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,