Madame de Belliere

Also known as: Elise / the marquise / your ladyship · Role: marquise · First appears: Chapter 26

In chapter 26, Madame de Belliere is married to Monsieur de Belliere, whom she says she has regretted since his death two years earlier. She is friends with Marguerite Vanel, though they are also rivals: after Marguerite Vanel stealthily takes her concealed letter from M. Fouquet, Madame de Belliere collapses as the carriage leaves. She is being courted by M. Fouquet, while Colbert is her enemy; Marguerite Vanel also works against her.

In 1648, chapter 27, Madame de Belliere turns to her friend M. Faucheux for ready money, offering her jewels and ordering her gold and silver plate melted down: “Melt it down, and return me its value in money, at once.” Within four days M. Faucheux accepts the jewels, and three hours after she visits him, she receives eight hundred francs in gold. Her dealings also recall the plate presented by M. de Belliere at her marriage.

By chapter 28, Madame de Belliere brings her fortune to Fouquet and offers him both her love and herself entirely. He rejects her financial assistance at first, but accepts her love and million-franc dowry; she later reaffirms her feelings in a letter after their two-day stay together: “It is but an hour since I quitted you, it is an age since I told you how much I love you.”