nd I
have no one to consult with regard to my wedding toilette. For want of a
better adviser, I consulted the prince palatine, and he replied: 'Dress
as you do every day.'

What a strange destiny! I am making the most brilliant marriage in the
whole kingdom, and yet my shoemaker's daughter will have a trousseau and
wedding festivities which I am forced to envy.

WARSAW, Wednesday, _November 4th, 1760._

My destiny is accomplished, and I am the prince royal's wife! We have
sworn before God eternal love and fidelity; he is mine, irrevocably
mine! Ah! how sweet, and yet how cruel was that moment! They were forced
to hurry the ceremony, as we feared discovery.

I saw nothing of the prince royal during the week preceding my marriage;
he feigned sickness, and did not leave his room; he has refused to-day
invitations to dinner at the prince primates, the ambassadors, and even
one to the ball given by the grand general of the crown: his supposed
illness was the pretext on which he freed himself from these
obligations.

My former waiting woman was sent away day before yesterday, and
yesterday came the new one, who has sworn upon the crucifix to be silent
upon all she may see and hear.

At five o'clock this morning, the prince palatine knocked at my door; I
had been dressed for at least two hours. We departed as noiselessly as
possible, the prince royal and Prince Martin Lubomirski met us at the
palace gate.... The night was dark, the wind blew, and the cold was
intense. We went on foot to the Carmelite church, because it is the
nearest: our good priest already stood before the altar. If the prince
royal had not supported me, I should have fallen many times during the
passage.

And how sad and melancholy was all within the church! On all sides the
silence and darkness of the grave! Two wax tapers burned upon the altar,
casting a dim and uncertain light, while the sound of our own steps was
the only sign of life heard within the solemn and sombre vault of the
temple. The ceremony did not last ten minutes, the curate made all
possible haste, and we fled the church as if we had committed some
crime. The prince royal returned with us: Prince Martin wished him to go
at once to the palace, but he would not leave me, and with great
difficulty did he at length part from me.

My dress was such as I wear every day. I had only dared to place one
little branch of rosemary in my hair.... While I was dressing, I thought
of Barbara