Adelaide laughed a loud braying laugh and said she thought they might sit, although in the presence of the Dauphine; at which I laughed;

then Adelaide laughed; Vie to ire looked at her sister and joined in; and when Adelaide nudged Sophie she laughed too. It was rather horrible laughter and in view of what Mercy had told me of the King of France I felt uneasy.

“So,” said Adelaide, ‘you arc Berry’s wife. A strange boy, Berry. ” She nodded her head and watched her sisters, who nodded with her and tried to ape her expression—poor Sophie always coming in late.

“Not like other boys,” went on Adelaide slowly, putting her mouth close to my ear.

I looked startled and all the sisters started to nod again.

“He has a good appetite,” said Victoire.

Adelaide laughed.

“She thinks that a point in his favour. You should see her eat. She has the Bourbon appetite.”

“But I cannot abide pastry crust,” Victoire put in conspiratorially.

“All she thinks of is sitting in her armchair and eating.”

“I like my comforts,” Victoire admitted.

Sophie looked at her sisters as though marvelling at this brilliant conversation, I liked them. They were dears, I thought, though simple.

I was looking for friends on that day.

“Poor Berry! He never laughed and played tricks,” said Adelaide.

“Like Artois!” added Victoire.

“That boy !’ Adelaide was indulgent. She whispered: ” He has a mistress already. At his age! Fancy! “

“He is very young,” I agreed.

“Now, Berry….” She looked at Victoire and they began to laugh.

Sophie was some time before she joined in.

“He was never interested in the girls.”

“He likes his food, though.” Victoire was kindly putting in a good word for him.

Adelaide looked impatiently at her sister and Victoire was alarmed.

Adelaide went on: “When he came to see me as a little boy I would say to him: ” Come, Berry. Here you can be at your ease. Talk. Shout. Make a noise. My poor Berry, I give you carte blanche”.”

“And did he?” I asked.

Adelaide shook her head and they stood there like three wise monkeys all shaking their heads.

“He was not like other boys,” went on Adelaide mournfully; then her eyes gleamed mischievously.

“But now he is a husband.

Is he a husband, Madame la Dauphine? “

She laughed shrilly and the others joined in. I said with dignity:

“Yes, he is my husband.”

“I hope he is a good husband,” said Adelaide.

I think he is a good husband. “

Victoire began to laugh, but she was silenced with a look from her sister, who decided to change the subject.

“What did you think of the stranger who came to supper at the Chateau de la Muette?”

“Oh … the beautiful woman with the blue eyes …”

And the lisp. “

I thought she was charming Victoire and Sophie were looking to Adelaide for their cue. Adelaide’s eyes flashed and she looked militant.

“She is leading the King to perdition.”

I was startled.

“But how? … I heard her duty was to amuse him.”

Adelaide burst into loud cackling laughter. I waited for the others to join in, Victoire just ahead of Sophie.

“She is a putain. Do you know what that is?”

“I do not remember hearing that word before.”

“She is his mistress. Does that explain?” I nodded and she came close to me, her eyes gleaming.

“She worked in brothels before she came here. They say she pleases him because she is full of new tricks … all learned in the brothels, where she was an expert performer.”

I was flushing with embarrassment.

“It cannot be so….”

“Oh, you are young, my dear. You are innocent. You do not know this Court. You need friends you need someone who understands this wickedness you need someone to guide you, to help you.” She had gripped my arm and her face was very close to mine. The other two moved in on me, nodding, and I wanted to run away, to go to the King to ask him if this was true. But I did not know the King. He was not the man I had believed him to be. I could trust Mercy; that was one person of whom I could be sure. And he had told me so.

Adelaide was talking in a low monotone.

“It was wrong of the King to bring her to supper … at such a rime particularly

It was an insult. to you. Your first in time supper . and he chose that moment to bring her in as she has never been brought in before.”

