in a ring.

About this time I painted a portrait of Count Schouvaloff, Grand
Chamberlain, then, I believe, about sixty years old. He combined
amiability with perfect manners, and, as he was an excellent man, was
sought after by the best company.

One of my visitors of eminence was Mme. Geoffrin, the woman so famous
for her brilliant social life. Mme. Geoffrin gathered at her house all
the known men of talent in literature and the arts, all foreigners of
note and the grandest gentlemen attached to the court. Being neither
of good family nor endowed with unusual abilities, nor even possessing
much money, she had nevertheless made a position for herself in Paris
unique of its kind, and one that no woman could nowadays hope to
achieve. Having heard me spoken of, she came to see me one morning and
said the most flattering things about my person and my gifts. Although
she was not very old, I should have put her down for a hundred, for
not only was she rather bent, but her dress gave her an aged
appearance. She was clad in an iron-gray gown, and on her head wore
a large, winged cap, over which was a black shawl knotted under her
chin. At present, on the other hand, women of her years succeed in
making themselves look much younger by the care they bestow on their
toilet.

[Illustration: THE DUCHESS D'ANGOULEME AND HER BROTHER, THE DAUPHIN.]

Immediately after my mother's marriage we went to live at my
stepfather's in the Rue Saint Honore, opposite the terrace of the
Palais Royal, which terrace our windows overlooked. I often saw the
Duchess de Chartres walking in the garden with her ladies-in-waiting,
and soon observed that she noticed me with kindly interest. I had
recently finished a portrait of my mother which evoked a great deal of
discussion at the time. The Duchess sent for me to come and paint her.
She most obligingly commended my young talents to her friends, so that
it was not long before I received a visit from the stately, handsome
Countess de Brionne and her lovely daughter, the Princess de Lorraine,
who were followed by all the great ladies of the court and the
Faubourg Saint Germain.

Since I have acknowledged that I was stared at in the streets--the
same is true of the theatres and other public places--and that I was
the object of many attentions, it may readily be guessed that some
admirers of my face gave me commissions to paint theirs. They hoped to
get into my good graces in this way. But I was so absor