380 3IEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON.

autumn. It was there that his liking, stimulated by absence,
made him find that absence insupportable. Upon his return it
is pretended—for we must distinguish the certain from that
which is not so—it is pretended, I say, that the King spoke
more freely to Madame de Maintenon, and that she, venturing
to put forth her strength, retrenched herself behind devotion
and prudery; that the King did not cease, that she preached
to him and made him afraid of the devil, and that she balanced
his love against his conscience witli so much art, that she suc-
ceeded in becoming what our eyes have seen her, but what
posterity will never believe she was.

But what is very certain and very true, is, that some time
after the return of the King from Fontainebleau, and in the
midst of the winter that followed the death of the Queen (pos-
terity will with difficulty believe ifc, although perfectly true
and proved), Pere de la Chaise, confessor of the King, said mass
at the dead of night in one of the King's cabinets at Versailles,
Bontems, governor of Versailles, chief valet on duty, and the
most confidential of the four, was present at this mass, at which
the monarch and La Maintenon were married in presence of
Harlay, archbishop of Paris, as diocesan, of Louvois (both of
whom drew from the King a promise that he would never
.declare this marriage), and of Montchevreuil. This last
was relative and friend of Villarceaux, to whom during the
summer he lent his house at Montchevreuil, remaining there
himself, however, with his wife; and in that house Villar-
ceaux kept Madame Scarron, paying all the expenses because
his relative was poor, and because he (Villarceaux) was ashamed
to take her to his own home, to live in concubinage with
her in the presence of his wife whose patience and virtue he
respected.

The satiety of the honeymoon, usually so fatal, and especially
the honeymoon of such marriages, only consolidated the favour
of Madame de Maintenon. Soon after, she astonished every-
body by the apartments given to her at Versailles, at the top
of the grand staircase facing those of the King and on the
same floor. From that moment the King always passed some