CHAPTER XX.
THE TWO FRANCOISES.
Madame de Montespan had retired to rest, easy in her mind, after receiving the message from her brother.

She knew Louis as few others knew him, and she was well aware of that obstinacy in trifles which was one of his characteristics.

If he had said that he would be married by the archbishop, then the archbishop it must be; to-night, at least, there should be no marriage.

To-morrow was a new day, and if it did not shake the king's plans, then indeed she must have lost her wit as well as her beauty.
She dressed herself with care in the morning, putting on her powder, her little touch of rouge, her one patch near the dimple of her cheek, her loose robe of violet velvet, and her casconet of pearls with all the solicitude of a warrior, who is bracing on his arms for a life and death contest.

No news had come to her of the great event of the previous night, although the court already rang with it, for her haughtiness and her bitter tongue had left her without a friend or intimate.