Epernon and Montbazon; but with no result.
Such being my state of mind, and such the suspense I suffered
during two days, it may be imagined that M. Bassompierre was not
more happy. Despairing of the King's favour unless he could
clear up the matter, and by the event justify his indiscretion,
he became for those two days the wonder, and almost the terror,
of the Court. Ignorant of what he wanted, the courtiers found
only insolence in his mysterious questions, and something
prodigious in an activity which carried him in one day to Paris
and back, and on the following to every place in the vicinity
where news of the fleeting beauty might by any possibility be
gained; so that he far outstripped my agents, who were on the
same quest. But though I had no mean opinion of his abilities, I
hoped little from these exertions, and was proportionately
pleased when, on the third day, he came to me with a radiant face
and invited me to attend the Queen that evening.
"The King will be there," he said, "and I shall surprise you.
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