If the marechal was respected by the
public, believe me he would be so by his family."
This retort was perhaps too severe. I found this by the silence
of the king; but as, in fact, it imported little, and, by God's
help, I was never under much constraint with him, I saw him blush,
and then he said to me,
"Now, I undertake to bring madame de Guemenee into proper order.
The favor I ask is, that you would not meddle. I have power
enough to satisfy you, but, for heaven's sake, do not enter into
more quarrels than you have already. It seems to me that you
ought to avoid them instead of creating such disturbances."
He had assumed a grave tone in reading me this lecture: but as we
were in a place in which majesty could not be committed, I began
to laugh heartily, and to startle him, I said that henceforward I
would pilot my bark myself, and defend myself by openly assailing
all persons who testified an aversion to me. How laughable it
was to see the comic despair in which this determination threw the
king. It seemed to him that the whole court would be at loggerheads;
and he could not restrain himself from exclaiming, that he would a
hundred times rather struggle against the king of Prussia and the
emperor of Germany united, than against three or four females of
the chateau. In a word, I frightened him so completely, that he
decided on the greatest act of courage he had ever essayed in my
favor: it was, to desire the intervention of the duc de Choiseul
in all these quarrels.
Pages:
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203