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140 LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE. was hidden behind the clouds, and filtered through the heated vapor which rose from the ground like a scorching wind, bearing particles of fine dust against the faces of the hasty travelers. Madame was the first to complain of the heat. Monsieur's only reply was to throw himself back in the carriage, as if he were about to faint, and to inundate himself with scents and perfumes, uttering the deepest sighs all the while; whereupon madame said to him, with her most amiable expression: "Eeally, Monsieur, I fancied that you would have been polite enough, on account of the terrible heat, to have left me my carriage to myself, and to have performed the journey yourself on horseback." "Eide on horseback!" cried the prince, with an accent of dismay which showed how little idea he had of adopting this strange project; "you cannot suppose such a thing, madame; my skin would peel off if I were to expose myself to such a burning air as this." Madame began to laugh. "You can take my parasol," she said. "But the trouble of holding it!" replied Monsieur, with the greatest coolness; "besides, I have no horse." "How, no horse?" replied the princess, who, if she did not obtain the solitude she required, at least obtained the amusement of teasing. "No horse! You are mistaken. Monsieur; for I see your favorite bay out yonder." "My bay horse!" exclaimed the prince, attempting to lean forward to look out of the door; but the movement he was obliged to make cost him so much trouble that he soon hastened to resume his immobility. "Yes," said madame; "your horse, led by Monsieur de Malicorne." "Poor beast," replied the prince; "how warm it will soon be!" And with these words he closed his eyes, like a man on the point of death. Madame, on her side, reclined in- dolently in the other corner of the carriage, and closed her eyes also, not, however, to sleep, but to think more at her ease. In the meantime the king, seated in the front seat of the carriage, the back of which he had yielded up to the two queens, was a prey to that restless, feverish contrariety experienced by anxious lovers, who, without^ being able to quench their ardent thirst, are ceaselessly desirous of seeing the loved object, and then go away partially satisfied, with- out perceiving that they have acquired a more burning thirst than ever. The king, whose carriage headed the