rummaged among his papers, opened his letters end read them in his presence, sometimes in spite of him; and acted in the same manner with Madame de Maintenon.  Despite this extreme liberty, she never spoke against any one:  gracious to all, she endeavoured to ward off blows from all whenever she could; was attentive to the private comforts of the King, even the humblest:  kind to all who served her, and living with her ladies, as with friends, in complete liberty, old and young; she was the darling of the Court, adored by all; everybody, great and small, was anxious to please her; everybody missed her when she was away; when she reappeared the void was filled up; in a word, she had attached all hearts to her; but while in this brilliant situation she lost her own.

Nangis, now a very commonplace Marshal of France, was at that time in full bloom.  He had an agreeable but not an uncommon face; was well made, without anything marvellous; and had been educated in intrigue by the Marechale de Rochefort, his grandmother, and Madame de Blansac, his mother, who were skilled mistresses of that art.  Early introduced by them into the great world of which they were, so to speak, the centre, he had no talent but that of pleasing women, of speaking their language, and of monopolising the most desirable by a discretion beyond his years, and which did not belong to his time.  Nobody was more in vogue than he.  He had had the command of a regiment when he was quite a child.  He had shown firmness, application, and brilliant valour in war, that the ladies had made the most of, and they sufficed at his age; he was of the Court of Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne, about the same age, and well treated by him.

The Duc de Bourgogne, passionately in love with his wife, was not so well made as Nangis; but the Princess reciprocated his ardor so perfectly that up to his death he never suspected that her glances had wandered to any one else.  They fell, however, upon Nangis, and soon redoubled.  Nangis was not ungrateful, but he feared the thunderbolt; and his heart, too, was already engaged.  Madame de la Vrilliere, who, without beauty, was pretty and grateful as Love, had made this conquest.  She was, as I have said, daughter of Madame de Mailly, Dame d’Atours of Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne; and was always near her.  Jealousy soon enlightened her as to what was taking place.  Far from yielding her conquest to the Duchess; she made a point of preserving it, of disputing its possession, and carrying it off.  This struggle threw Nangis into a terrible embarrassment.  He feared the fury of Madame de la Vrilliere, who affected to be more ready to break out than in reality she was.  Besides his love for her, he feared the result of an outburst, and already saw his fortune lost.  On the other hand, any reserve of his towards the Duchess, who had so much power in her hands—­and seemed destined to have more—­and who he knew was not likely to suffer a rival —­might,