“Let him come in,” I said to Henriette.
“I will lay a wager, madame, that he comes to ask some favor.”
“I believe,” replied I, “that he is more frequently the solicited than the solicitor.”
Henriette went out, and in a few minutes led in, thro’ the private corridors which communicated with my apartment, his highness monseigneur Rene Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, chevalier and chancellor of France. As soon as he entered I conceived a good opinion of him, altho’ I had only seen him walk. His step was firm and assured, like that of a man confident in the resources of his own talents.
“Madame la comtesse du Barry,” he said, “would have a right to complain of me, if I did not come and lay my person at her feet. I had the more impatience to express to her my devotion, as I feared she had been prejudiced against me.”
“How, monseigneur?”
“The gate by which I entered the ministry—”
“Is not agreeable to me, as being that of my enemies, but I feel assured that you will not side with them against me.”
“Certainly not, madame; it is my wish to give you pleasure in every thing, and I flatter myself I may merit your friendship.”
After many other compliments, the Chancellor asked me, with much familiarity, when my presentation was to take place, and why it had not yet occurred. I replied, that the delay arose from the intrigues of Choiseul, and the king shrunk from the discontent of a handful of courtiers.