第71章

harmonybetweenyou。

Asforyou，mylordduke，beatrueand

loyalsubject；andyou，mysweetcountess，useyourbestendeavors

toprevailonthekingtobefriendandassisthisfaithfulservant。“

Iallowedmyselftobemanagedlikeachild；andinsteadof

scratchingthefaceofM。deRichelieu，Iobtainedforhima

grantof100，000livres，whichthecourtbankerdulycounted

outtohim。

CHAPTERXXXII

Aprefatoryremark——MadameBrillant——ThemarechaledeLuxembourg’s

cat——Despairofthemarechale——Theambassador，Beaumarchais，and

theducdeChaulnes——thecomted’Aranda——LouisXVandhisrelics——The

abbedeBeauvais——Hissermons——Heisappointedbishop

WhenIrelatedtocomteJeanmyreconciliationwiththeducde

Richelieu，andthesumwhichthistreatyhadcostme，my

brother-in-lawflewintothemostviolentfury；hestyledthe

marechalaplundererofthepublictreasury。

Wellmaythescripture

tellusweseethemoteinourneighbor’seye，butregardnot

thebeamwhichisinourowneye。

Iwascompelledtoimpose

silenceoncomteJean，orintheheightofhisragehewould

haveofferedsomeinsulttotheoldmarechal，whoalreadymost

heartilydislikedhimforthefamiliarityofhistoneandmanner

towardshim。

Ididallinmypowertokeepthesetwoenemies

fromcomingineachother’sway，counselledtothatbythe

marechaledeMirepoix，whoselineofpoliticswasofthemost

pacificnature；besidesIhadnoinclinationforawarcarried

oninmyimmediatevicinity，and，formyownpart，sofarfrom

wishingtoharmanyone，Iquicklyforgaveeveryaffrontoffered

tomyself。

Buthold！

IperceiveIamrunningonquitesmoothlyinmyown

praise。

Indeed，myfriend，itiswellIhavetakenthatoffice

uponmyself，forIfearnooneelsewouldundertakeit。

The

mostatrociouscalumnieshavebeeninventedagainstme；Ihave

beenvilifiedbothinproseandverse；and，amongstthegreat

numberofpersonsonwhomIhaveconferredthegreatestobligations，

nonehasbeenfoundwithsufficientcourageorgratitudetostand

forwardandundertakemydefence。

Idonotevenexceptmadamede

Mirepoix，whoseconducttowardsmeinformerdayswasmarkedby

themoststudiedattention。

Shecametomeoneevening，witha

faceofgrief。

“Mercyuponme，“criedI，“whatailsyou？“

“Alas！“

repliedshe，inapiteoustone，“Ihavejustquitteda

mostafflictedfamily；theirlossisheavyandirreparable。

The

marechaledeLuxembourgiswellnighdistractedwithgrief。“

“Goodheavens！“

exclaimedI，“cantheduchessedeLauzunbedead？“

“Alas！

no。“

“PerhapspoormadamedeBoufflers？“

“No，myfriend。“

“Whothenistheobjectofsomuchregret？

Speak；tellme。“

“MadameBrillant。“

“Afriendoftheoldmarechale’s？“

“Morethanafriend，“repliedmadamedeMirepoix；“herfaithful

companion；heronlycompanion；heronlybelovedobject，since

herloversandadmirersceasedtooffertheirhomage——inaword，

hercat。“

“Bl