orant of an offence which would disgrace you for ever;" that the Baron
grew pale and stammered apologies; that she left her closet without saying
another word, and that since that time she hardly ever spoke to him. "It
is delightful to have friends," said the Queen; "but in a situation like
mine it is sometimes difficult for the friends of our friends to suit us."

In the beginning of the year 1778 Mademoiselle d'Eon obtained permission
to return to France, on condition that she should appear there in female
dress. The Comte de Vergennes entreated my father, M. Genet, chief clerk
of Foreign Affairs, who had long known the Chevalier d'Eon, to receive
that strange personage at his house, to guide and restrain, if possible,
her ardent disposition. The Queen, on learning her arrival at Versailles,
sent a footman to desire my father to bring her into her presence; my
father thought it his duty first to inform the Minister of her Majesty's
wish. The Comte de Vergennes expressed himself pleased with my father's
prudence, and desired that he would accompany him to the Queen. The
Minister had a few minutes' audience; her Majesty came out of her closet
with him, and condescended to express to my father the regret she felt at
having troubled him to no purpose; and added, smiling, that a few words
from M. de Vergennes had for ever cured her of her curiosity. The
discovery in London of the true sex of this pretended woman makes it
probable that the few words uttered by the Minister contained a solution
of the enigma.

The Chevalier d'Eon had been useful in Russia as a spy of Louis XV. while
very young he had found means to introduce himself at the Court of the
Empress Elizabeth, and served that sovereign in the capacity of reader.
Resuming afterwards his military dress, he served with honour and was
wounded. Appointed chief secretary of legation, and afterwards minister
plenipotentiary at London, he unpardonably insulted Comte de Guerchy, the
ambassador. The official order for the Chevalier's return to France was
actually delivered to the King's Council; but Louis XV. delayed the
departure of the courier who was to be its bearer, and sent off another
courier privately, who gave the Chevalier d'Eon a letter in his own
writing, in which he said, "I know that you have served me as effectually
in the dress of a woman as in that which you now wear. Resume it
instantly; withdraw into the city; I warn you that the King yesterday
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