choice, without being too sumptuous, but the wines were not of the
first order. The company remained at the table an hour, and each talked
freely with his or her neighbor, except those by the side of the
Dauphin or a Princess. There was music during the repast, and the
public was admitted to circulate about the table. The royal family
liked the attendance of spectators to be considerable. Thus care was
taken to give out a number of cards, in order that the promenade about
the table during the second service should be continuous. Often the
princesses spoke to the women of their acquaintance and gave candy to
the children passing behind them.

After the coffee, which was taken at table, Charles X. and his guests
traversed the Gallery of Mirrors, leading to the salon between two
lines of spectators eager to see the royal family. The King next played
billiards while a game of ecarte was started. The agents for the
preservation of the forests and the pages of the hunt remained by the
door, inside, without being permitted to advance into the salon, which
was occupied only by persons who had dined with the King.

After having had his game of billiards and left his place for other
players, Charles X. took a hand at whist, while the ecarte went on
steadily until, toward ten o'clock, the King retired. He was followed
to his sleeping-room, where he gave the watchword to the captain of the
body-guards, and indicated the hour of the meet for the next day.

"Sometimes we then returned to the salon," adds the Count of Puymaigre,
who, in virtue of his office as Prefect of the Oise, dined with the
King, as well as the Bishop of Beauvais and the general commanding the
sub-division. "M. de Cosse-Brisac, the first steward, had punch served,
and we continued the ecarte till midnight or one o'clock, when we could
play more liberally, the Dauphiness having limited the stakes to five
francs. The Duchess of Berry was less scrupulous. After the withdrawal
of the princes we were glad to be more at ease; the talk became gay and
even licentious, and I will say here that all the men of the court whom
I have seen near the King, far from being what could be called devout
or hypocritical, as was believed in the provinces, were anything but
that; that they no more concealed their indifference in religious
matters than they did their diversity of political opinions, royalist
doubtless, but of divers grades; that no one was more tolerant than the
King