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On the first floor of a building on the Rue Montpensier, close at hand, was a cafe chantant, where many people entered. "Suppose we go in," said Planus, desirous of banishing his friend's melancholy at any cost, "the beer is excellent." Risler assented to the suggestion; he had not tasted beer for six months. It was a former restaurant transformed into a concert-hall.
Each year adds to the storied renown of Elizabeth of England, greatest sovereign of the greatest of historic nations. And they most assuredly did not sacrifice their womanhood in the process; for her Britannic Majesty's wardrobe included four thousand gowns, and Mlle. de Montpensier declares, that, when Christina had put on a wig of the latest fashion, "she really looked extremely pretty."
His own people accused him of lacking boldness; and his sister, the Duchess of Montpensier, openly patronized the most violent preachers, whilst boasting that she wielded more influence through them than her brother by his armies.
"Yes, and he there charged me with a message for Madame de Montpensier." "A message?" "A letter." "Where is it?" "Here," said Ernanton, striking his doublet. "Will you let me see it?" "Willingly." And Ernanton drew out the letter. "What singular ink!" said the man. "It is blood," said Ernanton, calmly. The porter grew pale at these words, and at the idea that this blood belonged to M. de Mayenne.
Here Governor John Langdon resided from 1782 until the time of his death in 1819 a period during which many an illustrious man passed between those two white pillars that support the little balcony over the front door; among the rest Louis Philippe and his brothers, the Ducs de Montpensier and Beaujolais, and the Marquis de Chastellus, a major-general in the French army, serving under the Count de Rochambeau, whom he accompanied from France to the States in 1780.
He had himself, at the outset of his career, been much farther from the throne than Montpensier was at that moment; but at no period of his life would he have consented to disgrace himself by attempting the dismemberment of the realm.
From Compiègne, Christina, by invitation, went to Fontainebleau to visit Mademoiselle de Montpensier. The piquant pen of Mademoiselle has described this interview. Some allowance must perhaps be made for the vein of satire which pervaded nearly all the utterances of this haughty princess.
"Good news, Sire," replied I. "Mademoiselle de Montpensier set out on the 18th; the courier has this instant brought us the news, and we have at once come to present ourselves to you and apprise your Majesties of it." Joy instantly painted itself on their faces, and immediately they began to question us at great length upon the details the courier had brought us.
It was the knowledge of this, and the consciousness that a less conscientious policy might have rescued the Queen of Spain from a dreadful fate, that rendered the Queen of England and Stockmar so indignant when it turned out that the French Government had been far less scrupulous, and had not only forced on the marriage of the Queen to a man she detested, but had also married the other Infanta to Montpensier.
It may be doubted, however, whether M. de Montpensier did not make this supreme effort in consequence of the proposed alliance, and his anxiety to evince to their Majesties his sense of the honour which was about to be conferred upon himself and his family, rather than from any amusement which he could hope to derive from such an exhibition.
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