"Hold! hold!" de Blair cried. "This is certainly the revolution they say is to come. We are returning rapidly to the State of Nature."
"Do I hear a phrase of that man Rousseau, ladies?" the Princess called over, nodding her head-dress. "When I was little he was presented to me at the Prince de Conti's, and had no breeding. Is that not true, Abbé?"
"You speak with your unvarying correctness, Madame la Princesse."
"You hear the Abbé, ladies," she said languidly, sitting back again.
D'Estaing, to change the subject, took up the name of the Prince de Conti, and turning to the Canoness and Cyrène, told a story which he had often heard of him.
"Madame de Bouillon, being with the Prince, hinted that she would like a miniature of her linnet set in a ring. The Prince offered to have it made. His offer was accepted on condition that the miniature be set plain, without jewels. Accordingly the miniature is placed in a simple rim of gold. But to cover over the painting, a large diamond, cut very thin, is set above it. Madame returned the diamond. The Prince had it ground to powder, which he used to dry the ink of the note he wrote to Madame on the subject."
"There is a Prince!" cried Mademoiselle de Richeval.
"By the way, Montgolfier has sent up a new balloon which has carried four passengers," went on the volatile d'Estaing.
"Who is this Montgolfier with his balloons?" the Princess asked languidly. "Is he what the new coiffure is named after?"
D'Estaing looked around a little significantly.