The first effect of this fine oration having been a little dissipated, objections broke out.  One young and lovely canoness dared to maintain the rights of her freedom, even in the face of her most amiable enemy.  Madame de Maintenon rushed to the succour of the Abbe of Saint Sulpice, and half by wheedling, half by tyranny, obtained the cloister and perpetual vows.

I must render this justice to the King; he never would pronounce or intervene in this pathetic struggle.  His royal hand profited, no doubt, by a submission which the Abbe de Fenelon imposed upon timidity, credulity, and obedience.  The House of Saint Cyr profited thereby; but the King only regretted a new religious convent, for, as a rule, he liked them not.  How many times has he unburdened himself before me on the subject.

CHAPTER XLVII.

Final Rupture.—­Terrible Scene.—­Madame de Maintenon in the Brocaded Chair.

To-day, when time and reflection, and, perhaps, that fund of contempt which is so useful, have finally revealed to me the insurmountable necessities of life, I can look with a certain amount of composure at the; injury which the King did me.  I had at first resolved to conclude, with the chapter which you have just read, my narrative of the more or less important things which have passed or been unfolded before my eyes.  For long I did not feel myself strong enough to approach a narrative which might open up all my old wounds and make my blood boil again; but I finished by considering that our monarch’s reign will be necessarily the subject of a multitude of commentaries, journals, and memoirs.  All these confidential writings will speak of me to the generations to be; some will paint me as one paints an object whom one loves; others, as the object one detests.  The latter, to render me more odious, will probably revile my character, and, perhaps, represent me as a cowardly and despairing mistress, who has descended even to supplications!!  It is my, part, therefore, to retrace with a firm and vigorous hand this important epoch of my life, where my destiny, at once kind and cruel, reduced me to treat the greatest of all Kings both as my equal and as an inconstant friend, as a treacherous enemy, and as my inferior or subject.  He had, at first, the intention of putting me to death,—­of that I am persuaded,—­but soon his natural gentleness got the better of his pride.  He grasped the wounds in my heart from the deplorable commotion of my face.  If his former friend was guilty in her speech, he was far more guilty by his actions.  Like an equitable judge he pardoned neither of us; he did not forgive himself and he dared not condemn me.

Since this sad time of desertion and sorrow, into which the new state of things had brought me, mm. de Mortemart, de Nevers, and de Vivonne had been glad to avoid me.  They found my humour altered, and I admit that a woman who sulks, scolds, or complains is not very attractive company.