tion herself amongst the furniture of your
apartment. The marechale de Mirepoix was too long the complaisant friend
of madame de Pompadour not to become, and that very soon, the friend of
the comtesse du Barry."

"Good heaven," I exclaimed, "how delighted I should be to have the
friendship of this lady, whose wit and amiable manners are so greatly
talked of."

"Yes," said de Maupeou, laughing, "she is a type of court ladies, a
mixture of dignity and suppleness, majesty and condescension, which is
worth its weight in gold. She was destined from all eternity to be the
companion of the king's female friends."

We both laughed; and the chancellor went on to say: "There are others
whom I will point out to you by and by; as for this one, I undertake to
find out whether she will come first of the party. She has sent to ask
an audience of me concerning a suit she has in hand. I will profit by
the circumstances to come to an explanation with her, about you. She
is not over fond of the Choiseul party; and I augur this, because I see
that she puts on a more agreeable air towards them."

CHAPTER XV

The Comte de la Marche, a prince of the blood--Madame de
Beauvoir, his mistress--Madame du Barry complains to the
prince de Soubise of the princess de Guemenee--The king
consoles the countess for this--The duc de Choiseul--The
king speaks to him of madame du Barry--Voltaire writes to
her--The opinions of Richelieu and the king concerning
Voltaire

Amongst those personages who came to compliment me on the evening of my
presentation was M. the comte de la Marche, son of the prince du Conti,
and consequently prince of the blood. He had long been devoted to the
will of Louis XV. As soon as his most serene highness had wind of my
favor he hastened to add to the number of my court; and I leave you to
imagine how greatly I was flattered at seeing it augmented by so august
a personage.

This conquest was most valuable in my eyes, for I thus proved to the
world, that by attracting the king to me I did not isolate him from the
whole of his family. It is very true that for some time the comte de
la Marche had been out of favor with the public, by reason of his over
complaisance towards the ministers of the king's pleasure; but he
was not the less a prince of the blood, and at Versailles this rank
compensated for almost every fault. He was a lively man, moreover, his
society was agreeable, and the