[Illustration: Cover] [Frontispiece: "THE PAPER DROPPED TO THE FLOOR" p. 88.] [Illustration: Title page] _The House of de Mailly_ A Romance _By_ _Margaret Horton Potter_ _Illustrated by A. I. Keller_ _New York and London_ _Harper & Brothers Publishers_ _1901_ Copyright, 1901, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All rights reserved. TO MY DEAREST FRIENDS AND KINDLIEST CRITICS MARIE AND FREDERIC GOOKIN THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED CONTENTS Book I CLAUDE CHAPTER I. M. De Gêvres Entertains II. The Toilet III. The Gallery Of Mirrors IV. Marly V. The Chapel VI. Claude's Farewell Book II DEBORAH I. A Ship Comes In II. Dr. Carroll's Idea III. The Plantation IV. Annapolis V. Sambo VI. Claude's Memories VII. The Pearls VIII. The Governor's Ball IX. The Rector, The Count, And Sir Charles X. Puritan And Courtier XI. Distant Versailles Book III THE POST I. From Metz II. The Disgrace III. November Thirteenth IV. Claude's Own V. Two Presentations VI. Snuff-Boxes VII. Concerning Monsieur Maurepas VIII. Deep Waters IX. The Duke Swims X. "Vol-au-Vent Royale" XI. "Thy Glory" XII. One More de Mailly? XIII. The Hôtel de Ville XIV. Victorine Makes End XV. Deborah EPILOGUE. A Trail on the Water ILLUSTRATIONS "THE PAPER DROPPED TO THE FLOOR" . . . _Frontispiece_ "DE MAILLY HAD THROWN SIX AND SIX" "'CLAUDE, TAKE THIS AND THROW IT OUT--THERE'" "HE SUDDENLY STOPPED AND TURNED HIS HEAD TOWARDS HER" "'I--GIVE YOU ONLY THIS'" "THE YOUNG MAN ROSE AND BOWED" "CLAUDE SAT SUDDENLY UP IN BED" "SURROUNDED BY A GROUP OF PICKANINNIES" "HORSE AND RIDER HAD FLASHED OUT AT THE GATE" "'GO ON, MONSIEUR,' MURMURED DEBORAH" "DEBORAH PERMITTED HIM TO LEAD HER FROM THE BALLROOM" "'I AM NOT THE DUCHESS OF CHÂTEAUROUX!'" Book I CLAUDE The House of de Mailly CHAPTER I M. de Gêvres Entertains It was the evening of Tuesday, January 12th, in the year 1744. By six o'clock the gray of afternoon had deepened to the blackness of night, and a heavy rain began to fall, so that the Sèvres road, a mile beyond the Paris barrier, was shortly thick with mud. The only light here visible came from the window of a wretched tavern at the way-side; and by this mine host, had he been watching, would have had some difficulty in perceiving the two riders who came to an uncertain halt by his door. "It is late, du Plessis, and we have still three miles to go. More than that, 'tis the worst cabaret in France." "And you would be no more of a Jean-Jacques than necessary to-night--eh, Claude?" returned the other good-humoredly. "I should prefer drowning or to perish of a rheum by the way than be poisoned by the liquor to be had here," returned the other, flicking his saddle restlessly with his riding-whip. "So be it, then. Come, we waste time. _Mordi_! A little gently there, I beseech! It is raining mud."