serve you, I wish to have a few minutes' conversation
with you. Be persuaded that I will not tell you anything but what will
be agreeable and useful to you."

The presentation of the comtesse? _Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!_ they were not so
squeamish in the days of madame de Pompadour."

I instantly answered:--

"You are too good a friend for me to refuse to see you willingly under
any circumstances, and particularly the present. Your conduct yesterday
assures you my eternal regard. Come instantly; my grateful heart expects
you with impatience."

My sister-in-law, to whom I showed this correspondence, said to me,
"This gentleman does not come to see you for your bright eyes; and yet
his visit is not disinterested."

"What interest can he have to serve?"

"None of his own, perhaps; but those villainous Jesuits."

"Don't you like them, sister of mine?"

"I hate nobody."

M. de la Vauguyon arrived; and as soon as we were alone, he said to me,

"Well, madame, I am now on the point of going to fight your battles. I
have to deal with a redoubtable foe."

"Do you fear?"

"Why, I am not over confident; my position is a delicate one. Mesdames
will perforce obey the orders of the king, but they will not find much
pleasure in seeing me the ambassador sent to them: all the Choiseul
party will vociferate loudly. Nevertheless, to prove my devotion to you,
I brave it all."

"You may rely on it that I will never forget the service you are about
to render me."

"I have only one favor to ask of you. Authorize me to say to mesdames,
that if the pleasures of life distract your attention from religious
duties, your soul is in truth fully devoted to our holy religion;
and that far from supporting the philosophers, you will aid, by your
influence with the king, every measure advantageous to the society of
Jesuits."

The hypocritical tone in which this was uttered, almost compelled me to
burst out into a fit of laughter; but the serious posture of my affairs
induced me to preserve my gravity, and I answered in a serious tone,

"Not only, monsieur le duc, do I authorize you to say so much, but I
beg you to declare to mesdames that I am already filled with love and
respect for the Jesuits, and that it will not be my fault if they do not
return amongst us."

"Ah, you are a treasure of wisdom," replied the duke, kissing my hand
with fervor; "and I am disgusted at the way you are calumniated."

"I know no reason for it, for I have ne