16 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON".

children?" And immediately, with impetuosity he added,
" Thank God, she is wounded, since she was to be so; and I
shall no longer be annoyed in my journeys and in everything
I wish to do, by the representations of doctors and the reason-
in^ of matrons. I shall go and come at my pleasure, and
shall be left in peace."

A silence so deep that an ant might be heard to walk, suc-
ceeded this strange outburst. All eyes were lowered; no one
scarcely dared to breathe. All remained stupefied. Even the
domestics and the gardeners stood motionless.

This silence lasted more than a quarter of an hour. The
King broke it as he leaned upon a balustrade to speak of a carp.
Nobody replied. He addressed himself afterwards on the sub-
ject of these carps to domestics, who did not ordinarily join in
the conversation. Nothing but carps was spoken of with them.
All was languishing, and the King went away some time after.
As soon as we dared look at each other out of his sight, our
eyes met and told all Everybody there was for the moment
the confidant of his neighbour. We admired—we marvelled—
we grieved, we shrugged our shoulders. However distant may
be that scene, it is always equally present to me. M. de la.
Kochefoueauld was in a fury, and this time without being
wrong. The chief ecuyer was ready to faint with affright; I
myself examined everybody with my eyes and ears, and was.
satisfied with myself for having long since thought that the
King loved and cared for himself alone, and was himself his-
only object in life. This strange discourse sounded far and
wide—much beyond Marly.

Let me here relate another anecdote of the King—a trifle I
was o£ It was on the 7th of May, of this year, and at

Marly. The King walking round the gardens, showing them
to Beigheyck, and talking with Mm upon the approaching
campaign in Flanders, stopped before one of the pavilions. It
was that occupied by Desmaxets, who had recently succeeded
Chamillart in the direction of the finances, and who was at
work within with Samuel Bernard, the famous banker, the
richest man in Europe, and whose money dealings were the