scene.

"I tell you that I _will_ see the king."

"No lady has ever been at the morning _lever_."

"Then I shall be the first."

"You will ruin me if you pass."

"And none the less, I shall do so."

The matter looked serious. De Catinat was a man of resource, but for
once he was at his wits' end. Madame de Montespan's resolution, as it
was called in her presence, or effrontery, as it was termed behind her
back, was proverbial. If she attempted to force her way, would he
venture to use violence upon one who only yesterday had held the
fortunes of the whole court in the hollow of her hand, and who, with her
beauty, her wit, and her energy, might very well be in the same position
to-morrow? If she passed him, then his future was ruined with the king,
who never brooked the smallest deviation from his orders. On the other
hand, if he thrust her back, he did that which could never be forgiven,
and which would entail some deadly vengeance should she return to power.
It was an unpleasant dilemma. But a happy thought flashed into his mind
at the very moment when she, with clenched hand and flashing eyes, was
on the point of making a fresh attempt to pass him.

"If madame would deign to wait," said he soothingly, "the king will be
on his way to the chapel in an instant."