"Mesdames and messieurs—you have not witnessed the—death—of Mme. de Châteauroux; for Mme. de Châteauroux has not been in Versailles since the month of June. Mme. de Châteauroux died four days ago, on the morning of the 4th of December, in Paris, at her hôtel in the Rue du Bac—of—a—malignant—fever."*
* Historians differ as to the date of the death of the Duchess of Châteauroux. It occurred upon either the 4th or the 8th of December, 1744, how or where has never been definitely known.
It was the voice of a King; and of such was the glory of Versailles.
CHAPTER XII
One More de Mailly?
"Henri—Henri—why are you questioning me? I know nothing! Mon Dieu! I know less than nothing!"
Claude and his cousin sat together in the Marquis' salon in the Hôtel de Mailly. Before them, on a table, were various liqueurs and some untasted cakes. The two young men had returned from a visit to the Ursuline convent in the old city, where lived and repented Henri's sister, Claude's sister-in-law, Louise Julie de Mailly, once queen of the little apartments in Versailles. Four days ago the funeral of la Châteauroux had taken place, with quiet unostentation, in the Rue du Bac, the body being carried to St. Cyr. Henri and Claude were now in black, though their period of mourning, according to Court etiquette, could last but a short time.
The Marquis sipped his cordial tentatively. "Claude," said he, after the pause which had followed his cousin's foregoing exclamations, "we have not been much together since you came home."
"No. Of course, it is very different from the old days. One is so much more bound when one is married."
"I have not found it so," was the dry response.