“‘Why do you care to give me this green paste?’ the young creole asked her one day.

“The old woman said:  ’My dear child, I cannot wait till you have enough sense to learn to understand these plants, for I love you as if you were my own daughter, and I want to leave you a secret which will cause you to live a long time.  Though I look as I do, I am 138 years old already.  I am the oldest person in the colony, and this paste that I make for you has preserved my strength and my freshness.  It will produce the same effect on my dear little girl, and will keep her young and pretty too for a long time.’

“This negress, unhappily, fell asleep one day under a wild pear-tree in the Savannah, and a crocodile came out of the river hard by and devoured her.”

“I have heard tell,” replied my sister, “that Mademoiselle d’Aubigne, after the death of her mother, or husband, was bound by the ties of a close friendship with Ninon de l’Enclos, whose beauty made such a sensation among the gallants, and still occupies them.

“One was assured, you know, that Ninon possesses a potion, and that in her generosity to her friend, the fair Indian, she lent her her phial of elixir.”

“No, no,” said I to the Marquise, “that piece of gallantry of Ninon is only a myth; it is the composition of Martinique, or of the negress, which is the real recipe of Madame de Maintenon.  She talked of it one day, when I was present, in the King’s carriage.  His Majesty said to her:  ’I am astonished that, with your natural intelligence, you have not kept in your mind the nature of this Indian shrub and herbs; with such a secret you would be able to-day to make many happy, and there are some kings, who, to grow young again, would give you half their empire.’

“‘I am not a worshipper of riches,’ said this mistress of talk; ’bad kings might offer me all the treasures and crowns they liked, and I would not make them young again.’

“‘And me, madame,’ said the prince, ’would you consent to make me young again?’

“‘You will not need it for a long time,’ she replied, cleverly, with a smile; ’but when the moment comes, or is near, I should set about it with zeal.’

“The whole carriage applauded this reply, and the King took the hand of the Marquise and insisted on kissing it.”

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Casket of M. de Lauzun.—­His Historical Gallery.—­He Makes Some
Nuns.—­M. de Lauzun in the Lottery.—­The Loser Wins.—­Queen out of
Pique.—­Letter from the Queen of Portugal.—­The Ingratitude of M. de
Lauzun.