en," said the king, quickly, "that you have a love for
beautiful things?"

"Sire, I only regard those things as beautiful which are within my
reach. Everything which is too highly placed for me--"

"You are indifferent to?"

"Is foreign to me, as being prohibited."

"And I," said the king, "do not find that you are at my court on the
footing you should be. The services of your family have not been
sufficiently brought under my notice. The advancement of your family has
been cruelly neglected by my uncle."

"On the contrary, sire. His royal highness, the Duke of Orleans, had
always been exceedingly kind toward M. de Saint-Remy, my father-in-law.
The services rendered were humble, and, properly speaking, our services
have been adequately recognized. It is not every one who is happy enough
to find opportunities of serving his sovereign with distinction. I have
no doubt at all, that, if ever opportunities had been met with, my
family's actions would; but that happiness has never been ours."

"In that case, Mademoiselle de la Valliere, it belongs to kings to
repair the want of opportunity, and most delightedly do I undertake to
repair, in your instance, and with the least possible delay, the wrongs
of fortune toward you."

"Nay, sire," cried La Valliere, eagerly; "leave things, I beg, as they
now are."

"Is it possible! you refuse what I ought, and what I wish to do for
you?"

"All I desired has been granted me, when the honor was conferred upon me
of forming one of Madame's household."

"But if you refuse for yourself, at least accept for your family."

"Your generous intention, sire, bewilders and makes me apprehensive,
for, in doing for my family what your kindness urges you to do, your
majesty will raise up enemies for us, and enemies for yourself too.
Leave me in my mediocrity, sire; of all the feelings and sentiments I
experience, leave me to enjoy that pleasing delicacy of
disinterestedness."

"The sentiments you express," said the king, "are indeed admirable."

"Quite true," murmured Aramis in Fouquet's ear, "and he cannot be
accustomed to them."

"But," replied Fouquet, "suppose she were to make a similar reply to my
letter."

"True!" said Aramis, "let us not anticipate, but wait the conclusion."

"And then, dear Monsieur d'Herblay," added the surintendant, hardly able
to appreciate the sentiments which La Valliere had just expressed, "it
is very often a sound calculation to seem disinterested w