Memoirs of a Physician (49 page)
have supped at Luciennes; I ought to have eaten, and, above all, to have drunk. The countess’s wines are too strong; I do not know from what vineyards they come, but they overpower me. S’death ! I prefer to take my ease here.”
” And your majesty is perfectly in the right,” said the duke.
” Besides, the countess will find amusement elsewhere. Am I such an amiable companion? She may say so as much as she likes, but I do not believe her.”
” Ah ! this time your majesty is in the wrong,” exclaimed the marshal.
” No, duke ; no, in truth. I count my years and I reflect ‘
” Sire, the countess is well aware that she could not possibly have better company, and it is that which makes her furious.”
” In truth, duke, I do not know how to manage. You still lead the women, as if you were twenty. At that age it is for man to choose ; but at mine, duke “
“Well, sire?”
” It is for the woman to make her calculations.”
The marshal burst into a laugh.
” Well, sire,” said he, ” that is only an additional reason ; if your majesty thinks the countess is amused, let us console ourselves as well as we can.”
” I do not say she is amused, duke ; I only say that she will in the end be driven to seek amusement.”
” Ah ! sire, I dare not assert that such things have never happened.”
The king rose, much agitated.
” Who waits outside ? ” inquired he.
” All your suite, sire.”
The king reflected for a moment.
” But have you any one there ? “
” I have Eafte.”
” Very good.”
” What shall he do, sire ? “
” He must find out if the countess really returned to Luciennes.”
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” The countess is already gone, I fancy, sire.”
” Yes, ostensibly ‘
” But whither does your majesty think she is gone ? “
” Who can tell ? Jealousy makes her frantic, duke.”
” Sire, is not rather your majesty “
“How what?”
” Whom jealousy “
” In truth, it would be very humiliating for us all, sire.”
” I jealous? ” said Louis, with a forced laugh; ” are you speaking seriously, duke ? “
Richelieu did not in truth believe it. It must even be confessed that he was very near the truth in thinking that, on the contrary, the king only wished to know if
Mme.
Dubarry was really at Luciennes, in order to be sure that she would not return to Trianon.
” Then, sire,” said he, aloud, ” it is understood that I am to send Eaf te on a voyage of discovery ? “
” Send him, duke.”
” In the meantime, what will your majesty do before supper ? “
” Nothing ; we shall sup instantly. Have you spoken to the person in question ? “
” Yes ; he is in your majesty’s antechamber.”
“What did he say?”
” He expressed his deep thanks.”
“And the daughter?”
” She has not been spoken to yet.”
” Duke, Madame Dubarry is jealous, and might readily return.”
” Ah ! sire, that would be in very bad taste. I think the countess would be incapable of committing such an enormity.”
” Duke, she is capable of anything in such moods, especially when hatred is combined with jealousy. She execrates you ; I don’t know if you were aware of that ? “
Richelieu bowed.
” I know she does me that honor, sire.” ‘ .
” She execrates Monsieur de Taverney also.”
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“If your majesty would be good enough to reckon, I am sure there is a third person whom she hates even more than me even more than the baron ‘
“Whom?”
” Mademoiselle Andre.”
” Ah ! ” said the king. ” I think that is natural enough.”
Then
” Yes, but that does not prevent its being necessary to watch that Madame Dubarry does not cause some scandal this evening.”
” On the contrary, it proves the necessity of such a measure.”
” Here is the maitre d’hotel ; hush ! give your orders to Eafte and join me in the dining-room with you know whom ? “
Louis rose and passed into the dining-room, while Richelieu made his exit by the opposite door. Five minutes afterward, he rejoined the king accompanied by the baron.
The king in the most gracious manner bid Tavern ey good evening. The baron was a man of talent, and replied in that peculiar manner which betokens a person accustomed to good society, and which puts kings and princes instantly at their ease. They sat down to table. Louis XV. was a bad king but a delightful companion ; when he pleased, his conversation was full of attraction for boon companions, talkers, and voluptuaries. The king, in short, had studied life carefully, and from its most agreeable side.
