"And do you know, too," asked Marie Antoinette, "that Madame
Adelaide has herself supported this ridiculous paper of the Lyonnese
merchants, giving out that I wear white percale because I want to do
my brother, the Emperor Joseph, a service, and so ordered these
white goods from the Netherlands? Ah, let us leave these follies of
the wicked and the stupid. They shall not prevent my wearing white
clothes and being happy in Trianon. Give me a white dress quickly,
Campan."

"Pardon, your majesty, but I must; first summon the ladies of the
robing-room," answered Madame de Campan, turning to the door of the
sleeping-room.

"Oh, why all this parade?" sighed the queen. "Can I never be free
from the fetters of all this ceremony? Could you not yourself,
Campan, put a simple dress upon me?"

"Your majesty, I am only a poor, powerless being, and I fear
enmities. The ladies would never forgive me if I should encroach
upon their rights and separate them from the adored person of the
queen. It is their right, it is their duty to draw the robe upon the
person of your majesty, and to secure your shoes. I beg, therefore,
your gracious permission to allow the ladies to come in."

"Well, do it then," sighed the queen. " Let me bear the fetters here
in Versailles until the last moment. I shall have my compensation in
Trianon. Be assured I shall have my compensation there."

A quarter of an hour later the queen was arrayed in her changed
attire, and came out from the toilet-chamber. The stiff crinoline