The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, vol 6 | Page 6

made of her; you can tell her, and I shall certainly not give
you the lie."
Monsieur, having come some days afterwards to the King, complained
of Madame de Maintenon, who, he said, had given offence to his wife.
"You have just made a great mistake," said the King; "you who pride
yourself on speaking your tongue so well, and I am going to put you
right. This is how you ought rather to have expressed yourself: 'I
complain of Madame de Maintenon, who, by ambiguous words, has
given offence, or wished to give offence to my wife.'"
Monsieur made up his mind to laugh, and said no more of it.

CHAPTER XXI
.
The Marquis de Lauzun at Liberty.--His Conduct to His
Wife.--Recovery of Mademoiselle.
Mademoiselle, having by means of her donations to the Duc du Maine
obtained, at first, the release, and subsequently the entire liberty of
Lauzun, wished to go to meet him and to receive him in a superb
carriage with six horses. The King had her informed secretly that she
should manage matters with more moderation; and the King only spoke
so because he was better informed than any one of the ungrateful
aversion of Lauzun to Mademoiselle. No one wished to open her eyes,
for she had refused to see; time itself had to instruct her, and time,
which wears wings, arrived at that result quickly enough.
M. de Lauzun was, beyond gainsaying, a man of feeling and courage,
but he nourished in his heart a limitless ambition, and his head, subject
to whims and caprices, would not suffer him to follow methodically a
fixed plan of conduct. The King had just pardoned him as a favour to
his cousin; but, knowing him well, he was not at all fond of him. They

had disposed of his office of Captain of the Guards and of the other
command of the 'Becs de Corbins'. It was decided that Lauzun should
not return to his employment; but his Majesty charged Monsieur
Colbert to make good to him the amount and to add to it the arrears.
These different sums, added together, formed a capital of nine hundred
and eighty thousand francs, which was paid at once in notes on the
treasury, which were equal in value to ready cash. On news of this, he
broke into the most violent rage possible; he was tempted to throw
these notes into the fire. It was his offices which he wanted, and not
these sums, with which he could do nothing.
The King received him with an easy, kind air; he, always a flatterer
with his lips, cast himself ten times on his knees before the prince, and
gained nothing by all these demonstrations. He went to rejoin
Mademoiselle on the following day at Choisy, and dared to scold her
for having constructed and even bought this pretty pleasure-house.
"This must have cost treasures," said he. "Had you not parks and
chateaus enough? It would have been better to keep all these sums and
give them to me now."
After this exordium, he set himself to criticise the coiffure of the Queen,
on account of the coloured knots that he had remarked in it.
"But you mean, then, to satirise me personally," said the Princess to
him, "since you see my hair dressed in the same fashion, and I am older
than my cousin!
"What became of you on leaving the King?" she asked him. "I waited
for you till two hours after midnight."
"I went," said he, "to visit M. de Louvois, who is not my friend, and
who requires humouring; then to visit M. Colbert, who favours me."
"You ought to have seen Madame de Maintenon, I gave you that advice
before leaving you," she said; "it is to her, above all, that you owe your
liberty."
"But your Madame de Maintenon," he resumed, "is she, too, one of the
powers? Ah, my God! what a new geography since I left these regions
ten years ago!"
To avoid tete-a-tete, M. de Lauzun was always in a surly humour; he
put his left arm into a sling; he never ceased talking of his rheumatism
and his pains.
Mademoiselle learned, now from one person, now from another, that he

was dining to-day with one fair lady, to-morrow with another, and the
next day with a third. She finally understood that she was despised and
tricked; she showed one last generosity (out of pride) towards her
former friend,--solicited for him the title of Duke, and begged him, for
the future, to arrange his life to please himself, and to let her alone.
The Marquis de Lauzun took her at her word, and never forgave her for
the cession of the principalities of Dombes and Eu to M. le Duc du
Maine;