The pond bordering Ninon de Lenclos’ small pavilion was known as “Ninon’s mirror”, as the building reflects in it as in a mirror. From her small windows, Ninon could also admire the parterre over the water, whose geometric boxwood lacework seemed to float on the main pond. The pavilion adjoined the manor house of Villarceaux where her lover, Louis de Mornay, Marquis of Villarceaux, lived. An underground passage allowed the beautiful woman to escape in a carriage to the neighbouring château in Ambleville when Denise de La Fontaine d’Esche, the Marquis’ lawful wife, visited her husband.