lady instantly told the Archbishop, as she was afraid
of losing her pension if he went. The information squared so well
wit the negotiation then on foot, that the Archbishop had no
doubt of its truth. He cooled, by degrees, in his conversations
with the negotiator, whom he regarded as a traitor, and ended
by breaking with him. These details were not known till long
afterwards. The lover of the lady having been sent to the Bicetre,
some letters were found among his papers, which gave a scent of
the affair, and he was made to confess the rest.

In order not to compromise the Duc de Gontaut, the King was told
that the valet had come to a knowledge of the business from a
letter which he had found in his master's clothes. The King took
his revenge by humiliating the Archbishop, which he was enabled
to do by means of the information he had obtained concerning
the conduct of the lady, his protegee. She was found guilty of
swindling, in concert with her beloved valet; but, before her
punishment was inflicted, the Lieutenant of Police was ordered
to lay before Monseigneur a full account of the conduct of his
relation and pensioner. The Archbishop had nothing to object to
in the proofs which were submitted to him; he said, with perfect
calmness, that she was not his relation; and, raising his hands
to heaven, "She is an unhappy wretch," said he, "who has robbed
me of the money which was destined for the poor. But God knows
that, in giving her so large a pension, I did not act lightly.
I had, at the time, before my eyes the example of a young woman
who once asked me to grant her seventy louis a year, promising me
that she would always live very virtuously, as she had hitherto
done. I refused her, and she said, on leaving me, 'I must turn
to the left, Monseigneur, since the way on the right is closed
against me.' The unhappy creature has kept her word but too well.
She found means of establish a faro-table at her house, which
is tolerated; and she joins to the most profligate conduct in
her own person the infamous trade of a corrupter of youth; her
house is the abode of every vice. Think, sir, after that, whether
it was not an act of prudence, on my part, to grant the woman
in question a pension, suitable to the rank in which I thought
her born, to prevent her abusing the gifts of youth, beauty,
and talents, which she possessed, to her own perdition, and the
destruction of others." The Lieutenant of Police told the King
that he