They begged us both to go, and leave them till the rain was over, or till Madame de la Roche's carriage arrived. I could not bear to do this, but entreated Miss Planta, who was in haste, to go and dine by herself. This, at last, was agreed to, and I tried once again to enter into discourse upon other matters. But how greatly did my disturbance at all this urgency increase, when Madame de la Fite said she was so hungry she must beg a bit of bread and a glass of water!
I was now, indeed, upon the point of giving way; but when I considered, while I hesitated, what must follow—my own necessary apology, which would involve Madame de la Fite in much blame, or my own concealing silence, which would reverse all my plans of openness with the queen, and acquiesced with my own situation—I grew firm again, and having assured her a thousand times of my concern for my little power, I went into the next room: but I sent her the roll and water by John; I was too much ashamed to carry them.
When I returned to them again, Madame de la Fite requested me to go at once to the queen, and tell her the case. Ah, poor Madame de la Fite, to see so little a way for herself, and to suppose me also so every way short-sighted! I informed her that I never entered the presence of the queen unsummoned....
Again she desired to speak to me in my own room; and then she told me that Madame de la Roche had a most earnest wish, to see all the royal family; she hoped, therefore, the queen would go to early prayers at the chapel, where, at least she might be beheld: but she gave me sundry hints, not to be misunderstood, that she thought I might so represent the merits of Madame de la Roche as to induce the honour of a private audience.
I could give her no hope of this, as I had none to give for I well knew that the queen has a settled aversion to almost all novels, and something very near it to almost all novel-writers.
She then told me she had herself requested an interview for her with the princess royal, and had told her that if it was too much to grant it in the royal apartments, at least it might take place in Miss Burney's room! Her royal highness coldly answered that she saw nobody without the queen's commands....
In the end, the carriage of Madame de la Roche arrived, about tea-time, and Madame de la Fite finished with making me promise to relate my difficulties to the queen, that she might give me such orders as to enable me to keep them any other time. To give you the result at once, Miss Planta, of her own accord, briefly related the affair to the queen, dwelling upon my extreme embarrassment, with the most good-natured applause of its motives. The queen graciously joined in commendation of my steadiness, expressed her disapprobation of the indelicacy of poor Madame de la Fite, and added that if I had been overcome, it would have been an encouragement to her to bring foreigners for ever to the Lodge, wholly contrary to the pleasure of the king.
AN ECCENTRIC LADY.
Sept. 25.—Mrs. Delany came to me to dinner, and we promised ourselves the whole afternoon tete-a-tete, with no other interruption than what we were well contented to allow to Major Price and General Bude. But before we were well settled in my room, after our late dinner in the next, a visitor appeared,—Miss Finch.