Francois d'Aubigne aka Madame de Maintenon Part 2

I am writing these brief characterizations in different ways...mostly to get started. On this blog form I notice that we can edit or delete at any time. I have a tendency to do with posts what I do with days, let them pass and forget about them. However, learning that I can find past posts now easily on this blogger system I decided to try simply writing the characters here so that they are caught somewhere. I am doing all this from memory more than research. So I may make mistakes. I am trying to condense as much as is possible without losing the essence of each. Francois has quite a long time spent and so she requires a second page to this bio sketch. ****stars are my paragraph indentations...this program is screwing me up ****So during the long time that the King and Athenais are romancing one another, which is a long time since she delivered seven children in the course of their relationship, while Louise had delivered only four children. Louis XIV is a man with a strong sexual need, so he sired many children from his wife and mistresses including a few side affairs. Francois remains chaste and pure it appears since she does avoid any suggestions of mating. She was highly desirable, had met many men as the wife of Paul Scarron, but she avoided romantic relationships. But she was warm and friendly, saucy and pertinent with the King whenever he stopped to visit and play with his children. It is doubtful that he simply was interested in his sons as much as he may have been with Francois, and it is probable that she considered this as well. But friend she was to Athenais, so that she did not attempt to seduce or attract the King to her bed. However, because the insecure Athenais was using potions, witchcraft, spells, and enchantment to woo and keep her young prince addicted to her passions, ambitions, and desires, she gradually came under the spell of the intoxicants herself so that she became irritable, frightened and fearful that she might lose the King. She turned into a bitch! She screamed, she fought, she struggled, and Francois stood by, calmly, gently, softly, cheering the small children, nurturing and protecting them from their tyranical indifferent natural mother. The King noticed. He was also soothed by her gentle kindness, her soft hand on his arm, her tenderness. Gradually, he turned away from the bitchy Athenais, began to visit more frequently the lovely Francois, and soon found himself falling in love with her.