The Entire Memoirs of Madame de Montespan | Page 9

friend, do not steal away the King's heart from me!"
When mademoiselle said this to me, I vow and declare in all honesty
that her fears were unfounded, and that (for my part at least) I had only
just a natural desire to gain the good-will of a great prince. My
friendship for La Valliere was so sincere, so thorough, that I often used
to superintend little details of her toilet and give her various little hints
as to attentive conduct of the sort which cements and revives
attachments. I even furnished her with news and gossip, composing for
her a little repertoire, of which, when needful, she made use.
But her star had set, and she had to show the world the touching
spectacle of love as true, as tender, and as disinterested as any that has
ever been in this world, followed by a repentance and an expiation far

superior to the sin, if sin it was.
Moreover, Mademoiselle de la Valliere never broke with me. She shed
tears in abundance, and wounded my heart a thousand times by the
sight of her grief and her distress. For her sake I was often fain to bid
farewell to her fickle lover, proud monarch though he was. But by
breaking with him I should not have reestablished La Valliere. The
prince's violent passion had changed to mere friendship, blended with
esteem. To try and resuscitate attachments of this sort is as if one
should try to open the grave and give life to the dead. God alone can
work miracles such as these.
CHAPTER V.
The Marquis de Bragelonne, Officer of the Guards.--His Baleful
Love.-- His Journey.--His Death.
The Marquis de Bragelonne was born for Mademoiselle de la Valliere.
It was this young officer, endowed with all perfections imaginable,
whom Heaven had designed for her, to complete her happiness. Despite
his sincere, incomparable attachment for her, she disdained him,
preferring a king, who soon afterwards wearied of her.
The Marquis de Bragelonne conceived a passion for the little La
Valliere as soon as he saw her at the Tuileries with Madame Henrietta
of England, whose maid of honour at first she was. Having made proof
and declaration of his tender love, Bragelonne was so bold as to ask her
hand of the princess. Madame caused her relatives to be apprised of this,
and the Marquise de Saint-Remy, her stepmother, after all necessary
inquiries had been made, replied that the fortune of this young man was
as yet too slender to permit him to think of having an establishment.
Grieved at this answer, but nothing daunted, Bragelonne conferred
privately with his lady-love, and told her of his hazardous project. This
project instantly to realise all property coming to him from his father,
and furnished with this capital, to go out, and seek his fortune in India
[West Indies. D.W.]

"You will wait for me, dearest one, will you not?" quoth he. "Heaven,
that is witness how ardently I long to make you happy, will protect me
on my journey and guard my ship. Promise me to keep off all suitors,
the number of whom will increase with your beauty. This promise, for
which I desire no other guarantee but your candour, shall sustain me in
exile, and make me count as nought my privations and my hardships."
Mademoiselle de la Beaume-le-Blanc allowed the Marquis to hope all
that he wished from her beautiful soul, and he departed, never
imagining that one could forget or set at nought so tender a love which
had prompted so hazardous an enterprise.
His journey proved thoroughly successful. He brought back with him
treasures from the New World; but of all his treasures the most
precious had disappeared. Restored once more to family and friends, he
hastened to the capital. Madame d'Orleans no longer resided at the
Tuileries, which was being enlarged by the King.
Bragelonne, in his impatience, asks everywhere for La Valliere. They
tell him that she has a charming house between Saint Germain,
Lucienne, and Versailles. He goes thither, laden with coral and pearls
from the Indies. He asks to have sight of his love. A tall Swiss repulses
him, saying that, in order to speak with Madame la Duchesse, it was
absolutely necessary to make an appointment.
At the same moment one of his friends rides past the gateway. They
greet each other, and in reply to his questioning, this friend informs him
that Mademoiselle de la Valliere is a duchess, that she is a mother, that
she is lapped in grandeur and luxury, and that she has as lover a king.
At this news, Bragelonne finds nothing further for him to do in this
world. He grasps his friend's hand, retires to a neighbouring wood, and
there, drawing his sword, plunges it