nce. The king
himself was a prey to an unusual uneasiness; the day appeared to him
interminable; and the eagerness with which he awaited me made my delay
still more apparent. A thousand conjectures were afloat as to the cause
of it. Some asserted that my presentation had been deferred for the
present, and, in all probability, would never take place; that the
princesses had opposed it in the most decided manner, and had refused
upon any pretense whatever to admit me to their presence. All these
suppositions charmed my enemies, and filled them with hopes which their
leaders, better informed, did not partake.

Meanwhile the king's restlessness increased; he kept continually
approaching the window to observe what was going on in the court-yard
of the castle, and seeing there no symptoms of my equipage being
in attendance, began to lose both temper and patience. It has been
asserted, that he gave orders to have the presentation put off till a
future period, and that the duc de Richelieu procured my _entree_ by
force; this is partly true and partly false. Whilst in ignorance of the
real cause of my being so late, the king said to the first gentleman of
the chamber,

"You will see that this poor countess has met with some accident, or
else that her joy has been too much for her, and made her too ill to
attend our court to-day; if that be the case, it is my pleasure that her
presentation should not be delayed beyond to-morrow."

"Sire," replied the duke, "your majesty's commands are absolute."

These words, but half understood, were eagerly caught up, and
interpreted their own way by those who were eager to seize anything that
might tell to my prejudice.

At length I appeared; and never had I been more successful in
appearance. I was conducted by my godmother, who, decked like an altar,
was all joy and satisfaction to see herself a sharer in such pomp and
splendor. The princesses received me most courteously; the affability,
either real or feigned, which shone in their eyes as they regarded me,
and the flattering words with which they welcomed my arrival, was a
mortal blow to many of the spectators, especially to the ladies of
honor. The princesses would not suffer me to bend my knee before them,
but at the first movement I made to perform this act of homage, they
hastened to raise me, speaking to me at the same time in the most
gracious manner.

But my greatest triumph was with the king. I appeared before him in all
my