to look after his own affair
with Mademoiselle de St. Germain.

His concern was not the offspring of mere good nature, nay, it was the
reverse; for no sooner did he perceive that the Marchioness looked with
an eye of favour upon him, than this conquest, appearing to him to be
more easy than the other, he thought it was prudent to take advantage of
it, for fear of losing the opportunity, and that he might not have spent
all his time to no purpose, in case he should prove unsuccessful with
the little St. Germain.

In the mean time, in order to maintain that authority which he
had usurped over the conduct of his friend, he, that very evening,
notwithstanding what had been already said, reprimanded him for
presuming to appear at court in his morning suit, and without his
mistress's badge; for not having had the wit or prudence to pay his
first visit to the Marquis de Senantes, instead of consuming his time,
to no purpose, in inquiries for the lady; and, to conclude, he asked him
what the devil he meant by presenting her with a brace of miserable red
partridges. "And why not?" said Matta: "ought they to have been blue,
too, to match the cockade and sword-knots you made me wear the other
day? Plague not me with your nonsensical whimsies: my life on it, in one
fortnight your equal in foppery and folly will not be found throughout
the confines of Turin; but, to reply to your questions, I did not call
upon Monsieur de Senantes, because I had nothing to do with him, and
because he is of a species of animals which I dislike, and always shall
dislike: as for you, you appear quite charmed with being decked out in
green ribands, with writing letters to your mistress, and filling your
pockets with citrons, pistachios, and such sort of stuff, with which you
are always cramming the poor girl's mouth, in spite of her teeth: you
hope to succeed by chanting ditties composed in the days of Corisande
and of Henry IV., which you will swear yourself have made upon her:
happy in practising the ceremonials of gallantry, you have no ambition
for the essentials. Very well: every one has a particular way of
acting, as well as a particular taste: your's is to trifle in love;
and, provided you can make Mademoiselle de St. Germain laugh, you are
satisfied: as for my part, I am persuaded, that women here are made of
the same materials as in other places; and I do not think that they can
be mightily offended, if one sometimes leaves off trifling, to co