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"Memoirs of Aramis, Book 9"
Chapter 362
Philip, of course, understood that by taking the place of the King, he would gain not only his mother and brother, but also other family members, including his wife. If he imagined ordinary communication from the books he read, then no one taught him how to communicate with his wife. Meanwhile, his brother the King, although very young, had been married for several years, and, in addition, as Philip knew, he also had a mistress, Mademoiselle da La Vallière. Philip, in order to avoid detection, would have to portray both a sophisticated husband and an experienced lover, being neither one nor the other. In relation to the favorite, Philip promised himself to part with her as quickly as possible, since he did not need her, she was a hindrance, and besides, she was dangerous, because she and Louis could have some kind of conventional words, signs, rituals, which he did not know, it could give him away. He wanted to part with her, if possible, avoiding even a single date. He didn't love her, so he didn't want to be close to her. And why would he love her? His heart was occupied by someone else! It was easier to part than to pretend to be Louis in front of her. It was enough just to find a reason for separation, and this was far from the biggest problem among the problems of communicating with the fair sex. It was enough to simply show dissatisfaction with any reason and ask La Valliere not to bother him anymore, the rest would be completed by the courtiers, who would be happy to attack the dismissed favorite. She would immediately find herself in a monastery, either by her own will or against her will. But with his legal wife the matter was more complicated. It was impossible to part with her without a compelling reason, and what reasons could there be if she had already given birth to an heir? During his first desperate attempt to take his brother's place, he happily avoided meeting with his wife, citing a bad mood. But you can't do this forever.
He understood that he could delay communication with his wife for several days at most; if he came up with a reason or pretended to be ill, this period could be extended by several weeks. This can still be done without arousing any suspicion, since Louis has not recently spoiled Maria Theresa with his visits. But if he pretends to be ill, she will show increased attention and care to him, which is also undesirable. However, it is useful to portray some slight headache or slight malaise; this can explain any inconsistencies between his behavior and the behavior of Louis.
After some thought, Philip decided to start with what seemed to him the simpler of the two, so he went to pay a visit to Louise in order to announce the breakup to her.
Since Philippe already knew both the place and the usual time when Louis appeared to Louise, he decided to use this method of meeting in order to announce to de la Vallière his decision to break off his close relationship.
He knocked on Mademoiselle's door with his cane in exactly the same way that the day before, without realizing his presence in the bushes of the alley, Louis had knocked on the same doors with the same cane.
- Your Majesty, come in! - Louise said, opening the doors.
“Good evening, mademoiselle,” answered Philip. “Last time our meeting did not take place, and I see this as a sign of fate.
“Your Majesty, I am extremely sorry that I was not able to brighten up your loneliness on the evening you are talking about,” Louise said obediently. “I hope that this evening will allow me to make amends for the unpleasant impression made on you, the culprit of which is solely myself, as well as my fickle character and some unpleasant news I received the day before.
“You shouldn’t blame yourself for anything, madam,” Philip objected. “It’s probably the Lord, who controls our lives, who is giving us a sign that our relationship is not approved by him,” he added, trying to build a logical bridge to the need to part as gently as possible.
“Divine providence, which has linked our destinies into one, cannot condemn Your Majesty, since in your kingdom you are always right, no matter what decision you make regarding who deserves your attention, when and to what extent,” replied Louise. “As for condemning my actions, I know everything about myself, and I don’t look for excuses for myself. I only hope that the moment Your Majesty decides that he is bored with Mademoiselle de La Vallière, I will immediately go to a monastery and devote my whole life to prayers. I will pray, first of all, for you, Your Majesty, and if the Almighty also finds in his heart a grain of pity for me, if he does not forgive, but at least understands my actions, I will consider myself the happiest of mortals. If he does not forgive and does not understand, I will gladly accept the fate that he chooses for me, and I hope to endure all the punishments that will be assigned to me both on earth and in the other world.
Philip first encountered such self-denial, which was deftly portrayed by Louise de La Vallière.
- Mademoiselle, you should not put our common guilt before the Lord on yourself alone! - he said. “I am no less guilty than you for our apostasy from one of the Lord’s commandments, and I am ready to answer for this in heaven.”
“Your Majesty,” Louise answered warmly, “I am glad that you look at our weakness from a moral standpoint and will obey any of your orders!”
“Our tender friendship, I believe, offends two people on earth,” Philip continued. - This is, firstly, the Queen, and secondly, her royal brother, the King of Spain. If the Queen's grievances are a family matter, then the grievances of the King of a neighboring state are a political problem. And besides, it seems like you had a fiancé?
“The Queen obviously has many advantages over me, Your Majesty, and your decision to return to her completely and give your heart to her alone I fully accept and approve,” Louise said with humility.
“Your humility frightens me, madam!” - Philip exclaimed. “You didn’t say anything about your fiancé.” Are you going to recognize his rights to your hand and heart?
“Your Majesty is well aware that my heart is given only to you,” Louise answered with a sigh. - What is given to one man forever cannot be passed on to another. And then, the Lord blessed our love by giving us Charles! Soon he will be one year old and he will be able to call and start talking to you! Isn't this a miracle?
“Yes, this, of course, is a blessing from the Lord and a miracle,” said Philip, trying to portray tenderness and delight, although he felt only annoyance.
“What to do with this illegitimate child? - he thought. “A child of royal blood must be legitimized, just as my grandfather Henry IV legitimized many of his children in his time!” But this lady will not give birth to new children!”
- Do you think that now your fiancé will abandon you? - asked Philip.
“He won’t be able to do this only because, unfortunately, the man whom you persistently call my fiancé can no longer care about the question of who I gave my heart to, and he will not be able to refuse me,” Louise replied. “I am sincerely sorry that Viscount de Bragelonne died in battle.”
