“Madame la maréchale,” said I, accosting her, “what lucky chance brings you to a place where the desire to have your society is so great?”
“It is the feeling of real sympathy,” she replied, with a gracious smile; “for I also have longed for a considerable time to visit you, and have yielded to my wishes as soon as I was certain that my advances would not be repulsed.”
“Ah, madame.,” said I, “had you seriously any such fear? That tells me much less of the mistrust you had of yourself than of the bad opinion you had conceived of me. The honor of your visits—”
“The honor of my visits! That’s admirable! I wish to obtain a portion of your friendship, and to testify to the king that I am sincerely attached to him.”
“You overwhelm me, madame,” cried I, much delighted, “and I beg you to give me your confidence.”
“Well, now, all is arranged between us: I suit you and you please me. It is long since I was desirous of coming to you, but we are all under the yoke of the must absurd tyranny: soon we shall have no permission to go, to come, to speak, to hold our tongues, without first obtaining the consent of a certain family. This yoke has wearied me; and on the first word of the chancellor of France I hastened to you.”
“I had begged him, madame, to express to you how much I should be charmed to have you when the king graced me with his presence. He likes you, he is accustomed to the delights of your society; and I should have been deeply chagrined had I come here only to deprive him of that pleasure.”
“He is a good master,” said the maréchale, “he is worthy of all our love. I have had opportunities of knowing him thoroughly, for I was most intimate with madame de Pompadour; and I believe that my advice will not be useless to you.”
“I ask it of you, madame la maréchale, for it will be precious to me.”
“Since we are friends, madame,” said she, seating herself in a chair, “do not think ill of me if I establish myself at my ease, and take my station as in the days of yore. The king loves you: so much the better. You will have a double empire over him. He did not love the marquise, and allowed himself to be governed by her; for with him—I ask pardon of your excessive beauty—custom does all. It is necessary, my dear countess, to use the double lever you have, of your own charms and his constant custom to do to-morrow what he does to-day because he did it yesterday, and for this you lack neither grace nor wit.”