THE KING OF SPAIN'S WEDDING DAY.

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nothing had occurred. The King received her in the same
manner on the staircase, gave her his hand, and immediately
led her to the chapel, where the marriage was at once cele-
brated; for in Spain the custom is to marry after dinner.
After that he led her to her chamber, and straightway went
to bed; it was before six o'clock in the evening, and both got
up again for the midnight mass. What passed between them
upon the event of the previous evening was entirely unknown,
and has always remained so. The day after Christmas-day the
King and Queen alone together in a coach, and followed by all
the Court, took the road for Madrid, where there was no more
talk of Madame des Ursins than if the King had never known
her. Our King showed not the least surprise at the news
brought to him by a courier despatched from Guadalaxara by
the Due de Sainfc Aignan, though all the Court was filled with
emotion and affright after having seen Madame des Ursins so
triumphant.

Let us now look about for some explanations that will
enable us to pierce this mystery—that remark to Torcy which
escaped the King, which Torcy could not comprehend, and
which he related to Castries, who told it to Madame la
Duchesse d'Orleans, from whom I learned it! Can we imagine
that a Parma princess brought up in a garret by an imperious
mother, would have dared to take upon herself, while six
leagues from the King of Spain whom she had never seen, a
step so bold and unheard-of, when we consider against whom
directed, a person possessing the entire confidence of that Bang
and reigning openly ? The thing is explained by the order, so
unusual and so secret, that Amenzago had from the King of
Spain to obey the Queen in everything, without reserve and
without comment; an order that became known only at the
moment when she gave orders to arrest Madame des Ursins
and take her away.

Let us remark, too, the tranquillity with which our King
and the King of Spain received the first intelligence of this
event; the inactivity of the latter, the coldness of his letter
to Madame des Ursins, and his perfect indifference what be-