the message to the duchesse
de Grammont, who told him that she should write to Toulouse to the
attorney-general. This was what the comte Jean wished and he was
prepared for her.

But, you will say to me, was it certain that your asserted husband would
marry you? Were there no difficulties to fear? None. Comte Guillaume was
poor, talented, and ambitious; he liked high living, and would have sold
himself to the devil for riches. He was happy in marrying me. Comte Jean
would not have ventured such a proposal to his other brother, the comte
d'Hargicourt, who had much good sense and great notions of propriety,
and who at Versailles was called the _honnete homme_; a distinction not
over flattering to his two brothers.

The same evening the whole family arrived, and was presented to me the
next day. My two future sisters-in-law frightened me at first with their
provincial manners and southern accent; but, after a few minutes,
I found that this Gascon pronunciation had many charms with it.
Mesdemoiselles du Barry were not handsome but very agreeable. One was
called Isabelle, whom they had nicknamed _Bischi_, the other's name was
Fanchon, and her name had been abbreviated to "_Chon_." The latter had
much talent, and even brought to Versailles with her, an instinctive
spirit of diplomacy which would have done honor to a practised courtier.
She would have been thought simple, unsophisticated, and yet was full of
plot and cunning.

I was soon much pleased with her, and the king became equally so. He was
always very much amused at hearing her talk _patois_ (provincially), or
recite the verses of one Gondouli, a poet of Languedoc. He used to make
her jump upon his knees; and altho' she had passed the first bloom
of youth, he played with her like a child. But what most particularly
diverted the king, was calling my sister-in-law by her nickname;
"_Petite Chon, grande Chon_," he was always saying, "do this, go there,
come here." Louis XV did the same with his own daughters: he had amongst
them a _Loque_, a _Graille_, a _Chiffe_, and they were the ladies
Victoire, Adelaide, and Sophie, whom he thus elegantly designated. I so
soon saw the taste of the king for nicknames that I gave him one, it
was Lafrance. So far from being angry with me, he laughed to tears
every time that I called him so. I must confess, _en passant_, that
the anecdote about the coffee is true.* I will only justify myself by
saying, that if I expressed myself coar