ting an impression. She did not
care to remain longer at court, where she was constantly reminded of her
grief, and retired permanently from its gaieties; but in these years of
intimacy with one of its central figures, she had gained an insight
into its spirit and its intrigues, which was of inestimable value in the
memoirs and romances of her later years.

The natural place of Mme. de La Fayette was in a society of more serious
tone and more lettered tastes. In her youth she had been taken by her
mother to the Hotel de Rambouillet, and she always retained much of its
spirit, without any of its affectations. We find her sometimes at
the Samedis, and she belonged to the exclusive coterie of the Grande
Mademoiselle, at the Luxembourg, where her facile pen was in demand for
the portraits so much in vogue. She was also a frequent visitor in the
literary salon of Mme. de Sable, at Port Royal. It was here that her
friendship with La Rochefoucauld glided imperceptibly into the intimacy
which became so important a feature in her life. This intimacy was
naturally a matter of some speculation, but the world made up its
mind of its perfectly irreproachable character. "It appears to be only
friendship," writes Mme. de Scudery to Bussy-Rabutin; "in short the fear
of God on both sides, and perhaps policy, have cut the wings of love.
She is his favorite and his first friend." "I do not believe he has
ever been what one calls in love," writes Mme. de Sevigne. But this
friendship was a veritable romance, without any of the storms or
vexations or jealousies of a passionate love. "You may imagine the
sweetness and charm of an intercourse full of all the friendship and
confidence possible between two people whose merit is not ordinary,"
she says again; "add to this the circumstance of their bad health, which
rendered them almost necessary to each other, and gave them the
leisure not to be found in other relations, to enjoy each other's
good qualities. It seems to me that at court people have no time for
affection; the whirlpool which is so stormy for others was peaceful
for them, and left ample time for the pleasures of a friendship so
delicious. I do not believe that any passion can surpass the strength of
such a tie."

In the earlier stages of this intimacy, Mme. de La Fayette was a little
sensitive as to how the world might regard it, as may be seen in a note
to Mme. de Sable, in which she asks her to explain it to the young Comte
de