"I used to admire her more than I do now," observed the Regent, thoughtfully. "Still the woman is amusing and witty; there is no denying it. Besides, she speaks her mind freely, and however violent the passions she puts herself in, they are over in five minutes. But what am I to do with the other? I give you the honour of a Bourbon, my friend, she has not uttered a syllable beyond 'Yes, monsieur,' 'No, monsieur,' since yesterday afternoon, when she dropped at once from the height of good-humour into a fit of impenetrable sulks."
"Without the slightest cause, of course!" observed the Abbé.
"Without the slightest cause," repeated the Prince, "at least that I could discover. There was indeed a slight difficulty about some flowers. I had promised her a bouquet of stephanotis for the masked ball to-night. It is rare—its smell is to me overpowering, but it is her favourite perfume. Well, my people scoured the country for half-a-dozen leagues round Paris, and none was to be procured. With you or me, Abbé, the conclusion would seem natural enough, that if the stephanotis has not yet bloomed, the stephanotis cannot yet be in flower. But to a woman—bah—such an argument is no reason at all! It is quite possible she may even refuse to accompany me to the ball to-night!"
Malletort did not think so, and his hopes, just now so buoyant, lost nothing by a suggestion which only betrayed his patron's ignorance of the female mind.
"Ah, Highness," he exclaimed, throwing a gleam of sympathy into his eyes, which contrasted much with their usual expression, "how completely is your condescension misjudged! how utterly your kind heart thrown away! You say truly, women are so different. These think of their own aggrandisement even while they bask in your affection. Others here at Court would throw themselves body and soul at your feet were you to-morrow changed into a simple page from Duke of Orleans and Master of France!"
"How?" exclaimed the Regent, unable to conceal that his vanity was gratified. "Do you speak from your own knowledge? Are you laughing at me? How can you possibly have found this out?"
