De Wardes observed this, and continued aloud:--"Oh! if La Valliere were a coquette like Madame, whose very innocent flirtations, I am sure, were, first of all, the cause of the Duke of Buckingham being sent to England, and afterward were the reason of your being sent into exile: for you will not deny, I suppose, that Madame's seductive manners did have a certain influence over you ?" The courtiers drew nearer to the two speakers, Saint-Aignan at their head, and then Manicamp.
"But, my dear fellow, whose fault was that ?" said Guiche, laughing.

"I am a vain, conceited fellow, I know, and everybody else knows it, too.

I took seriously that which was only intended as a jest, and I got myself exiled for my pains.

But I saw my error.

I overcame my vanity, and I obtained my recall by making the _amende honorable_, and by promising myself to overcome this defect; and the consequence is, that I am so thoroughly cured, that I now laugh at the very thing which three or four days ago would have almost broken my heart.