Mademoiselle de la Vallière

Also known as: La Vallière / Louise / Louise de La Vallière / Louise de la Vallière / Madame de La Vallière / Mademoiselle la Baume le Blanc / the young lady · Family: French court · Role: young girl · First appears: Chapter 10

In chapter 10, Mademoiselle de la Vallière was engaged to Raoul, who had been writing her letters, while Louis XIV courted her. Madame regarded her as a rival, and De Guiche defended her when De Wardes spoke against her; Saint-Aignan called her “Mademoiselle de la Vallière is an angel,” while Manicamp described her as virtue and purity itself. De Guiche acted as her protector, and Athos came to solicit her hand for Raoul, though her position at court brought her into conflict with Anne of Austria and Duchess d'Orleans.

After Madame expelled her in chapter 25, Louise believed that Louis XIV had abandoned her. She fled the palace and, at Chaillot, resolved to enter the Carmelites and renounce the world. D’Artagnan protected her from drunken men, concealed her flight from Louis XIV, and saw her enter the convent; but Louis XIV followed, promised that she would not be exiled, and led her away from the cloister. She was recalled to Madame’s household, where Madame agreed to maintain her only while treating her as Louis XIV’s mistress. Under Madame de Navailles’s surveillance, Louise was moved to a barred top-floor room, while Montalais, her oldest and devoted friend, helped preserve her secrets. With assistance from Malicorne and Saint-Aignan, a concealed staircase was built for Louis XIV’s visits, and Louise continued to meet him, including for a portrait sitting.

By chapters 35–39, Louise made clear that she did not romantically love Raoul and loved Louis XIV instead. She exchanged letters with Louis XIV, returned to him as he wished, and shared her first kiss with him. When Montalais warned that Raoul was approaching, Louise recoiled from her former fiancé and begged him not to come near her. Raoul came to believe that she was deceiving him, and Madame later provided him with proof of her liaison with Louis XIV.

In chapters 57–61, Louis XIV promised to avenge Louise, refused consent to her marriage with Raoul, and declared, “I love Mademoiselle de la Vallière.” Raoul then lost Louise, whom he loved deeply, and she later confessed to him, “I do love another; and that other--oh! for Heaven’s sake let me say it, Raoul, for it is my only excuse--that other I love better than my own life”. Raoul said they should never meet again, and Louise fainted before Olivain carried her to the waiting carriage.