society formed according to her own taste. "I will receive them in my
closet, or at Trianon," said she; "I will enjoy the comforts of private
life, which exist not for us, unless we have the good sense to secure them
for ourselves." The happiness the Queen thought to secure was destined to
turn to vexation. All those courtiers who were not admitted to this
intimacy became so many jealous and vindictive enemies.

It was necessary to make a suitable provision for the Countess. The place
of first equerry, in reversion after the Comte de Tesse, given to Comte
Jules unknown to the titular holder, displeased the family of Noailles.
This family had just sustained another mortification, the appointment of
the Princesse de Lamballe having in some degree rendered necessary the
resignation of the Comtesse de Noailles, whose husband was thereupon made
a marshal of France. The Princesse de Lamballe, although she did not
quarrel with the Queen, was alarmed at the establishment of the Comtesse
Jules at Court, and did not form, as her Majesty had hoped, a part of that
intimate society, which was in turn composed of Mesdames Jules and Diane
de Polignac, d'Andlau and de Chalon, and Messieurs de Guignes, de Coigny,
d'Adhemar, de Besenval, lieutenant-colonel of the Swiss, de Polignac, de
Vaudreuil, and de Guiche; the Prince de Ligne and the Duke of Dorset, the
English ambassador, were also admitted.

It was a long time before the Comtesse Jules maintained any great state at
Court. The Queen contented herself with giving her very fine apartments
at the top of the marble staircase. The salary of first equerry, the
trifling emoluments derived from M. de Polignac's regiment, added to their
slender patrimony, and perhaps some small pension, at that time formed the
whole fortune of the favourite. I never saw the Queen make her a present
of value; I was even astonished one day at hearing her Majesty mention,
with pleasure, that the Countess had gained ten thousand francs in the