Page:Letters of Mlle. de Lespinasse.djvu/41

26 use insinuation, nor any exaggeration ; in a word, never deviate, and never lose one of the greatest charms of youth, which is candour. You have much intelligence, you have gaiety, you are capable of feelings ; with all these qualities you will be charming so long as you let yourself go to your natural impulse, and are without pretension and without subterfuge. . ..

March 29, 1754.

., . Another favour I have to ask of you (and it is the most important of all), namely: not to come to me unless you have totally forgotten who you are, and unless you have made a firm resolution never to think of changing your civil state. It would be perfidy to make use of my friendship to cover me with shame, to expose me to the blame of all honourable persons, to make my family my relentless enemies. The slightest attempt of this kind that you might make while living with me would be an unpardon- able crime. I hope, my queen, that you have no need to consult yourself again on this point. It is long since you promised me all I could desire on this subject. I am perfectly certain that any such attempt would be in vain ; but it would, none the less, be dreadful for me if you made one, and I repeat that I should never forgive it. . ..

April 8, 1754.

... I hope, my queen, that I shall have no reason to repent what I do for you ; and that you will not come to me unless you are fully decided to make no attempt [to change your social state]. You know but too well how useless such efforts are ; but in future, when living with me, they would be fatal to you, for the grief they would cause me would draw down upon you powerful enemies, and you would find yourself in a state of abandonment in which there would be no resource.

That said, there remains only to tell you of the joy I shall have in seeing you and in living with you. I shall write at once to M. le Cardinal to beg him to start you from Lyon as soon as possible. . ..

Adieu, my queen ; pack your trunks and come to be the happiness and consolation of my life ; it does not depend on me to make it reciprocal.