I received his overtures with becoming
grace and modesty. As I have before said, the exterior of the king
was very prepossessing, and what he wanted in youth, he made up
by all the mature graces of dignified royalty. At last Lebel
appeared, and made me a sign to rise from my seat. Up to this
period nothing had arisen to betray the incognito of the august
monarch, and in order to keep up my pretended ignorance of his
grandeur, I quitted the apartment with little ceremony. Lebel
conducted me to an adjoining chamber, furnished with the utmost
magnificence. When we were seated, he turned to the comte Jean,
who had followed us, and said, "It rests with yourself whether you
will return to Paris, or remain at Versailles. But as for
,
who seems much fatigued, she will, we trust, honor us by accepting
a bed at the castle."
My self-created brother-in-law understood as well as I did the
significance of these words, and clearly read in their import how
far I had attracted the favor of the king. In order to have
rendered the impression more lasting, we could have wished that
matters had been less precipitated, but we were under a roof
where everything yielded to the caprices of its master, and
resignation to his will became a matter of course. And here I
trust I may be pardoned if I pass over certain details which
could not, at this lapse of time, interest or amuse any one;
besides, altho' I have found no difficulty in reciting former
events of my life, I find my pen more prudish and coy than were
my ears or mouth.
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