CHAPTER XXI.
THE MAN IN THE CALECHE.
Often had De Montespan feigned a faint in the days when she wished to disarm the anger of the king.

So she had drawn his arms round her, and won the pity which is the twin sister of love.

But now she knew what it was to have the senses struck out of her by a word.

She could not doubt the truth of what she heard.

There was that in her rival's face, in her steady eye, in her quiet voice, which carried absolute conviction with it.