He ate heartily, made his guests drink, and turned the conversation on music.
Richelieu caught the ball at the rebound.
” Sire,” said he, ” if music makes men agree, as our ballet-master says, and as your majesty seems to think, will you say as much of women ? “
” Oh, duke ! ” replied the king, ” let us not speak of women. From the Trojan war to the present time, women have always exercised an influence the contrary of music. You especially have too many quarrels to compound with them to bring such a subject on the tapis. Among others
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there is one, and that not the least dangerous, with whom you are at daggers drawn.”
” The countess, sire ! Is that my fault ? “
” Of course it is.”
” Ah, indeed ! Your majesty, I trust, will explain.”
” In two words, and with the greatest pleasure,” said the king, slyly. 1
” I am all ears, sire.”
” What ! ehe offers you the portfolio of I don’t know which department, and you refuse, because, you say, she is not very popular ? “
” I ? ” exclaimed Eichelieu, a good deal embarrassed by the turn the conversation was taking.
” Dame ! the report is quite public,” said the king, with that feigned, off-hand good-nature which was peculiar to him. ” I forget now who told it to me most probably the gazette.”
“Well, sire!” said Eichelieu, taking advantage of the freedom which the unusual gaiety of the august host afforded his guest, ” I must confess that on this occasion rumors and even the gazettes have reported something not quite so absurd as usual.”
” What ! ” exclaimed Louis XV., ” then you have really refused a portfolio, my dear duke ? “
Kichelieu, it may easily be imagined, was in an awkward position. The king well knew that he had refused nothing ; but it was necessary that Taverney should continue to believe what Eichelieu had told him. The duke had therefore to frame his reply so as to avoid furnishing matter for amusement to the king, without at the same time incurring the reproach of falsehood, which was already hovering upon the baron’s lips and twinkling in his smile.
” Sire,” said Eichelieu, ” pray let us not speak of effects, but of the cause. Whether I have, or have not refused a portfolio, is a state secret which your majesty is not bound to divulge over the bottle; but the cause for which I should have refused the portfolio, had it been offered to me, is the important point.”
” Oh ! oh ! duke,” said the monarch, laughing; ” and this cause is not a state secret ? “
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” No, sire ; and certainly not for your majesty, who is at this moment, I beg pardon of the divinity, the most amiable earthly Amphytrion in the universe for my friend the Baron de Taverney and myself. I have no secrets, therefore, from my king. I give my whole soul up to him, for I do not wish it to be said that the King of France has not one servant who would tell him the entire truth.”
” Let us hear the truth, then, duke,” said the king, while Taverney, fearing that Richelieu might go too far, pinched up his lips and composed his countenance scrupulously after the king’s.
” Sire, in your dominions there are two powers which a minister must obey; the first is, your will; the second, that of your majesty’s most intimate friends. The first power is irresistible, none dare to rebel against it; the second is yet more sacred, for it imposes duties of the heart on whomsoever serves you. It is termed your confidence. To obey it, a minister must have the most devoted regard for the favorite of the king.”
Louis XV. laughed.
” Duke,” said he, ” that is a very good maxim, and one I am delighted to hear from your lips; but I dare you to proclaim it aloud by the sound of trumpet upon the Pont Neuf.”
” Oh, I know, sire,” said Eichelieu, ” that the philosophers would be up in arms ; but I do not think that their objurgations would matter much to your majesty or to me. The chief point is that the two preponderating influences in the kingdom be satisfied. Well ! the will of a certain person I will confess it openly to your majesty, even should my disgrace, that is my death, be the consequence Madame Dubarry’s will I could not conform to.”
Louis was silent.
” It occurred to me the other day,” continued Richelieu, ” to look around among your majesty’s court, and, in truth, I saw so many noble girls, so many women of dazzling beauty, that had I been King of France I should have found it almost impossible to choose.”
Louis turned to Taverney, who, seeing things take such a favorable turn for him, sat trembling with hope and
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fear, aiding the marshal’s eloquence with eyes and breath, as if he would waft forward the vessel loaded with his fortunes to a safe harbor.
