"All very fine! but the king is king, I suppose?"

"No doubt, mademoiselle; but the cardinal is the cardinal."

"The king is not a man, then! And he does not love Mary
Mancini?"

"He adores her."

"Well, he will marry her then. We shall have war with Spain.
M. Mazarin will spend a few of the millions he has put away;
our gentlemen will perform prodigies of valor in their
encounters with the proud Castilians, and many of them will
return crowned with laurels, to be recrowned by us with
myrtles. Now, that is my view of politics."

"Montalais, you are wild!" said Louise, "and every
exaggeration attracts you as light does a moth."

"Louise, you are so extremely reasonable, that you will
never know how to love."

"Oh!" said Louise, in a tone of tender reproach, "don't you
see, Montalais? The queen-mother desires to marry her son to
the Infanta; would you wish him to disobey his mother? Is it
for a royal heart like his to set such a bad example? When
parents forbid love, love must be banished."

And Louise sighed: Raoul cast down his eyes, with an
expression of constraint. Montalais, on her part, laughed