fusion, and reappeared
with ease and confidence. The dinner was tolerably cheerful, and the
conversation very animated.

Brilliant entertainments were given at Court in honour of the King of
Sweden and the Comte du Nord. They were received in private by the King
and Queen, but they were treated with much more ceremony than the Emperor,
and their Majesties always appeared to me to be very, cautious before
these personages. However, the King one day asked the Russian Grand Duke
if it were true that he could not rely on the fidelity of any one of those
who accompanied him. The Prince answered him without hesitation, and
before a considerable number of persons, that he should be very sorry to
have with him even a poodle that was much attached to him, because his
mother would take care to have it thrown into the Seine, with a stone
round its neck, before he should leave Paris. This reply, which I myself
heard, horrified me, whether it depicted the disposition of Catherine, or
only expressed the Prince's prejudice against her.

The Queen gave the Grand Duke a supper at Trianon, and had the gardens
illuminated as they had been for the Emperor. The Cardinal de Rohan very
indiscreetly ventured to introduce himself there without the Queen's
knowledge. Having been treated with the utmost coolness ever since his
return from Vienna, he had not dared to ask her himself for permission to
see the illumination; but he persuaded the porter of Trianon to admit him
as soon as the Queen should have set off for Versailles, and his Eminence
engaged to remain in the porter's lodge until all the carriages should
have left the chateau. He did not keep his word, and while the porter was
busy in the discharge of his duty, the Cardinal, who wore his red
stockings and had merely thrown on a greatcoat, went down into the garden,
and, with an air of mystery, drew up in two different places to see the
royal family and suite pass by.

Her Majesty was highly offended at this piece of boldness, and next day
ordered the porter to be discharged. There was a general feeling of
disgust at the Cardinal's conduct, and of commiseration towards the porter
for the loss of his place. Affected at the misfortune of the father of a
family, I obtained his forgiveness; and since that time I have often
regretted the feeling which induced me to interfere. The notoriety of the
discharge of the porter of Trianon, and the odium that circumstance would
have fixed