"Intrigues! What intrigues do you allude to?" inquired the queen-mother. "People are talking a good deal about M. Fouquet and Madame Plessis-Belliere." "Who makes up the number to about ten thousand," replied the queen-mother. "But what are the plots you speak of?" "We have, it seems, certain misunderstandings with Holland to settle." "What about?" "Monsieur has been telling me the story of the medals." "Oh!" exclaimed the young-queen, "you mean those medals which were struck in Holland, on which a cloud is seen passing across the sun, which is the king's device. You are wrong in calling that a plot--it is an insult." "But so contemptible that the king can well despise it," replied the queen-mother. "Well, what are the flirtations which are alluded to? Do you mean that of Madame d'Olonne?" "No, no; nearer ourselves than that." "_Casa de usted_," murmured the queen-mother, and without moving her lips, in her daughter-in-law's ear, and also without being overheard by Madame, who thus continued: "You know the terrible news?" "Oh, yes; M. de Guiche's wound." "And you attribute it, I suppose, as every one else does, to an accident which happened to him while hunting?" "Yes, of course," said both the queens together, their interest awakened. Madame drew closer to them, as she said, in a low tone of voice, "It was a duel." "Ah!" said Anne of Austria, in a severe tone: for in her ears the word "duel," which had been forbidden in France during the time she had reigned over it, had a strange sound. "A most deplorable duel, which has nearly cost Monsieur two of his best friends, and the king two of his best servants." "What was the cause of the duel?" inquired the young queen, animated by a secret instinct. "Flirtations," repeated Madame, triumphantly. "The gentlemen in question were conversing about the virtue of a particular lady belonging to the court. One of them thought that Pallas was a very second-rate person compared to her; the other pretended that the lady in question was an imitation of Venus alluring Mars; and thereupon the two gentlemen fought as fiercely as Hector and Achilles." "Venus alluring Mars?" said the young queen in a low tone of voice, without venturing to examine into the allegory very deeply. "Who is the lady?" inquired Anne of Austria, abruptly. "You said, I believe, she was one of the ladies of honor?" "Did I say so?" replied Madame. "Yes; at least, I thought I heard you mention it." "Are you not aware that such a woman is of ill-omen to a royal house?" "Is it not Mademoiselle de la Valliere?" said the queen-mother. "Yes, indeed, that plain-looking creature." "I thought she was affianced to a gentleman who certainly is not--at least, I suppose so--either M. de Guiche or M. de Wardes?" "Very possibly, madame." The young queen took up a piece of tapestry, and began to unpick with an affectation of tranquillity which her trembling fingers contradicted.