Her face revealed her agitation, which betrayed a plan, the execution of which occupied, while the result disturbed, her mind.
"I came to ascertain," she said, "if your majesties are suffering any fatigue from our journey." "None at all," said the queen-mother.
"A little," replied Maria Theresa.
"I have suffered from annoyance more than anything else," said Madame.
"How was that ?" inquired Anne of Austria.
"The fatigue the king undergoes in riding about on horseback." "That does the king good." "And it was I who advised him," said Maria Theresa, turning pale.
Madame said not a word in reply; but one of those smiles which were peculiarly her own flitted for a moment across her lips, without passing over the rest of her face; then, immediately changing the conversation, she continued, "We shall find Paris precisely the Paris we quitted; the same intrigues, plots, and flirtations going on." "Intrigues! What intrigues do you allude to ?" inquired the queen-mother.
"People are talking a good deal about M.Fouquet and Madame Plessis-Belliere." "Who makes up the number to about ten thousand," replied the queen-mother.

"But what are the plots you speak of ?" "We have, it seems, certain misunderstandings with Holland to settle." "What about ?" "Monsieur has been telling me the story of the medals." "Oh!" exclaimed the young queen, "you mean those medals struck in Holland, on which a cloud is seen passing across the sun, which is the king's device.

You are wrong in calling that a plot--it is an insult." "But so contemptible that the king can well despise it," replied the queen-mother.

"Well, what are the flirtations which are alluded to?
Do you mean that of Madame d'Olonne ?" "No, no; nearer ourselves than that." "_Casa de usted_," murmured the queen-mother, and without moving her lips, in her daughter-in-law's ear, without being overheard by Madame, who thus continued:--"You know the terrible news ?" [4] "Oh, yes; M.de Guiche's wound." "And you attribute it, I suppose, as every one else does, to an accident which happened to him while hunting ?" "Yes, of course," said both the queens together, their interest awakened.
Madame drew closer to them, as she said, in a low tone of voice, "It was a duel." "Ah!" said Anne of Austria, in a severe tone; for, in her ears, the word "duel," which had been forbidden in France all the time she reigned over it, had a strange sound.
"A most deplorable duel, which has nearly cost Monsieur two of his best friends, and the king two of his best servants." "What was the cause of the duel ?" inquired the young queen, animated by a secret instinct.
"Flirtation," repeated Madame, triumphantly.

"The gentlemen in question were conversing about the virtue of a particular lady belonging to the court.