he was received with
frenzied applause. The statue of the Duke of Bordeaux, supported by
soldiers under a canopy of flags, and crowned with laurels, was brought
to the front of the stage, while a cortege formed by a detachment of
troops of the line, and by all the company of the theatre, filed by,
military music resounded. Then a cantata was sung.
On the morrow, at a grand ball offered to her by the city, Madame was
seated upon a platform that was surmounted by a fine portrait of her
son. Eight hundred women, crowned with white plumes, flowers, and
diamonds, cheered her. The 18th, she slept at Pau, the native place of
Henry IV. The mountaineers, descending from their heights, banner in
hand, with their Basque costumes, came to meet her. The next day she
visited the castle where was born the Bearnais, whose cradle, formed of
a great tortoise-shell, she saw: it was shaded by draperies and white
plumes. The following day she visited the environs. To descend into the
valley of Ossun, she donned the felt hat and the red sash worn by the
peasants of Bearn. As she was looking at the spring of Nays, a
mountaineer offered her some water in a rustic dish, and said naively:
"Are you pleased with the BEarnais, Madame?"--"Am I not pleased!"
replied the Princess, eagerly. "See, I wear the hat and sash of the
country!"
The 24th, she was at the Ile des Faisans, famous in the souvenirs of
Louis XIV.; the 25th, at Bayonne, where she assisted at a military
fete. In all her excursions, Madame carried her pencils with her, and
almost every day sketched some picturesque site. Eight Bearnais, with
an amaranth belt and hats of white and green, served her as a guard of
honor. She passed all the month of August and a part of the month of
September in the Pyrenees. The mountaineers never wearied of admiring
the hardihood, the gaiety, the spirit, shown by her in making the most
difficult ascensions. The 9th of September, she quitted Bagneres-de
Luchon to return to Paris, passing through Toulouse, Montauban, Cahors,
Limoges, and Orleans. It was one long series of ovations. The 1st of
October, Madame returned to the Tuileries. She had been accompanied all
through her journey by the Marechale Duchess of Reggio, lady of honor;
by the Marchioness of Podenas, lady companion; and by Count de Mesnard,
first equerry.
The Duchess of Berry returned enchanted. Could she suspect the
reception that awaited her, four years later, in the places where she
h
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