The
dowager's double-dealing greatly annoyed me; nevertheless, not
wishing to vex her son, or her daughter- in-law, I affected to be
ignorant of her dishonourable conduct. However, I could not
long repress my indignation, and one day that she was praising
me most extravagantly, I exclaimed, "Ah, madam, how kind it
would be of you to reserve one of these pretty speeches to repeat
at madame du Deffant's." This blow, so strong yet just, rather
surprised her; but, quickly rallying her courage, she endeavoured
to persuade me that she always spoke of me in the same terms. "It
may be so," replied I; "but I fear that you say so many flattering
things to me, that you have not one left when out of my sight."
The marechale de Mirepoix used to say, that a caress from madame
d'Aiguillon was not less to be dreaded than the bite of M. d'Ayen.
Yet the duchess dowager has obtained a first-rate reputation for
goodness; every one styled her
.
And why, do you suppose? Because she was one of those fat,
fresh, portly-looking dames of whom you would have said, her
very face and figure bespoke the contented goodness of her
disposition; for who would ever suspect malice could lurk in so
much ? I think I have already told you that this
lady expired whilst bathing, of an attack of apoplexy, in the
month of June, 1772.
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