Nemesis—Ninon’s Theories—Wits and Beaux of the Salons—Found at Last—“The Smart Set”—A Domestic Ménage—Scarron—The Fatal Carnival—The Bond of Ninon—Corneille and _The Cid_—The Cardinal’s Jealousy—Enlarging the Borders—Monsieur l’Abbé and the Capon Leg—The Grey Cardinal—A Faithful Servant. CHAPTER VII 81 Mélusine—Cinq-Mars—An Ill-advised Marriage—The Conspiracy—The Revenge—The Scaffold—A Cry from the Bastille—The Lady’s Man—“The Cardinal’s Hangman”—Finis—Louis’s Evensong—A Little Oversight—The King’s Nightcap—Mazarin—Ninon’s Hero. CHAPTER VIII 91 “Loving like a Madman”—A Great Transformation—The Unjust Tax—Parted Lovers—A Gay Court and A School for Scandal, and Mazarin’s Policy—The Regent’s Caprices—The King’s Upholsterer’s Young Son—The Théâtre Illustre—The Company of Monsieur and Molière. CHAPTER IX 103 The Rift in the Lute—In the Vexin—The Miracle of the Gardener’s Cottage—Italian Opera in Paris—Parted Lovers—“Ninum”—Scarron and Françoise d’Aubigné—Treachery—A Journey to Naples—Masaniello—Renewing Acquaintances—Mazarin’s Mandate. CHAPTER X 115 The Fronde and Mazarin—A Brittany Manor—Borrowed Locks—The Flight to St Germains—A Gouty Duke—Across the Channel—The Evil Genius—The Scaffold at Whitehall—Starving in the Louvre—_The Mazarinade_—Poverty—Condé’s Indignation—The Cannon of the Bastille—The Young King. CHAPTER XI 124 Invalids in the rue des Tournelles—On the Battlements—“La Grande Mademoiselle”—Casting Lots—The Sacrifice—The Bag of Gold—“Get Thee to a Convent”—The Battle of the Sonnets—A Curl-paper—The Triumph and Defeat of Bacchus—A Secret Door—Cross Questions and Crooked Answers—The Youthful Autocrat. CHAPTER XII 135 The Whirligig of Time, and an Old Friend—Going to the Fair—A Terrible Experience—The Young Abbé—“The Brigands of La Trappe”—The New Ordering—An Enduring Memory—The King over the Water—Unfulfilled Aspirations—“Not Good-looking.” CHAPTER XIII 144 Christina’s Modes and Robes—Encumbering Favour—A Comedy at the Petit-Bourbon—The Liberty of the Queen and the Liberty of the Subject—Tears and Absolutions—The Tragedy in the Galérie des Cerfs—Disillusions. CHAPTER XIV 154 _Les Précieuses Ridicules_—Sappho and _Le Grand Cyrus_—The Poets of the Latin Quarter—The Satire which Kills—A Lost Child—Periwigs and New Modes—The Royal Marriage and a Grand Entry. CHAPTER XV 163