LA PELEGRINA. 73
January.
In the meantime she was kept in the closest seclusion. Not all the
power of the King of Spain joined to the love which Charles bore to his
wife was sufficient to break down the adamantine wall of etiquette
which long usage had built around the queens of Spain. Like a Moorish
slave in a harem, the gay young French girl was shut up alone with her
Lady of the Bedchamber and was permitted to see no one except the
King. She was not allowed to write to her own family nor receive their
letters. She was even refused permission to read a letter from Paris
whioh a compassionate friend sent her in order that she might hear a
little news. She was a prisoner indeed, although the prison was gilded.
It needed something to atone for two months of such a life, and if a
grand display could sweep away the recollection of it that consolation
was not withheld.
On January 13, 1680, the Bride-Queen at last entered Madrid. Madame la Mothe, whose keen French eyes saw evervlhing and whose
