"
"Be assured, sir," answered I, " that I shall ever feel proud and
honored by the princesses' notice; and I will take care that the
faithful account of all their gracious condescension shall be
faithfully and loudly reported."
The bishop departed much pleased with the success of
his negotiation; and, above all, with the agreeable turn
the affair had taken.
When I next saw the king, I said to him, "Your daughters, sire,
are as amiable as you would have them; they have been informed
that some evil disposed persons have asserted, that they had
prohibited my being of the party to Chantilly; and in order to
testify how differently they were disposed towards me, they
despatched the bishop de Senlis."
"A most fit person to be intrusted with such a commission,"
replied the king; "for I have, in every instance, endeavored to
justify the wishes of this holy pillar of the church, this worthy
prelate with his double-faced politeness, towards those whom
he openly compliments, and reviles in private, just as his interest
may require it. Well! and what did you say to him?"
"That I most humbly thanked the princesses, but that the state
of my health did not permit of my visiting Chantilly for the present."
"That is all very well," answered Louis XV; "you have framed
your excuse with much generosity, which I greatly fear will meet
with a very different turn; for if you do not accompany me to
Chantilly, the report circulated will be, that the princesses have
forbidden you their presence; which my dearly beloved daughters,
whose characters I fully understand, will neither affirm nor deny
before the public, whilst in private they will vow that they
prohibited you from following them.
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