On this occasion, however, my first thought was given
to the memorial I had prepared for the King; which I remembered
had been taken with other books and papers to a room over the
kitchen. I lost not a moment, therefore, in sending Maignan for
it; nor until I held it safely in my hand did I feel myself at
liberty to think of the house. When I did, I found that the
alarm exceeded the danger; a few buckets of water extinguished a
beam in the chimney which had caught fire, and in a few moments
we were able to resume the meal with the added vivacity which
such an event gave to the conversation. It has never been my
custom to encourage too great freedom at my table; but as the
company consisted, with a single exception, of my household, and
as this person--a Monsieur de Vilain, a young gentleman, the
cousin of one of my wife's maids-of-honour--showed himself
possessed of modesty as well as wit, I thought that the time
excused a little relaxation.
This was the cause of the misfortune which followed, and bade
fair to place me in a position of as great difficulty as I have
ever known; for, having in my good humour dismissed the servants,
I continued to talk for an hour or more with Vilain and some of
my gentlemen; the result being that I so far forgot myself, when
I rose, as to leave the report where I had laid it on the table.
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