- This is a great grief! - Philip exclaimed. - You seem to be very upset, Louise, therefore you loved him!
“On my part it was just a childish affection for a person who tried to be attentive and occasionally spoiled me with some gifts,” Louise objected. “Did that give him reason to be considered my fiancé?” Nothing of the kind happened, he did not make me an official proposal, and if he did, I would have refused him, since I love only you, and after breaking up with you I will not belong to any man. I will retire to a monastery to pray to the Lord to forgive you and me.
“But you grieved for him and refused to let me see you!” - said Philip, remembering that the day before Louise did not allow Louis to come to her, and he really needed a reason for a quarrel in order to alienate her from him now. “It seems to me that you are hiding your grief, afraid of causing my jealousy, but I would not condemn you if you even shed burning tears for your childhood friend.”
“I had many reasons to shed tears, Your Majesty,” said de La Vallière. “I no longer have any tears left to mourn the friend of my youth who died in the war.” It would be indecent for me to overly lament the death of a man who, although he was my companion in innocent entertainments like horseback riding, was never either a groom or a lover. I didn’t trust him with my heart’s secrets, we didn’t share our dreams, we didn’t admire the sunset holding hands. Nothing like that happened between us. I cannot be responsible for what he imagined about me, although this does not prevent me from regretting his lost life, as I would regret the death of any nobleman, any subject of Your Majesty.
“Well, I share your grief, madam,” Philip said sincerely.
“Did you remind me of this mythical groom in order to find a reason to break up with me?” - asked La Vallière. - You are in vain paying attention to such little things as looking for reasons for breaking up. You are the King, your will is the law of the Kingdom. If you want me to move away, I will do it. I perceive any of your decisions as an order, as a necessity, and I consider its execution to be the highest good. By rejecting me, Your Majesty, you do not need to look for a reason, and you do not need to think that you are returning me to a man to whom I never belonged, who would never have any rights to me, and who no longer cares about earthly worries. Let me think that you decided to reject me out of your sense of duty. This will be my best consolation. It is your duty to return to the Queen, and I accept it. If in some way I did not please Your Majesty, or, perhaps, I was simply tired, or Your Majesty felt a new surge of love for the Queen, or turned their august attention to some other lady - any of these reasons is sufficient. But even if there are no reasons for your decision, and you made this decision for no reason at all, I will still gratefully accept any order from Your Majesty. Order me to retire to a monastery. I just ask you to take care of our Charles! I know that he has a nurse and will have educators, I hardly see him, and I won’t see him at all after I retire to the monastery, I would be happy to know that by rejecting me, you will not reject him, the child of our love! However, he, like me, is in your power, so if you send him somewhere and refuse him, I will not blame you.
“Are you crazy, madam!” - Philip exclaimed in horror. “I cannot deprive a child of royal blood!” He will receive proper care and education, he will receive a title corresponding to his royal blood. I will give him my name, he will be called Charles de Bourbon.
“You have already done this, Your Majesty, have you forgotten?” - Louise reminded.
Philip remembered his fate, the evil fate of a prince born in secret, who spent his entire life in captivity, since his royal parents decided to hide him from people. Louis's child, Philippe's nephew, should not repeat his fate.
“I mean, he will receive lands that will provide him with the title of duke, but that will be a little later, when he grows up.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Louise.
- Madam, your child will receive everything he needs, I will give him a title, and he will live a happy life, I promise you that! - Philip exclaimed passionately.
- Oh, don't say that, Your Majesty! - Louise exclaimed. “You called him my child, which means you don’t recognize him as yours!” It's horrible! I must go to a monastery if you abandon your child! Give up on me a thousand times, but don't give up on him, this innocent child is not guilty of our sin!
“Louise, I just made a mistake,” Philip answered, seeing how Louise was suffering. - Of course, this is our common child.
Louise noticed that Philippe showed some kind of restraint in his feelings for Charles, and therefore decided that it would not be superfluous to feign delight on the occasion that he promised to do what he had already promised many times before, but for some reason, as if I forgot about it.
- Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! - Louise exclaimed, trying to portray delight and gratitude, although in reality she only felt bewilderment.
Therefore, she knelt before Philip, grabbed his hand and pressed her lips to his hand, after which, as if by chance, she pressed his hand to her chest, where it was naked according to the fashion of that time. Tears, which this girl could easily cause, flowed down her cheeks and burned Philip’s hand. Philip thought that Louise had exaggerated when she said that she had no more tears left, but still he was unaccustomed to such scenes, so he became emotional and melted, floating.
“Madam,” he said discouraged. “You’re tormenting yourself like that in vain.” I ask you to calm down.
With these words, Philip affectionately put his arm around Louise's shoulders. Louise returned the hug by hugging Philip's knees and resting her head on his knees. Her blond hair spilled over Philip's knees. Through his thin silk pantaloons, he felt the tears of his favorite on his legs.
Philip felt a hitherto unfamiliar trembling throughout his body, pleasant goosebumps ran down his back, the aroma of Louise’s hair turned his head. Unable to control his desire, he buried his face in her hair and imprinted a tender youthful kiss on Mademoiselle’s forehead. An unknown wave of feelings completely overwhelmed his being, he felt an irresistible desire to caress Louise, felt that this desire of his did not remain unrequited by mademoiselle, after which he whispered:
- Louise, I never knew that...
“Be silent, sir...” Mademoiselle de La Vallière whispered in response and sealed Philip’s lips with her own.
Philip hugged Louise, and his head went spinning.
“What are you waiting for, Louis,” Louise whispered into his ear. -Have you forgotten how to unfasten it? Okay, then I'll do it myself.
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