Monsieur, like a good courtier, was inquiring of monsieur le cardinal
after the health of his nieces; he regretted, he said, not having the
pleasure of receiving them at the same time with their uncle; they must
certainly have grown in stature, beauty and grace, as they had promised
to do the last time Monsieur had seen them.

What had first struck the king was a certain constraint in the voices of
the two interlocutors. The voice of Monsieur was calm and natural when
he spoke thus; while that of M. de Mazarin jumped by a note and a half to
reply above the diapason of his usual voice. It might have been said
that he wished that voice to strike, at the end of the _salon_, any ear
that was too distant.

"Monseigneur," replied he, "Mesdemoiselles de Mazarin have still to
finish their education: they have duties to fulfill, and a position to
make. An abode in a young and brilliant court would dissipate them a
little."

Louis, at this last sentence, smiled sadly. The court was young, it was
true, but the avarice of the cardinal had taken good care that it should
not be brilliant.

"You have nevertheless no intention," replied Monsieur, "to cloister them
or make them _borgeoises?_"

"Not at all," replied the cardinal, forcing his Italian pronunciation in
such a manner that, from soft and velvety as it was, it became sharp and
vibrating; "not at all: I have a full and fixed intention to marry them,
and that as well as I shall be able."