“‘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 Duchess answer for the same sincerity towards the Queen, with respect to her innumerable guests?  No!  Are not the sentiments of the Duchesses sister-in-law, the Comtesse Diane, in direct opposition to the absolute monarchy?  Has she not always been an enthusiastic advocate for all those that have supported the American war?  Who was it that crowned, at a public assembly, the democratical straight hairs of Dr. Franklin?  Why the same Madame Comtesse Diane!  Who was ‘capa turpa’ in applauding the men who were framing the American Constitution at Paris?  Madame Comtesse Diane!  Who was it, in like manner, that opposed all the Queen’s arguments against the political conduct of France and Spain, relative to the war with England, in favour of the American Independence?  The Comtesse Diane!  Not for the love of that rising nation, or for the sacred cause of liberty; but from a taste for notoriety, a spirit of envy and jealousy, an apprehension lest the personal charms of the Queen might rob her of a part of those affections, which she herself exclusively hoped to alienate from that abortion, the Comtesse d’Artois, in whose service she is Maid of Honour, and handmaid to the Count.  My dear Princess, these are facts proved.  Beaumarchais has delineated them all.  Why, then, refuse to see me?  Why withdraw her former confidence from the Comte d’Artois, when she lives in the society which promulgates antimonarchical principles?  These are sad evidences of Her Majesty’s inconsistency.  She might as well see the Duc d’Orleans’

“Here my feelings overwhelmed me.  I could contain myself no longer.  The tears gushed from my eyes.

“‘Oh, Prince!’ exclaimed I, in a bitter agony of grief—­’Oh, Prince! touch not that fatal string.  For how many years has he not caused these briny tears of mine to flow from my burning eyes!  The scalding drops have nearly parched up the spring of life!’”