On the next day the Princesse de Lamballe sent for me very early in the morning.  I found her on a sofa facing a window that looked upon the Pont Royal.  She then occupied that apartment of the Pavilion of Flora which was on a level with that of the Queen.  She desired me to sit down by her.  Her Highness had a writing-desk upon her knees.  “You have had many enemies,” said she; “attempts have been made to deprive you of the Queen’s favour; they have been far from successful.  Do you know that even I myself, not being so well acquainted with you as the Queen, was rendered suspicious of you; and that upon the arrival of the Court at the Tuileries I gave you a companion to be a spy upon you; and that I had another belonging to the police placed at your door!  I was assured that you received five or six of the most virulent deputies of the Tiers Etat; but it was that wardrobe woman whose rooms were above you.

“In short,” said the Princess, “persons of integrity have nothing to fear from the evil-disposed when they belong to so upright a prince as the King.  As to the Queen, she knows you, and has loved you ever since she came into France.  You shall judge of the King’s opinion of you:  it was yesterday evening decided in the family circle that, at a time when the Tuileries is likely to be attacked, it was necessary to have the most faithful account of the opinions and conduct of all the individuals composing the Queen’s service.  The King takes the same precaution on his part respecting all who are about him.  He said there was with him a person of great integrity, to whom he would commit this inquiry; and that, with regard to the Queen’s household, you must be spoken to, that he had long studied your character, and that he esteemed your veracity.”

The Princess had a list of the names of all who belonged to the Queen’s chamber on her desk.  She asked me for information respecting each individual.  I was fortunate in having none but the most favourable information to give.  I had to speak of my avowed enemy in the Queen’s chamber; of her who most wished that I should be responsible for my brother’s political opinions.  The Princess, as the head of the chamber, could not be ignorant of this circumstance; but as the person in question, who idolised the King and Queen, would not have hesitated to sacrifice her life in order to save theirs, and as possibly her attachment to them, united to considerable narrowness of intellect and a limited education, contributed to her jealousy of me, I spoke of her in the highest terms.

The Princess wrote as I dictated, and occasionally looked at me with astonishment.  When I had done I entreated her to write in the margin that the lady alluded to was my declared enemy.  She embraced me, saying, “Ah! do not write it! we should not record an unhappy circumstance which ought to be forgotten.”  We came to a man of genius who was much attached to the Queen, and I described him as a man born solely to contradict, showing himself an aristocrat with democrats, and a democrat among aristocrats; but still a man of probity, and well disposed to his sovereign.  The Princess said she knew many persons of that disposition, and that she was delighted I had nothing to say against this man, because she herself had placed him about the Queen.