teps. In fact, we can safely assert that, if the king had seen him
so ardently at work, his majesty would have sworn an eternal gratitude
towards his faithful attendant. As Malicorne anticipated, the workman
had completely finished the job in twenty-four hours; he received
twenty-four louis, and left, overwhelmed with delight, for he had gained
in one day as much as six months' hard work would have procured him.
No one had the slightest suspicion of what had taken place in the room
under Mademoiselle de la Valliere's apartment. But in the evening of the
second day, at the very moment La Valliere had just left Madame's circle
and returned to her own room, she heard a slight creaking sound in one
corner. Astonished, she looked to see whence it proceeded, and the noise
began again. "Who is there?" she said, in a tone of alarm.

"It is I, Louise," replied the well-known voice of the king.

"You! you!" cried the young girl, who for a moment fancied herself under
the influence of a dream. "But where? You, sire?"

"Here," replied the king, opening one of the folds of the screen, and
appearing like a ghost at the end of the room.

La Valliere uttered a loud cry, and fell trembling into an armchair, as
the king advanced respectfully towards her.

Chapter XXXV. The Apparition.

La Valliere very soon recovered from her surprise, for, owing to his
respectful bearing, the king inspired her with more confidence by his
presence than his sudden appearance had deprived her of. But, as he
noticed that which made La Valliere most uneasy was the means by which
he had effected an entrance into her room, he explained to her the
system of the staircase concealed by the screen, and strongly disavowed
the notion of his being a supernatural appearance.

"Oh, sire!" said La Valliere, shaking her fair head with a most engaging
smile, "present or absent, you do not appear to my mind more at one time
than at another."

"Which means, Louise--"

"Oh, what you know so well, sire; that there is not one moment in which
the poor girl whose secret you surprised at Fontainebleau, and whom
you came to snatch from the foot of the cross itself, does not think of
you."

"Louise, you overwhelm me with joy and happiness."

La Valliere smiled mournfully, and continued: "But, sire, have you
reflected that your ingenious invention could not be of the slightest
service to us?"

"Why so? Tell me,--I am waiting most anxiously."

"Because this room m