But  do  tell  me  what  you  could  have  been  doing  together,  as
well  as  with  the  Comte  de  Bussy.  I  have  a  strange  curiosity  to
learn  all  about  this  affair  as  you  have  promised  me.  But  there
is  yet  something  else.  Our  Abbe*  [the  Bien-Bon],  who  hears  on
all  sides  that  you  are  loved,  gets  it  into  his  head  that  he  loves
you  also,  and  he  has  already  told  me  to  put  a  word  in  here  and
there  on  this  subject  to  you.  I  have  promised  to  do  my  best,
and  if  it  be  true  that  you  love  those  whom  I  love,  and  to  whom
I  am  under  the  very  greatest  obligations,  I  shall  not  have  much
trouble  to  obtain  this  favour  from  you.  I  will  give  you  time  to
think  of  it,  and,  while  awaiting  your  reply,  I  assure  you  that  you


io8  THE  QUEEN  OF  LETTER  WRITERS

ought  to  be  as  satisfied  with  me  as  on  that  day  when  I  wrote  to
you  a  letter  worth  ten  thousand  crowns.
