Marriage being signed there was nothing wanting but a Bill of Exchange for four thousand Livers which the future Husband said was upon the Road and which was sent him from the Countrey to buy Necessaries against the Wedding but that Bill being too slow in coming for it was only in his fancy our Gentleman at length who had his design in all this bethought himself to counterfeit a Letter wherein the reasons of the delay were specified whereat he seemed to be desperately afflicted At the same time he set himself to prepare another which he wrote himself as well as the former and in this he had news of the death of a certain Prior in Languedock whose Benefice being worth three thousand Livers a year was at his disposal The news being come to the Gentleman you may judg how much joy he expressed it could not have appeared more real if it had been true God gave him by that means a way to regain the money whereof he was disappointed by the Bill of Exchange and that served not a little also to make the Maid judge her self more happy considering the fair Patronage that was annexed to her Husband's Estate She could not let one day pass over without acquainting her Friends with it and the Abbot of St. Firmin first of all This Man having heard of three thousand Livers a year thought that with that he might have opportunity enough to make Songs at leisure and nibling at the Bait Good God! said he Madamoiselle Seeing you have an absolute power over that Gentleman may not you so carry matters as to make him nominate me to that Benefice He will rather chuse to oblige such a man as I who have some reputation and who shall besides bestow on him a considerable Present than to favour perhaps some unknown person upon the bare recommendation of some great Lord who will never thank him for it Heark ye Propose the matter to him and let me be obliged to you for having added three thousand Livers a year to my small Living it will be a way to cherish my Muse Dad Let it be so and we shall feed on Capons The Damsel promised to speak about it and in effect spake the same Evening to her Sweet-heart concerning the matter This Blade thought that he had already fleeced the Abbot of St. Firmin of three or four hundred pieces He made answer to Madamoiselle Beffemont for that was the Maid's Name that she was absolute Mistress of all that belonged to him and she might pass her word to the Abbot that the Benefice should be his and that she should likewise order the acknowledgement which he should make The Mistress full of joy next morning told the Abbot the good News who went to thank the Gentleman and offer him the greatest friendship in the World There passed not one day after but that he sent him Copies of Verses I know not how they call them Songs or Sonnets I think wherein in expectation of his Presentation he described the pleasures that the Rent of the Priory would procure them which should be still as much at the disposal of the Gentleman as of himself and in fine he sent him a great many other fine things to which the cunning Knave answered only in the same kind by Verses making no haste to give him his Presentation for he would in no ways trust to the Abbot's liberality nor did he believe that his purse was strong enough to furnish the sum which he pretended to expect Nevertheless seeing he had pass'd his word to his Mistress to present that Abbot and that she daily pressed him to be as good as his word he must needs at length have condescended to do it But that he might so order matters that she should for the future pray him as much not to give the Benefice to the Abbot of St. Firmin as she had till then pressed him to the contrary and by the same means have leisure to wait the coming of a Fop of some better stock than that Abbot and that was I as the Devil would have it I 'll tell you the trick he devised As there are no Maids who have not played Pranks some greater some less but always enough to give occasion of speaking ill of them when they come to be known Take it among you Ladies cried the Chevalier de Montal the Solicitor speaks to You now O! We understand well answered Madamoiselle de Barbisieux and we perceive he revenges himself on us but have a little patience Alas Madamoiselle Pardon me replied the little Man I spake without minding what I said Nay pray said Montal Proceed Mr. Solicitor and fear no colours had you said as much truth all your life time as you have now spoken there could not be an honester Lawyer in the World than your self Hold there good Chevalier replied Madamoiselle Velzers giving him a knock with her Fork on the fingers You are very pleasant in saying that there is no vertuous Maid I said it not in these terms continued he but seeing you give me an example I think I should not lye if I said so yea and in my opinion there is nothing truer Impertinent man cried Madamoiselle de Barbisieux and then addressing her self to the Judge What do you think Sir said she Should we not take this man and drown him Do ye hear replied the good old Man There is no body but your selves that know whether he have Reason or not How then said Madamoiselle de Velzers Do you also question our Vertue And are you afraid to be mistaken if you speak to our advantage Not so answered he but I say that Monsieur the Chevalier must needs be acquainted with your Intrigue in saying what he sayes Alas Sir said Montal driely there is not one of the four you see but I would raile against if I had set my self to it What! said Madam de Moulionne without excepting Madam D'arvianne