"Is it possible?" the king asked.
"There is no doubt about it, Sire," the duchess replied, with confidence, thinking for a moment that her plan had succeeded, and that the jealousy of her unfaithful lord would reawaken his love.
But after a moment of silence, the king, rising to put an end to the interview, said to Diane, gayly,—
"If that is so, Madame, we will give the office of grand sénéchal—which has been vacant since the death of Monsieur de Brézé, your first husband—to Monsieur de Montgommery as a wedding present."
"And Monsieur de Montgommery will accept it," was Diane's proud reply; "for I will be a faithful and loyal wife to him, and I would not be false to my troth to him for all the kings in Christendom."
The king bowed and smiled, without making any reply, and left the room.
Unquestionably Madame d'Étampes's star was in the ascendant.
The same day Diane the ambitious, with bitter anger at her heart, said to the enraptured Jacques,—
"My gallant Count, my noble Montgommery, I love you with all my heart."