the next morning, gave secretly to Quesnay a little note for Madame, in
which he said, 'Ma chere amie' must have had a great fright, but let her
reassure herself--I am now well, which the Doctor will certify to you.
From that moment the King became accustomed to me, and, touched by the
interest I had shown for him, he often gave me one of his peculiarly
gracious glances, and made me little presents, and, on every New Year's
Day, sent me porcelain to the amount of twenty louis d'or. He told
Madame that he looked upon me in the apartment as a picture or statue,
and never put any constraint upon himself on account of my presence.
Doctor Quesnay received a pension of a thousand crowns for his attention
and silence, and the promise of a place for his son. The King gave me an
order upon the Treasury for four thousand francs, and Madame had
presented to her a very handsome chiming-clock and the King's portrait in
a snuffbox.

The King was habitually melancholy, and liked everything which recalled
the idea of death, in spite of the strongest fears of it. Of this, the
following is an instance: Madame de Pompadour was on her way to Crecy,
when one of the King's grooms made a sign to her coachman to stop, and
told him that the King's carriage had broken down, and that, knowing her
to be at no great distance, His Majesty had sent him forward to beg her
to wait for him. He soon overtook us, and seated himself in Madame de
Pompadour's carriage, in which were, I think, Madame de Chateau-Renaud,
and Madame de Mirepoix. The lords in attendance placed themselves in
some other carriages. I was behind, in a chaise, with Gourbillon, Madame
de Pompadour's valet de chambre. We were surprised in a short time by
the King stopping his carriage. Those which followed, of course stopped
also. The King called a groom, and said to him, "You see that little
eminence; there are crosses; it must certainly be a burying-ground; go
and see whether there are any graves newly dug." The groom galloped up