uliarly
her own; and I sometimes imagined that some of the many she favored
us with had perhaps taken place in a more recent period than that she
assigned to them; and that, in order to divert our suspicions as to who
were the real actors, she frequently substituted the _past_ for what
should have been with more correctness the _present_ time. With manners
so calculated to win, she could not fail being a delightful companion,
altho' in my heart I could not help giving the preference to the society
of the marechale de Mirepoix.

Besides, the preference evinced by this lady in so generously separating
herself from all her family, in order to attach herself to me, was
not without its full value in my eyes. I knew myself to be generally
disliked by her brother and sister-in-law, the prince and princesse
de Beauvau, the latter of whom was secretly the mistress of the duc de
Choiseul, over whom she exercised an equal empire with the duchesse de
Grammont, and I was every day the object of some fresh attack on their
part. I used sometimes to complain of this to the marechale. "My dear
friend," she would reply, "I am sorry, but cannot help it; in the midst
of times such as we live in, and in such a court too, the prince de
Beauvau aspires to be a noble Roman, and would fain be the Cato of his
country at least. When I recommend to him a greater degree of prudence,
he talks to me of virtue, as tho' at Versailles duty did not consist in
implicit obedience to the wishes of our royal master; either obedience
or absence from court is the golden rule laid down, from which none dare
deviate. As to my sister-in-law she aims at the heroic likewise, altho
her models are formed from another school; in fact, she has pored
over the romances of Cyrus. Cassander, and Clelia, till she is half
bewildered, and holds forth upon the virtues of these famous heroines,
till I am frequently upon the point of exclaiming, 'Ah, my dear, it is
all very fine; but Clelia and Mandane would not have shared their bed
with the duc de Choiseul.'"

By these lively sallies the marechale succeeded in diverting my anger
from her relations, and I generally forgot my resentment in a hearty fit
of laughter, brought on by her sprightly conversation. I found myself
becoming daily more attached to her, and her presence helped to console
me for the many vexations I continually encountered.

The greatest disagreeableness I encountered was occasioned by the
capricious behav