whom you never knew but to day That 's all one replied he I know her well enough to maintain that she is the discreetest of all the four That amiable indisposed Lady at these words blusht a little as if she had known that he malitiously praised her discretion because sometimes she was apt to fall into some fits of folly and the Marquess by several signes rebuked the Chevalier for it In the mean while the Judge said ye have all pressed and tormented Monsieur Tigean to tell you his story and now ye are no more for it How answered Madamoiselle de Barbisieux care we no more for it we have not forgot where we stopt and pretend not to have lost any thing by the Foppery of the Chevalier Master Solicitor replied Montal will excuse me I have not done him so great a dis-kindness as is believed and I have onely given him some time to recover a little courage from his plate have at you Monsieur Tigean continued he knocking the Glass against his a good Health
affairs Consider a little said Madam de Moulionne how that Lady tells her story and speaks of virtue in a jocose way it seems that she really scorns it And so she has reason to do said the Chevalier it is the simplest thing in the World especially for a Maid added he looking on her At least reply'd she laughing you never let slip an occasion to put me out of conceit with it and I know not what I ought to think of it Whatever you please answered he between his teeth and with a kind of foolish transport I wiâ—h indeed for my own repose that you had less of it A Monster then more cruel than virtâ—â— continued the fair Hollander came to tyrannize over the Princess Instead of consenting that the Marquess of Mirestain should return into the Low-Countreys she discharged him absolutely ever to think of it She was afraid to do somewhat unbeseeming her quality if she should take a conceit to marry him She permitted him not so much as to write to her The poor man languished in sorrow but at length love inspir'd into him a design worthy of one of its Hero's He understood Painting a little and from his infancie his inclination led him to learn as much of the art as was sutable to a Gentleman of his quality He disguised himself provided himself with the Pictures of most of the great Lords of the Court of France forgot not his own went with his Commodities to the Princesses Town set up Shop over against her Palace and there exposed to view all his Pictures except his own for some reasons that he had He was willing that the Princess should find it there by surprise that so he might judge of her sentiments if by chance she should have the curiositie to come see his Pictures He made a present of a piece to one of the Maids of honour belonging to the Princess and obtained a promise from her that she would perswade her Lady to take that curiositie The Princess came one day to his House and desiring to see the Pictures of some of the Nobility of the French Court he made his own appear as if it had been by chance and undesigned whilst he was looking for others The Princess at that surprizing sight changed colour blusht looked pale and in fine fainted away a Princess of Pharamond or Cirus could not have done more her Attendants sought some pretext for her fainting and brought her back to her Palace She never opened her eyes but to weep nor her mouth but to fetch grievous sighs Alas cried she dear cause of all my grief by what ill luck are you come to give me that pitiless idea which is the ground of all the evils I suffer adding to that many more such like lamentations If the Marquess of Mirestain heard in what strain she tells his story said Madam de Moulionne he would wish her dead O! have a special care replied Mademoiselle Velzers not to speak a word of it to him I tell it in his own words and only endeavour to imitate him That would be maliciously done said Montal but he will meet us when we come to the end of this Alley and I shall give him notice of it Ha! replied the Hollander you will then make him my Enemy and I should be vexed if he came to understand that I laugh at the relation which he made to me of his adventures Well the Princess then never opened her lips but to lament and shortly after sent for the Painter for she had a mind to buy the fatal Picture But what became of her at the sight of the Painter himself when he had put off his disguise and fell down at her knees This might afford matter for a great tome yet I will not speak a word of it The presence of the Lover at length stifled all considerations of honour and virtue she abandoned her self wholly to her dear Marquess with only this Proviso to grant him nothing but what was lawful A Conscientious Marriage did the business Good God! said Madam de Moulionne interrupting her what are these conscientious Marriages then He replied the Chevalier that is a civil piece of Gallantry But is that Good replied she Why Madam answered Montal do you doubt of it nothing relishes better it is a mixture of modestie and looseness which is altogether delicate You jeast said she and one cannot tell what to make of that you say but answer me seriously Think you that the conscientious Marriage of Madam the Countess of Vilagrand with the Gentleman of her Horse That of Madam the Princess of Norias with her Neighbour that of the Dutchess of ..... I have forgot her name with her Steward and of a great many others do you indeed believe them to be pleasing to God Yes Madam replied he and they would not be permitted if the matter were otherwayes You name the Princess of Norias said