CHAPTER XVII.
MADAME AND GUICHE.
It will not be forgotten that the Comte de Guiche had left the queen-mother's apartment on the day when Louis XIV.

presented La Valliere with the beautiful bracelets he had won at the lottery.

The comte walked to and fro for some time outside the palace in the greatest distress, from a thousand suspicions and anxieties with which his mind was beset.

Presently he stopped and waited on the terrace opposite the grove of trees, watching for Madame's departure.

More than half an hour passed away; and as he was at that moment quite alone, the comte could hardly have had any very diverting ideas at his command.