splendor, one might have concluded that, from a merely human point of
view, it is possible to find happiness in vice. But no; there was not
even one. The Duchesse de Châteauroux and Marquise de Pompadour were
no happier than the Duchesse de la Vallière and the Marquise de
Montespan."

The Sun King built Versailles and established his Court there. It was
the women that made the life of Versailles--and gave their lives to it.
The Court was a dazzling spider's web, and many a beautiful favorite
became fatally entangled in its glittering meshes.

Louis XIV, when twenty-two years of age, married Marie Thérèse,
daughter of Philip IV of Spain. If he had been a simple, respectable
young man of France, he might then have settled down and finished the
story by "living happily ever after." But he was not. He was the King
of France; so he pursued the royal road that his antecedents had blazed
before him; and the way was made easy and pleasant for him. In
treading the "primrose path of dalliance" he allowed no grass to grow
under his feet.

Louis made Marie Thérèse his Queen and consort in 1660, and it was only
a year later when his fancy was caught by the dainty and attractive
little Françoise Louise La Vallière. She was scarcely more than
seventeen years of age when she became the favorite of the King. She
was a delicate little creature, slightly lame, but most feminine in her
appeal, and she caught the King by her very girlishness, as she played
like a child with him in the parks of the palace. She was a simple
maid of honor to Queen Marie Thérèse when she first attracted the
notice of the King. A few years afterward she was created a duchess
and, as such, retained the royal favor for a time. Then remorse seized