The coach started for Frankfort the same evening, and summoning Month I
thanked him for his kindness and paid him generously, so he went off well
pleased.

I had nothing further to do at Metz, so I took leave of my new friends,
and in two days time I was at Nancy, where I wrote to Madame d'Urfe that
I was on my way back with a virgin, the last of the family of Lascaris,
who had once reigned at Constantinople. I begged her to receive her from
my hands, at a country house which belonged to her, where we should be
occupied for some days in cabalistic ceremonies.

She answered that she would await us at Pont-Carre, an old castle four
leagues distant from Paris, and that she would welcome the young princess
with all possible kindness.

"I owe her all the more friendship," added the sublime madwoman, "as the
family of Lascaris is connected with the family of d'Urfe, and as I am to
be born again in the seed of the happy virgin."

I felt that my task would be not exactly to throw cold water on her
enthusiasm, but to hold it in check and to moderate its manifestations. I
therefore explained to her by return of post that she must be content to
treat the virgin as a countess, not a princess, and I ended by informing
her that we should arrive, accompanied by the countess's governess, on
the Monday of Holy Week.

I spent twelve days at Nancy, instructing the young madcap in the part
she had to play, and endeavouring to persuade her mother that she must
content herself with being the Countess Lascaris's humble servant. It was