The House of NoaillesThe court of Louis XV.The DauphinThe DauphineAn evil omenThe QueenThe Convent of FontevraultDeath of Mme. ThrseThe InfantaMadame Henriette and the Duc dOrlansMesdames Victoire, Sophie, and Louise.The interview was short and sad; the sisters promised to write frequently, and parted with many tears. Adrienne proceeding on her triumphal progress to establish herself with her husband and children at Chavaniac, Pauline to wait in loneliness and terror at Plauzat for the return of her husband, making preparations to escape with him and their child at the earliest opportunity. But one unspeakable happiness and comfort was given to Pauline before she went forth into exile. The Duchesse dAyen came to stay with her for a fortnight on her way to see Adrienne at Chavaniac.Mme. de Genlis, dreading the parting, shut herself up in her room on the morning of her departure, leaving a message that she had gone out for the day to avoid that grief. She had not told her the night before that the time had come for their separation.
ONE:Then, taking the hand of Mme. de Polignac she turned it over several times, examining it carefully, and said: You are, like the other, in the service of the same lady, who loves you so much that she confides to you her most precious jewels. You love her just as much, but still, in a short time you will leave that lady in haste, and what is more, you will not feel tranquil until you have put three great rivers between you and her. She will cry bitterly when you leave her and yet be very glad of the separation.The interview closed to the mutual satisfaction of the King and his grandson, neither of them with the slightest idea of any more serious calamity than the quarrels at court between the Houses of Lorraine and Savoy being likely to interfere with the secure and magnificent tranquillity of their lives. But it wanted only eighteen years and a few months to the fall of the Bastille, and though the small-pox cut short the life of Louis XV. before the evil days, they were seen by many of his courtiers as old or older than himself.
THREE:Ah! Chevalier de , where are you going in that carriage? Perhaps to see your mistress, the Marquise de ? and the look of triumph and hatred revealed the truth to the victim of his vengeance.
Next she went to Holstein with M. de Valence who left her in an old castle, with the owners of which she formed an intimate friendship, and after staying there some weeks she took rooms in a farm in the neighbourhood where she lived for a considerable time; she had with her then as companion a young girl called Jenny, to whom she was much attached, and who nursed her devotedly through an illness.With the Vernet family, too, she was on intimate terms. The landscape painter, Joseph Vernet, was always a kind friend to her. His son Charles, or Carle, as he was called, was also an artist, and his daughter milie, the wife of M. Chalgrin, was constantly at her house.It was necessary to settle the succession to the estates of the Duchesse dAyen, and it was impossible to arrange this without the meeting of the family. The Vicomte de Noailles was in America, the Marquis de Thsan in Germany, Mme. de Montagu was on the list of emigres, and could not enter France. Her part of the inheritance had been confiscated, but M. Bertmy, the old family lawyer, had bought and transferred it to the rest of the family, to be given her in better times.
