as he, in fact, was, when it was reported to him.

“It is very evident,” he remarked to the comte, “that Mademoiselle de la Valliere hoped that you would be at least ten minutes later.”

“And the king that I should be half an hour later, dear Monsieur Malicorne.”

“You would show but very indifferent devotion to the king,” replied the latter, “if you were to refuse his majesty that half-hour’s satisfaction.”

“But the painter,” objected Saint-Aignan.

“I will take care of him,” said Malicorne, “only I must study faces and circumstances a little better before I act; those are my magical inventions