ly accomplished by Henri II by a stroke of the pen.

CHAPTER XVIII

MAINTENON

Out from Paris, on the old Route d'Espagne, running from the capital to
the frontier, down which rolled the royal corteges of old, lie Maintenon
and its famous chateau, some sixty odd kilometres from Paris and twenty
from Rambouillet.

Just beyond Versailles, on the road to Maintenon, lies the trim little
townlet of Saint Cyr, known to-day as the West Point of France, the
military school founded by Napoleon I giving it its chief distinction.

Going back into the remote past one learns that the village grew up from
a foundation of Louis XIV, who bought for ninety-one thousand _livres_
"a chateau and a convent for women," that Madame de Maintenon might
establish a girls' school therein. She reserved an apartment for
herself, and one suspects indeed that it was simply another project of
the Widow Scarron to have a place of rendezvous near the capital.
Certainly under the circumstances, taking into consideration the good
that she was doing for orphaned girls, she might at least have been
allowed the right of a roof to shelter her when she wished. She was
absolutely dominant within, though never actually in residence for any
length of time. It was here that "Esther" and "Athalie," which Racine
had composed expressly for Madame de Maintenon's pensionnaires, were
produced for the first time.

[Illustration: Fauteuil _of_ Mme. _de_ Maintenon _Worked by the_
Demoiselles _of_ Saint Cyr]

When not actually living at Saint Cyr it was Madame de Maintenon's
custom to come hither from Paris each day, arriving between seven and
eight in the morning, passing the day and returning to town for the
evening, much as a celebrated American millionaire journalist, whose
country-house overlooks the famous convent garden, does to-day.

Madame de Maintenon actually went into retirement at Saint Cyr upon the
death of Louis XIV, and for four years, until her death, never left it.
She died from old age, rather than from any grave malady, in this
"Maison d'Education," which she had inaugurated, and was buried in the
chapel, beneath an elaborate tomb which the Duc de Noailles, who married
her niece, caused to be erected. The tomb was destroyed during the
Revolution and the "Maison Royale de Saint Cyr," of which nothing had
been changed since its foundation, was suppressed, the edifice itself
being pillaged and the remains of Madame de Maintenon sadly profan