Descendants of the Stuarts

194 THE DESCENDANTS
up in a different school from lier adopted country-
women, and as such, would express herself with
more warmth of feeling than possibly the Trench
would care to do, where feelings of platonic admi-
ration only were concerned. It seems to have
been solely her language when speaking of the king
that gave rise to these reports ; what she says is,
" If the king had been my father, I could not have
loved him better than I did, I was always pleased
to be with him; " whilst Louis on his part, in later
years, when increasing age and infirmities caused
his family to seek convenient pretexts for deserting
him, used to say, " Madame is the only one who does
not abandon me."*
The favourable impression which Elizabeth Char-
lotte created was by no means restricted to the king.
The interesting Countess de Sevigne, writing to her
daughter, the Countess de Grignan, and narrating a
visit she paid at the Palais Royal, says, " I was
greatly surprised at the wit of the present Madame,
not so much for the sprightliness of her humour, as
for the good sense. She was rallying the ridiculous
conduct of M. de Mecklenburg in being in Paris at
such a time as this (France was then at war with
Holland), and I assure you, no one could have
expressed what she said better than she did. She
is very obstinate and determined, and certainly a
person of discernment. "f
* Duchess of Orleans.
t Letters of Madame de Sevigne.