"What! when I have discharged one of my attendants, do you order me to take her back again ?" The king remained silent.
"This would be a sheer abuse of power, sire; it would be indecorous and unseemly." "Madame!" "As a woman, I should revolt against an abuse so insulting to me; I should no longer be able to regard myself as a princess of your blood, a daughter of a monarch; I should be the meanest of creatures, more humbled and disgraced than the servant I had sent away." The king rose from his seat with anger.

"It cannot be a heart," he cried, "you have beating in your bosom; if you act in such a way with me, I may have reason to act with corresponding severity." It sometimes happens that in a battle a chance ball may reach its mark.

The observation which the king had made without any particular intention, struck Madame home, and staggered her for a moment; some day or other she might indeed have reason to dread reprisals.

"At all events, sire," she said, "explain what you require." "I ask, madame, what has Mademoiselle de la Valliere done to warrant your conduct toward her ?" "She is the most cunning fomenter of intrigues I know; she was the occasion of two personal friends engaging in mortal combat; and has made people talk of her in such shameless terms that the whole court is indignant at the mere sound of her name." "She! she!" cried the king.
"Under her soft and hypocritical manner," continued Madame, "she hides a disposition full of foul and dark conceit." "She!" "You may possibly be deceived, sire, but I know her right well; she is capable of creating dispute and misunderstanding between the most affectionate relatives and the most intimate friends.

You see that she has already sown discord betwixt us two." "I do assure you--" said the king.
"Sire, look well into the case as it stands; we were living on the most friendly understanding, and by the artfulness of her tales and complaints, she has set your majesty against me." "I swear to you," said the king, "that on no occasion has a bitter word ever passed her lips; I swear that, even in my wildest bursts of passion, she would not allow me to menace any one; and I swear, too, that you do not possess a more devoted and respectful friend than she is." "Friend!" said Madame, with an expression of supreme disdain.
"Take care, Madame!" said the king; "you forget that you now understand me, and that from this moment everything is equalized.