de Maintenon’s interference; the Dauphine objected to it; the King would willingly have had it so; but he dare not assert his will for fear of displeasing the Dauphine and the old woman.  I was not therefore suffered to enter until after the death of the Dauphine, and then only because the King wished to have some one who would talk to him in the evening, to dissipate his melancholy thoughts, in which I did my best.  He was dissatisfied with his daughters on both sides, who, instead of trying to console him in his grief, thought only of amusing themselves, and the good King might often have remained alone the whole evening if I had not visited his cabinet.  He was very sensible of this, and said to Maintenon, “Madame is the only one who does not abandon me.”

Louis XIV. spoiled the Jesuits; he thought whatever came from them must be admirable, whether it was right or wrong.

The King did not like living in town; he was convinced that the people did not love him, and that there was no security for him among them.  Maintenon had him, besides, more under her sway at Versailles than at Paris, where there was certainly no security for her.  She was universally detested there; and whenever she went out in a carriage the populace shouted loud threats against her, so that at last she dared not appear in public.

At first the King was in the habit of dining with Madame de Montespan and his children, and then no person went to visit him but the Dauphin and Monsieur.  When Montespan was dismissed, the King had all his illegitimate children in his cabinet:  this continued until the arrival of the last Dauphine; she intruded herself among the bastards to their great affliction.  When the Duchess—­

     [Louise-Francoise, commonly called Mademoiselle de Nantes, the
     legitimated daughter of Madame de Montespan and the King, was
     married to the Duc de Bourbon in 1685.]

became the favourite of the Dauphin, she begged that no other persons of the royal house might have access to the cabinet; and therefore my request for admission, although not refused, was never granted until after the death of the Dauphin and Dauphine.  The latter accompanied the King to places where I did not, and could not go, for she even, went with him upon occasions when decency ought to have forbidden her presence.  Maintenon did the same thing, for the purpose of having an opportunity of talking to the King in secret.

Louis XIV. loved the young Dauphine so well that he dared refuse her nothing; and Maintenon had so violent a hatred against me that she was ready to do me all the mischief in her power.  What could the King do against the inclinations of his son and his granddaughter?  They would have looked cross, and that would have grieved him.  I had no inclination to cause him any vexation, and therefore preferred exercising my own patience.  When I had anything to say to the King, I requested a private audience, which threw them all into despair, and furnished me with a good laugh in my sleeve.