he suspicion of flattery. A clear and
open forehead, a delicately cut nose, a complexion of dazzling brilliancy,
with bright blue eyes, whose ever-varying lustre seemed equally calculated
to show every feeling which could move her heart; which could, at times
seem almost fierce with anger, indignation, or contempt, but whose
prevailing expression was that of kindly benevolence or light-hearted
mirth were united with a figure of exquisite proportions, sufficiently
tall for dignity, though as yet, of course, slight and unformed, and every
movement of which was directed by a grace that could neither be taught nor
imitated. If any defect could be discovered in her face, it consisted in a
somewhat undue thickness of the lips, especially of the lower lip, which
had for some generations been the prevailing characteristic of her family.

Accordingly, a month after her marriage, Mercy could report to Maria
Teresa that she had had complete success, and was a universal favorite;
that, besides the king, who openly expressed his satisfaction, she had won
the heart of the dauphin, who had been very unqualified in the language in
which he had praised both her beauty and her agreeable qualities to his
aunts; and that even those princesses were "enchanted" with her. The whole
court, and the people in general, extolled her affability, and the
graciousness with which she said kind things to all who approached her.
Though the well-informed embassador had already discovered signs of the
cabals which the mistress and her partisans were forming against her, and
had been rendered a little uneasy by the handle which she had more than
once afforded to her secret enemies, when, "in gayety of heart and without
the slightest ill-will," she had allowed herself to jest on some persons
and circumstances which struck her as ridiculous, her jests being seasoned
with a wit and piquancy which rendered them keener to those who were their
objects, and more so mischievous to herself. He especially praised the
unaffected dignity with which she had received the mistress who had
attended in her apartments to pay her court, though in no respect deceived
as to the lady's disposition, her penetration into the characters of all
with whom she had been brought into contact, denoting, as it struck him,
"a sagacity" which, at her age, was "truly astonishing.[10]"

CHAPTER IV.

Marie Antoinette gives her Mother her First Impressions of the Court and
of her own