the afternoon, and make her understand once for all that her reign was
forever over.

Such were the thoughts which ran through the king's head as he bent over
the rich crimson cushion which topped his _prie-dieu_ of carved oak.
He knelt in his own enclosure to the right of the altar, with his guards
and his immediate household around him, while the court, ladies and
cavaliers, filled the chapel. Piety was a fashion now, like dark
overcoats and lace cravats, and no courtier was so worldly-minded as not
to have had a touch of grace since the king had taken to religion.
Yet they looked very bored, these soldiers and seigneurs, yawning and
blinking over the missals, while some who seemed more intent upon their
devotions were really dipping into the latest romance of Scudery or
Calpernedi, cunningly bound up in a sombre cover. The ladies, indeed,
were more devout, and were determined that all should see it, for each
had lit a tiny taper, which she held in front of her on the plea of
lighting up her missal, but really that her face might be visible to the
king, and inform him that hers was a kindred spirit. A few there may
have been, here and there, whose prayers rose from their hearts, and who
were there of their own free will; but the policy of Louis had changed
his noblemen into courtiers and his men of the world into hypocrites,
until the whole court was like one gigantic mirror which reflected his
own likeness a hundredfold.

It was the habit of Louis, as he walked back from the chapel, to receive
petitions or to listen to any tales of wrong which his subjects might
bring to him. His way, as he returned to his rooms, lay partly across
an open space, and here it was that the suppliants were wont to
assemble. On this particular morning there were but two or three--a
Parisian, who conceived himself injured by the provost of his guild, a