He bit his lips, but when he opened them again to utter a few commonplace remarks, he said, advancing towards the queens:-- "I have just been informed that everything is now prepared at Fontainebleau, in accordance with my directions." A murmur of satisfaction arose from the different groups, and the king perceived on every face the greatest anxiety to receive an invitation for the _fetes_.

"I shall leave to-morrow," he added.

Whereupon the profoundest silence immediately ensued.

"And I invite," said the king, finishing, "all those who are now present to get ready to accompany me." Smiling faces were now everywhere visible, with the exception of Monsieur, who seemed to retain his ill-humor.

The different noblemen and ladies of the court thereupon defiled before the king, one after the other, in order to thank his majesty for the great honor which had been conferred upon them by the invitation.