good; and so all you have to ask me is my advice respecting M.
Raoul?"

"Nothing else."

"It is a very delicate subject," replied Montalais.

"No, it is nothing of the kind. Ought I to marry him in order to keep
the promise I made, or ought I to continue to listen to the king?"

"You have really placed me in a very difficult position," said
Montalais, smiling; "you ask me if you ought to marry Raoul, whose
friend I am, and whom I shall mortally offend in giving my opinion
against him; and then, you ask me if you should cease to listen to the
king, whose subject I am, and whom I should also offend if I were to
advise you in a particular way. Ah! Louise, you seem to hold a difficult
position at a very cheap rate."

"You have not understood me, Aure," said La Valliere, wounded by the
slightly mocking tone of her companion; "if I were to marry M. de
Bragelonne, I should be far from bestowing on him the happiness he
deserves; but, for the same reason, if I listen to the king he would
become the possessor of one indifferently good in very many respect