La Valliere in her turn, blushingly thanked the painter and passed into the next room, where the king followed her, after having previously summoned Saint-Aignan.
"Will you not come to-morrow ?" he said to La Valliere.
"Oh! sire, pray think that some one will be sure to come to my room, and will not find me there." "Well ?" "What will become of me in that case ?" "You are very apprehensive, Louise." "But at all events, suppose Madame were to send for me ?" "Oh!" replied the king, "will the day never come when you yourself will tell me to brave everything so that I may not have to leave you again ?" "On that day, sire, I shall be quite out of my mind, and you must not believe me." "To-morrow, Louise." La Valliere sighed, but, without the courage to oppose her royal lover's wish, she repeated, "To-morrow, then, since you desire it, sire," and with these words she ran lightly up the stairs, and disappeared from her lover's gaze.
"Well, sire ?" inquired Saint-Aignan, when she had left.
"Well, Saint-Aignan, yesterday I thought myself the happiest of men." "And does your majesty, then, regard yourself to-day," said the comte, smiling, "as the unhappiest of men ?" "No; but my love for her is an unquenchable thirst; in vain do I drink, in vain do I swallow the drops of water which your industry procures for me; the more I drink, the more unquenchable it becomes." "Sire, that is in some degree your own fault, and your majesty alone has made the position such as it is." "You are right." "In that case, therefore, the means to be happy, is to fancy yourself satisfied, and to wait." "Wait! you know that word, then ?" "There, there, sire--do not despair: I have already been at work on your behalf--I have still other resources in store." The king shook his head in a despairing manner.
"What, sire! have you not been satisfied hitherto ?" "Oh! yes, indeed, yes, my dear Saint-Aignan; but invent, for Heaven's sake, invent some further project yet." "Sire, I undertake to do my best, and that is all that any one can do." The king wished to see the portrait again, as he was unable to see the original.

He pointed out several alterations to the painter and left the room, and then Saint-Aignan dismissed the artist.

The easel, paints, and painter himself, had scarcely gone, when Malicorne showed his head in the doorway.

He was received by Saint-Aignan with open arms, but still with a little sadness, for the cloud which had passed across the royal sun, veiled, in its turn, the faithful satellite, and Malicorne at a glance perceived the melancholy that brooded on Saint-Aignan's face.
"Oh, monsieur le comte," he said, "how sad you seem!" "And good reason too, my dear Monsieur Malicorne.

Will you believe that the king is still dissatisfied ?" "With his staircase, do you mean ?" "Oh, no; on the contrary, he is delighted with the staircase." "The decorations of the apartments, I suppose, don't please him." "Oh! he has not even thought of that.