"
"I will immediately satisfy it," answered she, " but what I have
to say must be told to yourself alone."
"Well, then," said the marechale, "I will leave you for the
present: I am going to admire that fine group of Girardon"; and
so saying, she quitted the walk in which I was standing.
Directly she was gone the stranger said to me, "Madam, I will
explain myself without reserve or unnecessary prolixity; I beseech
of you to listen attentively whilst I tell you, in the first place,
that both your life and that of the king is in imminent danger."
"Heavens!" cried I, " what do I hear?"
"That which I well know to be true," answered the female, with
a firm voice; "I repeat that your life and that of the king is
in danger."
These words, pronounced in a low, solemn voice, froze me with
terror; my limbs tottered under me, and I almost sank to the
ground. The stranger assisted me to a bench, offered me her arm,
and when she saw me a little recovered, she continued,
"Yes, madam, a conspiracy is afoot against yourself and Louis XV.
You are to be made away with out of revenge, and Louis XV is to
suffer, in the hopes of his death effecting a change in the
present face of affairs."
"And who," inquired I, "are the conspirators?"
'The Jesuits and parliamentarians; these ancient rivals, equally
persecuted by the royal government, have determined to make
common cause against their mutual foe.
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