"Your brother, Sire, will, I know, in this, as in all else, be advised by me. I can defend the honour of his house much better than he can himself, and he knows it. Your brother will do his duty, I shall do mine. I wish your Majesty good-day." The sound of the King's cane is audible, striking heavily on the floor as he strides up and down the room. The door of his bedchamber opens; Charlotte de Bavière, crimson in the face, appears. She calls her people together, and hastily departs, followed by the wondering glances of the courtiers, standing in groups about the Œil de Bœuf. The King, fearing that there was no chance of overcoming the opposition of Madame, either by persuasions or by threats, consulted Madam de Maintenon. With characteristic duplicity, she advised that what could not be done openly, must be brought about by stratagem. She sent for the Abbé Dubois, the _âme damnée_ of the young Duke, his tutor and his companion, and by promises of money and speedy preferment she completely made him her own. Dubois promised to hurry on the marriage with or without the consent of Madame. The Duke, who loved his mother, and respected her scruples, only yielded when Dubois artfully presented to him the certain loss of all influence, as well as the personal animosity of the King, if he refused. Philippe d'Orléans met Mademoiselle de Blois in the apartment of Madame de Maintenon. The marriage took place at Versailles. [Illustration: GASTON, DUKE OF ORLEANS. FROM A STEEL ENGRAVING.] Madame was furious at what she termed her "dishonour." She wept, abused, menaced, and scolded by turns. But finding that there was no redress, that the marriage was legal, and that further opposition might arouse the vengeance of the King, she gradually cooled down and received her new daughter-in-law with tolerable civility; particularly as the marriage with Mademoiselle de Blois continued the possession of the Palais Royal, with all its pictures, sculptures, and valuables, in the Orléans family, a gift which somewhat served to gild the bitter pill she was called on to swallow. This marriage did not improve the Duke's conduct or character. He was galled by what he had been forced to do; his temper was soured; his excesses increased. Nor was the Duchess of a disposition to endear herself to any husband. Imperious, luxurious, and bitter-tongued, she always forgot that her mother, Madame de Montespan, was not the wife of her father, and treated the Duke as her inferior. He bore her extravagant pride, and listened to her harangues, reproaches, and taunts (expressed with real eloquence) in silence. Sometimes he called her _Madame Lucifer_. With such parents their children grew up in habits of licentiousness, only equalled by the imperial ladies of Old Rome.