, and remains with him. Clermont's wife is one of the
Duchesse de Berri's ladies. She is not the most discreet person in the
world, and has been long in the habit of saying to any one who would
listen to her, "Whatever may come of it, my husband and I are willing to
risk our lives for the Comte de Toulouse." It is therefore evident that
all this proceeds from the bastards. But I must expose still further the
ingratitude of these people. Chatillon is a poor gentleman, whose father
held a small employment under M. Gaston, one of those offices which
confer the privilege of the entree to the antechambers, and the holders
of which do not sit in the carriage with their masters. The two
descendants, as they call themselves, of the house of Chatillon, insist
that this Chatillon, who married an attorney's daughter, is descended
from the illegitimate branches of that family. His son was a subaltern
in the Body Guard. In the summer time, when the young officers went to
bathe, they used to take young Chatillon with them to guard their
clothes, and for this office they gave him a crown for his supper.
Monsieur having taken this poor person into his service, gave him a
cordon bleu, and furnished him with money to commence a suit which he
subsequently gained against the House of Chatillon, and they were
compelled to recognize him. He then made him a Captain in the Guards;
gave him a considerable pension, which my son continued, and permitted
him also to have apartments in the Palais Royal. In these very
apartments did this ungrateful man hold those secret meetings, the end of
which was proposed to be my son's ruin. Rieux's grandfather had
neglected to uphold the honour to which he was entitled, of being called
the King's cousin. My son restored him to this honour, gave his brother
a place in the gendarmerie, and rendered him many other services.
Chatillon tried particularly to excite the nobility against my son; and
this is the recompense for all his kindness. My son's wife is gay and
content, in the hope that all will go well with her brothers.

That old Maintenon has continued pretty tranquil until the termination of
the process relating to the legitimation of the bastards. No one has
heard her utter a single expression on the subject. This makes me
believe that she has some project in her head, but I cannot tell what it
is.

A monk, who was journeying a few days ago to Luzarche, met upon the road
a stranger, who fell into conversa