The sun had scarcely shed its first beams on the majestictrees of the park and the lofty turrets of the castle, whenthe young king, who had been awake more than two hours,possessed by the sleeplessness of love, opened his shuttershimself, and cast an inquiring look into the courts of thesleeping palace. He saw that it was the hour agreed upon:the great court clock pointed to a quarter past four. He didnot disturb his valet de chambre, who was sleeping soundlyat some distance; he dressed himself, and the valet, in agreat fright sprang up, thinking he had been deficient inhis duty; but the king sent him back again, commanding himto preserve the most absolute silence. He then descended thelittle staircase, went out at a lateral door, and perceivedat the end of the wall a mounted horseman holding anotherhorse by the bridle. This horseman could not be recognizedin his cloak and slouched hat. As to the horse, saddled likethat of a rich citizen, it offered nothing remarkable to themost experienced eye. Louis took the bridle: the officerheld the stirrup without dismounting, and asked hismajesty's orders in a low voice.

"Follow me," replied the king.

The officer put his horse to the trot, behind that of hismaster, and they descended the hill towards the bridge. Whenthey reached the other side of the Loire, -

"Monsieur," said the king, "you will please to ride on tillyou see a carriage coming; then return and inform me. I willwait here."

"Will your majesty deign to give me some description of thecarriage I am charged to discover?"

"A carriage in which you will see two ladies, and probablytheir attendants likewise."

"Sire, I should not wish to make a mistake; is there noother sign by which I may know this carriage?"

"It will bear, in all probability, the arms of monsieur lecardinal."

"That is sufficient, sire," replied the officer, fullyinstructed in the object of his search. He put his horse tothe trot, and rode sharply on in the direction pointed outby the king. But he had scarcely gone five hundred paceswhen he saw four mules and then a carriage, loom up frombehind a little hill. Behind this carriage came another. Itrequired only one glance to assure him that these were theequipages he was in search of; he therefore turned hisbridle, and rode back to the king.

"Sire," said he, "here are the carriages. The first, as yousaid, contains two ladies with their femmes de chambre; thesecond contains the footmen, provisions, and necessaries."

"That is well," replied the king in an agitated voice."Please to go and tell those ladies that a cavalier of thecourt wishes to pay his respects to them alone."

The officer set off at a gallop. "Mordioux!" said he, as herode on, "here is a new and an honorable employment, I hope!I complained of being nobody. I am the king's confidant:that is enough to make a musketeer burst with pride."

He approached the carriage, and delivered his messagegallantly and intelligently. There were two ladies in thecarriage: one of great beauty, although rather thin; theother less favored by nature, but lively, graceful, anduniting in the delicate lines of her brow all the signs of astrong will. Her eyes, animated and piercing in particular,spoke more eloquently than all the amorous phrases infashion in those days of gallantry. It was to her D'Artagnanaddressed himself, without fear of being mistaken, althoughthe other was, as we have said, the more handsome of thetwo.

"Madame," said he, "I am the lieutenant of the musketeers,and there is on the road a horseman who awaits you, and isdesirous of paying his respects to you."

At these words, the effect of which he watched closely, thelady with the black eyes uttered a cry of joy, leant out ofthe carriage window, and seeing the cavalier approaching,held out her arms, exclaiming:

"Ah, my dear sire!" and the tears gushed from her eyes.

The coachman stopped his team; the women rose in confusionfrom the back of the carriage, and the second lady made aslight curtsey, terminated by the most ironical smile thatjealousy ever imparted to the lips of woman.

"Marie? dear Marie?" cried the king, taking the hand of theblack-eyed lady in both his. And opening the heavy doorhimself, he drew her out of the carriage with so much ardor,that she was in his arms before she touched the ground. Thelieutenant, posted on the other side of the carriage, sawand heard all without being observed.

The king offered his arm to Mademoiselle de Mancini, andmade a sign to the coachman and lackeys to proceed. It wasnearly six o'clock; the road was fresh and pleasant; talltrees with their foliage still inclosed in the golden downof their buds let the dew of morning filter from theirtrembling branches like liquid diamonds; the grass wasbursting at the foot of the hedges; the swallows, havingreturned since only a few days, described their gracefulcurves between the heavens and the water; a breeze, ladenwith the perfumes of the blossoming woods, sighed along theroad, and wrinkled the surface of the waters of the river;all these beauties of the day, all these perfumes of theplants, all these aspirations of the earth towards heaven,intoxicated the two lovers, walking side by side, leaningupon each other, eyes fixed upon eyes, hand clasping hand,and who, lingering as by a common desire, did not dare tospeak they had so much to say.

The officer saw that the king's horse, in wandering this wayand that, annoyed Mademoiselle de Mancini. He took advantageof the pretext of securing the horse to draw near them, anddismounting, walked between the two horses he led; he didnot lose a single word or gesture of the lovers. It wasMademoiselle de Mancini who at length began.

"Ah, my dear sire!" said she, "you do not abandon me, then?"

