Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. and of the Regency — Complete. duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans

was very angry with him; and I had caused him to be told very seriously that if he had behaved ill I should cease to have any regard for him. This grieved him to the heart; he sent to me daily, and begged permission to say only a few words to me. I was firm during four weeks; at length I permitted him to come, when he threw himself at my feet, begged my pardon, promising to amend his conduct, and beseeching me to restore him my friendship (without which he said he could not exist), and to assist him again with my advice. He told me the whole history of his follies, and convinced me that he had been most grossly deluded.

      When the Dauphine lay in of the Duke of Burgundy, I said to the King, “I hope your Majesty will not upon this occasion refuse a humble request I have to make to you.”

      He smiled and said, “What have you to ask, then?”

      I replied, “The pardon, Monsieur, of the poor Comte de Vermandois.”

      He smiled once more, and said, “You are a very good friend; but as for M. Vermandois, he has not been sufficiently punished for his crimes.”

      “The poor lad,” I rejoined, “is so very penitent for his offence.”

      The King replied, “I do not yet feel myself inclined to see him; I am too angry with him still.”

      Several months elapsed before the King would see him; but the young man was very grateful to me for having spoken in his behalf; and my own children could not be more attached to me than he was. He was well made, but his appearance, though not disagreeable, was not remarkably good; he squinted a little.