At the lamentations of the country folk and the horrified
passers-by, we stopped. Madame de Maintenon
wished to alight, and when she perceived the unfortunate
vine-grower disfigured with his wounds, she clasped
her hands and fell to weeping. The Marquise
d’Hudicourt, who was always simplicity itself,
followed her friend’s example; there was nothing
but groans and sorrowful exclamations. My coachman
blamed the postilions, the postilions the man’s
obstinacy.
Madame de Maintenon, speaking as though she were the
mistress, bade them be silent, and dared to say to
them before all the crowd: “If you belonged
to me, I would soon settle you.” At these
words all the spectators applauded, and cried:
“Vive Madame de Maintenon!”
Irritated at what I had just heard, I put my head
out of the door, and, turning to these sentimental
women, I said to them: “Be good enough to
get in, mesdames; are you determined to have me stoned?”
They mounted again, after having left my purse with
the poor relations of the dead man; and as far as
Ruel, which was our destination, I was compelled to
listen to their complaints and litanies.
“Admit, madame,” I declared to Madame
de Maintenon, “that any person except myself
could and would detest you for the harm you have done
me. Your part was to blame the postilions lightly
and the rustic very positively. My equipage
did not come unexpectedly, and my two outriders had
signalled from their horses.”
“Madame,” she replied, “you have
not seen, as I did, those eyes of the unhappy man
forced violently from their sockets, his poor crushed
head, his palpitating heart, from which the blood
soaked the pavement; such a sight has moved and broken
my own heart. I was, as I am still, quite beside
myself, and, in such a situation, it is permissible
to forget discretion in one’s speech and the
proprieties. I had no intention of giving you
pain; I am distressed at having done so. But
as for your coachmen I loathe them, and, since you
undertake their defence, I shall not for the future
show myself in your equipage.”
[In one of her letters, Madame de Maintenon speaks
of this accident, but she does not give quite the
same account of it. It is natural that Madame
de Montespan seeks to excuse her people and herself
if she can.—Editor’s Note.]
At Ruel, she dared take the same tone before the Duchesse
de Richelieu, who rebuked her for officiousness, and
out of spite, or some other reason, Madame de Maintenon
refused to dine. She had two or three swooning
fits; her tears started afresh four or five times,
and the Marquise d’Hudicourt, who dined only
by snatches, went into a corner to sob and weep along
with her.
