"
"Heaven preserve me from such a thing," exclaimed Louis XV. "Such
a man as he is ought never to quit the kingdom, and I have been
guilty of considerable oversight to leave him the liberty of so
doing. But to return to comte d'Aranda; he has some merit I
understand; still I like not that class of persons around me; they
are inexorable censors, who condemn alike every action of my life."
However, not the king's greatest enemy could have found fault
with his manner of passing his leisure hours. A great part of
each day was occupied in a mysterious manufacture of cases for
relics, and one of his
, named Turpigny, was
intrusted with the commission of purchasing old shrines and
reliquaries; he caused the sacred bones, or whatever else they
contain, to be taken out by Grandelatz, one of his almoners,
re-adjusted, and then returned to new cases. These reliquaries
were distributed by him to his daughters, or any ladies of the
court of great acknowledged piety. When I heard of this I mentioned
it to the king, who wished at first to conceal the fact; but, as
he was no adept at falsehood or disguise, he was compelled to
admit the fact.
"I trust, sire," said I, "that you will bestow one of your
prettiest and best-arranged reliquaries on me."
"No, no," returned he, hastily, "that cannot be."
"And why not?" asked I.
"Because," answered he, "it would be sinful of me.
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