the ladies of the bedchamber had, the preceding evening, assured her that
M. de Beaumetz, deputy from the nobility of Artois, who had taken his seat
on the left of the Assembly, spent his whole time at my house. Perceiving
on what false grounds the attempt to injure, me was based, I replied
respectfully, but at the same time smiling, that it was impossible for me
to make the sacrifice exacted by her Majesty; that M. de Beaumetz, a man
of great judgment, had not determined to cross over to the left of the
Assembly with the intention of afterwards making himself unpopular by
spending his time with the Queen's first woman; and that, ever since the
1st of October, 1789, I had seen him nowhere but at the play, or in the
public walks, and even then without his ever coming to speak to me; that
this line of conduct had appeared to me perfectly consistent: for whether
he was desirous to please the popular party, or to be sought after by the
Court, he could not act in any other way towards me. The Queen closed
this explanation by saying, "Oh! it is clear, as clear as the day! this
opportunity for trying to do you an injury is very ill chosen; but be
cautious in your slightest actions; you perceive that the confidence
placed in you by the King and myself raises you up powerful enemies."

The private communications which were still kept up between the Court and
Mirabeau at length procured him an interview with the Queen, in the
gardens of St. Cloud. He left Paris on horseback, on pretence of going
into the country, to M. de Clavieres, one of his friends; but he stopped
at one of the gates of the gardens of St. Cloud, and was led to a spot
situated in the highest part of the private garden, where the Queen was
waiting for him. She told me she accosted him by saying, "With a common
enemy, with a man who had sworn to destroy monarchy without appreciating
its utility among a great people, I should at this moment be guilty of a
most ill-advised step; but in speaking to a Mirabeau," etc. The poor
Queen was delighted at having discovered this method of exalting him above