ante-chamber.' Upon this she burst into a fit of laughter, in the midst
of her astonishment, and, throwing her arms around my neck, 'My dear
Chevalier,' said she, 'I can hold out no longer; you are too amiable and
too eccentric not to be pardoned.' I then told her the whole story: she
was ready to die with laughing; and, parting very good friends, she
assured me my rival might exercise horses as long as he pleased, but that
he should not set his foot within her doors that night.

"I found the duke exactly in the place where I had left him: I asked him
a thousand pardons for having made him wait so long, and thanked him a
thousand times for his complaisance. He told me I jested, that such
compliments were unusual among friends; and to convince me that he had
cordially rendered me this piece of service, he would, by all means, hold
my horse while I was mounting. I returned him his cloak, bade him good
night, and went back to my lodgings, equally satisfied with my mistress
and my rival. This," continued he, "proves that a little patience and
address are sufficient to disarm the anger of the fair, to turn even
their tricks to a man's advantage."

It was in vain that the Chevalier de Grammont diverted the court with his
stories, instructed by his example, and never appeared there but to
inspire universal joy; for a long time he was the only foreigner in
fashion. Fortune, jealous of the justice which is done to merit, and
desirous of seeing all human happiness depend on her caprice, raised up
against him two competitors for the pleasure he had long enjoyed of
entertaining the English court; and these competitors were so much the
more dangerous, as the reputation of their several merits had preceded
their arrival, in order to dispose the suffrages of the court in their
favour.