who had been in the room, she said, "It cannot be the little
Countess, nor Gontaut, who has taken this letter. It can only be the
Comtesse d'Estrades;--and that is too bad." The King came, and was
extremely angry, as Madame told me. Two days afterwards, he sent Madame
d'Estrades into exile. There was no doubt that she took the letter; the
King's handwriting had probably awakened her curiosity. This occurrence
gave great pain to M. d'Argenson, who was bound to her, as Madame de
Pompadour said, by his love of intrigue. This redoubled his hatred of
Madame, and she accused him of favouring the publication of a libel, in
which she was represented as a worn-out mistress, reduced to the vile
occupation of providing new objects to please her lover's appetite. She
was characterised as superintendent of the Parc-aux-cerfs, which was said
to cost hundreds of thousands of louis a year. Madame de Pompadour did,
indeed, try to conceal some of the King's weaknesses, but she never knew
one of the sultanas of that seraglio. There were, however, scarcely ever
more than two at once, and often only one. When they married, they
received some jewels, and four thousand louis. The Parc-aux-cerfs was
sometimes vacant for five or six months. I was surprised, some time
after, at seeing the Duchesse de Luynes, Lady of Honour to the Queen,
come privately to see Madame de Pompadour. She afterwards came openly.
One evening, after Madame was in bed, she called me, and said, "My dear,
you will be delighted; the Queen has given me the place of Lady of the
Palace; tomorrow I am to be presented to her: you must make me look
well." I knew that the King was not so well pleased at this as she was;
he was afraid that it would give rise to scandal, and that it might be
thought he had forced this nomination upon the Queen. He had, however,
done no such thing. It had been represented to the Queen that it was an
act of heroism on her part to forget the past; that all scandal would be
obliterated when Madame de Pompadour was seen to belong to the Court in
an honourable manner; and that it would be the best proof that nothing
more than friendship now subsisted between the King and the favourite.
The Queen received her very graciously. The devotees flattered
themselves they should be protected by Madame, and, for some time, were
full of her praises. Several of the Dauphin's friends came in private to
see her, and some obtained promotion. The Chevali