In a room of the Petit Trianon stood the furniture, just as poor Marie Antoinette left it when the mob came and dragged her and the King to Paris, never to return.

Near at hand, in the stables, were prodigious carriages that showed no color but gold--carriages used by former kings of France on state occasions, and never used now save when a kingly head is to be crowned or an imperial infant christened.

And with them were some curious sleighs, whose bodies were shaped like lions, swans, tigers, etc .-- vehicles that had once been handsome with pictured designs and fine workmanship, but were dusty and decaying now.

They had their history.

When Louis XIV had finished the Grand Trianon, he told Maintenon he had created a Paradise for her, and asked if she could think of anything now to wish for.