[291]The States-General were to open on May 5th, and the day before M. de Beaune and M. de Montagu went to Versailles to be present, Pauline remaining in Paris to nurse a sick servant.
THREE:Interesting societyAnecdotes of the past TerrorCasimirThe RestorationMadame RoyaleLouis XVIII.The coiffeur of Marie AntoinetteThe regicideReturn of the Orlans familyAn astrologerA faithful servantSociety of the RestorationIsabeyMeyerbeerConclusion.
THREE:Brilliante sur ma tige, et honneur du jardin,The wedding took place in the spring of 1783, before her seventeenth birthday. The presents and corbeille were magnificent, and every day, between the signing of the contract and the marriage, Pauline, in a splendid and always a different dress, received the visits of ceremony usual on these occasions. As her family and her husbands were related to or connected with every one of the highest rank in France, all the society of Paris passed through the h?tel de Noailles on those interminable evenings, which began at six oclock and ended with a great supper, while Pauline sat by her mother, and was presented to every one who came.
Caresne was a painter and poet whose poems and pictures were bad, but his conversation amusing. He wrote the following verses to Lisette, whose rapid progress and intelligence made her seem to be already passing out of childhood into girlhood:Mesdames de France, the two last remaining daughters of Louis XV., arrived in Rome and at once sent for Mme. Le Brun, who was delighted to see them again. They had with great difficulty succeeded in getting away, and had been most anxious to take their niece, Madame Elizabeth, with them. In vain they entreated her to come, she persisted in staying with the King and Queen, and sacrificed her life in so doing.
