for the Frondeurs, or those supposed
to be Frondeurs, were at this time courted by both parties, by the
friends of the Prince in order to gain their aid in his release, and
by the Court in order to be strengthened against the Prince's
supporters; and thus the lawyers were treated with a studied courtesy
that for the time made it appear as if they were to be henceforth, as
in England, received as gentlemen, and treated on terms more like
equality; and thus Clement joined with those who escorted us, and had
a few minutes, though very few, of conversation with my sister, in
which he gave her a packet for my brother.
I was not obliged to be cautious about knowing anything now that I
should be out of reach of my mother, and all was to be laid before my
brother. I could say nothing on the road, for our women were in the
coach with us. the posts were not to be so much relied on as they
are at present, and we had to send relays of horses forward to await
us at each stage in order to have no delay, and he, who had made the
journey before, managed all this excellently for us.
At night we two sisters shared the same room, and then it was that I
asked Nan to tell me what was in her heart.
'What is the use?' she said; 'you have become one of these proud
French nobility who cannot see worth or manhood unless a man can
count a lineage of a hundred ancestors, half-ape, half-tiger.'
However, the poor child was glad enough to tell me all, even though I
argued with her that, deeply English as she was in faith and in
habits and modes of thought, it would hardly result in happiness even
if she did extort permission to wed one of a different nation and
religion, on whom, moreover, she would be entirely dependent for
companionship; since, though nothing could break the bonds of
sisterly affection between her and me, all the rest of the persons of
her own rank would throw her over, since even if M.
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