from Compiegne, where he had been with the King. He eagerly inquired
where the Queen was; remained half an hour with her and the Duchess; and
on coming out told me the Queen asked for me. I found her seated on the
couch by the side of her friend; her features had resumed their usual
cheerful and gracious appearance. She held out her hand to me, and said
to the Duchess, "I know I have made her so uncomfortable this morning that
I must set her poor heart at ease." She then added, "You must have seen,
on some fine summer's day, a black cloud suddenly appear and threaten to
pour down upon the country and lay it waste. The lightest wind drives it
away, and the blue sky and serene weather are restored. This is just the
image of what has happened to me this morning." She afterwards told me
that the King would return from Compiegne after hunting there, and sup
with her; that I must send for her purveyor, to select with him from his
bills of fare all such dishes as the King liked best; that she would have
no others served up in the evening at her table; and that this was a mark
of attention that she wished the King to notice. The Duchesse de Polignac
also took me by the hand, and told me how happy she was that she had been
with the Queen at a moment when she stood in need of a friend. I never
knew what could have created in the Queen so lively and so transient an
alarm; but I guessed from the particular care she took respecting the King
that attempts had been made to irritate him against her; that the malice
of her enemies had been promptly discovered and counteracted by the King's
penetration and attachment; and that the Comte d'Artois had hastened to
bring her intelligence of it.

It was, I think, in the summer of 1787, during one of the Trianon
excursions, that the Queen of Naples--[Caroline, sister of Marie
Antoinette.]--sent the Chevalier de Bressac to her Majesty on a secret
mission relative to a projected marriage between the Hereditary Prince,
her son, and Madame, the King's daughter; in the absence of the lady of