Not that I would seek
to justify the injury she sought to do our queen, but I may and
do congratulate myself, that the same warmth which pervades her
hatreds likewise influences her friendships.
I cannot equally boast of the treatment I received from the duchess
dowager d'Aiguillon, who, as well as her daughter-in-law, came
to see me upon the promotion of her son. She overloaded me with
caresses, and even exceeded her daughter-in-law in protestations
of devotion and gratitude. You should have heard her extol my
beauty, wit, and sweetness of disposition; she, in fact, so
overwhelmed me with her surfeiting praises, that at last I
became convinced that, of the thousand flattering things she
continually addressed to me, not one was her candid opinion;
and I was right, for I soon learned, that in her circle of intimates
at the houses of the Beauffremons, the Brionnes, and above all,
the marquise du Deffant, she justified her acquaintance with me,
by saying it was a sacrifice made to the interests of her son, and
amused these ladies by censuring my every word and look. The
dowager's double-dealing greatly annoyed me; nevertheless, not
wishing to vex her son, or her daughter- in-law, I affected to be
ignorant of her dishonourable conduct. However, I could not
long repress my indignation, and one day that she was praising
me most extravagantly, I exclaimed, "Ah, madam, how kind it
would be of you to reserve one of these pretty speeches to repeat
at madame du Deffant's.
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