“‘All these circumstances,’ observed I, ’the King prudently foresaw when he read the manuscript, and caused it to be read to the Queen, to convince her of the nature of its characters and the dangerous tendency likely to arise from its performance.  Of this Your Highness is aware.  It is not for me to apprise you that, to avert the excitement inevitable from its being brought upon the stage, and under a thorough conviction of the mischief it would produce in turning the minds of the people against the Queen, His Majesty solemnly declared that the comedy should not be performed in Paris; and that he would never sanction its being brought before the public on any stage in France.’

“‘Bah! bah! madame!’ exclaimed De Conti.  The Queen has acted like a child in this affair, as in many others.  In defiance of His Majesty’s determination, did not the Queen herself, through the fatal influence of her favourite, whose party wearied her out by continued importunities, cause the King to revoke his express mandate?  And what has been the consequence of Her Majesty’s ungovernable partiality for these De Polignacs?’

“‘You know, Prince,’ said I, ‘better than I do.’

“‘The proofs of its bad consequences,’ pursued His Highness, ’are more strongly verified than ever by your own withdrawing from the Queen’s parties since her unreserved acknowledgment of her partiality (fatal partiality!) for those who will be her ruin; for they are her worst enemies.’

“‘Pardon me, Prince,’ answered I, ’I have not withdrawn myself from the Queen, but from the new parties, with whose politics I cannot identify myself, besides some exceptions I have taken against those who frequent them.’

“‘Bah! bah!’ exclaimed De Conti, ’your sagacity has got the better of your curiosity.  All the wit and humour of that traitor Beaumarchais never seduced you to cultivate his society, as all the rest of the Queen’s party have done.’

“‘I never knew him to be accused of treason.’

“’Why, what do you call a fellow who sent arms to the Americans before the war was declared, without his Sovereign’s consent?’

“’In that affair, I consider the Ministers as criminal as himself; for the Queen, to this day, believes that Beaumarchais was sanctioned by them and, you know, Her Majesty has ever since had an insuperable dislike to both De Maurepas and De Vergennes.  But I have nothing to do with these things.’

“’Yes, yes, I understand you, Princess.  Let her romp and play with the ’compate vous’,—­[A kind of game of forfeits, introduced for the diversion of the royal children and those of the Duchesse de Polignac.]—­but who will ‘compatire’ (make allowance for) her folly?  Bah! bah! bah!  She is inconsistent, Princess.  Not that I mean by this to insinuate that the Duchess is not the sincere friend and well-wisher of the Queen.  Her immediate existence, her interest, and that of her family, are all dependent on the royal bounty.  But can the