The cabal only flies
on one wing, and I cannot divine its situation at the commencement
of the next winter. Do not disquiet yourself any more with what
it can do: keep yourself quiet; continue to please the 'master,'
and you will triumph over the multitude as easily as you have
conquered the resistance of mesdames."
Such was the language of the comtesse de Flaracourt: it agreed,
as you will perceive, with that of madame de Mirepoix, and I
ought the more to believe it, as it was the fruit of their
experience and profound knowledge of court manners. Their
example proved to me, as well as their words, that all those who
approached the king could not bear for a long time the position in
which he placed those whom he did not look upon with pleasure.
However, Louis XV evinced more plainly from day to day the
ascendancy I had over his mind. He assisted publicly at my toilet*,
he walked out with me, left me as little as possible, and sought
by every attention to console me for the impertinences with which
my enemies bespattered me. The following anecdote will prove to
you how little consideration he had for those persons who dared to
insult me openly.
One day at Marly, I entered the drawing-room; there was a vacant
seat near the princesse de Guemenee, I went to it, and scarcely
was seated when my neighbor got up, saying, "What horror!" and
betook herself to the further end of the room.
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