e, and to persuade him to set off at the latter end of May. At the
moment of my going away the Queen assured me that the grand project would
be executed between the 15th and the 20th of June; that as it was not my
month to be on duty, Madame Thibaut would take the journey; but that she
had many directions to give me before I went. She then desired me to
write to my aunt, Madame Cardon, who was by that time in possession of the
clothes which I had ordered, that as soon as she should receive a letter
from M. Augur, the date of which should be accompanied with a B, an L, or
an M, she was to proceed with her property to Brussels, Luxembourg, or
Montmedy. She desired me to explain the meaning of these three letters
clearly to my sister, and to leave them with her in writing, in order that
at the moment of my going away she might be able to take my place in
writing to Arras.

The Queen had a more delicate commission for me; it was to select from
among my acquaintance a prudent person of obscure rank, wholly devoted to
the interests of the Court, who would be willing to receive a portfolio
which she was to give up only to me, or some one furnished with a note
from the Queen. She added that she would not travel with this portfolio,
and that it was of the utmost importance that my opinion of the fidelity
of the person to whom it was to be entrusted should be well founded. I
proposed to her Madame Vallayer Coster, a painter of the Academy, and an
amiable and worthy artist, whom I had known from my infancy. She lived in
the galleries of the Louvre. The choice seemed a good one. The Queen
remembered that she had made her marriage possible by giving her a place
in the financial offices, and added that gratitude ought sometimes to be
reckoned on. She then pointed out to me the valet belonging to her
toilet, whom I was to take with me, to show him the residence of Madame
Coster, so that he might not mistake it when he should take the portfolio
to her. The day before her departure the Queen particularly recommended
me to proceed to Lyons and the frontiers as soon as she should have
started. She advised me to take with me a confidential person, fit to
remain with M. Campan when I should leave him, and assured me that she
would give orders to M. ------ to set off as soon as she should be known
to be at the frontiers in order to protect me in going out. She
condescended to add that, having a long journey to make in foreign
count