CHAPTERPAGE
I—[Tempted]1
II—[The Keeper of the Royal Conscience]13
III—[A Noble Resolve]20
IV—[The Sacrifice]27
V—[Monsieur le Grand]32
VI—[Death on the Scaffold]45
VII—[The End of the Cardinal]54
VIII—[The Queen-Regent]59
IX—[The Duc de Beaufort]70
X—[Midnight Visitors]84
XI—[The Two Duchesses]91
XII—["Put Not Thy Trust in Princes"]102
XIII—[Charles Stuart]112
XIV—[The Ladies' War]122
XV—[Mazarin Played Out]128
XVI—[Louise de la Vallière]139
XVII—[The Convent of Chaillot]156
XVIII—[Fouquet, Superintendent of Finance]167
XIX—[Death and Poison]179
XX—[At Versailles]192
XXI—[Madame de Montespan]200
XXII—[Broken-Hearted]208
XXIII—[M. de Lauzun and "Mademoiselle"]220
XXIV—[A Fair Suitor]230
XXV— [Under a Couch]242
XXVI—[Signing the Marriage Contract]252
XXVII—[Plot and Counterplot]258
XXVIII—[The Royal Governess]268
XXIX—[Connubial Bliss]283
XXX—[Fall of De Montespan]293
XXXI—[Queen Maintenon]302
XXXII—[AT Marly]311
XXXIII—["The End"]317

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
[Interview between Henry III. and the Duke of Guise]Frontispiece
From the painting by P. C. Comte. (With permission of Levy et Fils, Paris.)
[The Old Louvre]2
From an old print.
[The Palais Royal, Paris]5
[Salon of Louis XIII. at Fontainebleau]20
[Louise de Lafayette]26
From Monmerqué's "Tallemant des Réaux."
[Marquis de Cinq-Mars]37
From a painting by Lenain.
[Vicomte de Turenne]62
[Prince de Condé]69
[Cardinal Mazarin as an Art Collector]70
From a painting by H. J. Vetter. (By permission of Neurdein Frères, Paris.)
[Vincennes]84
[Cardinal de Retz]87
[Anne of Austria]90
[Duchesse de Chevreuse]110
[Duchesse de Longueville]123
[Mademoiselle de la Vallière]158
From a steel engraving
[Fouquet]168
[Colbert]176
[Maria Theresa]181
[Gallery of Henry II. at Fontainebleau]191
[Versailles from the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses]193
From an engraving by Rigaud.
[Madame de Montespan]211
[View of the Luxembourg (later Called the Palais, d'Orléans) in the 17th Century]242
From an old print.
[Louvois]258
[Bedchamber of Louis XIV. at Versailles]259
[Louis XIV.]266
[Madame de Sévigné]270
From an old engraving.
[Madame de Maintenon]286
[Duc d'Orléans]310

OLD COURT LIFE IN FRANCE.

CHAPTER I.