t a bit;
you are a mere provincial. 'How absurd!' you say; 'it is Mlle. Colbert.'
Not that, either. 'Then, of course, it is Mlle. de Crequi.' Not right yet.
Must I tell you, then? Listen! he marries on Sunday, at the Louvre, by his
Majesty's permission, Mademoiselle,--Mademoiselle de,--Mademoiselle (will
you guess again?)--he marries MADEMOISELLE,--La Grande Mademoiselle,--
Mademoiselle, daughter of the late Monsieur,--Mademoiselle, grand-
daughter of Henri Quatre,--Mademoiselle d'Eu,--Mademoiselle de Dombes,--
Mademoiselle de Montpensier,--Mademoiselle d'Orleans,--Mademoiselle, the
King's own cousin,--Mademoiselle, destined for the throne,--Mademoiselle,
the only fit match in France for Monsieur [the King's brother];--there's
a piece of information for you! If you shriek,--if you are beside
yourself,--if you say it is a hoax, false, mere gossip, stuff, and
nonsense,--if, finally, you say hard things about us, we do not complain;
we took the news in the same way. Adieu; the letters by this post will
show you whether we have told the truth."

Poor Mademoiselle! Madame de Sevigne was right in one thing,--if it were
not done promptly, it might prove impracticable. Like Ralph Roister
Doister, she should ha' been married o' Sunday. Duly the contract was
signed, by which Lauzun took the name of M. de Montpensier and the largest
fortune in the kingdom, surrendered without reservation, all, all to him;
but Mazarin had bribed the notary to four hours' delay, and during that
time the King was brought to change his mind, to revoke his consent, and
to contradict the letters he had written to foreign courts, formally
announcing the nuptials of the first princess of the blood. In reading the
Memoirs of Mademoiselle, one forgets all the absurdity of all her long
amatory angling for the handsome young guardsman, in pity for her deep
despair. When she went to remonstrate with the King, the two royal cousins
fell on their knees, embraced, "and thus we remained for near three
quarters of an hour, not a word being spoken during the whole time, but
both drowned in tears." Reviving, she told the King, with her usual
frankness, that he was "like apes who caress children and suffocate them";
and this high-minded monarch soon proceeded to justify her remark by
ordering her lover to the Castle of Pignerol, to prevent a private
marriage,--which had probably taken place already. Ten years passed,
before the labors and wealth of this constant and un