Free The Hurlyburly's Husband by Jean Teulé Page B

chin, motioned to the servant to leave the room, then she asked, ‘Will Madame be having lunch as well?’
    ‘And that is not all!’ declared the marquise to her husband. ‘The King is also offering me the succession to all the butcher shops in Paris!’
    ‘The what?’ asked Louis-Henri, astounded.
    ‘The tax which the butchers pay when they pass on their produce. Before, the aristocrat who owned this privilege received an aboivrement from the butchers – a feast and a cake made with eggs – but now it’s gold coins.’
    ‘And the King has made you such a gift? What a curious idea.’
    ‘It is to help us.’
    ‘But why should he do so?’
    ‘I believe His Majesty appreciates me. I cheer him by imitating the expressions and simpering ways of the girls who seek to capture his royal heart. Ever since I arrived at Versailles, Louis has been attending the Queen’s going-to-bed ceremony. He comes to hear me chronicle the day’s events: no one escapes the gibes of my wit. He has deserted his mistress La Vallière to come and listen to me. The Queen is most pleased with me and has heaped her thanks upon me.’
    ‘This is wonderful!’ said Montespan, sitting down at the table, whilst the cook served the marquise and she joined him.
    ‘What do you make of—’
    ‘Have you inadvertently dropped a lemon in the soup? How different from the delicacies prepared by the master chefs at Versailles,’ remarked Athénaïs, putting her spoon down and pushing her dish away in front of Madame Larivière, who registered the affront.
    ‘For this evening I had planned some cauliflower steamed in a nutmeg bouillon. But perhaps Madame would prefer a sole – the partridge of the sea – or some woodcocks with buttered toast.’
    ‘I won’t be dining here. I merely came to fetch some gowns before returning to court. Tell the servant to prepare them for me.’
    ‘You’re leaving already?’ asked her husband.
    His spouse, her elbows on the table, interlaced her fingers and rested her chin on them. ‘You know that His Majesty also appreciates you, Louis-Henri.’
    ‘Me?’
    ‘Yes, you, and with regard to your company of light cavalry and miquelets, for which you are lacking funds, the King has ordered the State to pay the difference.’
    ‘You jest! He never does anything of the like for anyone, so for ...’
    ‘This message from Louvois is addressed to you,’ Athénaïs said with a smile, taking a letter from beneath her bodice.
    ‘The Secretary of State for War would write to me?’
    The Gascon could not get over what he had just learnt, and he read the letter out loud.

    ‘Monsieur de Montespan,

    Notwithstanding His Majesty’s resolution to abstain from lending any support to cavalry companies, he did nevertheless order me to inform you that he is willing to support your company considering the expense you have incurred in order to equip it.

    ‘Well, I never …

    ‘I am presently informing the Duc de Noailles of His Majesty’s decision in your favour, in order that he may expedite your company to a district of Roussillon, where there will be greater opportunity to serve the King—

    ‘On the Spanish border? I would have preferred to follow him to Flanders, but …

    ‘—so that you shall thereby be worthy of a regiment at the first opportunity that arises.

    ‘What? A regiment, for me?

    ‘I am most pleased for your sake about the consideration His Majesty has shown you, and assure you that I shall always facilitate further such consideration as may come your way.

    François Michel Le Tellier
    Marquis de Louvois

    ‘Further consideration? But why?’
    Athénaïs avoided raising her eyes from the edge of the table.
    ‘I don’t know…’
    Madame Larivière watched her for a moment, then picked up the dishes, which no one seemed to be interested in. She left the salon and on the landing she called out, ‘Dorothée!’ Louis-Henri was touched to see the way Marie-Christine, standing by the chair, wrapped