The Washington herald., 1913-02-09
By HENRY MOUNTJOY

than representative of medicine in
the form of your majesty's physician"
Make your mind easy. dear Mon
sieur de Maupeou," said the comtesse,
my pie will give indigestion to no
one: no one will swallow it, yet it is
compounded of one thing that, accord
ing to the sages, makes men fat"
And what is that, Msdame?" asked
the vice chancellor.
Laughter" she replied.
Almost as she uttered the word the
door by which the king had entered
opened and servant announced {:
Madame la Comtesse d'Egmont."
The daughter of Richelieu belonged
to the skirts of the De Choiseul party,
that is to say she hated Madame du
Barry as bitterly as any one of them,
yet was anxious to please the king on
her fathers account. Hence her pres
cnce to-day.
She had scarcely made her oompli-
ments to the king and the comtesse
when the servants voice announced !:
Monsieur rAbbe Fremont"
And before the cleric had fully paid
his homage, entered the Comtesse de
Coigny, charming, youthful and full of
grace, followed by the Due d'Aiguillon.
the Comte of Coigny, and Chon du
Barry, exquisite in a robe of au bord
de riviere green clasped by great
brooch of emeralds at the waist
They had all been herded chattering
in the ante-room till the last moment
possible, and now as they stood talk
ing, the king. the Due dAiguillon, the
Comtesse d'Egmont, and the Com
tesse de Coigny forming one group !;
the Able Fremont, the Comtesse du
Barry and the Comte de Coigny form
ing another, while Chon contented her
self with teasing Combefere. As they
were talking thus the door suddenly
opened and like a thunderclap to De-
Maupcou, the servant announced !:
Monsieur le Comte de Sarlines."
This arrival of Monsieur de Sartincs
deserves a word: When he had left
the Due de Richelieu's house, having
given his grace the order of secret ad-
mittance to the Bastile, he returned to
the Hotel de Sartines very much per-
tnrbed in his mind. He was used to
enemies. he was used to traps, he was
used even to attempts on his life; but
in all his experience he had never
found himself in a position half so
grave as the present He could i'm
prison the woman who held him in her
grip, but were he to do so her internal
ingenuity would hit him no less surely !;
De Maupcou would receive the weapon
from the hands OF the unknown who
held it, and as surely as death is the
portion OF man De Maupeou would
use II.
He sat for a while deep in thought.
He could see no possible outlet from
the trap that surrounded him. Sud-
denly he struck himself on the fore
head The king, That was his only
chance He would lay the whole mat
ter before the king and attack De Maui
peou before De Maupeou could attack
him.
He knew the king so well, that
shuffler and evader and double-dealcr.
He knew that if De Maupeou were to
lay formal charge backed by that
atrocious paper, the king would hush
the matter up for his own sake, and
that the husll-money he would pay De
Maupeou would be his-De SartineS-
disgrace and exile. 1t was imperative
to frighten the king, to poison his
mind against De Maupeou-nay, even
to lie to the king. accuse De Maupefu
and Madame Linden OF having stolen
the paper from De Richelieu. Nay,
even better than that. of having con-
cocted the thing and forged his-De
Sartines-signature 10 it. The king
would know this to be lie; that did
not matter in the least. Before the
danger of having his own name im-
plicated the lying king would back his
lying lieutenant general OF police.
The king would sacrifice De Maui
peou Just as readily as De Sartines. 1t
all depended OIL which of the two got
his ear first and frightened him against
the other.
He glanced at the clock 1t was now
half past three. Driving swiftly he
could reach Versailles at FIVE; that
would be the kings dinner-hour and
a bad time for, an interview; still, the
case was desperate and he could not
delay. as it was imperative for him
to return to Paris and reach Madame
Linden's house at eight He rang for
his horses and in ten minutes was on
the road.
When he arrived at Versailles he was
received with the news that the king
was dining with Madame du Barry.
Du Barry In an instant he rcmem-t
bered-what he had up to this forgot
tcn-that he had promised to call that
day on the comtessc with regard to the
He had promised to
call at noon. and he had failed to keep
his appointment Madame Linden had
driven it out of his mind
Again in this duel with the Austrian
woman she had scored; Just by the
power of obsessing his thoughts she
had caused him to make this slip. He
stood for a moment baked and furi-
Gus, though outwardly quite calm.
Then passing up the great staircase, he
made for the apartments of the IA
voritc.
The antechamber, crowded all the
morning, was now empty of everything
but the Chinese jars and mandarins,
the hundred and one knickknacks that
made the place a curiosity-shop, the
palms in pots, the cage of marmosets
and a huge lackey on duty.
HAS dinner been served:" asked De
Sartines of the latter.
Not yet, Monsieur
Announce me.
The servant cast the door wide open
and De Sartines found himself 'front.'
ing the assembled guests.
He saw the king, he saw Madame du
P,rr, tbe CountesSe dc Coi0uy the