"Not a member of my family, but a beloved friend, has been foully murdered."
"Murdered!" echoed Louis. "Who has been murdered!"
"Sire, I will tell you, but Monsieur Louvois must be by to hear the recital."
Monsieur Louvois was summoned, and while awaiting his arrival, Louis expressed a wish that the duchess would make her story as short as possible; he was anxious to have this ceremony over.
"Sire, I shall do my best," was the reply.—"Ah," continued Elizabeth-Charlotte, "here is Monsieur Louvois—Perhaps he can tell your majesty why I am in mourning."
"I—I" said Louvois, with a defiant stare at his enemy. "I have not the honor of being in the secrets of madame."
"But she has the misfortune to be in yours," cried the duchess.
"Sire, a few years ago, there appeared at your majesty's court a young girl of extraordinary beauty and worth. She was one of my maids of honor, and was as dear to me as my own child. Lovely, innocent, and virtuous, as she was, she was an object of aversion to her own kindred. She became ardently attached to a youth of rank equal—I mean to say, superior to hers, against whom her relatives entertained a prejudice that manifested itself by every species of persecution. There could be no reasonable objection to the alliance, but the lovers knowing that, for very hatred of them both, the maiden's father would oppose their union, agreed to be married in secret. They were betrayed, and you will scarcely believe me, your majesty, when I tell you that the poor girl's own father and brother deceived her by forged letters, and so arranged matters that they came by night, and, substituting a man whom she detested, for her lover, they obtained her signature to a fraudulent marriage."
"Her father did his duty," interrupted Louvois. "He had a right to select her husband, and exercised his right. I hope that his majesty is of the same opinion."
"Madame," said the king, taking no notice of Louvois' remark, "pray continue your narrative."