Mademoiselle Velzers interrupting them but she is not married that is but a calumnie Mademoiselle answered Montal you come too late to dispute the truth of it there is nothing more certain nor more universally talk'd of Let it be so Sir replied Mademoiselle Velzers it is but a tale then universally talk'd of The Princess of Norias is not married and perhaps before it be long you will see her falsifie all these reports by marrying a greater Prince than her former Husband for the Stars appoint her for that But from whence proceeds then the concern that her neighbour takes in all her affairs said Madam de Moulionne Have you never had any that concerned himself in yours Madam replied the Hollander But besides that one may have a concern for her by reason of her merit and wit for she has a great deal and can please whom she will there is a particular reason that engages her neighbour to it He was the friend of the late Prince and that good old man upon his Death-bed recommended to him the interests of his Widow and made him swear never to forsake them this may be easily believed if one consider on the one hand the solid support of such a man as he and on the other hand the affairs that the Lady might meet with She had no Children and several Heirs believed her the occasion of some injustice that was done them It is a thought said Madam de Moulionne not easily to be put out of their heads And nevertheless replied Mademoiselle Velzers there was never any more unjust for one might rather say that the Princes Family would have been utterly undone had it not been for the advantage the Princess brought to it You are one of her friends said the Chevalier to Mademoiselle Velzers and it may be easily perceived that you are much obliged to her How I answered she not in the least it is not for any obligation that I have to her nor can I so much as imagine she knows all the good I speak of her but I love
that it was only her she instead of he Cousin He charged immediately all his Guards not to speak of it upon pain of being reduced but whether it was that one of these Gentlemen preferred his pleasure in telling that Story to his own advantage or that the Cousin her self took care to make it publick so soon as it was day the Adventure was all the Town over Every one that went to visit Monsieur the Governour cried to him so soon as they came within distance Well! Sir well Have you parted the Parties engaged as you ought And in a word the Raillery lasted above eight days And this Relation Ladies was made where I was present by a Lady of Bourdeaux the Evening before we departed from thence upon our journey hither Judge then if it be but small danger to love Monsieur the Marquess with whom one runs such terrible risks I thought I had been acquainted with a great part of his life said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux but by what I have just now heard I knew not the best intrigue of it Let me die said the Chevalier if what the Lady has told us be not an incomparable Story And besides added Madam de Moulionne she has expressed all that she said with so good a grace that her Accent alone was able to charm all that heard her Madam replied Clelia Monsieur the Marquess approves not all the praises you give me I have good reason to believe that my voice hath been a little rude to him whilst the Story lasted and you see how severely he looks upon me still because I have told you more News of him than he was willing to hear Ah! cruel Lady cried he having amorously beheld her all along The persons of whom you have spoken are much more offended than I at the Relation you have made to these Ladies for I have had the pleasure at least to hear it told by a lovely mouth which would even charm me in pronouncing the sentence of my death but I know not what reparation you can make to those two Cousins who have not the same comfort that I have for the injury you have done them Ah! Sir replied she I have kept my word to you and have named no body It is true Madam answered he laughing the matter is not easily guessed at since you have named Thoulouse and told that the Lady went to her Assignation whilst her Husband went to the Palace But let that pass all that I design is to justifie the Lady of whom some have had the charity to say that it was she that was in the Room with me for seriously not to act the discreet Gallant do I say this but that I may contradict a fearful Calumny it was not she but a young Client to whom I had offered the small credit that upon consideration of my Sister I had gained in the Town The Discourse continued on the same Subject till Madamoiselle Velzers and Madamoiselle Kermas returned into the Parlour which I told you they had left that they might take a turn in the Gallery That Parlour was so delightful by reason of the noise of several Fountains and little Cascades which seemed to interpose and hinder the Sun 's entering at the Windows and falling from thence again into reservatories murmured along and mingled themselves with the other Waters of the Garden that it was resolved they should spend the heat of the day there and Montal proposed that the beautiful Dutch Lady should be obliged to relate the Story she promised whilst the Company was in the humour of hearing I am confident said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux that Kermas and she have been consulting together how they may give a fair gloss to the Letter which we read before Dinner If there be a Charm for that replied the Chevalier it may be accomplished and