Neither Monsieur, nor the king, nor the Duke of Buckingham, was any longer thought of; De Guiche at that moment reigned without a rival.

But although Monsieur also looked very handsome, still he could not be compared to the count.

It is well known--indeed all women say so--that a wide difference invariably exists between the good looks of a lover and those of a husband.

Besides, in the present case, after Monsieur had left, and after the courteous and affectionate recognition of the young queen and of the queen-mother, and the careless and indifferent notice of Madame, which all the courtiers had remarked; all these motives gave the lover the advantage over the husband.
Monsieur was too great a personage to notice these details.

Nothing is so certain as a well settled idea of superiority to prove the inferiority of the man who has that opinion of himself.