Volume III Part 26 (1/2)
A few days later, the iven hiht be at liberty to work on the dyes which were to assure the superiority of French ot over the king by arranging a laboratory where he occasionally tried to ah he knew little about che was the victim of an almost universal weariness To enjoy a hare beauties, and often from the ranks of neophytes, hom pleasure had its difficulties, one would have needed to be a God, and Louis XV was only a man after all
It was the fa in the hope of his distracting thehim a taste for chemistry Indeed Madame de Poiven her the water of perpetual youth, and therefore felt obliged to ood return This wondrous water, taken according to the charlatan's directions, could not indeedto the marquise it would preserve one in statu quo for several centuries
As a iver of it, had worked wonders, if not on her body, at least on herolder The king was as rand impostor as she was, for one day he shewed the Duc des Deux-Ponts a dia twelve carats, which he fancied he had made hihing twenty-four carats, and obtained this one large one weighing twelve” Thus it caave the impostor the suite formerly occupied by Marshal Saxe The Duc des Deux-Ponts told , when I was supping with him and a Swede, the Comte de Levenhoop, at Metz
Before I left Madaht be he who should ain, but that she would spoil all if she did not wait for hie of puberty After what she had said about his uess what ave hiuised hih he was born at Bayreuth, and though histo do with a Spaniard of that name It was three or fourinsulted on account of the naiven him
One day Tiretta came to see me in a fine coach He told me that his elderly mistress wanted to becoh she offered to endow hiave in he ht pay his debts, return to Trevisa, and live pleasantly there; but his destiny would not allow hi a country house, and fixed on one called ”Little Poland,” which pleased me better than all the others I had seen It ell furnished, and was a hundred paces distant froround near the royal park, behind the Duc de Graiven it the naardens, one of which was on a level with the first floor, three reception rooood cellar, and a splendid kitchen The ,” and alrote hiiven to hi at the house and liking the butter The ”butter King” let ave me an excellent cook called ”The Pearl,” a true blue-ribbon of the order of cooks, and to her he gave charge of all his furniture and the plate I should want for a dinner of six persons, engaging to get me as much plate as I wanted at the hire of a sous an ounce He also promised to let me have ine I wanted, and said all he had was of the best, and, ate-ed on these terood coachroouest, was delighted with ined that I had done it all for her, I left her in that flattering opinion I never could believe in thefrom poor mortal man the delusions whichd'Aranda, the count of her own , was a scion of the nobility, that he was born for a mysterious operation unknown to the rest of mankind, that I was only his caretaker (here I spoke the truth), and that he must die and yet not cease to live All these whimsical ideas were the products of her brain, which was only occupied with the iree with everything If I had tried to undeceive her, she would have accused me of want of trust in her, for she was convinced that all her knowledge was revealed to her by her genius, who spoke to her only by night After she had dined with me I took her back to her house, full of happiness
Camille sent me a lottery ticket, which she had invested in atone, I think, for a thousand crowns or thereabouts She askedthe money with me I accepted her invitation, and found her surrounded by all the girls she knew and their lovers After supper I was asked to go to the opera with theot there when I lost my party in the crowd I had no mask on, and I soon found myself attacked by a black domino, whom I knew to be a woman, and as she told me a hundred truths about myself in a falsetto voice, I was interested, and deter out who she was At last I succeeded in persuading her to come with me into a box, and as soon as ere in and I had taken off her mask I was astonished to find she was Mdlle X C V
”I have come to the ball,” said she, ”with one of my sisters, o into a box and change my domino:
”They must feel very uneasy”
”I dare say they do, but I a to take pity on theher in an to talk of our old love-; and I took care to say that I was more in love with her than ever She listened to me kindly, did not oppose my eed that the happy moment was not far off Nevertheless I felt that I , and she let ed to me
”I heard at Versailles,to marry M de la Popeliniere”
”So they say My mother wishes ot me in his talons already; but he ”
”He is old, but he is very rich”
”He is very rich and very generous, for he promises me a dowry of a million if I become a ithout children; and if I had a son he would leave me all his property”
”You wouldn't havewith the second alternative”
”I shall never have anything to do with his e with a man whom I do not love, while I do love another”
”Another! Who is the fortunate iven your heart's treasure?”
”I do not know if my loved one is fortunate My lover is a Venetian, and my mother knows of it; but she says that I should not be happy, that he is not worthy ofyour affections”
”I cannot be angry with her She , but she certainly loves me She would rather that I should lad to have me, but I detest him”
”Has he made a declaration in teriven his hard to hope; but the truth is you have fascinated him”
”Possibly, but I do not think hi He is a visionary; surly, jealous, and envious in his disposition When he heardmyself about you in the manner you deserve, he had the iht not to receive you”
”He deserves that I should give him a lesson in manners, but there are other ways in which he hted to serve you in any way I can”