"I do not understand you," said the queen, coolly. "Of what new
theatre are you speaking, and where is it?"

"Your majesty, it is here in Trianon. Here operettas, comedies, and
vaudevilles are played. The stage is furnished as all stages are; it
is a permanent stage, and I can therefore ask that it be given over
into my charge, for, I repeat it again, the king has appointed me
director of all the collective theatres royal."

"But, duke," answered the queen with a somewhat more pliant tone,
"you forget one thing, and that is, that the theatre in Trianon does
not belong to the theatres of his majesty. It is my stage, and
Trianon is my realm. Have you not read on the placards, which are at
the entrance of Trianon, that it is the queen who gives laws here?
Do you not know that the king has given me this bit of ground that I
may enjoy my freedom here, and have a place where the Queen of
France may have a will of her own?"

"Your majesty," answered the duke with an expression of the
profoundest deference, "I beg your pardon. I did not suppose that
there was a place in France where the king is not the lord
paramount, and where his commands are not imperative."

"You see, then, that you are mistaken. Here in Trianon I am king,
and my commands are binding."

"That does not prevent, your majesty, the commands of the king
having equal force," replied the duke, with vehemence. "And even if
the Queen of France disowns these laws, yet others do not dare take
the risk of following the example of the queen. For they remain,