CHAPTER VII.
THE LOTTERY.
At eight o'clock in the evening, every one had assembled in thequeen-mother's apartments. Anne of Austria, in full dress, beautifulstill, from former loveliness, and from all the resources which coquetrycan command at the hands of clever assistants, concealed, or ratherpretended to conceal, from the crowd of young courtiers who surroundedher, and who still admired her, thanks to the combination ofcircumstances which we have indicated in the preceding chapter, theravages, which were already visible, of the acute suffering to which shefinally yielded a few years later. Madame, almost as great a coquette asAnne of Austria, and the queen, simple and natural as usual, were seatedbeside her, each contending for her good graces. The ladies of honor,united in a body, in order to resist with greater effect, andconsequently with more success, the witty and lively conversations whichthe young men held about them, were enabled like a battalion formed insquare, to offer each other the means of attack and defense which werethus at their command. Montalais, learned in that species of warfarewhich consists of a skirmishing character, protected the whole line bythe sort of rolling-fire which she directed against the enemy.Saint-Aignan, in utter despair at the rigor, which became insultingalmost, from the very fact of her persisting in it, which Mademoisellede Tonnay-Charente displayed, tried to turn his back upon her; but,overcome by the irresistible brilliancy of her large eyes, he, everymoment, returned to consecrate his defeat by new submissions, to whichMademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente did not fail to reply by fresh acts ofimpertinence. Saint Aignan did not know which way to turn. La Vallierehad about her, not exactly a court, but sprinklings of courtiers.Saint-Aignan, hoping by this maneuver to attract Athenais's attentiontoward him, had approached the young girl, and saluted her with arespect which induced some to believe that he wished to balance Athenaisby Louise. But these were persons who had neither been witnesses of thescene during the shower, nor had heard it spoken of. But, as themajority was already informed, and well informed, too, on the matter,the acknowledged favor with which she was regarded, had attracted to herside some of the most astute, as well as the least sensible, members ofthe court. The former, because they said with Montainge, "What can wetell?" and the latter, who said with Rabelais, "It is likely." Thegreatest number had followed in the wake of the latter, just as inhunting five or six of the best hounds alone follow the scent of theanimal hunted, while the remainder of the pack follow only the scent ofthe hounds. The two queens and Madame examined with particular attentionthe toilets of their ladies and maids of honor; and they condescendedto forget they were queens in recollecting that they were women. Inother words, they pitilessly tore in pieces every person there who worea petticoat. The looks of both princesses simultaneously fell upon LaValliere, who, as we have just said, was completely surrounded at thatmoment. Madame knew not what pity was, and said to the queen-mother, asshe turned toward her, "If fortune were just, she would favor that poorLa Valliere."
"That is not possible," said the queen-mother, smiling.
"Why not?"
"There are only two hundred tickets, so that it was not possible toinscribe every one's name on the list."
"And hers is not there, then?"
"No!"
"What a pity! she might have won them, and then sold them."
"Sold them!" exclaimed the queen.
"Yes; it would have been a dowry for her, and she would not have beenobliged to marry without her trousseau, as will probably be the case."
"Really," answered the queen-mother, "poor little thing, has she nodresses, then?"
And she pronounced these words like a woman who has never been able tounderstand the inconveniences of a slenderly filled purse.
"Stay, look at her. Heaven forgive me, if she is not wearing the verysame petticoat this evening that she had on this morning during thepromenade, and which she managed to keep clean, thanks to the care theking took of her, in sheltering her from the rain."
At the very moment Madame uttered these words the king entered the room.The two queens would not perhaps have observed his arrival, socompletely were they occupied in their ill-natured remarks, had notMadame noticed that, all at once, La Valliere, who was standing upfacing the gallery, exhibited certain signs of confusion, and then saida few words to the courtiers who surrounded her, who immediatelydispersed. This movement induced Madame to look toward the door, and atthat moment the captain of the guards announced the king. At thismoment, La Valliere, who had hitherto kept her eyes fixed upon thegallery, suddenly cast them down as the king entered. His majesty wasdressed magnificently and in the most perfect taste; he was conversingwith Monsieur and the Duc de Roquelaure, Monsieur on his right and theDuc de Roquelaure on his left. The king advanced, in the first place,toward the queens, to whom he bowed with an air full of gracefulrespect. He took his mother's hand and kissed it, addressed a fewcompliments to Madame upon the beauty of her toilet, and then began tomake the round of the assembly. La Valliere was saluted in the samemanner as the others, but with neither more nor less attention. Hismajesty then returned to his mother and his wife. When the courtiersnoticed that the king had only addressed some ordinary remark to theyoung girl who had been so particularly noticed in the morning, theyimmediately drew their own conclusion to account for this coldness ofmanner; this conclusion being, that although the king may have taken asudden fancy to her, that fancy had already disappeared. One thing,however, must be remarked, that close beside La Valliere, among thenumber of the courtiers, M. Fouquet was to be seen; and his respectfullyattentive manner served to sustain the young girl in the midst of thevaried emotions which visibly agitated her.
