The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-12-18

| stand me, the former
Mime. de Montespan"
"Ah, that soldierly tongue of yours,
captain, Should she come, I say. you
will gently bar her way, with courteous
words, you understand, but on no ac-
count is she to be permitted to enter
the royal ROOM
VERY good, Bontems"
"And now we have but three min
utes." He strobe through the rapidly
increasing group of people in the cor
ridor with an air of proud humility, as
beftted a man who, if he was a valet,
was at least the king of Wallets by be-
ing the valet of the king Close by the
door stood a line of footmen resplen-
dent in their powdered wigs, red plush
coats and silver shoulder knots. He
turned the handle once more and slip
ped into the darkened room.
1t was large. square apartment.
with two high windows upon the fur
Their side, curtained across with price
less velvet hangings. In one corner
narrow couch with a rug thrown across
it showed where the faithful Rontems
had spent the night.
In the very center of the chamber
there stood a large four post bed, with
curtains Of Gobeiin tapestry Iooped
back from the pillow. A square of pol
ished rails surrounded it, leaving q
space some five feet in width all round
between the Enclosure and the bedside.
AS Bontems passed noiselessly across
the room, his feet sinking into the
mosslike carpet, there was the heavy,
close smell of sleep in the air, and he
could hear the long, thin breathing of
the sleeper. He passed through the
opening in the rails and stood, watch
in hand, waiting for the exact instant
when the iron routine of the court de-
manded that the monarch should be
reused. Beneath him, from under the
costly green coverlet of oriental silk,
half buried in the fluffy valenciennes
lace which edged the pillow, there pro-
truded a round black bristle of close
cropped hair, with the profile Of curv-
ing nose and petulant lip outlined
against the white background. The
valet snapped his watch and bent over
the sleeper.
81 have the honor to inform your
majesty that it is half past s." said he.
"Ah!' The king slowly opened his
of the cross and kissed a little dark
reliquary which he drew from under
his nightdress. Then he sat up in bed.
did you give my orders to the Off
Ger Of the guard. BontemsY" he asked.
Yes, SIRE"
"Who is on duty?"
major de Brissac at the main guard
and Captain de Catinat in the cor
ridor."
de Catinat! All, the young man who
stopped my horse at Fontainebleau /
remember him. You may give the sig
nal. Bontems."
The chief valet walked swiftly across
to the door and threw it open. In
rushed the officer Of the ovens and the
four red coated, white wigged foot
men, ready handed, silent footed, each
intent upon his own duties. The one
seized upon Bontems' rug and couch |
and in an instant had whipped them
off into an antechamber, another had
carried away the silver taper stand,
while a third drew back the great cur
tains of stamped velvet and let a flood
Of light into the apartment.
They were hardly gone before more
august group entered the bedchamber. !
Two walked together in front, the one
a youth little over twenty years of age, |
middle sized, inclining to stoutness, |
with a slow, pompous bearing, well
turned leg and face which was come !
~ enough in a masklike fashion, but
which was devoid of any shadow OF
expression except perhaps of an occa-
Cin al lrIrl <yIo of
humor. His companion was a man OF |
forty, swarthy, digniied and solemn.
As the pair faced the king there was
sufficient resemblance between the
three faces to show that they were of
one blood and to enable a stranger to
guess that the older was monsieur, the
younger brother of the king. while the
other was Louis the Dauphin, his only
legitimate child.
Behind the kings son and the kings
brother there entered a little group Of
notables and Of officials whom duty had
called to this daily ceremony. There
were the grand master of the robes, the
first lord Of the bedchamber, the Due
iu Maine. a pale youth clad in black
velvet, 1imping heavily with his left
leg, and his little brother, the young
Comte de Toulouse. both of them the
sons of Nine. de Monies
pan and the king Such were the par
takers in the family entry, the highest
honor which the court of France could
aspire to.
Bontems had poured on the kings
hands few drops of spirits OF wine.
them again in a silver dish:
and the first lord of the bedchamber
had presented the bowl of holy water,
with which he made the sign of the
,ross, muttering to himself the short
office of the Holy Ghost. Then, with
l nod to his brother and a short word
II greeting to the Dauphin and to the
Due du Maine, he swung his legs over
he side of the bed and sat, in his long
'ilken nightdress, his little white feet
from beneath it, perilous
position for any man to assume were
t not that he had so heartfelt a sense
# his own dignity that he could not
'ealize that under any circumstances
t might be compromised in the eyes of