sse de Vaujours and de la Valliere.

"Gabrielle d'Estrees, directly she appeared, was proclaimed Duchesse de
Beaufort.

"Diane de Poitiers was Duchesse de Valentinois and a princess. It's only
you who are nobody, and your relations also are about the same! Make the
most of this grand opportunity; help the Prince of Lorraine, and the
Prince of Lorraine will help you."

On our return from the chateau, while our resolution was yet firm, we
went laughing to the King. He asked the reason of our gaiety. My sister
said with her wonted ease, "Sire, I have come to invite you to my
daughter's wedding."

"Your daughter? Don't you think I am able to get her properly married?"
cried the King.

"Sire, you cannot do it better than I can myself. I am giving her a
sovereign as husband, a sovereign in every sense of the term."

It seemed to me the King flushed slightly as he rejoined, "A sovereign on
his feet, or a sovereign overthrown?"

"How do you mean, Sire?" said my sister.

"Madame de Thianges," replied the King, "pray, let us be friends. I was
informed two days ago of the proposals of the Messieurs de Lorraine; it
is not, yet time to give them a definite reply. It behoves, me to give
your daughter in marriage, and I have destined her for the Duc de Nevers,
who is wealthy, and my friend."

"The Duc de Nevers!" cried my sister; "why, he's cracked for six months
in the year."

"Those who are cracked for a whole twelvemonth deserve far more pity,"
replied the King.

Then, turning to me, he observed, "You make no remark, madame? Does your
niece's coronation provide you also with illusions?"

I easily perceived that we had been cherishing an utterly fantastic
scheme, and I counselled Madame de Thianges to prefer to please the King;
and, as she was never able to control her feelings, she sharply replied,
"Madame la Marquise, good day or good night!"

The King, however, did not relax his persistence in giving us the Duc de
Nevers as son-in-law and nephew; and as this young gentleman's one fault
is to require perpetual amusement, partly derived from poetry and partly
from incessant travelling, my niece is as happy with him as a woman who
takes her husband's place well can be. As soon as he gets to Paris, he
wants to return to Rome, and hardly has he reached Rome, when he has the
horses put to for Paris.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Mademoiselle de Mortemart, Abbess of Fontevrault.--She Comes to
Court.--The Cloister.