Madame is too condescending: had this happened, I should
have been overwhelmed with confusion. My hand is shrivelled: the ring
has ceased to fit it. A mere accident may draw us into perdition; a
mere accident may bestow on us the means of grace. A pebble has moved
you more than my words.
_Fontanges_. It pleases me vastly: I admire rubies. I will ask the King
for one exactly like it. This is the time he usually comes from the
chase. I am sorry you cannot be present to hear how prettily I shall
ask him: but that is impossible, you know; for I shall do it just when
I am certain he would give me anything. He said so himself; he said but
yesterday--
'Such a sweet creature is worth a world':
and no actor on the stage was more like a king than His Majesty was
when he spoke it, if he had but kept his wig and robe on. And yet you
know he is rather stiff and wrinkled for so great a monarch; and his
eyes, I am afraid, are beginning to fail him, he looks so close at
things.
_Bossuet_. Mademoiselle, such is the duty of a prince who desires to
conciliate our regard and love.
_Fontanges_. Well, I think so too, though I did not like it in him at
first. I am sure he will order the ring for me, and I will confess to
you with it upon my finger. But first I must be cautious and particular
to know of him how much it is his royal will that I should say.
[Footnote 231: Bossuet was in his fifty-fourth year; Mademoiselle de
Fontanges died in child-bed the year following; he survived her
twenty-three years.
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