n question
was Marianne Pajot, daughter of the apothecary of Gaston Duke of
Orleans; and her story, as Mr. Browning relates it, a well-known episode
in the lives of Charles IV., Duke of Lorraine, and the Marquis de
Lassay.

Charles of Lorraine fell violently in love with Marianne Pajot, whom he
met at the "Luxembourg" when visiting Madame d'Orleans, his sister. She
was "so fair, so modest, so virtuous, and so witty" that he did not
hesitate to offer her his hand; and they were man and wife so far as
legal formalities could make them when the Monarch (Louis XIV.)
intervened. Charles had by a recent treaty made Louis his heir. This
threatened no obstacle to his union, since a clause in the marriage
contract barred all claims to succession on the part of the children who
might be born of it. But "Madame" resented the mesalliance; she joined
her persuasions with those of the Minister le Tellier; and the latter
persuaded the young King, not absolutely to prevent the marriage, but to
turn it to account. A paper was drawn up pledging the Duke to fresh
concessions, and the bride was challenged in the King's name to obtain
his signature to it. On this condition she was to be recognized as
Duchess with all the honours due to her rank; failing this, she was to
be banished to a convent. The alternative was offered to her at the
nuptial banquet, at which le Tellier had appeared--a carriage and
military escort awaiting him outside. She emphatically declined taking
part in so disgraceful a compact:[125] and after doing her best to allay
the Duke's wrath (which was for the moment terrible), calmly allowed the
Minister to lead her away, leaving all the bystanders in tears. A few
days later Marianne returned the jewels which Charles had given her,
saying, it was not suitable that she should keep them "since she had not
the honour of being his wife." He seems to have resigned her without
farther protest.

De Lassay was much impressed by this occurrence, though at the time only
ten years old. He too conceived an attachment for Marianne Pajot, and
married her, being already a widower, at the age of twenty-three. Their
union, dissolved a few years later by her death, was one of unclouded
happiness on his part, of unmixed devotion on hers; and the moral
dignity by which she had subjugated this somewhat weak and excitable
nature was equally attested by the intensity of her husband's sorrow and
by its transitoriness. The military and still mo