As a result, when Louis came, smarting, from a squabble with the fiery De Montespan, he would find himself, by the merest chance, in the presence of De maintenon, whose grave gentleness and attitude of awed devotion served as balm to his quarrel-jarred nerves.
"Superwomen"
Albert Payson Terhune
And De maintenon, carefully coached by Ninon, the queen of heart students, managed to awaken in the deadened royal brain a flicker of admiration that slowly warmed into love.
"Superwomen"
Albert Payson Terhune
Perhaps this pincushion has lain on her table when Madame de maintenon listened to the animating conversation of Racine, or heard him read aloud, with that spirit and deep pathos for which his reading was so remarkable, his Esther and Alhalie, previously to their performance at St.-Cyr.
"The Idler in France"
Marguerite Gardiner