A Little Chaos Page #3

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of such exquisite taste

falls in with a clay

kicker like Andre here?

I must confess to being a clay

kicker myself, Your Highness.

I am working for

the master at Versailles.

I am unable to picture it.

Do tell us

how it is that you are.

Oh. May I present

Marquis du Vasse?

Master Le Notre, Madame de Barra.

Delighted.

But the mystery remains, madame.

What is a woman of such

restrained sophistication

doing with Nolly here?

I speak from the opposite

end of the fashion scale.

I don't apologize for it,

I like it about myself.

Answer, madame.

Stop me talking.

It was the only thing I

knew how to do, for money.

And you enjoy your profession?

It stimulates you?

It has seen me

through some very hard times

and allowed me

to be independent.

Dearest!

I simply do as I am told.

Even down to marrying

large German women.

Though, I confess, I like her

better than my last wife,

who is dead as a

doornail now, thank God.

Do kiss me, husband.

I am in need of affection.

It is wonderful to have

access to one's spouse.

My dear, we're being very rude.

Princess Palatine,

Duchess of Orleans,

may I present

Madame de Barra, who...

Nolly, what is Madame

de Barra engaged to do?

Hold for this, my dear,

it will interest you.

She is to build a water

cascade at Versailles.

Nothing like it will

exist in the gardens.

How fascinating.

I am a great admirer

of engineering.

Madame, you must promise

to show us.

Perhaps Your Highnesses

would care to take lunch

at the Louveciennes aqueduct?

Is it in the country?

I always disappear

in the country.

But now that we are to move

out to Versailles,

I shall become

a human jellyfish.

A miserable, formless being.

We should love to come,

Master Le Notre.

Everybody should

really attend, I imagine.

Come, Madame de Barra.

Take a turnabout with me

and tell me of your scheme.

With pleasure, Your Highness.

Well, Nolly, Madame de Barra has

certainly thrilled my dearest.

Has she thrilled you also?

She's very diverting and extremely

clever at what she does, I think.

Do you indeed?

I am glad.

Good man.

Macaroon?

Thank you, sire.

My speech went

down well, I thought.

It did.

"The finest examples of

humanity" certainly enjoyed it.

We may be building with stone, but

I can tell you it's a feather

compared to the weight

of the state.

My brother tells me

you're inviting

new ideas

into the gardens. Why?

I've been persuaded

to expand my horizons.

Have they been tested?

They are, in my opinion,

appropriate.

Appropriate?

Last year, we had the Nymphs

and Shepherds costume party,

and it was not a bit funny, all those

haggard faces under flaxen wigs.

We looked ancient.

I want a window to perfection

so that people can see

the very best of themselves.

We've grown too old for jokes.

The work will be

original but balanced.

The responsibility will be mine.

Yes.

It will.

Andre.

I did not see you

there in the gloom.

Did you enjoy your evening?

As much, I imagine,

as you did yours.

You were with that woman.

Clear!

You are reckless, madame.

Do you know that my husband

and the marquis are lovers?

It has not stopped us having

children, and he loved them dearly.

In battle, he's immensely brave.

And he has a good heart.

I am happy with my choice.

Another thing about the country

is the muck.

One encounters it everywhere.

Or beasts making muck.

The country is full of muck.

I sometimes feel entirely

defeated by life's extremities.

When I come to

a place like this,

gradually, a small

courage takes hold of me

and I feel fitter for things.

Do you feel that way often?

More so with time.

Your wife does not

accompany you ever?

That is, she does not

come out with you,

other times, besides now?

You're very direct, madame.

We have an arrangement.

I feel disloyal in

discussing such matters.

You are also married?

No.

My husband died.

I'm sorry.

Today you said I was reckless,

but to be reckless

is to abandon safety,

but I think maybe it is

safety that has abandoned me.

What is it?

Nothing.

It...

I would like to walk on.

Of course.

Come.

There's something

you should see.

It's a shrine.

The queen is dead.

So kind.

So quick.

Did you have fun

on your picnic, Andre?

I take it, madame,

you are unaware of events?

Events?

What do you mean, events?

The queen is dead, madame.

The queen? Is dead.

The king could marry again?

But no longer to your friend,

the marquise, I think.

I feel sorry for Montespan.

Tread carefully, madame.

More on the wagon!

No, the other one.

I want the seasoned wood.

Seasoned.

Here, pass it here.

Madame de Barra.

Master.

You've made some progress here.

I have a new foreman.

Monsieur Duras.

We've had to drain the soil

below the fountain.

The ground is waterlogged.

It's a problem

common to the gardens.

Thank you.

Do you sometimes forget to eat?

This is pt from

Madame de la Tour.

She feeds the ducks on seaweed.

It was all she could afford.

Virtue from necessity.

What amuses you?

There was an Irish woman

who died,

and her husband

put on her tombstone,

"Here lies Eleanor Fitzgerald."

"Her virtues

exceeded her failings."

How noble of him.

You think he showed her

that before she died?

I'd have stuck

an arrow in his eye.

Perhaps he was being truthful.

How is the king?

Shocked, I believe.

Poor little Spanish woman.

Has her head chopped off and

her organs laid out neatly.

And all her friends,

her maids, everyone,

must gather around the table.

Why would they

chop her head off?

To see what she died of.

You must attend the

funeral, I suppose?

Well, I should go.

It is I, King Monsieur.

May I?

Come, then, brother.

If the king does not eat,

France does not eat.

I shall feed France,

and you must put up with it.

I'm not hungry.

I have rose jellies.

Have you lemon?

I wish to go to Marly.

And I wish to be alone.

Try not to bend the tops.

My beauties.

Monsieur de la Quintinie?

Madame Sabine de Barra.

I'm very happy to meet you.

I am directed by the Office

of Buildings of Versailles

to order shrubs, such as I

require, from your good self.

I have brought with me

a selection of perennials

I thought we might exchange.

Is this the Four Seasons?

Yes, I believe so.

Mmm.

Divine.

Good color, too.

You say you have

a selection of plants?

I had them unloaded

into a little cart,

intending to have

them conveyed here,

but there seems to be

no one about.

I wished to be alone,

I had them sent away.

If you wish to be alone,

I could come back.

No, no, no.

I find you are the very

company I need today.

Nothing would suit

me better than for me,

the king's gardener,

to take some advice

on perennials.

Allow me, madame, to assist you.

Hmm.

Most kind, monsieur.

You are a devoted

pear man, master.

I quite like them, not overly.

Oh...

I think the master is

playing a trick on me.

A trick?

Well, yes, I do know

of your book on pears.

My book on pears?

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