she to whom it hath been written will no doubt invent some probable Story to justifie her modesty but I much suspect it I need not invent any thing answered Velzers and you shall presently see that they who take upon them to judge of things by appearance are often rash in their judgements Gentlemen and Ladies said Madam de Moulionne interrupting her Before ye engage in any thing I advise you that we must go to our Lodging betimes ye know that my Husband comes purposely from Paris to sup with us to night How Madam said the Marquess Will you not stay at Vaux some days do you intend to return to day Yes answered Montal the Lady has a necessity to do so but it is her design to have you with her With all my heart replied the Marquess provided that that fair young Lady looking on Clelia go likewise Both you and she answered Madam de Moulionne and ye will do us a great honour for without you our Company will be imperfect and I have a design upon you to morrow The old Governess perceiving that her indisposed Lady pleased her self much in the Company she was in did not at all oppose the overture she only sent a foot-Boy to acquaint her Aunt with it and afterward all the Company gathered about the fair Hollander to hear her Story which in these words she began NOVEL IV. THE HISTORY OF Madamoiselle Velzers the Chevalier de la Grancourt and the Count of Valdame I Am to tell you a Story wherein I am very much and very little concerned reconcile these two if ye can Last Carnaval was a Twelve-month having gone to the King 's great Ball I sate near a Young Stranger of a very good Meene called the Count of Valdame a Swede who had made room for me betwixt himself and the Chevalier de la Grancourt because coming too late the place that was kept for me was taken up I had there the credit to captivate the Liberty of that Young Count who eyed me much oftener than the Dancers and it is said that all of a sudden he fell so deeply in love with me when he knew that I was a Dutch Woman that it was impossible for him to live any longer without imparting to me his passion Yet the Chevalier de la Grancourt who was one of his Friends and to whom he confided his design as they went out from the Ball told them That it was not the Custome of France to discover Love so soon that though I was of a Countrey where Men express themselves freely enough to Maids yet I was brought young to this Court and that it behoved him to court me with the same ceremonies that French Ladies expect who desire that men should spend much time in Sighs before they declare their Passion The Young Count with a great deal of regret obeyed him and to say the truth the poor Soul was burnt alive He sought then all occasions to be where I was at places where Ladies met for Play at Comedies whereof I was pretty fond at Balls and in a word in all places where La Grancourt who put these
inconstancy I assured him that I never wrote to men and that they who had delivered him Letters in my name had counterfeited them and intended onely to put a trick upon him this had very near broken all the measures which the Chevalier de la Grancourt had taken for my Swede understood not raillery He went immediately to upbraid him for the Cheat and to tell him that he intended to see him with his Sword in hand which would not have a little intangled the Chevalier de la Grancourt who stood upon his honour if he had not made his bravery yield to the desire he had of preserving so beneficial a Fop. But ye shall hear the course he took Having answered in higher terms than had been used to him and made a thousand Rodomantado's as to the Challenge he told the Count That he knew no reason why I had been so ill to him but that so soon as he had informed himself of the matter and justified his own proceedings he should be willing to fight yea and to urge him to decide it with the first opportunity Upon this both separating the Swede went to his Lodgings and La Grancourt made haste to make me write a lovely Letter which next morning he sent to him by my Chamber-Maid that Slut was in the Plot to cheat me And in this manner the Chevalier made me speak in that Letter For Monsieur the Count of Valdame THough I doubt not but you have had a bad Night because of the harsh usage you have received from me yesterday yet I write not at present but to quarrel with you still You had almost undone me by speaking to me in the Old Palace of St. German And if Madam de Choisi who heard us behind the next doore were not one of the discreetest and best Ladies of the Court there would be strange discourses made of me and the carriage that I affected towards you would not secure me from censure I could never have believed that you would have been so imprudent as to talk to me of our secrets in those places where the very Walls have ears I confess the rage which that weak action occasion'd drew from me many offensive expressions However I immediately repented what I had done because I am not pleas'd to see you suffer and what I tell you is so true that I have wept for it all night long I beg my dear Coûnt that you pardon the trouble I have given you and in revenge desire of me what you please my Love shall grant you every thing that possibly can make amends for my Cruelty The Chevalier de la Grancourt who always nickt his opportunities came to the Strangers Lodgings immediately after my Chamber-Maid had delivered her Message and affecting still much indifferency told him that he came to wait upon him to the house of a Lady where I was to be that he might ask