"Thirty, brother! she is fifty."
"Then age has no influence at your court."
I shall not copy the "
" to tell you of the
sojourn of Christian VII at Paris. I am not writing the journal
of this prince but of myself. The king one day said to me,
"My brother of Denmark has expressed to the duc de Duras a
great desire to pay his respects to you, if you will accede to his
wishes. I leave you entirely sovereign mistress of yourself, not
without some fear however that the young king will steal away
your heart from me."
"Ah, sire," I replied, "that is an unjust suspicion; I should be
angry about it if it were not a joke, and would refuse to see the
king of Denmark did I not know how fully you are assured of my
attachment to you."
"I should not be so jealous, madame, if I did not set so much value
on it," was the reply of the king, as he kissed my hand.
The duc de Duras came the next day to inform me of the request of
his new king. It was agreed, in order to keep the interview secret,
that I should receive him at my own mansion in the Rue de la
Jussienne, and that he should come there without suite, and with
the strictest incognito. At the day and hour agreed he entered my
house, escorting two strangers of admirable presence. One was the
king of Denmark, under the name of comte de ------, and the other
a nobleman of his suite. Christian VII appeared to me a very
handsome man.
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