” Come, baron, what is your opinion ? ” said the king.
” Sire,” replied Taverney, with swelling heart, ” the duke, as it seems to me, has been discoursing most eloquently, and at the same time with profound discernment to your majesty, for the last few minutes.”
” Then, you are of his opinion, in what he says of lovely girls?”
“In fact, sire, I think there are indeed very lovely young girls at the French court.”
” Then you are of his opinion ? “
” Yes, sire.”
” And, like him, you advise me to choose among the beauties of the court?”
” I would venture to confess that I am of the marshal’s opinion, if I dared to believe that it was also your majesty’s.”
There was a short silence, during which the king looked complaisantly at Taverney.
” Gentlemen,” said he, ” no doubt I would follow your advice, if I were only thirty years of age. I should have a very natural predilection for it, but I find myself at present rather too old to be credulous.”
” Credulous ! Pray, sire, explain the meaning of the word.”
” To be credulous, my dear duke, means to believe. Now, nothing will make me believe certain things.”
* What are they?”
” That at my age it would be possible to inspire love.”
” Ah, sire ! ” exclaimed Eichelieu, ” until this moment I thought your majesty was the most polite gentleman in your dominions, but with deep regret, I see that I have been mistaken.”
” How so ? ” asked the king, laughing.
“Because, in that case, I must be old as Methusaleh, as I was born in ‘94. Remember, sire, I am sixteen years older than your majesty.”
This was an adroit piece of flattery on the duke’s part.
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Louis XV. had always admired this man’s age, who had outlived so many younger men in his service ; for, having this example before him, he might hope to reach the same advanced period.
” Granted,” said Louis ; ” but I hope you no longer have the pretension to be loved for yourself, duke ? “
” If I thought so, sire, I would instantly quarrel with two ladies who told me the contrary only this very morning.”
” Well, duke,” said Louis, ” we shall see ; Monsieur de Taverney, we shall see ; youth is certainly catching, that is very true.”
” Yes, yes, sire ; and we must not forget that a powerful constitution like your majesty’s always gains and never loses.”
” Yet I remember,” said Louis, ” that my predecessor, when he became old, thought not of such toys as woman’s love, but became exceedingly devout.”
” Come, come, sire!” said Eichelieu, “your majesty knows my great respect for the deceased king, who twice sent me to the Bastile, but that ought not to prevent me from saying that there is a vast difference between the ripe age of Louis XV. and that of Louis XIV. Diable ! your most Christian majesty, although honoring fully your title of eldest son of the Church, need not carry ascetism so far as to forget your humanity.”
“Faith, no!” said Louis. “I may confess it, since neither my doctor nor confessor is present.”
” Well, sire ! the king, your grandfather, frequently astonished Madame de Maintenon, who was even older than he, by his excess of religious zeal and his innumerable pen-ances. I repeat it, sire, can there be any comparison made between your two majesties?”
The king, this evening, was in a good humor. Richelieu’s words acted upon him like so many drops of water from the Fountain of Youth.
Eichelieu thought the time had come; he touched Taverney’s knee with his.
” Sire ‘ said the latter, ” will your majesty deign to
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accept my thanks for the magnificent present yon have made my daughter ? “
” You need not thank me for that, baron,” said the king. ” Mademoiselle de Taverney pleased me by her modest and ingenuous grace. I wish my daughters had still their households to form; certainly Mademoiselle Andre that is her* name, is it not ? “
“Yes, sire,” said Taverney, delighted that the king knew his daughter’s Christian name.
” A very pretty name certainly Mademoiselle Andre should have been the first upon the list; but every post in my’ house is filled up. In the meantime, baron, you may reckon upon my protection for your daughter. I think I have heard she has not a rich dowry ? “
” Alas ! no, sire.”
” Well, I will make her marriage my especial care.”
Taverney bowed to the ground.
” Then your majesty must be good enough,” said he, ” to select a husband ; for I confess that, in our confined
