mazy wood beyond the Vergelay bridge following in thought the sound of the light operatic music, so often played on bright afternoons, which drifted past her as she made her way along the wood paths. Well-known bars of Monsigny's music mingled with reminiscences of Sacchini's and Grétry's operas. Was it not on an August day, twelve years ago, that she first acted herself in the charming little newly-built theatre?[1] It was in a play of Sedaine (Le Roi et le Fermier) for which Monsigny had written music, especially for the Trianon; and with pain it was remembered that the plot of the play was the favourite one at Trianon, viz. the superiority of the farmer's condition over that of the King. Vaudreuil had acted the part of the farmer lover to her Jenny. The Queen's thoughts flew to another, and the last, acting,[2] so immediately followed by the frightful episode of the diamond necklace when outrage first touched her and personal popularity was finally lost.[3] Under pressure from the Comte de Vaudreuil she had
