I am not shaking
with apprehension at the turn affairs are taking, like that
poor-spirited little Madame de Montmorin, whose husband knows no more
about foreign affairs than does my coachman, but I wish with all my
heart, Monsieur, that you had kept your revolution chez vous! 'Tis a
fever, this revolution of yours, and our young men return from the war
and spread the contagion. They clamor for new rights, for assemblies,
for States-Generals--'twas that fever-stricken young Lafayette himself
who demanded that, and, instead of being in attendance at court, as a
young noble should be, he is buried in Auvergne, trying to get himself
elected to his own States-General! Bah! what will it all come to?" She
fastened her keen, bright eyes on Mr. Jefferson's face and spoke with
indomitable energy and haughtiness. "The noblesse is all-powerful. We
have everything--why should we cry for something more? As for the
commons, they don't know what is good for them and they have all they
deserve. At any rate they will not get anything more. These contentions,
these revolts of the lower orders"--she stopped, for at that instant the
young Vicomte de Segur came up and, making a profound bow, offered his
arm to the Duchess.
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