My books, which I
had lately received, enabled me to finish this work; my papers sent me
by the same conveyance, furnished me with the means of beginning my
memoirs to which I was determined to give my whole attention. I
began by transcribing the letters into a book, by which my memory
might be guided in the order of facts and time. I had already selected
those I intended to keep for this purpose, and for ten years the
series was not interrupted. However, in preparing them for copying I
found an interruption at which I was surprised. This was for almost
six months, from October, 1756, to March following. I recollected
having put into my selection a number of letters from Diderot, De
Leyre, Madam d'Epinay, Madam de Chenonceaux, etc., which filled up the
void and were missing. What was become of them? Had any persons laid
their hands upon my papers whilst they remained in the Hotel de
Luxembourg? This was not conceivable, and I had seen M. de
Luxembourg take the key of the chamber in which I had deposited
them. Many letters from different ladies, and all those from
Diderot, were without date, on which account I had been under the
necessity of dating them from memory before they could be put in
order, and thinking I might have committed errors, I again looked them
over for the purpose of seeing whether or not I could find those which
ought to fill up the void. This experiment did not succeed. I
perceived the vacancy to be real, and that the letters had certainly
been taken away.
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