��Eh! Madame,�� cried the Queen impatiently, ��spare us ceremonial in the face of nature.��Of these ruffians the most powerful and influential was Robespierre, who, though cruel, treacherous, and remorseless, was severely moral and abstemious, and whose anger was deeply aroused by the reports he received from Bordeaux.
��Because, if I spoke differently, he would denounce me to the Jacobins and have me guillotined.��Mme. de Tess��, younger sister of the Duc d��Ayen, was well known for her opinions. La Fayette, de Noailles, and de S��gur had returned from America, and their ideas were shared by Rosalie��s husband, de Grammont, and to a certain extent, though with much more moderation, by M. de Montagu. All the remaining daughters of the Duc d��Ayen except Pauline shared the opinions of their husbands; M. de Th��san and M. de Beaune were opposed to them, as was also the Duchesse d��Ayen, whose affection for her sons-in-law did not make her share their blind enthusiasm and unfortunate credulity.M. de Montbel had waited for nearly an hour, when suddenly a suspicion seized him. Springing [276] up suddenly he ran to the cottage, opened the door of one room, then another, then a third, and stood still with a cry of consternation.But the changed aspect of Paris, the loss of so many she loved, and perhaps most of all the ungrateful conduct of her daughter, depressed Mme. Le Brun so that she lost her spirits, had a perpetual craving to be alone, and for this purpose took a [150] little house in the wood of Meudon, where, except for the visits of the Duchesse de Fleury and one or two other friends who lived near, she could to a certain extent indulge in her new fancy for solitude.
FORE:[135]