She began the conversation by complaining of the indifference with which the King had treated her during her illness.  Madame de Maintenon allowed her to talk on; and when she had finished, said that the King had commanded her to say that their common loss effaced all the past, provided that he had reason to be better satisfied for the future, not only as regarded M. le Duc de Chartres, but other matters also.  Upon this Madame exclaimed and protested that, except in as far as regarded her son, she had never given cause for displeasure; and went on alternating complaints and justifications.  Precisely at the point when she was most emphatic, Madame de Maintenon drew forth a letter from her pocket and asked if the handwriting was known to her.  It was a letter from Madame to the Duchess of Hanover, in which she said, after giving news of the Court, that no one knew what to say of the intercourse between the King and Madame de Maintenon, whether it was that of marriage or of concubinage; and then, touching upon other matters, launched out upon the misery of the realm:  that, she said, was too great to be relieved.  This letter had been opened at the post—­as almost all letters were at that time, and are indeed still—­and sent to the King.  It may be imagined that this was a thunderstroke to Madame:  it nearly killed her.  She burst into tears; and Madame de Maintenon very quietly and demurely began to represent to her the contents of the letter in all its parts, especially as it was addressed to a foreign country.  Madame de Ventadour interposed with some twaddle, to give Madame time to breathe and recover sufficiently to say something.  The best excuse was the admission of what could not be denied, with supplications for pardon, expressions of repentance, prayers, promises.  But Madame de Maintenon had not finished yet.  Having got rid of the commission she had been charged with by the King, she next turned to her own business:  she asked Madame how it was, that after being so friendly with her a long time ago, she had suddenly ceased to bestow any regard upon her, and had continued to treat her with coldness ever since.  At this, Madame thinking herself quite safe, said that the coldness was on the part of Madame de Maintenon, who had all on a sudden discontinued the friendly intercourse which formerly existed between them.  As before, Madame de Maintenon allowed Madame to talk her fill before she replied.  She then said she was about to divulge a secret which had never escaped her mouth, although she had for ten years been at liberty to tell it; and she forthwith related a thousand most offensive things which had been uttered against her by Madame to the late Madame la Dauphine.  This latter, falling out with Madame, had related all these things to Madame de Maintenon, who now brought them forward triumphantly.