press of her genius. Ere long she was added to the ladies of the
queen's household.

The king, having closed his flirtation with Mademoiselle d'Argencourt,
found himself almost insensibly drawn to Mary Mancini. Though there
were many in his court more beautiful in person, there were none who
could rival her in intellect and wit. Though naturally timid, her
reserve disappeared when in his presence. Though ever approaching him
with the utmost possible deference and respect, she conversed with him
with a frankness to which he was entirely unaccustomed, and which, at
the same time, surprised and charmed him.

His vanity was gratified with the almost religious devotion with which
she unaffectedly regarded her sovereign, while at the same time she
addressed him with a bold simplicity of utterance which astounded the
courtiers and enthralled the king. He was amazed and bewildered by the
grandeur of a character such as he had never encountered before. She
reproved him for his faults, instructed him in his ignorance,
conversed with him upon themes beyond the ordinary range of his
intellect, and endeavored to enkindle within him noble impulses and a
lofty ambition. The king found himself quite unable to compete with
her strength of intellect. His weaker nature became more and more
subject to one endowed with gifts far superior to his own. In every
hour of perplexity, in every serious moment, when the better nature of
the king gained a transient ascendency, he turned from the frivolity
of the gay and thoughtless beings fluttering around him to Mary
Mancini for guidance and strength.

The ambition of Cardinal Mazarin was again excited with the hope that
he might yet place a niece upon the throne of France. But there was
no end to the intrigues of ambitious aspirants, directly or
indirectly, for the hand of the young king. Mademoiselle de
Montpensier had enormous wealth, was of high birth, and was endowed
with marvelous force of character. She had long aspired to share the
throne with her young cousin. When it was evident that this plan had
failed, the Duke of Orleans brought forward a younger daughter by a
second wife. But Mazarin succeeded in thwarting this arrangement. The
Princess Henrietta of England, whom the young king had treated so
cruelly at the ball, was urged upon him. She was lovely in person,
amiable in character, but in poverty and exile. Cromwell was in the
plenitude of his power. There was no probability that her