ughter arrived, preceded by Le
Duc on horseback, who announced their approach by numerous smacks of his
whip. I welcomed her with open arms, thanking her for obliging me.

The first piece of news she gave me was that Mdlle. Roman had become
mistress to Louis XV., that she lived in a beautiful house at Passi, and
that she was five months gone with child. Thus she was in a fair way to
become queen of France, as my divine oracle had predicted.

"At Grenoble," she added, "you are the sole topic of conversation; and I
advise you not to go there unless you wish to settle in the country, for
they would never let you go. You would have all the nobility at your
feet, and above all, the ladies anxious to know the lot of their
daughters. Everybody believes in judicial astrology now, and Valenglard
triumphs. He has bet a hundred Louis to fifty that my niece will be
delivered of a young prince, and he is certain of winning; though to be
sure, if he loses, everybody will laugh at him."

"Don't be afraid of his losing."

"Is it quite certain?"

"Has not the horoscope proved truthful in the principal particular? If
the other circumstances do not follow, I must have made a great mistake
in my calculations."

"I am delighted to hear you say so."

"I am going to Paris and I hope you will give me a letter of introduction
to Madame Varnier, so that I may have the pleasure of seeing your niece."

"You shall have the letter to-morrow without fail."

I introduced Mdlle. Desarmoises to her under the family name of her
lover, and invited her to dine with Madame Morin and myself. After dinner
we went to the convent, and M---- M---- came down very surprised at this
unexpected visit from her aunt; but when she saw me she had need of all
her presence of mind. When her aunt introduced me to her by name, she
observed with true feminine tact that during her stay at Aix she had seen
me five or six times at the fountain, but that I could not remember her
features as she had always worn her veil. I admired her wit as much as
her exquisite features. I thought she had grown prettier than ever, and
no doubt my looks told her as much. We spent an hour in talking about
Grenoble and her old friends, whom she gladly recalled to her memory, and
then she went to fetch a young girl who was boarding at the convent, whom
she liked and wanted to present to her aunt.

I seized the opportunity of telling Madame Morin that I was astonished at
the likeness, tha