登陆注册
5240200000170

第170章 CHAPTER XLVII.(2)

The Duc de Vivonne, well as he knew me, did not suspect my trickery; he applied a score of kisses to my "pretty little white hands," and his postilions, giving free play to their reins, speedily brought us back to the chateau.

All beaming with joy and satisfaction, he went to convey his reply to Madame de Maintenon, who was probably expecting him. Twenty minutes hardly elapsed. The King himself entered my apartment.

He came towards me with a friendly air, and, hardly remarking my agitation, which I was suppressing, he dared to address the following words to me:

"The shortest follies are the best, dear Marquise; you see things at last as they should be seen. Your determination, which the Marechal de Vivonne has just informed me of, gives me inexpressible pleasure; you are going to take the step of a clever woman, and everybody will applaud you for it. It will be eighteen years to-morrow since we took a fancy for each other. We were then in that period of life when one sees only that which flatters, and the satisfaction of the heart surpasses everything.

Our attachment, if it had been right and legitimate, might have begun with the same ardour, but it could not have endured so long; that is the property of all contested affections.

"From our union amiable children have been born, for whom I have done, and will do, all that a father with good intentions can do. The Act which acknowledged them in full Parliament has not named you as their mother, because your bonds prevented it, but these respectful children know that they owe you their existence, and not one of them shall forget it while I live.

"You have charmed by your wit and the liveliness of your character the busiest years of my life and reign. That pleasant memory will never leave me, and separated though we be, as good sense and propriety of every kind demands, we shall still belong to each other in thought.

Athenais will always be to me the mother of my, dear children. I have been mindful up to this day, to increase at different moments the amount of your fortune: I believe it to be considerable, and wish, nevertheless, to add to it even more. If the pension that Vivonne had just suggested to you appear insufficient, two lines from your pen will notify me that Imust increase it.

"Your children being proclaimed Princes of France, the Court will be their customary residence, but you will see them frequently, and can count on my commands. Here they are coming,--not to say good-bye to you, but, as of old, to embrace you on the eve of a journey.

"If you are prudent, you will write first to the Marquis de Montespan, not to annul and revoke the judicial and legal separation which exists, but to inform him of your return to reasonable ideas, and of your resolve to be reconciled with the public."With these words the King ceased speaking. I looked at him with a fixed gaze; a long sigh escaped from my heaving breast, and I had with him, as nearly as I can remember, the following conversation:

"I admire the sang-froid with which a prince who believes himself, and is believed by the whole universe, to be magnanimous, gives the word of dismissal to the tender friend of his youth,--to that friend who, by a misfortune which is too well known, knew how to leave all and love him alone.

"From the day when the friendship which had united us cooled and was dissipated, you have resumed with regard to me that distance which your rank authorises you, and on my side, I have submitted to see in you only my King. This revolution has taken effect without any shock, or noise, or scandal. It has continued for two years already; why should it not continue in the same manner until the moment when my last two children no longer require my eyes, and presence, and care? What sudden cause, what urgent motive, can determine you to exclude me? Does not, then, the humiliation which I have suffered for two years any longer satisfy your aversion?""What!" cried the prince, in consternation, "is your resolution no longer the same? Do you go back upon what you promised to your brother?""I do not change my resolution," I resumed at once; "the places which you inhabit have neither charm nor attraction for my heart, which has always detested treachery and falseness. I consent to withdraw myself from your person, but on condition that the odious intriguer who has supplanted me shall follow the unhappy benefactress who once opened to her the doors of this palace. I took her from a state of misery, and she plunges daggers into my breast.""The Kings of Europe," said the prince, white with agitation and anger, "have not yet laid down the law to me in my palace; you shall not make me submit to yours, madame. The person whom, for far too long, you have been offending and humiliating before my eyes, has ancestors who yield in nothing to your forefathers, and if you have introduced her to this palace, you have introduced here goodness, sweetness, talent, and virtue itself. This enemy, whom you defame in every quarter, and who every day excuses and justifies you, will abide near this throne, which her fathers have defended and which her good counsel now defends. In sending you today from a Court where your presence is without motive and pretext, I wished to keep from your knowledge, and in kindness withdraw from your eyes an event likely to irritate you, since everything irritates you.

