ingratitude, omit calling
to offer me her acknowledgments, and accordingly she came. On my side, I
left no means untried of rendering myself agreeable to her; and so
well did I succeed, that from that moment her valuable friendship was
bestowed on me with a sincerity which even my unfortunate reverses have
been unable to shake; and we are to this day the same firm and true
friends we were in the zenith of my power. Not that I would seek
to justify the injury she sought to do our queen, but I may and do
congratulate myself, that the same warmth which pervades her hatreds
likewise influences her friendships.

I cannot equally boast of the treatment I received from the duchess
dowager d'Aiguillon, who, as well as her daughter-in-law, came to see me
upon the promotion of her son. She overloaded me with caresses, and even
exceeded her daughter-in-law in protestations of devotion and gratitude.
You should have heard her extol my beauty, wit, and sweetness of
disposition; she, in fact, so overwhelmed me with her surfeiting
praises, that at last I became convinced that, of the thousand
flattering things she continually addressed to me, not one was her
candid opinion; and I was right, for I soon learned, that in her circle
of intimates at the houses of the Beauffremons, the Brionnes, and above
all, the marquise du Deffant, she justified her acquaintance with me, by
saying it was a sacrifice made to the interests of her son, and
amused these ladies by censuring my every word and look. The dowager's
double-dealing greatly annoyed me; nevertheless, not wishing to vex
her son, or her daughter-in-law, I affected to be ignorant of her
dishonourable conduct. However, I could not long repress my indignation,
and one day that she was praising me most extravagantly, I exclaimed,
"Ah, madam, how kind it would be of you to reserve one of these pretty
speeches to repeat at madame du Deffant's." This blow, so strong yet
just, rather surprised her; but, quickly rallying her courage, she
endeavoured to persuade me that she always spoke of me in the same
terms. "It may be so," replied I; "but I fear that you say so many
flattering things to me, that you have not one left when out of my
sight."

The marechale de Mirepoix used to say, that a caress from madame
d'Aiguillon was not less to be dreaded than the bite of M. d'Ayen. Yet
the duchess dowager has obtained a first-rate reputation for goodness;
every one styled her _the good duchesse d'Aig