nly heard
in the anteroom. It was the artist, who had just arrived: Saint-Aignan,
too, had returned, full of apologies: and the king began to talk, and La
Valliere to answer him very hurriedly, their eyes revealing to
Saint-Aignan that they had enjoyed a century of happiness during his
absence. In a word, Malicorne, philosopher that he was, though he knew
it not, had learned how to inspire the king with an appetite in the
midst of plenty, and with desire in the assurance of possession. La
Valliere's fears of interruption had never been realized, and no one
imagined she was absent from her apartment two or three hours every day.
She pretended that her health was very uncertain: those who went to her
room always knocked before entering, and Malicorne, the man of so many
ingenious inventions, had constructed an acoustic piece of mechanism, by
means of which La Valliere, when in Saint-Aignan's apartment, was always
forewarned of any visits which were paid to the room she usually
inhabited. In this manner, therefore, without leaving her own room, and
having no confidante, she was able to return to her apartment, thus
removing by her appearance, a little tardy perhaps, the suspicions of
the most determined skeptics. Malicorne having asked Saint-Aignan the
next morning what news he had to report, the latter had been obliged to
confess that the quarter of an hour's liberty had made the king in most
excellent humor.

"We must double the dose," replied Malicorne, "but insensibly so; wait
until they seem to wish it."

They were so desirous for it, however, that on the evening of the fourth
day, at the moment when the painter was packing up his painting
implements, during Saint-Aignan's continued absence, Saint-Aignan on his
return noticed upon La Valliere's face a shade of disappointment and
vexation, which she could not conceal. The king was less reserved, and
exhibited his annoyance by a very significant shrug of the shoulders, at
which La Valliere could not help blushing.

"Very good!" thought Saint-Aignan to himself; "M. Malicorne will be
delighted this evening;" as he, in fact, was when it was reported to
him.

"It is very evident," he remarked to the comte, "that Mademoiselle de la
Valliere hoped that you would be at least ten minutes later."

"And the king that I should be half an hour later, dear Monsieur
Malicorne."

"You will be but very indifferently devoted to the king," replied the
latter, "if you were to refu