d'Epinay, and Messieurs de Lalive and De la Briche, both of whom
have since been introductors to ambassadors. I have spoken of the
acquaintance I made with her before she was married: since that
event I had not seen her, except at the fetes of La Chevrette, with
Madam d'Epinay, her sister-in-law. Having frequently passed several
days with her, both at La Chevrette and Epinay, I always thought her
amiable, and that she seemed to be my well-wisher. She was fond of
walking with me; we were both good walkers, and the conversation
between us was inexhaustible. However, I never went to see her in
Paris, although she had several times requested and solicited me to do
it. Her connections with M. de St. Lambert, with whom I began to be
intimate, rendered her more interesting to me, and it was to bring
me some account of that friend who was, I believe, then at Mahon, that
she came to see me at the Hermitage.
This visit had something of the appearance of the beginning of a
romance. She lost her way. Her coachman, quitting the road, which
turned to the right, attempted to cross straight over from the mill of
Clairveaux to the Hermitage: her carriage struck in a quagmire in
the bottom of the valley, and she got out and walked the rest of the
road. Her delicate shoes were soon worn through; she sank into the
dirt, her servants had the greatest difficulty in extricating her, and
she at length arrived at the Hermitage in boots, making the place
resound with her laughter, in which I most heartily joined.
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