Madame Scarron.--Her Petition.--The King's Aversion to Her.--She is
Presented to Madame de Montespan.--The Queen of Portugal Thinks of
Engaging Her.--Madame de Montespan Keeps Her Back.--The Pension
Continued.--The King's Graciousness.--Rage of Mademoiselle d'Aumale.
As all the pensions granted by the Queen-mother had ceased at her demise,
the pensioners began to solicit the ministers anew, and all the
petitions, as is customary, were sent direct to the King.
One day his Majesty said to me, "Have you ever met in society a young
widow, said to be very pretty, but, at the same time, extremely affected?
It is to Madame Scarron that I allude, who, both before and after
widowhood, has resided at the Marais."
I replied that Madame Scarron was an extremely pleasant person, and not
at all affected. I had met her at the Richelieus' or the Albrets', where
her charm of manner and agreeable wit had made her in universal request.
I added a few words of recommendation concerning her petition, which,
unfortunately, had just been torn up, and the King curtly rejoined, "You
surprise me, madame; the portrait I had given to me of her was a totally
different one."
That same evening, when the young Marquis d'Alincour spoke to me about
this petition which had never obtained any answer, I requested him to go
and see Madame Scarron as soon as possible, and tell her that, in her own
interest, I should be pleased to receive her.
She lost no time in paying me a visit. Her black attire served only to
heighten the astounding whiteness of her complexion. Effusively thanking
me for interesting myself in her most painful case, she added:
"There is, apparently, some obstacle against me. I have presented two
petitions and two memoranda; being unsupported, both have been left
unanswered, and I have now just made the following resolve, madame, of
which you will not disapprove. M. Scarron, apparently well off, had only
a life interest in his property. Upon his death, his debts proved in
excess of his capital, and I, deeming it my duty to respect his
intentions and his memory, paid off everybody, and left myself nothing.
To-day, Madame la Princesse de Nemours wishes me to accompany her to
Lisbon as her secretary, or rather as her friend.
"Being about to acquire supreme power as a sovereign, she intends, by
some grand marriage, to keep me there, and then appoint me her
lady-in-waiting."
"And you submit without a murmur to such appalling exile?" I said to
Madame Scarron. "Is such a pretty, charming person as yourself fitted
for a Court of that kind, and for such an odd sort of climate?"
"Madame, I have sought to shut my eyes to many things, being solely
conscious of the horribly forlorn condition in which I find myself in my
native country."
"Have you reckoned the distance? Did the Princess confess that she was
going to carry you off to the other end of the world? For her city of
Lisbon, surrounded by precipices, is more than three hundred leagues from
Paris."
"At the age of three I voyaged to America, returning hither when I was
eleven."
"I am vexed with Mademoiselle d'Aumale for wanting to rob us of so
charming a treasure. But has she any right to act in this way? Do you
think her capable of contributing to your pleasure or your happiness?
This young Queen of Portugal, under the guise of good-humour, hides a
violent and irascible temperament. I believe her to be thoroughly
selfish; suppose that she neglects and despises you, after having
profited by your company to while away the tedium of her journey? Take
my word for it, madame, you had better stay here with us; for there is
no real society but in France, no wit but in our great world, no real
happiness but in Paris. Draw up another petition as quickly as
possible, and send it to me. I will present it myself, and to tell you
this is tantamount to a promise that your plea shall succeed."
[Mademoiselle d'Aumale, daughter of the Duc de Nemours, of the House of
Savoy. She was a blonde, pleasant-mannered enough, but short of stature.
Her head was too big for her body; and this head of hers was full of
conspiracies and coups d'etat. She dethroned her husband in order to
marry his brother.--EDITOR'S NOTE.]
Mademoiselle d'Aubigne, all flushed with emotion, assured me of her
gratitude with the ingenuous eloquence peculiar to herself. We embraced
as two friends of the Albret set should do, and three days later, the
King received a new petition, not signed with the name of Scarron, but
with that of D'Aubigne.
The pension of two thousand francs, granted three years before her death
by the Queen-mother, was renewed. Madame Scarron had the honour of
making her courtesy to the King, who thought her handsome, but grave in
demeanour, and in a loud, clear voice, he said to her, "Madame, I kept
you waiting; I was jealous of your friends."
The Queen of Portugal knew that I had deprived her of her secretary,
fellow-gossip, reader, Spanish teacher, stewardess, confidante, and
lady-in-waiting. She wrote to me complaining about this, and on taking
leave of the King to go and reign in Portugal, she said, with rather a
forced air of raillery:
"I shall hate you as long as I live, and if ever you do me the honour of
paying me a visit some day at Lisbon, I'll have you burned for your
pains."
Then she wanted to embrace me, as if we were equals, but this I
deprecated as much from aversion as from respect.