登陆注册
25527900000290

第290章

He therefore called on me to communicate the proposal; I thought it was delightful, and I immediately told the sister, who jumped for joy. She set to work cleaning, washing and clothing the young beauty, and two or three days after they went to Versailles with the painter to see what could be done. M. de St. Quentin's valet, having received his instructions from his master, took the two females to a pavilion in the park, and the painter went to the hotel to await the result of his negotiation. Half an hour afterwards the king entered the pavilion alone, asked the young O-Morphi if she was a Greek woman, took the portrait out of his pocket, and after a careful examination exclaimed, "I have never seen a better likeness."

His majesty then sat down, took the young girl on his knees, bestowed a few caresses on her, and having ascertained with his royal hand that the fruit had not yet been plucked, he gave her a kiss.

O-Morphi was looking attentively at her master, and smiled.

"What are you laughing at?" said the king.

"I laugh because you and a crown of six francs are as like as two peas."

That *****te made the king laugh heartily, and he asked her whether she would like to remain in Versailles.

"That depends upon my sister," answered the child.

But the sister hastened to tell the king that she could not aspire to a greater honour. The king locked them up again in the pavilion and went away, but in less than a quarter of an hour St. Quentin came to fetch them, placed the young girl in an apartment under the care of a female attendant, and with the sister he went to meet at the hotel the German artist to whom he gave fifty Louis for the portrait, and nothing to Morphi. He only took her address, promising her that she would soon hear from him; the next day she received one thousand Louis. The worthy German gave me twenty-five louis for my portrait, with a promise to make a careful copy of the one I had given to Patu, and he offered to paint for me gratuitously the likeness of every girl of whom I might wish to keep a portrait.

I enjoyed heartily the pleasure of the good Fleeting, when she found herself in possession of the thousand gold pieces which she had received. Seeing herself rich, and considering me as the author of her fortune, she did not know how to shew me her gratitude.

The young and lovely O-Morphi--for the king always called her by that name--pleased the sovereign by her simplicity and her pretty ways more even than by her rare beauty--the most perfect, the most regular, I recollect to have ever seen. He placed her in one of the apartments of his Parc-dux-cerfs--the voluptuous monarch's harem, in which no one could get admittance except the ladies presented at the court. At the end of one year she gave birth to a son who went, like so many others, God knows where! for as long as Queen Mary lived no one ever knew what became of the natural children of Louis XV.

O-Morphi fell into disgrace at the end of three years, but the king, as he sent her away, ordered her to receive a sum of four hundred thousand francs which she brought as a dowry to an officer from Britanny. In 1783, happening to be in Fontainebleau, I made the acquaintance of a charming young man of twenty-five, the offspring of that marriage and the living portrait of his mother, of the history of whom he had not the slightest knowledge, and I thought it my duty not to enlighten him. I wrote my name on his tablets, and I begged him to present my compliments to his mother.

A wicked trick of Madame de Valentinois, sister-in-law of the Prince of Monaco, was the cause of O-Morphi's disgrace. That lady, who was well known in Paris, told her one day that, if she wished to make the king very merry, she had only to ask him how he treated his old wife.

Too ****** to guess the snare thus laid out for her, O-Morphi actually asked that impertinent question; but Louis XV. gave her a look of fury, and exclaimed, "Miserable wretch! who taught you to address me that question?"

The poor O-Morphi, almost dead with fright, threw herself on her knees, and confessed the truth.

The king left her and never would see her again. The Countess de Valentinois was exiled for two years from the court. Louis XV., who knew how wrongly he was behaving towards his wife as a husband, would not deserve any reproach at her hands as a king, and woe to anyone who forgot the respect due to the queen!