me the reason of the last adventure But the poor Fop who was by my Letter more than ever confirmed in his fancies embraced the Cheat with great expression of kindness prayed him to excuse the weakness of a Lover who was deceived by appearances and having with much ado won him again consulted with him what answer was best to be made to that Letter being resolved to revenge himself to purpose by the demands which I allowed him to make to me The Chevalier de la Grancourt advised him at first not to let slip so fair an occasion of obtaining some favour There is nothing like it said he to engage Ladies that way And having made as if he considered with himself what demand was fittest to be made to me he concluded at length that it was best to oblige me to grant a private interview in what place I pleased to choose which I was instantly acquainted with by this other Note adorned with an address which shews it to be of some worth for the Direction is To the most Cruel of all Beauties Ha! really interrupted Montal that Address did not at all displease you for it did you honour Without doubt replied she But to be short here is the Note To the most Cruel of all Beauties I Had been dead inhumane Lady had not your Letter early this morning prevented my despair for I have suffered last Night all kinds of torment when I called to mind the cruel words that came yesterday from your mouth Is it possible that so harsh terms could proceed from so soft a heart and that an unfortuante Lover could receive so great a slight and not expire for grief But I shall never pardon the wrong which that fair Mouth hath done me unless it be desired by the same Lips for seeing I must tell you so I trust no more to Paper since the time you so cruelly maintained that you had never written to me And I shall never believe that I have received any Note from your hands untill that for my revenge you have given me a meeting where I may a thousand times kiss those Arms that have been almost the cause of the death of The Count of Valdame To speak the truth said Madam de Moulionne that same La Grancourt made a great fool of the poor Swede The Story requires continued Madamoiselle Velzers that to be as good as my word I should give him the meeting that he desired and that because of my Father who made me closely to be observed which was the least thing however in the good Man's thoughts I should find no better Expedient than to make my Galant at Midnight come under the Balcony of my Anti-Chamber which lay in an open place off of the Street and by throwing down a Silken Ladder to bring him that way into my Appartment And you must know if you please that this was done My honest Chamber-Maid promised to the Chevalier de la Grancourt to appear on the Balcony and to throw down that Ladder on condition that he should invent some trick at the instant that the Stranger intended to get up that might hinder him from effectuating his design but the luck was that the design was other wayes and by other people interrupted The Coach of Monsieur de Soyecourt was coming that way at the very nick when the Gallant was upon the Ladder and the Torches having made light enough in the open place to give occasion to the Son of the Marquess of Maucomble who came immediately after in a Chair to observe that Scalado the young Gentleman stopped cried out Thieves laid hold on my Gallant who was in disguise and put him in the Officers hands who carried him to prison the poor Lover not daring all the while to name himself nor to make his justification for fear of undoing my reputation Observe a little how great obligations I had to him greater than you are aware of said Montal and 't is well he be not as much obliged to you To me answered she without doubt he is Have you not seen
would not have had the constancy that I had to see a poor Lover suffer especially if he had pleased you as mine did the first time I saw him For I am not so nice as not to confess he seemed to me to be so Lovely a Youth that when the vapours obliged me to withdraw from the Ball my distemper was Augmented because it deprived me of the opportunity of seeing him so long as I desired one whom I did not dislike And it may be also Madam answered Madamoiselle de Barbisicux if he had not offended you by thinking to obtain your Love at an easie rate you would not have been so hard hearted as to have made him suffer so much Ah! spare your May Bees replied Madam de Moulionne though he had taken another course he should have had no better success and I like not to be talked of but your meaning is that if You met with such an adventure continued she you would not be so scrupulous and I am glad to know your humor Seriously said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux I would be sorry that a man should stab himself for love of me or at least I would not have him kill himself that I might not be inclined to pity him afterward Nevertheless added she it is true your Baron did not take the right course to gain your Love Ho! do ye think then said the Chevalier de Montal that the Baron was in Love or that his passion at least may be called the effect of true Love No said the Marquess and though there be no Lady more proper to Charm than Madam I should rather call it a head-strong effect of the Barons vanity and of a violent desire to surmount the difficulties of her resistance than a real impression of Love For proof of this it is certain that if Madam had but shewed him the least favour he would not have failed to have ranked her amongst his other