elite
convent. Mademoiselle's ardent passion for M. de Lauzun seemed to the
Trappist Abbe a scandal; in fact, his sour spirit could brook no scandal
of any sort. "I attended her father as he lay dying," said he, "and to
me belongs the task of training, enlightening, and sanctifying his
daughter. I would have her keep silence; she has spoken too much."

The moment was ill chosen; just then Mademoiselle de Montpensier was
striving to break the fetters of her dear De Lauzun; she certainly did
not wish to get him out of one prison, and then put herself into another.
Every one blamed this reformer's foolish presumption, and Mademoiselle,
thoroughly exasperated, forbade her servants to admit him. It was said
that he had worked two or three miracles, and brought certain dead people
back to life.

"I will rebuild his monastery for him in marble if he will give us back
poor little Vegin, and the Duc d'Anjou," said the King to me.

The remark almost brought tears to my eyes, just as I was about to joke
with his Majesty about the fellow and his miracles.

Well satisfied with his Parisian harvest, the Abbe le Bouthilier de Rance
went straight to his convent, where the inmates were persevering enough
to be silent, fast, dig, catch their death of cold, and beat themselves
for him.

Madame Cormeil, wishing to have a good look at the man, sent to inform
him of her illness. Would-be saints are much afraid of words with a
double meaning. In no whit disconcerted, he replied that he had devoted
his entire zeal to the poor in spirit, and that Madame Cormeil was not of
their number.

CHAPTER XLVI.

The Court Goes to Flanders.--Nancy.--Ravon.--Sainte Marie aux
Mines.--Dancing and Death.--A German Sovereign's Respectful Visit.--The
Young Strasburg Priests.--The Good Bailiff of Chatenoi.--The Bridge at
Brisach.--The Capucin Monk Presented to the Queen.

Before relating that which I have to say about the Queen and her
precautions against myself, I would not omit certain curious incidents
during the journey that the King caused us to take in Alsatia and
Flanders, when he captured Maestricht and Courtrai.

The King having left us behind at Nancy, a splendid town where a large
proportion of the nobility grieved for the loss of Messieurs de Lorraine,
their legitimate sovereigns, the Queen soon saw that here she was more
honoured than beloved. It was this position which suggested to her the
idea of going to Spa, close by, an