The King Alters His Opinion about Madame Scarron.--He Wants Her to Assume
Another Name.--He Gives Her the Maintenon Estates.--She and Madame de
Montespan Visit These.--A Strange Story.
At first the King used to feel afraid of Madame Scarron, and seemingly
laughed at me when I endeavoured to persuade him that there was nothing
affected or singular about her. The Marquis de Beringhen, for some
reason or other, had prejudiced his Majesty against her, so that very
often, when the King heard that she was visiting me, he never got beyond
the vestibule, but at once withdrew. One day she was telling me, in her
pleasant, original way, a funny tale about the famous Brancas, and I
laughed till I cried again,--in fact, until I nearly made myself quite
ill.
The King, who was listening at the door, was greatly tickled by the
story. He came in smiling and thoroughly self-possessed. Then,
addressing the governess, he said, "Madame, allow me to compliment you
and to thank you at the same time. I thought you were of a serious,
melancholy disposition, but as I listened to you through the keyhole, I
am no longer surprised that you have such long talks with the Marquise.
Will you do me the favour of being as amusing some other time, if I
venture to make one of the party?"
The governess, courtesying, blushed somewhat; and the King continued,
"Madame, I am aware of your affection for my children; that is a great
recommendation to me; banish all restraint; I take the greatest pleasure
in your company."
She replied, "It was the fear of displeasing you which, despite myself,
caused me to incur your displeasure."
The King continued, "Madame, I know that the late M. de Scarron was a man
of much wit and also of agreeable manners. My cousin, De Beaufort, used
to rave about him, but on account of his somewhat free poems, his name
lacks weight and dignity. In fact, his name in no way fits so charming a
personality as yours; would it grieve you to change it?"
The governess cleverly replied that all that she owed to the memory of
her defunct husband was gratitude and esteem.
"Allow me, then, to arrange matters," added the King. "I am fond of
sonorous names; in this I agree with Boileau."
A few days afterwards we heard that the splendid Maintenon estates were
for sale. The King himself came to inform the widow of this, and, giving
her in advance the fee for education, he counted out a hundred thousand
crowns wherewith instantly to purchase the property.
Forthwith the King compelled her to discard this truly ridiculous
author's name, and styled her before everybody Madame de Maintenon.
I must do her the justice to state that her gratitude for the King's
liberality was well-nigh exaggerated, while no change was perceptible in
her manners and bearing. She had, naturally, a grand, dignified air,
which was in strange contrast to the grotesque buffoonery of her
poet-husband. Now she is exactly in her proper place, representing to
perfection the governess of a king's children.
Spiteful persons were wont to say that I appeared jealous on seeing her
made a marquise like myself. Good gracious, no! On the contrary, I was
delighted; her parentage was well known to me. The Duchesse de
Navailles, my protectress, was a near relative of hers, and M. d'Aubigne,
her grandfather, was one of King Henri's two Chief Gentlemen of the
Chamber.
Madame de Maintenon's father was, in many respects, greatly to blame.
Without being actually dishonest, he squandered a good deal of his
fortune, the greater part being pounced upon by his family; and had the
King forced these harpies to disgorge, Madame de Maintenon could have
lived in opulence, eclipsing several of the personages at Court.
I am glad to be able to do her justice in these Memoirs, to the
satisfaction of my own self-respect. I look upon her as my own
handiwork, and everything assures me that this is her conviction also,
and that she will always bear it in mind.
The King said to us, "Go and see the Chateau de Maintenon, and then you
can tell me all about it. According to an old book, I find that it was
built in the reign of Henri II. by Nicolas de Cointerot, the King's
minister of finance; a 'surintendant's' castle ought to form a noteworthy
feature of the landscape."
Madame de Maintenon hereupon told us a most extraordinary story. The
lady who sold this marquisate had retired two years previously to the
island of Martinique, where she, at the present moment, owned the
residence of Constant d'Aubigne, the same house where the new Marquise de
Maintenon had spent her childhood with her parents, so that while one of
these ladies had quitted the Chateau de Maintenon in order to live in
Martinique, the other had come from Martinique in order to reside at the
Chateau de Maintenon. Truly, the destinies of some are strange in this
world.
The chateau appeared to be large, of solid proportions, and built in a
grandly simple style, befitting a minister of dignity and position. The
governess shed tears of emotion when setting foot there for the first
time. The six priests, whom the surintendant had appointed, officiated
in the large chapel or little church attached to the castle.
They approached us in regular procession, presenting holy water, baskets
of flowers and fruit, an old man, a child, and two little lambs to the
Marquise. The villagers, dressed out with flowers and ribbons, also came
to pay, their respects to her. They danced in the castle courtyard,
under our balcony, to the sound of hautbois and bagpipes.
We gave them money, said pleasant things to everybody, and invited all
the six clerics to sup with us. These gentry spoke with great respect of
the other Madame de Maintenon, who had become disgusted with her
property, and with France generally, because, for two winters running,
her orange-groves and fig-trees had been frost-bitten. She herself,
being a most chilly, person, never left off her furs until August, and in
order to avoid looking at or walking upon snow and ice, she fled to the
other end of the world.
"The other extreme will bring her back to us," observed Madame de
Maintenon to the priests. "Though his Majesty were to give me Martinique
or Saint Domingo, I certainly would never go and live there myself."
When we returned, all these little details greatly amused the King. He,
too, wanted to go and see the castle of another Fouquet, but, as we
complained of the bad roads, he ordered these to be mended along the
entire route.