The House of de Mailly

by Margaret Horton Potter

"Let us see—ah! Mme. de Coigny. Did you take it from Mailly-Nesle?"

"No, M. de Gêvres. Mme. Victorine was so good as to present it," was the slightly haughty reply.

"But you are going to change it, you know. Tell us, what new face is to displace this?"

"I will tell you, M. de Richelieu, when you have confessed what one is to fill your empty space."

"Ah, yes—make your prophecy, du Plessis," drawled de Gêvres.

"Well then, if you will know," Richelieu lowered his tone, "the post is going to continue for a fourth turn in the family de Mailly. Within three months I shall place here the face of—Count Claude's wife."

"Ah!"

"Really!"

"The colonial?"

"Perhaps!"