The Hurlyburly's Husband Read Online Free PDF Page A

Louis-Henri, he admired his wife’s flamboyance; her brilliant red lips, whence nothing emerged that was not a word he loved, were a nest of delight. But he lowered his eyes to his plate.
    ‘Athénaïs, we play cards all the time, we lose, debts are piling up like clouds. I owe money everywhere – to my tailor, my gunsmith, my friends. Financially, we have no support, and we are embarking upon a perilous life.’
    A valet de table brought Athénaïs a plate of oysters, ‘all alive’, and some cabbage with bacon for Louis-Henri. The molluscs’ muscles had already been snipped in the kitchen, so the fair blonde needed only to raise them up, tilt the shell and let the flesh slide between her lips. As in the time of Ancient Rome, she preferred her oysters milky, so before swallowing them, she bit the pouch. The milk ran to the edge of her lips: a few ducs looked on, and the temperature rose. They tugged at their collars whilst the Marquis de Montespan continued, ‘In five months, we have already exhausted the fifteen thousand livres of annual pension my parents send me, and the interest on the dowry paid by your parents, who do not have vast means either. And everything is dear in Paris, and two servants in the house! Everything costs double or triple here. One hundred livres the rent for the apartments, maintenance of the carriage and the coachman costs twelve livres a day. So I have taken a decision ...’
    ‘Are we going to live in the foothills of the Pyrenees in your Château de Montespan?’ smiled the marquise dreamily, swallowing another oyster, just as the asparagus and red beans were brought to their table.
    ‘Nay, for ’twould not be good enough for you. Ennobled by Louis XIII as a reward for services rendered by an ancestor, the land of the two villages – Antin and Montespan – was established as a marquisate. The family settled first in the chateau at Antin, but because it was about to collapse, they removed to the one at Montespan. Until that chateau, too, was in dire condition. And so they went to live at Bonnefont, where I was born. Alas, it is not a fine chateau. With its broken stones, covered in brambles, surrounded by the stagnant water of the moat, it is not worthy of you…’
    ‘What, then, is your idea to set things aright, my fine husband?’ she asked Louis-Henri, giving him as always an amused smile.
    She picked up an asparagus shoot and raised it to her lips as if she were playing a flute. She turned her gaze towards the comtes in the room, who lifted a corner of the tablecloth to wipe their brows, whilst Louis-Henri continued with what he had to say.
    ‘I will go to serve in the army, pay the blood tribute, and become captain of a company of pikemen.’
    Athénaïs continued to look at the dining hall, at the velvet curtains in the windows, the bouquets of flowers on the tables.
    ‘Monsieur, I forbid you to put a single one of your charming feet upon a battlefield.’ Then she looked Louis-Henri straight in the eye. ‘Your three brothers have already gone to their deaths in combat, and you are made for peace. Do not do it for me. We shall—’
    But Montespan interrupted her. ‘It is the only way out, for aristocrats do not have the right to work, and business and trade are forbidden to us. A military exploit would also be the most glorious way to obtain amnesty from His Majesty for my family’s sins. I have been considering it for a long time, waiting for a war. Fortunately, a city in Lorraine has just rebelled against the King’s power, and he has decided to besiege it. This is my long-awaited opportunity. I will go further into debt to equip my troops but I dream only of a battle to rescue me from obscurity.’
    ‘You are not eating?’ asked the marquise, astonished, pecking at a piece of bacon from her husband’s plate. ‘Will it be dangerous? What is the problem with that city? Is it not the one that defends Metz, Lunéville and Nancy?’
    ‘Last year, Charles IV, Duc de