th princes, duchesses, and
persons of the highest rank at court. I shall never forget, that one day
being obliged to return early to Paris, the marechal said, after dinner,
to the company, "Let us take a walk upon the road to St. Denis, and we
will accompany M. Coindet." This was too much for the poor man; his head
was quite turned. For my part, my heart was so affected that I could not
say a word. I followed the company, weeping like a child, and having the
strongest desire to kiss the foot of the good marechal; but the
continuation of the history of the manuscript has made me anticipate.
I will go a little back, and, as far as my memory will permit, mark each
event in its proper order.

As soon as the little house of Mont Louis was ready, I had it neatly
furnished and again established myself there. I could not break through
the resolution I had made on quitting the Hermitage of always having my
apartment to myself; but I found a difficulty in resolving to quit the
little castle. I kept the key of it, and being delighted with the
charming breakfasts of the peristyle, frequently went to the castle to
sleep, and stayed three or four days as at a country-house. I was at
that time perhaps better and more agreeably lodged than any private
individual in Europe. My host, M. Mathas, one of the best men in the
world, had left me the absolute direction of the repairs at Mont Louis,
and insisted upon my disposing of his workmen without his interference.
I therefore found the means of making of a single chamber upon the first
story, a complete set of apartments consisting of a chamber, antechamber,
and a water closet. Upon the ground-floor was the kitchen and the
chamber of Theresa. The alcove served me for a closet by means of a
glazed partition and a chimney I had made there. After my return to this
habitation, I amused myself in decorating the terrace, which was already
shaded by two rows of linden trees; I added two others to make a cabinet
of verdure, and placed in it a table and stone benches: I surrounded it
with lilies, syringa and woodbines, and had a beautiful border of flowers
parallel with the two rows of trees. This terrace, more elevated than
that of the castle, from which the view was at least as fine, and where I
had tamed a great number of birds, was my drawing-room, in which I
received M. and Madam de Luxembourg, the Duke of Villeroy, the Prince of
Tingry, the Marquis of Armentieres, the Duchess of Mo