The physicians met in one room, the bishops and chaplains in another.  One prelate was opposed to baptising the infant; another only agreed to this upon certain conditions.  The majority decided that it should be baptised without the name of father or mother, and such suppression was unanimously advocated.

The little thing, despite its swarthy hue, was most beautifully made; its features bore none of those marks peculiar to people of colour.

It was sent away to the Gisors district to be suckled as a negro’s daughter, and the Gazette de France contained an announcement to the effect that the royal infant had died, after having been baptised by the chaplains.

[This daughter of the Queen lived, and was obliged to enter a Benedictine nunnery at Moret.  Her portrait is to be seen in the Sainte Genevieve Library of Henri IV.’s College, where it hangs in the winter saloon.—­Editor’s note.]

The little African was sent away, as may well be imagined; and the Queen admitted that, one day soon after she was pregnant, he had hidden himself behind a piece of furniture and suddenly jumped out upon her to give her a fright.  In this he was but too successful.

The Court ladies no longer dared come near the Queen attended by their little blackamoors.  These, however, they kept for a while longer, as if they were mere nick-hacks or ornaments; in Paris they were still to be seen in public.  But the ladies’ husbands at last got wind of the tale, when all the little negroes disappeared.

CHAPTER XLI.

Monsieur’s Second Marriage.—­Princess Palatine.—­The Court Turnspit.—­A Woman’s Hatred.—­The King’s Mistress on a Par with the First Prince of the Blood.—­She Gives His Wife a Lesson.

In order to keep up appearances at his Palais Royal, Monsieur besought the King to consent to his remarriage after the usual term of mourning was at an end.

“Whom have you in view?” asked his brother.  He replied that he proposed to wed Mademoiselle—­the grande Mademoiselle de Montpensier—­on account of her enormous wealth!

Just then Mademoiselle was head over ears in love with Lauzun.  She sent the Prince about his business, as I believe I have already stated.  Moreover, she remarked:  “You had the loveliest wife in all Europe,—­young, charming, a veritable picture.  You might have seen to it that she was not poisoned; in that case you would not now be a widower.  As it is not likely that I should ever come to terms with your favourites, I shall never be anything else to you but a cousin, and I shall endeavour not to die until the proper time; that is, when it shall please God to take me.  You can repeat this speech, word for word, to your precious Marquis d’Effiat and Messieurs de Remecourt and de Lorraine.  They have no access to my kitchens; I am not afraid of them.”

This answer amused the King not a little, and he said to me:  “I was told that the Palatine of Bavaria’s daughter is extremely ugly and ill-bred; consequently, she is capable of keeping Monsieur in check.  Through one of my Rhenish allies, I will make proposals to her father for her hand.  As soon as a reply comes, I will show my brother a portrait of some sort; it will be all the same to him; he will accept her.”