Part 43 (1/2)
And thus terminated an affair, which had caused so much alarm, and which continued for a considerable period to engage the attention of ministers. How was the mystery to be cleared up? The poisoned orange-flower water, and the sudden deaths of the two prisoners, were facts difficult to reconcile with the no less undeniable innocence of the three accused Jesuits. The whole business was to me an incomprehensible ma.s.s of confusion, in which incidents the most horrible were mingled. At last we agreed that the best and only thing to be done was to consign the affair to oblivion; but there were circ.u.mstances which did not so easily depart from the recollection of my excellent friend, the marechale de Mirepoix. ”My dear soul,” said she to me one day, ”have you ever inquired what became of the 100,000 livres given to madame Lorimer? she had no time to employ them in any way before her imprisonment in the Bastille. You ought to inquire into what hands they have fallen.”
I fully comprehended the drift of this question, which I put to M. de Sartines the first time I saw him.
”Bless me,” exclaimed he, ”you remind me that these 100,000 livres have been lying in a drawer in my office. But I have such a terrible memory.”
”Happily,” replied I, ”I have a friend whose memory is as good as yours seems defective upon such occasions. It will not be wise to permit such a sum to remain uselessly in your office: at the same time I need not point out that you, by your conduct in the late affair, have by no means earned a right to them.”
He attempted to justify himself; but, interrupting him, I exclaimed, ”My good friend, you have set up a reputation of your own creating and inventing; and well it is you took the office upon yourself for no one else would have done it for you; but you perceive how frail have been its foundations; for the moment you are compelled to stand upon your own resources you faint, and are easily overcome.”
He endeavoured to make a joke of the affair, but indeed it seemed to accord as ill with his natural inclination as did the rest.i.tution of the 100,000 livres. However, he brought them to me the following day, and as I was expecting the arrival of madame de Mirepoix, I placed them in a porcelain vase which stood upon my chimney-piece. Unfortunately for the marechale, comte Jean presented himself before she did. He came to inform me, that my husband (of whose quitting Toulouse I had forgotten to tell you) had again arrived in Paris. I did not disguise the vexation which this piece of intelligence excited in me.
”And wherefore has comte Guillaume returned to Paris?” inquired I, angrily.
”Because he is afraid.”
”Afraid of what?” replied I.
”Of being murdered,” answered comte Jean: ”it is a most horrible and authentic story. Imagine to yourself the dangers of his situation: some brigands, who have a design on his life, have written him an anonymous billet, in which they protest they will certainly murder him, unless he deposits 50,000 livres in a certain place. You may suppose his terror; money he had none, neither was his credit sufficiently good to enable him to borrow any. As a last and only chance, he threw himself into a carriage, and hastened, tremblingly, to implore your a.s.sistance.”
”And I am quite certain you will not withhold yours from him,” answered I
”You are perfectly right,” cried he, ”but unfortunately just now I have not a single crown I can call my own; so that it rests with you alone, my dearest sister, to save the life of this hapless comte du Barry.”
”I am extremely distressed, my dear brother-in-law,” replied I, ”that I am just as poor, and as unable to afford the necessary aid as yourself; my purse is quite empty.”
”Faith, my dear sister-in-law, I am not surprised at that if you convert a china vase into a receptacle for your bank notes.”
Saying this, he drew a bundle of notes from the hiding-place in which I had deposited them. ”Do you know,” continued comte Jean, ”I really think we shall find money enough here.” He began to count them: and when he had finished he said, ”My dear sister, neither your husband nor myself wish to importune you, or put you to any inconvenience, therefore you shall merely oblige him with the loan of these 50,000 livres to extricate him from his present peril; they shall be faithfully and quickly restored to you, and a note of hand given you for that purpose if you desire it.” So saying, he divided the money into two parts, replaced one in the vase, and pocketed the other.
I was very indignant at the cool impudence with which this was done, and my patience had well nigh forsaken me: however, I restrained myself; and I was happy enough that I could so far conquer myself. My reproaches would not have induced comte Jean to give me back my money, and would only have roused his violence; which, when once excited, found vent in language so vehement and energetic, that I did not desire to hear any more of it than I could help. At these moments he selected not the politest expressions, but those which were the strongest: and besides, such was the ungovernable nature of comte Jean's temper, that once roused, he would have treated the king himself with as little consideration as he did me. Still, he never deliberately insulted me, nor did he compose those insulting verses respecting me, which were printed as his, in ”Les Anecdotes sur Madame du Barry.” This would have been an indignity I would quickly have caused him to repent having offered.
”Well,” inquired I, ”are you very glad to see your brother in Paris?”
”No, 'pon my soul!” returned he; ”but since he is here, we must do the best we can with him; he was very anxious to see his sister-in-law and niece. He says the former is ugly as sin, and the latter almost as handsome as you.”
”Very gallant,” replied I; ”but tell me, comte Jean, does this elegant compliment proceed from my husband or yourself?”
We were just then interrupted by the arrival of the marechale, and comte Jean retired.
”Well, my dear,” she began, ”have you seen M. de Sartines, and did you speak to him respecting those 100,000 livres?” ”Oh, yes,” replied I, ”he gave them back to me; but I have already had half of them stolen from me.”
”By comte Jean, I'll engage,” cried she. ”Upon my word, that man is a perfect spendthrift, a prodigal; who, if you do not take great care, will certainly ruin you. And what will you do with the remaining 50,000 livres, my dear friend; where will you place them?”
”In your hands, my dear marechale; 'tis his majesty's command.”
”To that command,” answered she, ”I must perforce submit”; and, taking the bundle of notes, she continued, ”a.s.sure his majesty that it will ever be my greatest pride and pleasure to obey his slightest wish. My respect for his orders can only be equalled by my tender friends.h.i.+p for her who is the bearer of the royal mandate.” Then, deliberately putting the money in her pocket, she exclaimed, ”You must own that comte Jean is a great rogue.”
CHAPTER x.x.xIX