de Janson into the council, in spite of his great esteem for him.  The Cardinal de Fleury told me the same thing.  He had some desire that the Cardinal de Tencin should succeed him; but his sister was such an intrigante that Cardinal de Fleury advised me to have nothing to do with the matter, and I behaved so as to destroy all his hopes, and to undeceive others.  M. d’Argenson has strongly impressed me with the same opinion, and has succeeded in destroying all my respect for him.”  This is what the King said, according to my friend Quesnay, who, by the bye, was a great genius, as everybody said, and a very lively, agreeable man.  He liked to chat with me about the country.  I had been bred up there, and he used to set me a talking about the meadows of Normandy and Poitou, the wealth of the farmers, and the modes of culture.  He was the best-natured man in the world, and the farthest removed from petty intrigue.  While he lived at Court, he was much more occupied with the best manner of cultivating land than with anything that passed around him.  The man whom he esteemed the most was M. de la Riviere, a Counsellor of Parliament, who was also Intendant of Martinique; he looked upon him as a man of the greatest genius, and thought him the only person fit for the financial department of administration.

The Comtesse d’Estrades, who owed everything to Madame de Pompadour, was incessantly intriguing against her.  She was clever enough to destroy all proofs of her manoeuvres, but she could not so easily prevent suspicion.  Her intimate connection with M. d’Argenson gave offence to Madame, and, for some time, she was more reserved with her.  She, afterwards, did a thing which justly irritated the King and Madame.  The King, who wrote a great deal, had written to Madame de Pompadour a long letter concerning an assembly of the Chambers of Parliament, and had enclosed a letter of M. Berrier.  Madame was ill, and laid those letters on a little table by her bedside.  M. de Gontaut came in, and gossipped about trifles, as usual.  Madame d’Amblimont also came, and stayed but very little time.  Just as I was going to resume a book which I had been reading to Madame, the Comtesse d’Estrades entered, placed herself near Madame’s bed, and talked to her for some time.  As soon as she was gone, Madame called me, asked what was o’clock, and said, “Order my door to be shut, the King will soon be here.”  I gave the order, and returned; and Madame told me to give her the King’s letter, which was on the table with some other papers.  I gave her the papers, and told her there was nothing else.  She was very uneasy at not finding the letter, and, after enumerating the persons who had been in the room, she said, “It cannot be the little Countess, nor Gontaut, who has taken this letter.  It can only be the Comtesse d’Estrades;—­and that is too bad.”  The King came, and was extremely angry, as Madame told me.  Two days afterwards, he sent Madame d’Estrades into exile.