When, when? ” I demanded.

“That is for His Majesty to decide.”

I was frustrated. The great city was so near and yet I was not allowed to visit it. One could reach it in little more than an hour by carriage. How absurd, how ridiculous, that I was forbidden to go!

I spoke to the aunts about my desire. They were no longer so affectionate, although Adelaide pretended to be, but Vie to ire and Sophie could not hide their changed feelings. They watched me furtively when I was in the apartments. I had not obeyed Adelaide over the du Barry affair. I was therefore foolish and unpredictable.

You could not go to Paris . just like that,” said Adelaide.

“It would have to be arranged.”

My husband said that he supposed I should go when the time came. Could he not do something about granting my wish? He wanted to please me whenever he could, but this was not a matter for him to decide.

Even Artois was evasive. I came to the conclusion that none of them wanted me to go to Paris.

“It would not at this time be etiquette,” Artois explained. You know Grandpapa never goes. He hates Paris because Paris no longer likes him. If you went they would cheer you because you are young and pretty, and they would not cheer Grandfather. You can’t have the Dauphine cheered and the King insulted. It would not be etiquette. “

I decided that I would ask the King myself, for I was sure that if I chose the right moment he would be unable to refuse me, for since I had spoken to Madame du Barry and had been less friendly with the aunts he had become very affectionate towards me. He always embraced me warmly when I visited him and complimented me on my appearance I was growing up charmingly, he said. Sometimes he came to breakfast with me; and when he came he liked to make the coffee himself, and this was more than making a cup of coffee: within the rules of etiquette it meant that he accepted me wholeheartedly as one of the family and one who pleased him very much.

Sometimes I would bring out the waistcoat I was embroidering and show it to him.

“But it is magnificent,” he would say.

“When, I wonder, shall I have the pleasure of wearing it?”

“Perhaps in five years’ time. Papa … or ten.” It was a joke between us.

So I chose my moment and said to him: “Papa, I have been your daughter for three years and I have never seen your capital city. I long to go to Paris.” He hesitated, and then he said: “Naturally you will go Acre … in time.”

“How long. Papa? How long?”

I went to him and, putting my arms about his neck, laughed.

“You are amused ” Thinking how fortunate it is that Madame l”Etiquette is not here to see me do this.”

He laughed too. He appreciated the name I had given Madame de Noailles, for he was a great giver of nicknames himself.

“Fortunate for me,” he said, taking my hands and holding them there about his neck.

“Papa, I want to go to Paris. You will give the permission Etiquette demands?”

“Ah—Etiquette and Madame la Dauphine—both are irresistible, but Madame more so.”

So it was as simple as that. All I had to do was ask prettily, and there had been all this unnecessary fuss!

Now I would show them all. The King had given me his permission ! “There will be so much to do,” I said.

“This is going to delay work on your waistcoat.”

“Then I shall not have it within ten years after all.”

I put my head on one side and smiled at him.

“I promise you I shall work harder than ever, and every flower will be worked with love.”

“Which will be far more beautiful than silk, I am sure Then I embraced him warmly, wishing that I could persuade my mother as easily as I did the King of France.

So—to Paris. I went triumphantly to my husband and told him that I had persuaded the King. He was mildly surprised, but delighted as he always was when my whims were granted.

I told Artois.

“To Paris! How I long to dance at the opera ball. Do you know, if the King had refused I was going to ask you to make up a party and come with me—disguised.”

Artois’s eyes gleamed. He was adventurous by nature, but there was, too, a love of mischief very similar to that of the aunts. Artois was sympathetic to me, and yet he loved trouble for its own sake and he would have enjoyed seeing me involved in it. Well,” he said, ‘are you asking me now?” But I am going . ceremoniously, as Etiquette would j have it. “

He snapped his fingers at Etiquette.

“Let’s defy the old creature.” i How?

” I’ “

By forestalling her. We will dress ourselves in dominoes; j we will be masked and drive out from Versailles. Unrecog-j promised we will go to the masked ball. ” ‘, I looked at him in astonishment, but he had seized me and j was dancing with me round the apartment. I was caught up in the excitement of the project. What fun! To snap our fingers at Etiquette! Secretly to go to Paris before the ceremony she demanded. Why had not Artois thought of this months ago?

