making his best bow, and which was very courtly and deferential,
indeed, "not to replace him--no one can do that--only to succeed him."

"Bien, bien, Monsieur," cried the Duchess, tapping her fan against her
long, thin fingers and breaking out into an appreciative little cackle.
"Monsieur understands our language" (they were both speaking French)
"quite as well as that paragon of wit and erudition, Dr. Franklin
himself. Ah! what a man," she went on, musingly; "'twas he who gave the
Duchesse de Bourbon a lesson in chess! She put her king in _prise_ and
Monsieur Franklin promptly took it! 'But we do not take kings so,' cried
Her Grace, furiously, for you may be sure she was greatly put out. 'We
do in America,' said the Doctor, calmly." And she broke out laughing
again in her thin, cracked voice at the recollection of the discomfiture
of her archrival, the old Duchesse de Bourbon. "Truly that America of
yours must be a wonderful place."

"Ah, Madame," said Mr. Jefferson--and there was a note of sadness in his
voice--"I think there is no land like it, no rivers so broad and deep,
no woods so green and wild, no soil so fertile, no climate so
delightful. I wish I might show you but one garden-spot of it--my
Virginia--to prove to you, Madame, that I do not exaggerate when I sing
my country's praises. The Duc de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt promises to
visit me at Monticello within the next few years. Cannot I persuade you,
Madame, to come, too?"

"Ah, Monsieur, 'twould give me infinite pleasure, but I shall never
leave my France--although"--and here she lowered her voice and shrugged
her lean shoulders contemptuously--"did I listen to but one-half of what
I hear prophesied in these revolutionary salons, to but one-half of what
I hear openly discussed at the card-tables, I might accept your
invitation as a refuge! But I have no fear for my King. I am not shaking
with apprehension at the turn affairs are taking, like that
poor-spirited little Madame de Montmorin, whose husband knows no more
about foreign affairs than does my coachman, but I wish with all my
heart, Monsieur, that you had kept your revolution chez vous! 'Tis a
fever, this revolution of yours, and our young men return from the war
and spread the contagion. They clamor for new rights, for assemblies,
for States-Generals--'twas that fever-stricken young Lafayette himself
who demanded that, and, instead of being in attendance at court, as a
young noble should be, he