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The other ladies followed her example, receiving their cloaks from the hands of their cavaliers, and the occupants of the box made their exit in the following order: Zibeline, on the arm of the Duke; the Comtesse de Lisieux, leaning upon M. de Nointel; Madame de Nointel with the General; the Duchess bringing up the procession with M. de Lisieux.
The three couples who were to compose this impromptu ball, yielded quickly to the spell of this irresistible accompaniment. "Suppose Monsieur Desvanneaux should hear that we danced on the eve of Palm Sunday?" laughingly pro-tested Madame de Lisieux. "He would report it at Rome," said Madame de Nointel.
To attain this result, his Majesty, seconded perfectly by his minister, Louvois, employed the following means. By his order M. de Louvois sent the Comte de Nointel to Vienna, at the moment when that Power was working to extend the twenty years' truce concluded by Hungary with the Sultan.
Sir Adhelmar de Nointel, born about 1332, was once a real and stalwart personage, a younger brother to that Henri de Nointel, the fighting Bishop of Mantes, whose unsavory part in the murder of Jacques van Arteveldt history has recorded at length; and it is with the exploits of this Adhelmar that the romance deals, not, it may be, without exaggeration.
For the rest, Sir Adhelmar de Nointel was known as a valiant knight, who had won glory in the wars with the English. Now, as I have said, Adhelmar was cousin to Reinault, and, in consequence, to Reinault's sister, the Demoiselle Melite; and the latter Adhelmar loved, at least, as much as a cousin should.
The three couples who were to compose this impromptu ball, yielded quickly to the spell of this irresistible accompaniment. "Suppose Monsieur Desvanneaux should hear that we danced on the eve of Palm Sunday?" laughingly pro-tested Madame de Lisieux. "He would report it at Rome," said Madame de Nointel.
In one of the proscenium boxes sat the Duchesse de Montgeron with the Comtesse de Lisieux; in another the Vicomtesse de Nointel and Madame Thomery. In the first box on the left Madame Desvanneaux was to be seen, with her husband and her son, the youthful and recently rejected pretender to the hand of Mademoiselle de Vermont.
"I have already had the pleasure of seeing Monsieur at my house," said Valentine, "also Madame Desvanneaux; and although I was unable to accede to their wishes, I retain, nevertheless, the pleasantest recollections of their visit." "Good hit!" whispered Madame de Nointel to her neighbor. "The Marquis de Prerolles, my brother," the Duchess continued.
Henri de Prerolles, resuming his sang-froid, drew the hand of Mademoiselle de Vermont through his arm, and escorted her to her place among the other ladies. "Bravo, General!" said Madame de Lisieux. "You have won your decoration, I see," she added, indicating the rosebud which adorned his buttonhole. "What shall we call this new order, ladies?" asked Madame de Nointel of the circle.
"Oh, nothing except that Mademoiselle has just missed killing my husband with that wicked animal of hers!" cried the Maegera, in a fury. "Mademoiselle might turn the accusation against him," Madame de Nointel said, with some malice. "It was he who frightened her horse." The fiery animal, with distended veins and quivering nostrils, snorted violently, cavorted sidewise, and tried to run.
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