r assistants, concealed, or rather
pretended to conceal, from the crowd of courtiers who surrounded her,
and who still admired her, thanks to the combination of circumstances
which we have indicated in the preceding chapter, the ravages, which
were already visible, of the acute suffering to which she finally
yielded a few years later. Madame, almost as great a coquette as Anne of
Austria, and the queen, simple and natural as usual, were seated beside
her, each contending for her good graces. The ladies of honor, united
in a body, in order to resist with greater effect, and consequently with
more success, the witty and lively conversations which the young men
held about them, were enabled, like a battalion formed in a square,
to offer each other the means of attack and defense which were thus
at their command. Montalais, learned in that species of warfare which
consists of sustained skirmishing, protected the whole line by a sort
of rolling fire she directed against the enemy. Saint-Aignan, in utter
despair at the rigor, which became almost insulting from the very fact
of her persisting in it, Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente displayed,
tried to turn his back upon her; but, overcome by the irresistible
brilliancy of her eyes, he, every moment, returned to consecrate his
defeat by new submissions, to which Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente did
not fail to reply by fresh acts of impertinence. Saint-Aignan did not
know which way to turn. La Valliere had about her, not exactly a court,
but sprinklings of courtiers. Saint-Aignan, hoping by this maneuver to
attract Athenais's attention towards him, approached the young girl, and
saluted her with a respect that induced some to believe that he wished
to balance Athenais by Louise. But these were persons who had neither
been witnesses of the scene during the shower, nor had heard it spoken
of. As the majority was already informed, and well informed, too, on the
matter, the acknowledged favor with which she was regarded had attracted
to her side some of the most astute, as well as the least sensible,
members of the court. The former, because they said with Montaigne,
"How do I know?" and the latter, who said with Rabelais, "Perhaps."
The greatest number had followed in the wake of the latter, just as in
hunting five or six of the best hounds alone follow the scent of the
animal hunted, whilst the remainder of the pack follow only the scent of
the hounds. The two queens and Madame exami