"
I fully agreed with the good-natured marechale; and, when I bade
the sorrowful madame de Valentinois good night, I assured her I
would implore his majesty to repair the mischief my presence had
caused. Accordingly on the following day, when the king questioned
me as to how far I had been amused with the fete given by madame
de Valentinois, I availed myself of the opening to state my entire
satisfaction, as well as to relate the disgrace into which she had
fallen, and to pray his majesty to bestow upon her a pension of
15,000 livres.
"Upon my word," exclaimed Louis XV, hastily traversing the chamber,
"this fete seems likely to prove a costly one to me."
"Nay, sire," said I, "it was a most delightful evening; and you
will not, I hope, refuse me such a trifle for those who lavished
so much for my amusement."
"Well," cried he, "be it so; the countess shall have the sum she requires, but upon
condition that she does not apply to me again."
"Really your majesty talks," replied I, "as though this trifling
pension were to be drawn from your own purse."
The king began to smile at my remark, like a man who knows himself
found out. I knew him well enough to be certain that, had he
intended the pension awarded madame de Valentinois to come from
his own privy purse, he would scarcely have consented to bestowing
on her more than a shabby pittance of a thousand livres per annum.
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