He kissed my hands too fervently for a brother-in-law;

his bold eyes were caressing. I decided that I would persuade my husband to come with us.

Louis was perplexed. But why go to Paris incognito when in such a short time I could go openly?

Because it is much more fun like this. “

He wrinkled his brows to try to understand my sort of fun. Dear Louis!

He could no more understand why this adventure appealed to me than I could understand why covering himself with plaster and taking locks to pieces pleased him.

I looked at him appealingly.

“I want to go, and I know you want me to enjoy myself.”

He did. There was a world of understanding between us. He could not apologise for those distasteful sessions in the bedchamber, although he wanted to. His way of doing so was to indulge me all he could. He thought the plan a wild one, but if I was set on doing something so reckless, it would at least be less so if he accompanied me. ‘So dear kind Louis agreed to come, and late in the evening, our dominoes wrapped around us, our masks disguising our faces, we set out along the road to Paris.

It was one of the most thrilling evenings I had so far known. There was an excitement in Paris which caught at me and enveloped me. I had wasted three whole years with this delightful city only an hour or so’s ride away and I had never seen it until this night. Artois I was seated between him and my husband pointed out the Invalides, the Bastille, the Hotel de Ville, the Tuileries and towering Notre Dame. I was aware of the people in the streets, for Paris never seemed to sleep. I saw the bridges and the gleaming river, but it was typical of me that what made most impression on me that night was the Opera House.

I shall never forget the excitement the crowds of people, the music, the dancing. How happy I was! I forgot every thing in the joy of dancing; and here the dancers were more abandoned. Several sought to partner me but my husband would not allow that, and I was surprised by his quiet dignity which even in his disguise was apparent.

So I danced with him and Artois and some of the members of our little band of adventurers who on Louis’s orders kept a dose guard on me.

The Opera House it is so clear in my memory now its great chandeliers, the light from thousands of candles, the smell of pomade and the faint haze of powder in the air. It spells romance to me because of one whom in the not very distant future I was to meet there. I should always feel that the Paris Opera House has a very special place in my most tender memories.

On that night, by great good luck which we did not deserve, nothing unfortunate happened. We had danced well into the night, and dawn was breaking when. we came back along the road to Versailles.

Next morning we were all at Mass, bright-eyed and innocent, as though we were quite incapable of indulging in such a reckless adventure.

Artois and I congratulated ourselves on having made a gesture of defiance at Etiquette.

The day for the formal entry into Paris arrived, and, having seen the city by night with all its fascinating contrasts, its magnificent buildings and that air of gaiety which was all its own, I was longing to be there.

Paris ! The city that loved me in the beginning and then wearied of me and rejected and hated me. It looked rather like a great ship, with Notre Dame as its stem, and its prow the old Font Neuf on the Islet of Cow-Ferryman.

It was a perfect day. There were blue skies and sunshine. All along the road from Versailles to Paris the people stood waiting for us to pass. When they saw me they shouted a greeting. My husband beside me drew back, so that everyone could see me.

“They are shouting for us,” I said to him.

“They like us.”

“No,” he answered, ‘they are shouting for you. “

I was delighted, for nothing pleased me more than admiration. I responded to it; I sat there smiling and inclining my head and they called out that I was as pretty as a picture.

“Long live our Dauphine!” they said.

Provence and Marie Josephe looked sour, unable to hide their jealousy; and I smiled more dazzlingly and aroused more cheers.

As we approached the city I could scarcely sit still, so excited was I. I saw a mass of faces; flowers were flung at my carriage; flags were waved and there were loyal greetings everywhere.

At the gates of the city the Marechal de Brissac, who was Governor of the City, was waiting for me with a silver plate on which lay the keys of the city, and amid the roars of approval he handed these to me.

Then from the Invalides the guns boomed out, followed by those of the Hotel de Ville and the Bastille.