on you; I have
spoken to you as a friend rather than as a sovereign. Now I return to
what was said at first, and accept with confidence the promise you make
me not to torment a lady whom I love most sincerely."

Thus ended a conversation from which the duke, with a less haughty
disposition, might have extracted greater advantages and played a surer
game. It was the last plank of safety offered in the shipwreck which
menaced him. He disdained it: the opportunity of seizing it did not
present itself again. I doubt not but that if he would have united
himself freely and sincerely with me I should not have played him false.
Louis XV, satisfied with his condescension in my behalf, would have kept
him at the head of his ministry: but his pride ruined him, he could not
throw off the yoke which the duchesse de Grammont had imposed on him: he
recoiled from the idea of telling her that he had made a treaty of peace
with me, and that was not one of the least causes of his disgrace.

The journey to Marly gave birth to a multitude of intrigues of persons
who thought to wrap themselves up in profound mystery, and all whose
actions we knew. The police were very active about the royal abodes,
especially since the fatal deed of the regicide Damiens. To keep them
perpetually on the watch, they were ordered to watch attentively the
amours of the lords and ladies of the court.

The daughter of the duc de Richelieu, the comtesse d'Egmont, whose age
was no pretext for her follies, dearly liked low love adventures. She
used to seek them out in Paris, when she could find none at Versailles.
She was not, however, the more indulgent towards me. This lady was not
always content with noble lovers, but sought them in all classes, and
more than once, simple mortals, men of low order, obtained preference
over demi-gods. Her conduct in this respect was the result of long
experience. She used to go out alone, and traverse the streets of Paris.
She entered the shops, and when her eye rested on a good figure, having
wide shoulders, sinewy limbs, and a good looking face, she then called
up all the resources of her mind to form and carry on an intrigue, of
which the consequences, at first agreeable to him who was the object
of it, terminated most frequently fatally. The following adventure will
give you an idea of the talent of madame d'Egmont in this way, and how
she got rid of her adorers when she had exhausted with them the cup of
pleasure.

CH