Part 27 (1/2)
”Permit me to assure you, madame, that in this respect you are in error,”
replied the Bishop ”Pere de la Chaise respects you and honours you, and only speaks of you in such terms What distresses him is to see that you have an aversion for him Let me write to hi presented to you, and that you hoped he ht have a wealthy abbey to enable hi vicar-general was good-looking, and of graceful presence He had that distinction of manner which causes the priesthood to be held in honour, and that amenity of address which an to take a fancy to him, and recommended him to me I wrote to Pere de la Chaise myself, and instead of a mere abbey, we asked for a bishopric for hianise a brilliant fete for the Fontevrault ladies, and invite all the nobility of the neighbourhood We talked of this to the young vicar, who highly approved of ht such a scheme somewhat contrary to rule and to what he ter priest, as a lever; and M de Poitiers at last consented to everything
The Fontevrault gardens are one of the hts in all the country round We chose the large alley as our chief entertainment-hall, and the trees were all illuny, or at Versailles There was no dancing, on account of the nuns, but during our repast there was music, and a concert and fireworks afterwards The fete ended with a perforrand spectacular pantohbourhood; it reat i down into the gardens, the Abbess wished to present me formally to all the nuns, as well as to those persons it had pleased her to invite Iine her astonishment! Three nuns were absent, and despite our entreaties and the commands of their superiors, they persisted in their rebellion and their refusal They set up to keep rules before all things, and observe the duties of their religion, lying thus to their Abbess and their conscience It was all mere spite Of this there can be no doubt, for one of these refractory creatures, as it transpired, was a cousin of the Marquis de Lauzun, my so-called victim; while the other tere near relatives of Mademoiselle de Mauldon, an intimate friend of M de Meaux
In spite of these three silly absentees, we enjoyed ourselves greatly, and had much innocent amusement; while they, who could watch us froe to think they were not of our number
My sister complained of them to the Bishop of Poitiers, who severely bla that he could not induce they, sent them away to three different convents
CHAPTER LX
The Page-Dauphin--A Billet froer--His Sentence on the Murderers
The great liberty which we enjoyed at Fontevrault, coe of Saint Gerreeable to es asked ”
”Of course I do,” was my answer; ”but may one not love oneself just a little bit, too? To me, health is life; and I assure you, at Fontevrault, ot rid of allthus when Mada Cha bore the title of Page-Dauphin]--who brought with hi He also had one for iving 's letter was quite short, but a king's note such as that is worth a whole pile of commonplace letters I transcribe it here:
I a for me And I aht have chosen a very different norant as to the nature of her row erous, she has playedfor you to act as her nurse or her physician
Pray tell her,extreards medical skill, you are still further from the mark, since you have never yet been able to understand your own ailments, nor even explain these with the least clearness I s and come to Versailles, where all my physicians shall treat her with infinite skill; and, to oblige me, will cure her, as they kno much I esteem and like her Farewell, my ladies three, who in your friendshi+p are but as one I should like to be there to make a fourth
Madaive you news of your little faht to you and delivered by the young Comte de Chamilly Send him back to me at once, and don't let him, see your novices or your nuns, else he will not want to return to me LOUIS
Madame de Maintenon's letter was not couched in the sah a marquise, she felt the distance that there was between herself andto do The Abbess, who is an excellent judge, thought this letter excellently written She wanted to have a copy of it, which made me determine to preserve it Here it is, a so:
I promised you, madame, that I would inform you as often as possible of all that interests you here, and now I keep lad to say that I have only pleasant news to coh annoyed at your journey, he has hardly lost any of his gaiety, as seeain in a day or two
Mademoiselle de Nantes declares that she would have behaved very well in the coach, and that she is a nearer relation to you than the duchesse de Nevers, and that it was very unfair not to take her with you this time
In order to comfort her, the Duc du Maine has discovered an expedient which greatly amuses us, and never fails of its effect He tells her how absolutely necessary it is for her proper education that she should be placed in a convent, and then adds in a serious tone that if she had been taken to Fontevrault she would never have come back!
”Oh, if that is the case,” she answered, ”why, I am not jealous of the duchesse de Nevers”
The day after your departure the Court took up its quarters at Saint Germain, where we shall probably remain for another week You know, madame, how fond his Majesty is of the Louis Treize Belvedere, and the telescope erected by this monarch,--one of the best everturned this instrument to the left towards that distant bend which the Seine e of the Chatou woods His Majesty, who observes every thing, noticed two bathers in the river, who apparently were trying to teach their er companion, a lad of fourteen or fifteen, to swirasp, and escaped to the river-bank, to reach his clothes and dress himself They tried to coax him back into the water, but he did not relish such treatestures it was plain that he desired no further lessons Then the two bathers ju on his shi+rt, dragged him back into the water, and forcibly held him under till he was drowned
When they had committed this crilances at either river-bank, and the heights of Saint Gere of their deed, they put on their clothes, and with all a lee depicted on their evil countenances, they walked along the bank in the direction of the castle