Stay, madame, stay, since great catastrophes appeal to and amuse you;after to-morrow you will be more than ever a supernumerary in this chateau."At these words I realised that it was a question of the public triumph of my rival. All my firmness vanished; my heart was, as it were, distorted with the most rapid palpitations. I felt an icy coldness run through my veins, and I fell unconscious upon my carpet.

同类推荐
  • 佛说了义般若波罗蜜多经

    佛说了义般若波罗蜜多经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 女范捷录

    女范捷录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 玉箓资度早朝仪

    玉箓资度早朝仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Massacres of the South

    Massacres of the South

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 奉天靖难记

    奉天靖难记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 指间砂爱

    指间砂爱

    渣男背叛,她被逼净身出户,连亲身骨肉都被抢去。为复仇夺子,她一手设计自己成了他的人,故意扮演他已逝女友的替身。果然,他不但对她百般宠爱,还手把手教她虐前夫,踩渣男,让她不知不觉身心沦陷。她狼狈逃离,却被他堵住去路,“傻瓜,你从来不是别人的替身。”
  • 枭宠娇妻:总裁,我拒绝

    枭宠娇妻:总裁,我拒绝

    她一心爱着商家大少,甚至不惜放弃千金生活,甘愿作为他心爱之人的骨髓供养,也要嫁给他,只是这么多年的朝夕相处,都没打动他那颗心,甚至在她要临盆之际,杀她骨肉,取她骨髓,只为了她心爱之人做移植。这一次换她,不要他。
  • 三界宅急送

    三界宅急送

    钟小魁是树妖裟椤的侄儿,捉鬼世家钟氏家族的传人,一个即将高考的17岁俊秀少年。他无意中被神秘的女人逼着签下了一份协议书,在未来的一年里必须自食其力,加入PKD快递公司赚钱。这家公司怎么看怎么不靠谱,用银餐具切油条的装十三HR总监姜南海,遍身名牌妖艳性感的员工玛丽欧,还有一个每次都拖油瓶的兼职林七七,他们就是每次都在钟小魁卖命工作的时候唧唧歪歪、游手好闲的“家事三人组”。
  • 宸璃梦:公主倒追记

    宸璃梦:公主倒追记

    吝星璃,她是拂菻国唯一的公主,简单而不单纯,坚强却也害怕受伤,热情起来仿佛是灼灼地烈火,冷漠起来似寒冷的冰。她就是这样一个洒脱、倔强的女子。因为一系列与皇甫宸相关的梦境——他们前世的一些刻苦铭心的经历。而恋上那个让她醉心的男子。遇到他,她变得很低很低,低到了尘埃里。但她心里是欣喜的,从尘埃里开出了花。
  • 向爱则暖

    向爱则暖

    作为资深婚礼策划,以旁观视角讲述都市中那些或缠绵悱恻、或平淡如水、或轰轰烈烈的爱情故事,并以此引发一些让读者值得感慨和深入思考的心灵鸡汤式婚姻爱情公式。里面每一个别人的爱情小故事,都是难能可贵的幸福,遇见彼此,皆是小幸运!
  • 神荒纪

    神荒纪

    神荒有神山,山名玄离。千年浩劫降,玄离封,自此无故事。神荒有乞丐,乞丐不知名,遇恩师美人,踏天地,自此有传说。
  • 国初群雄事略

    国初群雄事略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 黑猫岭诡秘事件

    黑猫岭诡秘事件

    传说黑猫岭是一个神秘莫测的小镇,镇中的大户李大善人被藏龙山的土匪袭击灭门以后,李家大宅被焚烧成为焦土,唯余一座塔楼。从此以后,黑猫岭的诡秘事件渐渐出现了!李大善人的儿子李莫展回到黑猫岭的那天,许常德在荒山遭遇了匪夷所思的事情。
  • 浮光深处忘记你

    浮光深处忘记你

    本以为如愿以偿的嫁给了自己心爱的人,谁知道自己只是他报复的对象!日复一日的承受他无尽的折磨和侮辱。终于,他的那个她醒了,我终于可以解脱了吧....“叶丝夏,我要你生不如死!”“我没有给丝秋下药!你相信我!”.......“秦钰,我最后悔的事就是嫁给你!”“我绝不会放你离开!”无尽的纠缠和痛苦之中,她究竟该何去何从......--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 深处难寻

    深处难寻

    希望我们的青春不曾悔。那个十六#uggufgugug