Monsieur having taken this poor person into his service, gave him a
cordon bleu, and furnished him with money to commence a suit which he
subsequently gained against the House of Chatillon, and they were
compelled to recognize him. He then made him a Captain in the Guards;
gave him a considerable pension, which my son continued, and permitted
him also to have apartments in the Palais Royal. In these very
apartments did this ungrateful man hold those secret meetings, the end of
which was proposed to be my son's ruin. Rieux's grandfather had
neglected to uphold the honour to which he was entitled, of being called
the King's cousin. My son restored him to this honour, gave his brother
a place in the gendarmerie, and rendered him many other services.
Chatillon tried particularly to excite the nobility against my son; and
this is the recompense for all his kindness. My son's wife is gay and
content, in the hope that all will go well with her brothers.

That old Maintenon has continued pretty tranquil until the termination of
the process relating to the legitimation of the bastards. No one has
heard her utter a single expression on the subject. This makes me
believe that she has some project in her head, but I cannot tell what it
is.

A monk, who was journeying a few days ago to Luzarche, met upon the road
a stranger, who fell into conversation with him. He was an agreeable
companion, and related various adventures very pleasantly. Having
learned from the monk that he was charged with the rents of the convent,
to which some estates in the neighbourhood of Luzarche belonged, the
stranger told him that he belonged to that place, whither he was
returning after a long journey; and then observing to the monk that the
road they were pursuing was roundabout, he pointed out to him a nearer
one through the forest. When they had reached the thickest part of the