lattering to the Dutch."

"Oh! if that be so, the pride of the Dutch is a matter of indifference
to me," said the king, sighing.

"Your majesty is right, a thousand times right. However, it is never
a mistake in politics, your majesty knows better than myself, to
exaggerate a little in order to obtain a concession in your own
favor. If your majesty were to complain as if your susceptibility were
offended, you would stand in a far higher position with them."

"What are these medals you speak of?" inquired Louis; "for if I allude
to them, I ought to know what to say."

"Upon my word, sire, I cannot very well tell you--some overweeningly
conceited device--that is the sense of it; the words have little to do
with the thing itself."

"Very good! I will mention the word 'medal,' and they can understand it
if they like."

"Oh! they will understand without any difficulty. Your majesty can also
slip in a few words about certain pamphlets which are being circulated."

"Never! Pamphlets befoul those who write them much more than those
against whom they are written. M. Colbert, I thank you. You can leave
now. Do not forget the hour I have fixed, and be there yourself."

"Sire, I await your majesty's list."

"True," returned the king; and he began to meditate; he had not thought
of the list in the least. The clock struck half-past eleven. The king's
face revealed a violent conflict between pride and love. The political
conversation had dispelled a good deal of the irritation which Louis had
felt, and La Valliere's pale, worn features, in his imagination, spoke
a very different language from that of the Dutch medals, or the Batavian
pamphlets. He sat for ten minutes debating within himself whether he
should or should not return to La Valliere; but Colbert having with some
urgency respectfully requested that the list might be furnished him,
the king was ashamed to be thinking of mere matters of affection where
important state affairs required his attention. He therefore dictated:
the queen-mother, the queen, Madame, Madame de Motteville, Madame de
Chatillon, Madame de Navailles; and, for the men, M. le Prince, M. de
Gramont, M. de Manicamp, M. de Saint-Aignan, and the officers on duty.

"The ministers?" asked Colbert.

"As a matter of course, and the secretaries also."

"Sire, I will leave at once in order to get everything prepared; the
orders will be at the different residences to-morrow."

"Say rather to-day," replie