The next day the couple left Aix. In ten years I saw them again under the
name of Count and Countess Pellegrini.

At the present period he is in a prison which he will probably never
leave, and his wife is happy, maybe, in a convent.




CHAPTER X

My Departure--Letter from Henriette--Marsellies--History of
Nina--Nice--Turin--Lugano--Madame De****

As soon as I had regained my usual strength, I went to take leave of the
Marquis d'Argens and his brother. I dined with them, pretending not to
observe the presence of the Jesuit, and I then spent three delightful
hours in conversation with the learned and amiable Marquis d'Argens. He
told me a number of interesting anecdotes about the private life of
Frederick II. No doubt the reader would like to have them, but I lack the
energy to set them down. Perhaps some other day when the mists about Dux
have dispersed, and some rays of the sun shine in upon me, I shall commit
all these anecdotes to paper, but now I have not the courage to do so.

Frederick had his good and his bad qualities, like all great men, but
when every deduction on the score of his failings has been made, he still
remains the noblest figure in the eighteenth century.

The King of Sweden, who has been assassinated, loved to excite hatred
that he might have the glory of defying it to do its worst. He was a