they were no longer audible, nor did she move until s

, conspicuous for size and beauty, hung immediately opposite to the sofa whereon she was reclining. It was the full length portrait of a handsome youth. He was not tall, but he was gracefully proportioned. His shoulders were broad; and, rising from the midst of a slender throat, adorned with a fall of lace, appeared his stately head crowned with a wealth of long, brown curls. His face was of a beautiful oval, his complexion clear, his mouth wreathed with happy smiles. The brow was high and arche

ielding to an influence altogether objective, she rose from her seat and advanced toward the portrait, where sh

had she loved that princely boy, who, careless, happy, and fickle, was bestowing upon other women the roses which

estered; the old sorrow still sang its mournful dirge within a heart which to-day beat as wildly as ever, and felt a pang

same-a short dream of gratified ambition, followed by long years of humiliation. It seemed that the prosperity and happiness of Cardinal Mazari

love to her, and had been sent as a souvenir of "the brightest hour of his life." He had barely reached his thirty-seventh year, and yet this winsome youth had been transfo

recommend her to the favor of a monarch- -a woman who had been the paid governess of the kin

re, whose outlines contributed much to the grace with which the folds of a blue satin dress fell in rich profusion around it. The white shoulders were scarcely concealed by a shawl of superb lace, and the arms, still round, were set off by costly bracelets. The raven hair, with not a trace of time's f

ivals. Was not Madame de Maintenon her elder by three years? And as for De Montespan, was she not wasting away into an old woman? If they had found it possible to win the heart of this sensual Louis, why not s

this truant merlin, and he shall return to perch upon the hand he used to love! I will be mistress of his

ver, and her fine features were distorted by some sudden pain. She h

ers should have been f

hat would

the dull sound of a muffled drum, a sad procession entered upon the scene. At its head marched a battalion of soldiers, and behind them, seated in the felon's cart, came a pale, beautiful woman, who ever and anon pressed to her quivering lips the crucifix held out to her by a priest-that last link of sympathy between the convict and his fellow-creatures. At the criminal's side, in symbolic robes of sanguinary red, was the executioner that was to sever this slender tie, and wrench the spirit from the body to whose guardianship God had committed it on earth. Silently the hideous cortege moved on, while the crowd fell b

s. Neither her rank, her charms, nor the strenuous efforts of her powerful friends, had been adequate to save her from the headsman's axe. She had been convicted of poisoning, and had shared the fat

ountess de Soissons. Not only for Olympia, however, was the arrest of Catherine a calamity, for she was the trusty counsellor of man

ted the door within, and, crossing the room, mounted a chair that stood by the side of a tall mirror set in a thick

, hastily drawing a key from a pocket concealed within the folds of her dress, she unlocked the

On the mantel, which corresponded to this immense hearth, were ranged pipkins and other vessels of different sizes, interspersed with rows of phials and flasks containing liquids of ever

icks. Over these sticks she poured a fluid from one of her flasks, and then rubbing them briskly together, they bega

small door which had been concealed behind them, above the mantel. From a reces

nutive phials. One of these phials she held up to the lig

en upon me, and her secrets are mine. Her last, best gift shall restore me to my throne. Not only did she leave me the means of success

ds of her lace tucker, murmuring the while, "I shall sip of th

in the casket, and weighing t

ld be destroyed: what if I should forget? But no! oblivion of their treasured secrets were impossible

e casket. The blue flames leaped high as these last were added to the

or might betray me. People might suspect me of havi

casement, and the noxious cloud

ve noses into my sanctum, they will find nothing for their pains but an innocent laboratory wherein t

ully, and then glanced sharply around the room to

r guilt consumed, and their ash

dreams of the morning. When she had reached her boudoir again, and the complaisant mirror had resumed its place, she drew the flask from her

o make me mistress of

to begin

e phial, and listened breathlessly, while her straining eyes were fixed upon the door as

yrmidons of Louvois had come with a lettre de cachet! What if-No! not even HE would go so far in his enmity to the nie

ss the room, draw back the bolt, and to

no sooner recognized him than she smiled, and, with a sl

uth, sadly. "I come to ask of m