t least, so he pretended. He promised
Madame that, provided Bontemps did nothing which called for notice,
she should not be obstructed in the exercise of her profession,
especially if she followed it in secret. "I know her," added he,
"and I, like other people, have had the curiosity to consult
her. She is the wife of a soldier in the guards. She is a clever
woman in her way, but she drinks. Four or five years ago, she
got such hold on the mind of Madame de Ruffec, that she made
her believe she could procure her an elixir of beauty, which
would restore her to what she was at twenty-five. The Duchess
pays high for the drugs of which this elixir is compounded; and
sometimes they are bad: sometimes, the sun, to which they were
exposed, was not powerful enough; sometimes, the influence of a
certain constellation was wanting. Sometimes, she has the courage
to assure the Duchess that she really is grown handsomer, and
actually succeeds in making her believe it." But the history of
this woman's daughter is still more curious. She was exquisitely
beautiful, and the Duchess brought her up in her own house. Bontemps
predicted to the girl, in the Duchess's presence, that she would
marry a man of two thousand louis a year. This was not very likely
to happen to the daughter of a soldier in the guards. It did
happen, nevertheless. The little Bontemps married the President
Beaudouin, who was mad. But, the tragical part of the story is,
that her mother had also foretold that she would die in child-birth
of her first child, and that she did actually die in child-birth,
at the age of eighteen, doubtless under a strong impression of her
mother's prophecy, to which the improbable event of her marriage
had given such extraordinary weight. Madame told the King of the
adventure her curiosity had led her into, at which he laughed,
and said he wished the Police had arrested her. He added a very
sensible remark. "In order to judge," said he, "of the truth or
falsehood of such predictions, one ought to collect fifty of
them. It would be found that they are almost always made up of
the same phrases, which are sometimes inapplicable, and sometimes
hit the mark. But the first are rarely mentioned, while the others
are always insisted on."

I have heard, and, indeed, it is certainly true, that M. de Bridge
lived on terms of intimacy with Madame, when she was Madame
d'Etioles. He used to ride on horseback with her, and, as he is
so handsome a man t