"
After having exchanged some conversation of the same tenor, we
talked of my situation as regarded the other females of the court.
"They hate you for two reasons," said the countess: "in the first
place, because you have made a conquest which all the world envies
you; secondly because you are not one of us. There is not one
family who can lean on you in virtue of the rights of blood, or
alliances which stand instead of it. You have superseded a woman
who more than any other could have a claim to your good fortune:
she is sister to the prime minister, who has in her train, like
Lucifer, more than a third part of heaven, for all the courtiers
hang on her brother.
"On the other hand, we are not accustomed to remain so long in
opposition to the will of the king. Such a resistance is not natural
to us; it weighs upon us, it harms us, the favor of our master
being our chief good. We are only something thro' him, and when
combatting against him we have neither the courage nor the
perseverance. Thus you may be very certain that the majority
of women who oppose you do it against the grain: and if you add
to this that they are incessantly exposed to the murmurs and
complaints of their husbands, sons, brothers, and lovers, you
will easily be convinced that they only aspire to finding a means
of reconciling the regard they owe to the Choiseuls and the terror
which they inspire, with the desire they have to seek your
protection and the friendship of the king.
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