Conquests Alas said she laughing you are in the right and he did not deny it himself I remember that he proposed to me one day with the greatest sincerity imaginable that I should favour him out of pity to the end he might Love me no more was not he in good earnest adding that other ways he could never be able to refrain I never had so great a mind to laugh as when he made me that Complement You had indeed good reason to laugh replied the Marquess yet he told you the truth How said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux would you make me believe that any man could be so great a Rogue the word is somewhat high indeed but I cannot find a milder for such blades would you perswade me I say that any man can be so base to cool so suddenly after that he loved a Woman so ardently as to fall upon a Sword for her There are some of a more singular humour than that said the Marquess and since we are got upon that subject I 'll tell you a Story NOVEL XI THE HISTORY OF THE Marquess of Franlieu and of a Lady of La Flèche YE know the Marquess of Franlieu who who is at present very Famous at Court for his Gallantries That brave Gentleman being in Anjou before he bought his Place at Court was dreaded there by the Husbands as much as here As many fair Ladies as he saw which is not rare in that Country were so many hearts infallibly his own The most haughty and fierce forgot all their Maximes of cruelty when they beheld him and there was not any who desired not to tast a little of his friendship In fine he acquired a sweet habit of obtaining all that he desired without so much as a sigh unless they were sighs of Gallantry But his good fortune continued not alwayes and it began to forsake him at La Flêche There the Marquess fell in Love with a young Lady and the Lady loved not the Marquess The resistance which she made seemed to touch his honour and the Lady stood on her points also to bring down the Pride of the Gallant She brought him almost to the pass that Madam de Moulionne brought her Baron de Graumont for after a whole year of assiduity vexation and pain and after excessive charges Love reduced poor Franlieu to resolve at last to stab himself if he could not bend her stiffness He carried the Dagger to the Ladies House and hid it under the Toylet of the fair one that it might be ready when he stood in need of it And as the Lady had put him into his usual despair he thrust his hand in a terrible rage under the Toylet to bring it out and there is no doubt but if he had not been mistaken he would have stabbed himself without mercy but instead of the bloody weapon he caught hold only of a Busk so great disorder are mens minds in when they are about to kill themselves and gave himself a mighty stab in the heart with it which proved not Mortal Ha ha that is exceeding Good said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux It was an Argument of no small Love for the Lady replied the Marquess to have had so great transports as not to distinguish a Dagger from a Busk and it is also a proof that she drove him to no easie extremities when she reduced him to the condition of committing so great a mistake For added he though the adventure of the Marquess of Franlieu occasions more laughter than pity yet the design alone is considerable But observe also Ladies how he revenged himself on his cruel Mistress when that blow with the Busk had made her repent her disdain For she perceiving by her Lovers behaviour who fell at the same time into a swoon that he was really in Love and finding the Dagger afterward she judged that it was not his fault if he had not killed himself but the fault of the Busk which he found there And as she was resolved to recompense all the tedious dayes that he had spent by that which might render a night agreeable to one that hath long sighed for it they say that he had hardly been with her the half of that sweet night but that he found himself in extraordinary great trouble that it was so long to day The Lady who believed and with good reason for she was very Lovely that one should rather wish the nights which she bestowed longer than other was strangely amazed at his impatience asked him the reason of it and told him that without doubt he found not the blessing for which he had sighed so long worth the trouble of enjoyment But that was not the thing that occasioned the Marquesses trouble No Madam answered he I tire not in your Company it is more secret Delicious and Charming than any that good fortune can ever offer me but if you must know the reason it is because I am so overjoyed and have had so great pleasure that my heart cannot contain so much at a time and
to give testimony to the truth We have made a pretty long digression said Madam de Moulionne and it hath hindered you to make an end of your story What did it not end by the marriage replied Montal that would be against the rules of a Romance Not so said the fair Hollander a Marriage of Conscience cannot serve for a good conclusion They were married then continued she so as I have said and had two Children After that the Lady had a mind to come see her Husbands Father under the pretext of some other business that she had to do in France When she arrived at his House the good Man asked his Son where they might most honourably lay the Princess The Son answered that she should lie with him The Father who knew nothing of the Marriage was offended at the reply which he thought was too free and gave the Marquess a Box on the Ear all these circumstances belong to the story