"No, Marie," replied the king; "you see I do not."

"I had so often been told, though, that as soon as we shouldbe separated you would no longer think of me."

"Dear Marie, is it then to-day only that you have discoveredwe are surrounded by people interested in deceiving us?"

"But, then, sire, this journey, this alliance with Spain?They are going to marry you off!"

Louis hung his head. At the same time the officer could seethe eyes of Marie de Mancini shine in the sun with thebrilliancy of a dagger starting from its sheath. "And youhave done nothing in favor of our love?" asked the girl,after a silence of a moment.

"Ah! mademoiselle, how could you believe that? I threwmyself at the feet of my mother; I begged her, I imploredher; I told her all my hopes of happiness were in you, Ieven threatened - - "

"Well?" asked Marie, eagerly.

"Well? the queen-mother wrote to the court of Rome, andreceived as answer, that a marriage between us would have novalidity, and would be dissolved by the holy father. Atlength, finding there was no hope for us, I requested tohave my marriage with the infanta at least delayed."

"And yet that does not prevent your being on the road tomeet her?"

"How can I help it? To my prayers, to my supplications, tomy tears, I received no answer but reasons of state."

"Well, well?"

"Well, what is to be done, mademoiselle, when so many willsare leagued against me?"

It was now Marie's turn to hang her head. "Then I must bidyou adieu for ever," said she. "You know that I am beingexiled; you know that I am going to be buried alive; youknow still more that they want to marry me off, too."

Louis became very pale, and placed his hand upon his heart.

"If I had thought that my life only had, been at stake, Ihave been so persecuted that I might have yielded; but Ithought yours was concerned, my dear sire, and I stood outfor the sake of preserving your happiness. "

"Oh, yes! my happiness, my treasure!" murmured the king,more gallantly than passionately, perhaps.

"The cardinal might have yielded," said Marie, "if you hadaddressed yourself to him, if you had pressed him. For thecardinal to call the king of France his nephew! do you notperceive, sire? He would have made war even for that honor;the cardinal, assured of governing alone, under the doublepretext of having brought up the king and given his niece tohim in marriage - the cardinal would have fought allantagonists, overcome all obstacles. Oh, sire! I can answerfor that. I am a woman, and I see clearly into everythingwhere love is concerned."

These words produced a strange effect upon the king. Insteadof heightening his passion, they cooled it. He stopped, andsaid hastily, -

"What is to be said, mademoiselle? Everything has failed."

"Except your will, I trust, my dear sire?"

"Alas!" said the king, coloring, "have I a will?"

"Oh!" said Mademoiselle de Mancini mournfully, wounded bythat expression.

"The king has no will but that which policy dictates, butthat which reasons of state impose upon him."

"Oh! it is because you have no love," cried Mary; "if youloved, sire, you would have a will."

On pronouncing these words, Mary raised her eyes to herlover, whom she saw more pale and more cast down than anexile who is about to quit his native land forever. "Accuseme," murmured the king, "but do not say I do not love you."

A long silence followed these words, which the young kinghad pronounced with a perfectly true and profound feeling."I am unable to think that to-morrow, and after to-morrow, Ishall see you no more; I cannot think that I am going to endmy sad days at a distance from Paris; that the lips of anold man, of an unknown, should touch that hand which youhold within yours; no, in truth, I cannot think of all that,my dear sire, without having my poor heart burst withdespair."

And Marie de Mancini did shed floods of tears. On his part,the king, much affected, carried his handkerchief to hismouth, and stifled a sob.

"See," said she, "the carriages have stopped, my sisterwaits for me, the time is come; what you are about to decideupon will be decided for life. Oh, sire! you are willing,then, that I should lose you? You are willing, then, Louis,that she to whom you have said `I love you,' should belongto another than to her king; to her master, to her lover?Oh! courage, Louis! courage! One word, a single word! Say `Iwill!' and all my life is enchained to yours, and all myheart is yours forever."

The king made no reply. Mary then looked at him as Didolooked at AEneas in the Elysian fields, fierce anddisdainful.

"Farewell, then," said she; "farewell life! love! heaven!"

And she took a step away. The king detained her, seized herhand, which he pressed to his lips, and despair prevailingover the resolution he appeared to have inwardly formed, helet fall upon that beautiful hand a burning tear of regret,which made Mary start, so really had that tear burnt her.She saw the humid eyes of the king, his pale brow, hisconvulsed lips, and cried, with an accent that cannot bedescribed, -

"Oh, sire! you are a king, you weep, and yet I depart!"

As his sole reply, the king hid his face in hishandkerchief. The officer uttered something so like a roarthat it frightened the horses. Mademoiselle de Mancini,quite indignant, quitted the king's arm, hastily entered thecarriage, crying to the coachman, "Go on, go on, and quick!"

The coachman obeyed, flogged his mules, and the heavycarriage rocked upon its creaking axle, whilst the king ofFrance, alone, cast down, annihilated, did not dare to lookeither behind or before him.