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308 LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE. coolness, so unusual with his unfailing good-humor, but she remembered that he had lost his appointment on her account, and that he could hardly be very amiably disposed toward her, since, in all probability, she would never be in a position to make him any recompense for what he had lost. She knew how to forgive ofEenses, and with still greater reason could she sympathize with misfortune. La Valliere would have asked Montalais her opinion, if she had been there; but she was absent, it being the hour she usually devoted to her own correspondence. Suddenly La Valliere observed something thrown from the window where Mali- corne had been standing, pass across the open space which separated the two windows from each other, enter her room through the iron bars, and roll upon the floor. She ad- vanced Avith no little curiosity toward this object, and picked it up; it was a winder for silk, only, in this instance, instead of silk, a small piece of paper was rolled round it. La Valliere unrolled it, and read the following: "Mademoiselle: I am exceedingly anxious to learn two things: the first is, to know if the flooring of your apartment is wood or brick; the second, to know at what distance your bed is placed from the window. Forgive my importunity, and will you be good enough to send me an answer by the same way you receive this letter — that is to say, by means of the silk-winder; only, instead of throwing it into my room, as I have thrown it into yours, which will be too difficult for you to attempt, have the goodness merely to let it fall. Believe me, mademoiselle, your most humble and most respectful servant. Malicorne. "Write the reply, if you please, upon the letter itself." "Ah! poor fellow," exclaimed La Valliere, "he must have gone out of his mind;" and she directed toward her correspondent — of whom she caught but a faint glimpse, in consequence of the darkness of his room — a look full of compassionate consideration. Malicorne understood her, and shook his head, as if he meant to say, "No, no; I am not out of my mind; be quite satisfied." She smiled, as if still in doubt. "No, no," he signified by a gesture, "ray head is perfectly right;" and pointed to his head; then, after moving his hand like a man who writes very rapidly, he put his hands together, as if entreating her to write. La Valliere, even if he were mad, saw no impropriety in