the royal carriage, attended by her three suitors.

"Do not let us seem so curious," Madame de Chaulieu had said, cut to
the heart by Diane's exclamation,--"She is divine! where in the world
does she come from?"--and with that the bevy flew back to their seats,
resuming their composure, though Eleonore's heart was full of hungry
vipers all clamorous for a meal.

Mademoiselle d'Herouville said in a low voice and with much meaning to
the Duchesse de Verneuil, "Eleonore receives her Melchior very
ungraciously."

"The Duchesse de Maufrigneuse thinks there is a coolness between
them," said Laure de Verneuil, with simplicity.

Charming phrase! so often used in the world of society,--how the north
wind blows through it.

"Why so?" asked Modeste of the pretty young girl who had lately left
the Sacre-Coeur.

"The great poet," said the pious duchess--making a sign to her
daughter to be silent--"left Madame de Chaulieu without a letter for
more than two weeks after he went to Havre, having told her that he
went there for his health--"

Modeste made a hasty movement, which caught the attention of Laure,
Helene, and Mademoiselle d'Herouville.

"--and during that time," continued the devout duchess, "she was