at I should make a poor critic."

"Your Majesty is perfectly right," said Corneille unblushingly.
"I shall mark the passage, and see that it is corrected."

"I thought that it was wrong. If I do not write myself, you can see
that I have at least got the correct ear. A false quantity jars upon
me. It is the same in music. Although I know little of the matter, I
can tell a discord where Lully himself would miss it. I have often
shown him errors of the sort in his operas, and I have always convinced
him that I was right."

"I can readily believe it, your Majesty." Corneille had picked up his
book again, and was about to resume his reading when there came a sharp
tap at the door.

"It is his Highness the minister, Monsieur de Louvois," said
Mademoiselle Nanon.

"Admit him," answered Louis. "Monsieur Corneille, I am obliged to you
for what you have read, and I regret that an affair of state will now
interrupt your comedy. Some other day perhaps I may have the pleasure
of hearing the rest of it." He smiled in the gracious fashion which
made all who came within his personal influence forget his faults and
remember him only as the impersonation of dignity and of courtesy.

The poet, with his book under his arm, slipped out, while the famous
minister, tall, heavily wigged, eagle-nosed, and commanding, came bowing
into the little room. His manner was that of exaggerated politeness,
but his haughty face marked only too plainly his contempt for such a
chamber and for the lady who dwelt there. She was well aware of the
feeling with which he regarded her, but her perfect self-command
prevented her from ever by word or look returning his dislike.

"My apartments are indeed honoured to-day," said she, rising with
outstretched hand. "Can monsieur condescend to a stool, since I have no
fitter seat to offer you in this little doll's house? But perhaps I am
in the way, if you wish to talk of state affairs to the king. I can
easily withdraw into my boudoir."

"No, no, nothing of the kind, madame," cried Louis. "It is my wish that
you should remain here. What is it, Louvois?"

"A messenger arrived from England with despatches, your Majesty,"
answered the minister, his ponderous figure balanced upon the
three-legged stool. "There is very ill feeling there, and there is some
talk of a rising. The letter from Lord Sunderland wished to know
whether, in case the Dutch took the side of the malcontents, the king
might l