Ninon knew the source of the order, and foresaw that her numerous distinguished admirers would not have any difficulty in protecting her, and persuading the Queen Regent to rescind her order, and therefore gave herself no concern, receiving the order as a pleasantry.

“I am deeply sensible of the goodness of the court in providing for my welfare and in permitting me to select my place of retreat, and without hesitation, I decide in favor of the Grands Cordeliers.”

Now it so happened that the Grands Cordeliers was a monastery exclusively for men, and from which women were rigidly excluded.  Moreover, the morals of the holy brotherhood was not of the best, as the writers of their history during that period unanimously testify.  M. de Guitaut, the captain of the Queen’s guard, who had been intrusted with the message, happened to be one of the “Birds,” and he assured the Regent that it was nothing but a little pleasantry on the part of Ninon, who merited a thousand marks of approval and commendation for her sterling and brilliant qualities of mind and heart rather than punishment or even censure.

The only comment made by the Queen Regent was:  “Fie, the nasty thing!” accompanied by a fit of laughter.  Others of the “Birds” came to the rescue, among them the Duc d’Enghien, who was known not to value his esteem for women lightly.  The matter was finally dropped, Anne of Austria finding means to close the mouths of the envious.

CHAPTER VIII

Her Increasing Popularity

Ninon’s return to the gayeties of her drawing rooms was hailed with loud acclamations from all quarters.  The envy and jealousy of her female enemies, the attempt to immure her in a convent, and her selection of the Grands Cordeliers as her place of retreat, brought her new friends and admirers through the notoriety given her, and all Paris resounded with the fame of her spirit, her wit, and her philosophy.

Ladies of high rank sought admission into her charming circle, many of them, it is to be imagined, because they possessed exaggerated ideas of her influence at court.  Had she not braved the Queen Regent with impunity?  Her drawing rooms soon became the center of attraction and were nightly crowded with the better part of the brilliant society of Paris.  Ninon was the acknowledged guide and leader, and all submitted to her sway without the slightest envy or jealousy, and it may also be said, without the slightest compunctions or remorse of conscience.

The affair with the Queen Regent had one good effect, it separated the desirable from the undesirable in the social scale, compelling the latter to set up an establishment of their own as a counter attraction, and as their only hope of having any society at all.  They established a “little court” at the Hotel Rambouillet, where foppishness was a badge of distinction, and where a few narrow minded, starched