ts offensive character, Madame de Verneuil (who was well
aware that the King, however he might yield to his momentary anger, was
even less able to dispense with her society than she herself was to lose
the favour which alone preserved her from the ignominy her conduct had
justly merited) did not for an instant lose her self-possession. "Tell
his Majesty," she replied, as calmly as though a sense of innocence had
given her strength, "that being perfectly assured that I have never been
guilty of word or deed which could justly incur his anger, I cannot
imagine what can have induced him to treat me with so little
consideration. That some one has traduced me, I cannot doubt; but I
shall be revenged by a discovery of the truth." [165]

She then rose from her seat, and retired to her private room, much more
alarmed and agitated than she was willing to betray. De Lude had, during
the interview, suffered a few remarks to escape him from which she was
enabled to guess whence the blow had come; and conscious of the enormity
of her imprudence, she lost no time in confiding to her most
confidential friends the difficulty of her position, and entreated them
to discover some method by which she might escape its consequences.

As had been previously arranged with the Queen, Madame de Villars, at
her audience of the King, had carefully abstained from betraying the
share which his consort had taken in the intrigue, and had assumed to
herself the very equivocal honour of the whole proceeding; and it was,
consequently, against the Duchess alone that the anger of the favourite
was excited. Even the Prince de Joinville was forgiven, when with
protestations of repentance he threw himself at the feet of the
Marquise, and implored her pardon--he could scarcely fail to be
understood by such a woman, when he pleaded the extremes to which
passion and disappointment could urge an ardent nature--while the Duc de
Bellegarde was no sooner informed by the Princesse de Conti that the
fortune, and perhaps even the life, of her brother were involved in the
affair, than he devoted himself to her cause.

We have already stated that the time was not one of unnecessary scruple,
and the peril of the Marquise was imminent. The letters not only
existed, but were in the hands of the King: no honest or simple remedy
could be suggested for such a disaster; and thus, as it was imperative
to clear Madame de Verneuil from blame in order to save the Prince, it
was u