his fame
should drown the memory of his beginning; that as it was usual for men
of quality to make such little escapes, so the number of their natural
children were so great, and they generally took such good care of their
education, that some of the greatest men in the world had a bend in
their coats-of-arms, and that it was of no consequence to them,
especially when their fame began to rise upon the basis of their
acquired merit; and upon this he began to reckon up to me some of the
greatest families in France and in England also.

This carried off our discourse for a time; but I went farther with him
once, removing the discourse from the part attending our children to the
reproach which those children would be apt to throw upon us, their
originals; and when speaking a little too feelingly on the subject, he
began to receive the impression a little deeper than I wished he had
done. At last he told me I had almost acted the confessor to him; that I
might, perhaps, preach a more dangerous doctrine to him than we should
either of us like, or than I was aware of. "For, my dear," says he, "if
once we come to talk of repentance we must talk of parting."

If tears were in my eyes before, they flowed too fast now to be
restrained, and I gave him but too much satisfaction by my looks that I
had yet no reflections upon my mind strong enough to go that length, and
that I could no more think of parting than he could.

He said a great many kind things, which were great, like himself, and,
extenuating our crime, intimated to me that he could no more part with
me than I could with him; so we both, as I may say, even against our
light and against our conviction, concluded to sin on; indeed, his
affection to the child was one great tie to him, for he was extremely
fond of it.

The child lived to be a considerable man. He was first an officer of the
_Garde du Corps_ of France, and afterwards colonel of a regiment of
dragoons in Italy, and on many extraordinary occasions showed that he
was not unworthy such a father, but many ways deserving a legitimate
birth and a better mother; of which hereafter.

I think I may say now that I lived indeed like a queen; or, if you will
have me confess that my condition had still the reproach of a whore, I
may say I was, sure, the queen of whores; for no woman was ever more
valued or more caressed by a person of such quality only in the station
of a mistress. I had, indeed, one deficiency which w