ctions?

"None whatever, sire," replied the duke; "at least none that we could
perceive."

"In that case," rejoined his majesty, "she must have charmed her master
by some of those unseen perfections which take the deepest hold of the
heart; besides I know not why we should think it strange that others see
with different eyes to ourselves."

I made no secret with the comte Jean of my visit, and he likewise
expressed his desire to know a man so justly celebrated, and, in its
proper place, you, may hear how he managed to effect this, and what
befell him in consequence--but, to finish for the present with Rousseau,
for I will not promise that I shall not again indulge in speaking of
him. I will just say, that after the lapse of two or three days from the
time of my last visit, the idea occurred to me of sending him a thousand
crowns in an Indian casket. This I sent by a servant out of livery, whom
I strictly enjoined not to name me but to say simply that he came from
a lady. He brought back the casket to me unopened, and the following
billet from Rousseau:--

"MADAM,--I send back the present you would force upon my acceptance in
so concealed a manner; if it be offered as a testimony of your esteem I
may possibly accept it, when you permit me to know the hand from which
it comes. Be assured, madam, that there is much truth in the assertion
of its being more easy to give than to receive.

"I have the honour to remain, madam, yours, etc., etc.,

"J. J. ROUSSEAU."

This was rather an uncouth manner of refusing; nevertheless, when at
this distance of time I review the transaction, I cannot help admitting
that I well deserved it. Perhaps when it first occurred I might have
felt piqued, but since I have quitted the court I have again read over
the works of J. J. Rousseau, and I now speak of him, as you see, without
one particle of resentment.

I must now speak to you of a new acquaintance I made about this
Period--that of the two duchesses d'Aiguillon. From my first entrance
into the chateau until the close of 1770, madame d'Aiguillon, the
daughter-in-law, observed a sort of armed neutrality towards me; true,
she never visited me, but she always met me with apparent satisfaction
at the houses of others; thus she managed to steer clear of one
dangerous extreme or the other till the downfall of the des Choiseuls;
when the duc d'Aiguillon having been nominated to the ministry, she
perceived that she could not, without great