M. Fouquet was just on the point, moreover, of speaking in a morefriendly manner with Mademoiselle de la Valliere, when M. de Colbertapproached, and after having bowed to Fouquet with a formality which therules of the most respectful politeness could require, he seemed to takeup a post beside La Valliere, for the purpose of entering intoconversation with her. Fouquet immediately quitted his place. Theseproceedings were eagerly devoured by the eyes of Montalais andMalicorne, who mutually exchanged their several observations on thesubject. De Guiche, standing within the embrasure of one of thewindows, saw no one but Madame. But as Madame, on her side, frequentlyglanced at La Valliere, De Guiche's eyes following Madame's, were fromtime to time cast upon the young girl. La Valliere instinctively feltherself sinking beneath the weight of all the different looks, inspired,some by interest, others by envy. She had nothing to compensate her forher sufferings, not a kind word from her companions, nor a look ofaffection from the king. No one could possibly express the misery thepoor girl was suffering. The queen-mother next directed the small tableto be brought forward, on which the lottery-tickets were placed, twohundred in number, and begged Madame de Motteville to read the list ofthe names. It was a matter of course that this list had been drawn outin strict accordance with the laws of etiquette; the king's name wasfirst on the list, next the queen-mother, then the queen, Monsieur,Madame, and so on. All hearts throbbed anxiously as the list was readout; more than three hundred persons had been invited, and each of themwas anxious to learn whether his or her name was likely to be foundamong the number of privileged names. The king listened with as muchattention as the others, and when the last name had been pronounced, henoticed that La Valliere had been omitted from the list. Every one, ofcourse, could remark this omission. The king flushed as if he had beenmuch annoyed; but La Valliere, gentle and resigned, as usual, exhibitednothing of the sort. While the list was being read, the king had nottaken his eyes off the young girl, who seemed to expand, as it were,beneath the happy influence she felt was shed around her, and who wasdelighted and too pure in spirit for any other thought than that of loveto find an entrance either in her mind or her heart. Acknowledging thistouching self-denial by the fixedness of his attention, the king showedLa Valliere how much he appreciated its delicacy. When the list wasfinished, the different faces of those who had been omitted or forgottenfully expressed their di
sappointment. Malicorne also was forgottenamong the number of men; and the grimace he made plainly said toMontalais, who was also forgotten, "Cannot we contrive to arrangematters with fortune in such a manner that she shall not forget us?" towhich a smile full of intelligence from Mademoiselle Aure, replied,"Certainly we can."
The tickets were distributed to each person according to the numberheld. The king received his first, next the queen-mother, then Monsieur,then the queen and Madame, and so on. After this, Anne of Austria openeda small Spanish leather bag, containing two hundred numbers engravedupon small balls of mother-of-pearl, and presented the open sack to theyoungest of her maids of honor, for the purpose of taking one of theballs out of it. The eager expectation, amid all these tediously slowpreparations, was rather that of avidity than of curiosity. Saint-Aignanbent toward Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente to whisper to her, "Since wehave each a number, let us unite our two chances. The bracelet shall beyours if I win, and if you are successful, deign to give me but one lookof your beautiful eyes."
"No," said Athenais, "if you win the bracelet, keep it; every one forhimself."
"You are without any pity," said Saint-Aignan, "and I will punish youby a quatrain:--
"'Beautiful Iris, to my vow You are too opposed--'"
"Silence," said Athenais, "you will prevent me hearing the winningnumber."
"Number one," said the young girl who had drawn the mother-of-pearl fromthe Spanish leather bag.
"The king!" exclaimed the queen-mother.
"The king has won!" repeated the queen, delightedly.
"Oh! the king! your dream!" said Madame, joyously, in the ear of Anne ofAustria.
The king was the only one who did not exhibit any satisfaction. Hemerely thanked Fortune for what she had done for him, in addressing aslight salutation to the young girl who had been chosen as her proxy.Then, receiving from the hands of Anne of Austria, amid the eager desireof the whole assembly, the casket inclosing the bracelets, he said, "Arethese bracelets really beautiful, then?"
"Look at them," said Anne of Austria, "and judge for yourself."
The king looked at them, and said, "Yes, indeed, an admirable medallion.What perfect finish!"
"What perfect finish!" repeated Madame.