The French are undoubtedly the most witty people in Europe, and perhaps in the whole world, but Paris is, all the same, the city for impostors and quacks to make a fortune. When their knavery is found out people turn it into a joke and laugh, but in the midst of the merriment another mountebank makes his appearance, who does something more wonderful than those who preceded him, and he makes his fortune, whilst the scoffing of the people is in abeyance. It is the unquestionable effects of the power which fashion has over that amiable, clever, and lively nation. If anything is astonishing, no matter how extravagant it may be, the crowd is sure to welcome it greedily, for anyone would be afraid of being taken for a fool if he should exclaim, "It is impossible!" Physicians are, perhaps, the only men in France who know that an infinite gulf yawns between the will and the deed, whilst in Italy it is an axiom known to everybody;

but I do not mean to say that the Italians are superior to the French.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 我的明星老爸——吴昊泽

    我的明星老爸——吴昊泽

    是真的吗?是真的吗?这是真的吗?尽然是因为我离家出走才让我的男神吴昊泽成为了我的养父,在这段时间里我跟他发生了很多事情哟!想知道就去看小说吧!要尽情吐糟哟!!!
  • 辱神凌天大法师

    辱神凌天大法师

    杀手之王楚天被陷害致死,重生穿越到一个跑步累死的少年身体里,跑步都能累死,全身都是病,楚天差点想一头撞死,可是,既然活着,就要有个活着的样,看他怎么用这病体,游历这江湖。
  • 古代任木木

    古代任木木

    佛说,得不到……已失去……当她得到时正是她失去时。当她失去时正是她得到时……她对佛说,我不信佛,可不可以逃离轮回?佛说:不能,你注定轮回。她问为什么?佛说:不可说,不可说。
  • 缘来还是爱

    缘来还是爱

    她是一个土里土气的女孩,他是一个长相与智慧兼备的男孩。一个与好友之间的赌约,让他渐渐开始关注,并爱上这个看似平凡的女孩。在他决定给她一个永远的承诺的时候,她发现了那个可笑的赌约,目睹他与自己最好的朋友接吻。丑小鸭就是丑小鸭,永远都不会是白天鹅,她却傻傻的幻想自己真的拥有了童话般的爱情……
  • 灰色北极星

    灰色北极星

    如果这个世界,已没有色彩如果这个世界,已没有留恋如果这个世界,已没有幻想那么就去放纵,为自己找点精彩那么就去尝试,为自己找点映像那么就选离开,为自己结束现实
  • 月隐龙战

    月隐龙战

    紫云出,白龙至!紫月至,白龙现!紫月隐,白龙战!风轻羽,唯一的凤族驭龙者。年轻懵懂,前世夫,三世夫。以命卫她的追随者,等了三世的师兄。雪域魔族一再来范,谁是谁非,谁之过?缘起,缘散,缘灭!何去,何从,何休?
  • 斗魂纪元

    斗魂纪元

    一个2012年的空白灵魂,穿越到上万年以后斗魂纪元,阴差阳错的和一具没有灵魂的微生命实验身体结合在了一起,创造出了一个前所未有的人类。不可挑剔的身体素质。无上完美的灵魂天赋。他的诞生注定成为斗魂的最高强者。他的出现宛如救世主。他让人类看到了消灭魔兽,战胜血族的希望。而他,不仅如此。更要魂斗九天!战破天宙!
  • 未央西南

    未央西南

    我是未央,因为我是未央,所以为了对得起这个名字,我未央求过任何人,任何事。
  • 小船,小船

    小船,小船

    本书共收录了作者7篇文章,《小船,小船》《当我还在童年》《小河流过门前》《深山的孩子们》《五(一)班的“备忘录”》《心声》《雪·太阳·村庄》。语言生动隽秀,故事引人心动,让小读者和大读者如临其景,爱不释手。你将领略到作者心中最柔软的感情、如花的风景、美妙的疼痛的成长和源自童年天籁般纯粹的声音。
  • 无尽幻想穿越

    无尽幻想穿越

    本文由玉树临风风流倜傥英俊潇洒才高八斗貌似潘安号称一朵梨花压海棠人送绰号玉面小飞龙的作者菌友情提供。PS:你以为我会说据说只要一口气把简介说完就可以成神了吗!PS不喜勿喷。