The day that Anne of Austria had selected for the lottery was a decisive moment; the king had not been near his mother for a couple of days; Madame, after the great scene of the Dryads and Naiads, was sulking by herself.

The king's fit of sulkiness was over, but his mind was absorbingly occupied by a circumstance which raised him above the stormy disputes and the giddy pleasures of the court.
Anne of Austria effected a diversion by the announcement of the famous lottery to take place in her apartments on the following evening.

With this object in view, she saw the young queen, whom, as we have already seen, she had invited to pay her a visit in the morning.

"I have good news to tell you," she said to her, "the king has been saying the most tender things about you.

He is young, you know, and easily drawn away; but so long as you keep near me, he will not venture to keep away from you, to whom, besides, he is most warmly and affectionately attached.