As it happened, however, I was that day at Fontainebleau, and
hunted with the King; and, favoured both by chance and the
confidence with which my master never failed to honour me, am
able not only to refute this story, but to narrate the actual
facts from which it took its rise. And though there are some, I
know, who boast that they had the tale from the King's own mouth,
I undertake to prove either that they are romancers who seek to
add an inch to their stature, or dull fellows who placed their
own interpretation on the hasty words he vouchsafed such
chatterers.
As a fact, the King, on that day wishing to discuss with me the
preparations for the Queen's entry, bade me keep close to him,
since he had more inclination for my company than the chase. But
the crowd that attended him was so large, the day being fine and
warm--and comprised, besides, so many ladies, whose badinage and
gaiety he could never forego--that I found him insensibly drawn
from me. Far from being displeased, I was glad to see him forget
the moodiness which had of late oppressed him; and beyond keeping
within sight of him, gave up, for the time, all thought of
affairs, and found in the beauty of the spectacle sufficient
compensation.
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