Part 29 (1/2)

This was a hoh in all conscience Colbert was cohly disco drank the hich was presented to hih the city The king bit his lips in anger, for the evening was closing in, and all hope of a ith La Valliere was at an end In order that the whole of the king's household should enter Vaux, four hours at least were necessary, owing to the different arrange with impatience, hurried forward as htfall But, at the ain, other and fresh difficulties arose

”Is not the king going to sleep at Melun?” said Colbert, in a low tone of voice, to D'Artagnan

M Colbert must have been badly inspired that day, to address himself in that uessed that the king's intention was very far fronan would not allow hily accompanied; and desired that his majesty would not enter except with all the escort On the other hand, he felt that these delays would irritate that impatient monarch beyond measure In ay could he possibly reconcile these difficulties? D'Artagnan took up Colbert's re

”Sire,” he said, ”M Colbert has been asking me if your majesty does not intend to sleep at Melun”

”Sleep at Melun! What for?” exclaimed Louis XIV ”Sleep at Melun! Who, in Heaven's na, when M Fouquet is expecting us this evening?”

”It was si yourto established etiquette, you cannot enter any place, with the exception of your own royal residences, until the soldiers' quarters have been arrison properly distributed”

D'Artagnan listened with the greatest attention, biting his mustache to conceal his vexation; and the queens were not less interested They were fatigued, and would have preferred to go to rest without proceeding any farther;about in the evening with M de Saint-Aignan and the ladies of the court, for, if etiquette required the princesses to remain within their own rooms, the ladies of honor, as soon as they had performed the services required of them, had no restrictions placed upon them, but were at liberty to walk about as they pleased It will easily be conjectured that all these rival interests, gathering together in vapors, necessarily produced clouds, and that the clouds were likely to be followed by a tenaw, and therefore kept biting the handle of his whip instead, with ill-concealed ireeable as possible, and Colbert as sulky as he could Who was there he could get in a passion with?

”We will consult the queen,” said Louis XIV, bowing to the royal ladies And this kindness of consideration softened Maria Theresa's heart, who, being of a kind and generous disposition, when left to her own free-will, replied:

”I shall be delighted to do whatever your et to Vaux?” inquired Anne of Austria, in slow andher hand upon her bosom, where the seat of her pain lay

”An hour for your nan; ”the roads are tolerably good”

The king looked at hi,” he hastened to add

”We should arrive by daylight?” said Louis XIV

”But the billeting of the king's military escort,” objected Colbert, softly, ”will e of his speed, however quick he nan; ”if I had any interest or , I could do it in ten 's place,” he added aloud, ”I should, in going to M Fouquet, leave o to him as a friend; I should enter accouards; I should consider that I was acting more nobly, and should be invested with a still ht sparkled in the king's eyes ”That is indeed a very sensible suggestion We will go to see a friend as friends; the gentleo slowly: but ho are mounted will ride on”

And he rode off, accoly head behind his horse's neck

”I shall be quits,” said D'Artagnan, as he galloped along, ”by getting a little talk with Ara And then, M Fouquet is a man of honor _Mordioux!_ I have said so, and it must be so”

And this was the way hoards seven o'clock in the evening, without announcing his arrival by the din of truuard, without out-riders or ate of Vaux, where Fouquet, who had been infor for the last half-hour, with his head uncovered, surrounded by his household and his friends

Chapter XIII Nectar and A, who, having disraciously still held out his hand to hi's part, carried respectfully to his lips The king wished to wait in the first courtyard for the arrival of the carriages, nor had he long to wait, for the roads had been put into excellent order by the superintendent, and a stone would hardly have been found of the size of an egg the whole way froh on a carpet, brought the ladies to Vaux, without jolting or fatigue, by eight o'clock They were received by Madame Fouquet, and at the ht as day burst forth from every quarter, trees, vases, and marble statues This species of enchantment lasted until their majesties had retired into the palace All these wonders and ical effects which the chronicler has heaped up, or rather e the brain-born scenes of roht seeht and luxury combined for the satisfaction of all the senses, as well as the in in that enchanting retreat of which noan equal We do not intend to describe the grand banquet, at which the royal guests were present, nor the concerts, nor the fairy-like and ic transforh for our purpose to depict the countenance the king assuloomy, constrained, and irritated expression He reh it was, and the mean and indifferent style of luxury that prevailed there, which comprised but little more than ashis own personal property The large vases of the Louvre, the older furniture and plate of Henry II, of Francis I, and of Louis XI, were but historicbut specimens of art, the relics of his predecessors; while with Fouquet, the value of the article was as much in the workold service, which artists in his own employ had modeled and cast for hi of France did not even know the naoblets each more valuable than the entire royal cellar

What, too, was to be said of the aparts, the pictures, the servants and officers, of every description, of his household? What of the mode of service in which etiquette was replaced by order; stiff formality by personal, unrestrained couest became the supreme law of all who obeyed the host? The perfect swar about noiselessly; the uests,--ere, however, even less numerous than the servants aited on theold and silver vases; the floods of dazzling light, the masses of unknown flowers of which the hot-houses had been despoiled, redundant with luxuriance of unequaled scent and beauty; the perfect hars, which, indeed, was no more than the prelude of the promised _fete_, charmed all ere there; and they testified their adesture, but by deep silence and rapt attention, those two languages of the courtier which acknowledge the hand of no , his eyes filled with tears; he dared not look at the queen Anne of Austria, whose pride was superior to that of any creature breathing, overwhel handed to her The young queen, kind-hearted by nature and curious by disposition, praised Fouquet, ate with an exceedingly good appetite, and asked the nae fruits as they were placed upon the table Fouquet replied that he was not aware of their names

The fruits came fro an intimate acquaintance with the cultivation of exotic fruits and plants The king felt and appreciated the delicacy of the replies, but was only the ht the queen a little too familiar in her manners, and that Anne of Austria resehty; his chief anxiety, however, was hiht rehtly the limits of supreme disdain or simple admiration

But Fouquet had foreseen all this; he was, in fact, one of thosehad expressly declared that, so long as he remained under Fouquet's roof, he did not wish his own different repasts to be served in accordance with the usual etiquette, and that he would, consequently, dine with the rest of society; but by the thoughtful attention of the surintendant, the king's dinner was served up separately, if one eneral table; the dinner, wonderful in every respect, fro the king liked and generally preferred to anything else Louis had no excuse--he, indeed, who had the keenest appetite in his kingdory