The Princess to hinder him from giving him a second told him that his Son might lie with her and the reason why which filled him with a joy proportionable to the honour he received Three or four years after the Princess died and the Marquess of Mirestain was by her Heirs sent back to France His two Children were poisoned and that is the conclusion of his adventures let us now go meet him when you please he has perhaps some other later story to tell us Presently after they came to the end of the Alley and entered into another where the Marquess of Mirestain was walking with Lusigny they joined all together and continued their walk Gentlemen said Mademoiselle Velzers by what happy adventure is it that we meet you here to day A Fool has brought us hither answered the Marquess of Mirestain and we accompanied him to see a Spirit which as he says walks in these Alleys Ho ho Gentlemen replied she is the rumour of that Apparition then come to your Ears is he then to whom that Spirit hath appeared a Courtier Without doubt replied he for it is the Marquess of Kimperbel How is it he said she and was he so near us the other day At this present replied he he is a little below and very desirous that the Spirit might appear to him once more we left him there all alone How said Madam de Moulionne would he see the Spirit again I was told that when he saw it before he fainted away for fear It was not for fear Madam answered little Lusigny it was for joy and love for you may please to know the Spirit was the Ghost of his deceased Mistress But really Madam said Mademoiselle Velzers at these words Vaux is a rare place for adventures and I fancie that the soil of its Park has some secret virtue to produce them They continued for some time in this discourse and then fell to speak of other matters and seeing Mademoiselle de Barbisieux who had written her Letter coming at a distance they went all to meet her except Mademoiselle Velzers whom Mademoiselle de Kermas perswaded to draw aside to the place where the Marquess of Kimperbel was left to the end said she that we may surprise him and put him in a fright How answered the Holland-Lady can you then resolve at length to shew some trick you who can hear whole stories and never speak a word And what would you have me say replied the lovely Breton is it not enough that I hear you all and that I am pleased with your stories With that she pressed her again to go to the place where the Marquess was the reason is because I know him as well as you do added she and we shall be pleased if we can engage him to tell the story of his deceased Mistress who hath appeared to him With all my heart said Mademoiselle Velzers but what if it come whilst we are with him what a Fool are you replied Kermas are you so weak as to believe such fopperies How cried Mademoiselle Velzers you are one of our undaunted wits then Ah! really continued she I wonder at it no more that your grave and severe women are said to be the more dangerous that they pretend to so little You must needs be a good soul since you are not afraid of Spirits They advanced still towards the Marquess of Kimperbel The fair Breton had on a mask and that she might not at all be discovered she prayed her friend not to name her and more particularly not to engage her to speak Her reason was that they would obtain more satisfaction from the Marquess if he should not know who she was There must be some great mysterie in that replied Velzers but it 's all one let 's go on Afterward they joined the poor Lover whom their presence put out of a great fit of musing He was sitting on a little bench by the side of the Pales still expecting the return of the dear Ghost of a person whom he adored whilst she lived We come to disturb your solitude cried Maidemoiselle Velzers to him at a pretty distance We interrupt the sweet entertainment that perhaps you enjoy here with your own thoughts but you must pardon that indiscretion and impute it only to the curiositie that we have to see rarities A Lover who loves a woman even after she is dead seems in our opinion so extraordinary a thing that we could not forbear to come and admire you He rose and saluted Mademoiselle Velzers taking no more notice of the other than he thought she desired because she had not pulled off her mask and answering the lovely Hollander with a forced smile I well deserve to be jeared by the fair ones for my extravagance said he but Madam that fancy must have its time Never was man or woman who at least once in their lives have not been in love To think we jear you because you are a civil Gentleman replied Mademoiselle Velzers is to interpret ill the reason of our coming However continued she is it not to put us in fear that you have spread the report of that Apparition knowing that we were here for to be short we believe it not to be true Ah! said he Mademoiselle I am ready to take any oath imaginable that there can be nothing truer I was in this same place on Thursday last staying for my Valet de chambre whom I had sent to a place a quarter of a League off to learn if a friend of mine was there before I went thither my self And as I cast my eyes without minding any thing into that little Arbour which you see there below I saw the Ghost come out of the ground stand up on its legs and then vanish The sight so discomposed me that my Valet de chambre at his return found me almost without life or sense He was forced to run into the House and call for help We have a Gentleman with us said Mademoiselle Velzers not unknown to you it