Page:Letters of Mlle. de Lespinasse.djvu/159

140 not know what has become of it. I thought you would have written on Wednesday to M. d'Alembert ; my first words on coming home that evening were to ask him if he had had a letter ; he said he did not know — for he has the excellent habit of not opening his letters till the next morning. I soon knew that he had received none from you, and my suffering increased so much that I was obliged to take an anodyne, and then, by dint of reason and arguments, I came, not to care no longer, but, at least, to cease to torture myself.

You know that M. de Muy, minister of war, is to marry in a few days Mme. de Saint-Blancard, a German chanoinesse, whom you may have known during the late war. They say she is amiable, has been pretty, and loves M. de Muy. This marriage gives me a very good opinion of him; it is an excellent employment of his wealth. The Comte de Broglie is at Euffec ; is that very far from Montauban ? I should be sorry to have you go there ; he would agitate your mind and give you no help in bringing to good conclusion the projects of fortune he would put into your head. Mon ami, you should fix your thoughts, you ought to see much of M. de Muy. He must know you, and if he has intelligence he will seek the aid of your ideas and your talents. Above all, bring back with you your father ; his presence will be useful to you, and besides, if his fortune is capable of amelioration he ought to show himself ; no one seeks the merit that conceals itself.

I strongly applaud the horror you feel at provincial life; but the country is not provincial ; I would rather live in a village among the peasantry than in a town like Montauban and the good company of that society. But, mon Dieu ! in Paris how many provincial towns there are ! how many fools! how many sham " importants." Good is so rare everywhere that I am not sure if it is not a great misfortune to have known it, and to have made it one's " daily bread."