"I should say, Sire, that you have greatly the advantage over myself; and also that the lady to whom you allude must necessarily be a widow."
"Just as you please," retorted the King; "but if you refuse to guess, I will name her."
"Do so," said Sully with increasing surprise; "for I confess that the riddle is beyond my reach."
"Rather say that you do not wish to solve it," was the cold reply; "for you cannot deny that all the qualities upon which I insist are to be found combined in the person of the Duchesse de Beaufort."
"Your mistress, Sire!"
"I do not affirm that I have any intention, in the event of my release from my present marriage, of making the Duchess my wife," pursued Henry with some embarrassment; "but I was anxious to learn what you would say, if, unable to find another woman to my taste, I should one day see fit to do so."
"Say, Sire?" echoed the minister, struggling to conceal his consternation under an affected gaiety; "I should probably be of the same opinion as the rest of your subjects."
GABRIELLE D'ESTRÉES.