Queen Maria-Theresa easily saw, and that, too, at the very first glance,that the king would not offer the bracelets to her; but, as he did notseem either the least degree in the world disposed to offer them toMadame, she felt almost satisfied, or nearly so. The king sat down. Themost intimate among the courtiers approached, one by one, for thepurpose of admiring more closely the beautiful piece of workmanship,which soon, with the king's permission, was handed about from person toperson. Immediately, every one, connoisseurs or not, uttered variousexclamations of surprise, and overwhelmed the king with congratulations.There was, in fact, something for everybody to admire--the brilliantsfor some, and the cutting for others. The ladies present visiblydisplayed their impatience to see such a treasure monopolized by thegentlemen.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen," said the king, whom nothing escaped, "one wouldalmost think that you wore bracelets as the Sabines used to do; handthem for a little while for the inspection of the ladies, who seem to meto have, and with far greater right, some excuse for understanding suchmatters better than you."
These words appeared to Madame the commencement of a decision sheexpected. She gathered, besides, this happy belief from the glances ofthe queen-mother. The courtier who held them at the moment the king madethis remark, amid the general agitation, hastened to place the braceletsin the hands of the queen, Maria-Theresa, who, knowing too well, poorwoman, that they were not designed for her, hardly looked at them, andalmost immediately passed them on to Madame. The latter, and--even moreminutely than herself--Monsieur, gave the bracelets a long look ofanxious and almost covetous desire. She then handed the jewels to thoseladies who were near her, pronouncing this single word, but with anaccent which was worth a long phrase, "Magnificent!"
The ladies who had received the bracelets from Madame's hands looked atthem as long as they chose to examine them, and then made them circulateby passing them on toward the right. During this time the king wastranquilly conversing with De Guiche and Fouquet, rather letting themtalk than himself listening. Accustomed to the set form of ordinaryphrases, his ear, like that of all men who exercise an incontestablesuperiority over others, merely selected from the conversations held invarious directions the indispensable word which requires reply. Hisattention, however, was now elsewhere, for it wandered as his eyes did.
Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente was the last of the ladies inscribed fortickets; and, as if she had ranked according to her name upon the list,she only had Montalais and La Valliere after her. When the braceletsreached these two latter, no one appeared to take any further notice ofthem. The humble hands which for a moment touched these jewels, deprivedthem of all their importance--a circumstance which did not, however,prevent Montalais from starting with joy, envy, and covetous desire, atthe sight of the beautiful stones still more than at their magnificentworkmanship. It is evident that if she were compelled to decide betweenthe pecuniary value and the artistic beauty, Montalais wouldunhesitatingly have preferred diamonds to cameos, and herdisinclination, therefore, to pass them to her companion, La Valliere,was very great. La Valliere fixed a look almost of indifference upon thejewels.
"Oh, how beautiful, how magnificent these bracelets are!" exclaimedMontalais; "and yet you do not go into ecstasies about them, Louise!You are no true woman, I am sure."
"Yes, I am indeed," replied the young girl, with an accent of the mostcharming melancholy; "but why desire that which cannot be ours?"
The king, his head bent forward, listened to what the young girl wassaying. Hardly had the vibration of her voice reached his ear than herose radiant with delight, and passing across the whole assembly, fromthe place where he stood, to La Valliere, "You are mistaken,mademoiselle," he said; "you are a woman, and every woman has a right towear jewels, which are a woman's property."
"Oh, sire!" said La Valliere, "your majesty will not absolutely believemy modesty?"
"I believe you possess every virtue, mademoiselle; frankness as well asevery other; I entreat you, therefore, to say frankly what you think ofthese bracelets?"
"That they are beautiful, sire, and cannot be offered to any other thana queen."
"I am delighted that such is your opinion, mademoiselle; the braceletsare yours, and the king begs your acceptance of them."
And as, with a movement almost resembling terror, La Valliere eagerlyheld out the casket to the king, the king gently pushed back LaValliere's trembling hand. A silence of astonishment, more profound thanthat of death, reigned in the assembly. And yet, from the side where thequeens were, no one had heard what he had said, nor understood what hehad done. A charitable friend, however, took upon herself to spread thenews; it was Tonnay-Charente, to whom Madame had made a sign toapproach.
"Good heavens!" exclaimed Tonnay-Charente, "how happy that La Valliereis! the king has just given her the bracelets."
Madame bit her lips to such a degree that the blood appeared upon thesurface of the skin. The young queen looked first at La Valliere andthen at Madame, and began to laugh. Anne of Austria rested her chin uponher beautiful white hand, and remained for a long time absorbed by asuspicion which disturbed her mind, and by a terrible pang which stungher heart. De Guiche, observing Madame turn pale, and guessing the causeof her change of color, abruptly quitted the assembly and disappeared.Malicorne was then able to approach Montalais very quietly, and undercover of the general din of conversation said to her:
"Aure, you have our fortune and our future close beside you."
"Yes," was her reply, as she tenderly embraced La Valliere, whom,inwardly, she was tempted to strangle.