At Louis' consent to the presentation, Mme. de Châteauroux had at once sent a message of the eyes across the room to Coyer, who was waiting for it. After an instant the two priests moved forward, slowly, side by side, towards the royal group, de Bernis with his eyes anywhere but upon the face of Victorine. The Duchess, with an adroit grace, moved a little in front of his Majesty, who was chatting with Richelieu. Thus she was the first to receive the two. After a cordial greeting to Coyer she turned, with some curiosity, upon his companion, to find de Bernis' sharp gray eyes fixed upon her in an admiring gaze that was but just removed from an affront. Curiously enough, however, the Duchess failed to resent it. Her deadened nerves vibrated at the glance with a sensation so long unfelt that it was a keen pleasure. Certainly the man had a fascination about him. She smiled slightly, and then Coyer, who had been awaiting the right moment, presented the Abbé in punctilious form.
"His Majesty had graciously expressed a desire to meet you," said the Duchess at once, turning slightly towards the King.
Louis, who was impatient to have done with the ceremony, stepped to her side.
"Your Majesty," murmured madame, "Monsieur l'Abbé de Bernis has the extreme honor of being presented to you."
The King extended his hand, which de Bernis, with a low and graceful salutation, received upon the back of his and lifted to his lips.
"Any man who had the great good-fortune to be beloved by the Cardinal Fleury, Monsieur l'Abbé, cannot but be at all times welcome at our Court," remarked the King.
A look of astonishment passed over the abbé's face. He shot a glance at the Duchess, who appeared perfectly unconscious. Nevertheless he was too keen a man to allow himself to fall into a mistake so early. "Your Majesty does me honor," he replied, in the slightest possible confusion.
"Not at all," returned Louis. "I am honoring the memory of my good friend Fleury, whose death—France and I—have cause to regret—more than any other event—of the reign."
With this scarcely audible reminiscence, his Majesty, in one of his peculiar moods, turned again to Richelieu, thus putting an end to the audience. Once or twice during the next ten minutes Louis glanced a little impatiently towards the favorite, with whom he wished to speak alone; but she and the abbé were engaged in a conversation which appeared to be absorbing to both. Presently the Duchess advanced a little and touched the shoulder of the Marquise de Coigny. Victorine turned with nervous quickness. Her delicate face was flushed and her hands were cold.
"M. de Bernis, will you allow me to add to your acquaintance the Marquise de Coigny, who will, I think, become your conductress for the evening, if you desire to meet others here; or your spirit of conversation, if you do not. Madame, I intrust the abbé's happiness, for the evening, to you."