"
"Alas!" replied the duke, "can you believe that but for the
pressure of unavoidable circumstances I would have separated
myself from my nephew and my fair friend there?"
"Come, come," cried the marechale, " I must restore peace and
harmony between you. As for you, my lord duke, be a true and
loyal subject; and you, my sweet countess, use your best endeavors
to prevail on the king to befriend and assist his faithful servant."
I allowed myself to be managed like a child; and instead of
scratching the face of M. de Richelieu, I obtained for him a
grant of 100,000 livres, which the court banker duly counted
out to him.
CHAPTER XXXII
A prefatory remark--Madame Brillant--The marechale de Luxembourg's
cat--Despair of the marechale--The ambassador, Beaumarchais, and
the duc de Chaulnes--the comte d'Aranda--Louis XV and his relics--The
abbe de Beauvais--His sermons--He is appointed bishop
When I related to comte Jean my reconciliation with the duc de
Richelieu, and the sum which this treaty had cost me, my
brother-in-law flew into the most violent fury; he styled the
marechal a plunderer of the public treasury. Well may the scripture
tell us we see the mote in our neighbor's eye, but regard not
the beam which is in our own eye. I was compelled to impose
silence on comte Jean, or in the height of his rage he would
have offered some insult to the old marechal, who already most
heartily disliked him for the familiarity of his tone and manner
towards him.
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