I understood then why Mercy and the others had been disturbed; they knew that this woman, this prostitute, was going to be present, and it was an insult to me. I was deeply wounded, for nothing could show me more clearly that the King had little regard for me. I had thought he loved me, and all the time he was laughing at me for being childish, and he had brought his mistress to supper to insult me. It was all an elaborate piece of playacting to hide something underneath, which was sinister and frightening.

“You should not be disturbed,” said Adelaide.

“We are your friends.”

She looked at her sisters, who all began to nod.

“You shall come to us when you wish. You shall use your own key to these apartments. There! Does that not show you how we love you I We are your friends. Trust us. We will teach you how to make Berry a good husband. But always come to us and we will help you.”

Adelaide made coffee in her apartments. She was rather proud of this achievement and would allow no servant to do it.

“The King taught me,” she said.

“He used to make it in his apartment and bring it here, when we were younger. Then I would ring for Victoire and before she came she would ring for Sophie, and before Sophie came she would ring for Louise … this was before she went into her convent. She went there, you know, not only to save her own soul, but the King’s. She prays for him constantly, because she fears he may die with all his sins upon him. What if he died in bed with that putain beside him! Louise had a long way to come and by the time she arrived the King would be ready to leave, so there was often only time for her to kiss him before he went. Those were happy days … before that woman came here. Of course there was the Pompadour before her. The King has always been the prey of women. But there was a time” Her eyes became dreamy.

“One grows old. I was his favourite daughter, you know. He used to call me Loque then. It was meant to be a pet name. He still calls me by it; and Victoire is Coche. “

“Because I am so fond of eating,” put in Victoire.

“It has made me a little fat… but not like a pig.”

“Sophie was Graille and Louise Chiffe. Our father likes to give people names. He always called our brother’s wife ” Poor Pepa. ” She was Marie Josephe, you see. I have rarely heard him refer to your husband other than as ” Poor Berry”. ” Why were these two poor? “

“Pepa because when she came here her husband did not want her. He had been married before and loved his first wife, and on his second wedding night he cried in his new wife’s aims for the first one. But she was patient and he loved her in time and then he died. So she was Poor Pepa. And Poor Berry … Well, he is different from most young men so he is Poor Berry for that reason.”

“I wonder if he minds.”

“Poor Berry! He doesn’t care about anything but hunting, reading, playing with locks, and building….”

“And eating,” said Victoire, “Poor Berry I’ sighed Adelaide; and they all sighed with her.

When I left them I seemed to have learned a great deal! about the royal family which I had not known before. I had the key to the aunts’ apartments. I would use it often, for at least with them I could escape the rigid etiquette of Madame de Noailles.

At the ball which was given a few days later there was trouble on a point of etiquette. It was all due to the fact that on this occasion—because the ball was being given in honour i of me—the Princes of Lorraine had asked that their House should take precedence over all others, for my father had been Francois of Lorraine and they claimed kinship with me. Thus Mademoiselle de Lorraine, who was a distant] cousin, believed she should, for this occasion only, take the floor in a minuet ahead of all the other ladies. The Duchesses of the Royal House were outraged and there was a great deal of activity throughout the Palace. I heard that the King was pacing up and down his apartment deeply disturbed by his dilemma.

To refuse the Lorraines’ request would be an insult to the House of Austria; to agree to it would be an insult to the Houses of Orleans, Conde and Conti.

Never had their etiquette seemed to me so silly. The King had allowed Madame du Barry to sit at table with me and yet he appeared to think I should be offended if a distant cousin did not take precedence over his near relations I I made up my mind that as far as possible I should not be a slave to their foolish etiquette.

However, the controversy continued, and finally the King decided in favour of the Lorraines, at which the Royal Duchesses declined to attend, pleading indisposition.

I scarcely noticed their absence. I danced—and how I loved to dance I I felt happier dancing than doing anything else. I danced with my husband, who was very clumsy and constantly turning to the right when be should have gone to the left. I laughed aloud and he gave me his slow smile and said: “I am no good at this!” and that seemed a great advance in our relationship. Dancing with my youngest brother-in-law was different. He was a natural dancer. He told me I looked beautiful, that Berry was the luckiest man at Court and he hoped he realised it.