among the trees of her park, eidre chieii el hup, in the twilight, when the clew was falling, and the shadows
closing in. That was her favourite hour. She could
never be actually alone. It was not considered safe —
perhaps even not proper — in those days. Her body-
guard consisted of Pilois, the gardener, whose conver-
sation she preferred to that of the M.P.'s of Rennes, of
Beaulieu, her faithful lacquey, and often of several
others, who always came to fetch her at the witching
hour. They were armed with guns ; for though gene-
rally there was nothing to fear but a squirrel or two,
sometimes there were wolves about. And when the
troops were stationed
at Vitre, Madame de
Sevigne was ordered by
her daughter to come
in an hour earlier.
Even in October she
would stay out till nine
o'clock. Her woods were
then ' d'une beaute,
d'une tranquillite, dune
paix, d'un silence, a quoi
je ne puis m'accoutu-
mer.' As the years
went on, her daughter
entreated her not to
expose herself so reck-
lessly to the night air,
and one day she has
to confess to a little
escapade, which she describes in her prettiest manner.
Her servants came to tell her that the moon was
shining deliciously in the ' Mail,' the broad alley where
the ladies used to play at games. There was not a
breath of air, and the moonlight was playing all manner
of fantastic tricks with its black shadows. Madame
de Sevigne could not resist the temptation. She
set in motion her infantry, put on all sorts of caps and
cloaks, and came out into the Mail, where the air was
as still as in her own room. There she revelled in the
thousand strange phantoms which were conjured up
by the moon's light. Black monks and white. White
nuns and grey. Black men erect beside the trees.
Little men crouching under them. Robed priests in
the background. She apologises humbly for the indis-
cretion ; it was a mark of respect she could not help
paying to the moon. In the daytime, always attended
by one or more of her lacqueys, probably in brilliant
liveries, she spent hours among the groves sacred to
her daughter. One alley was known as ' L'humeur de
ma fille ' ; another which corresjjonded to it was
' L'humeur de ma mere.' Here she read and re-read
her treasured letters, and traced with happy tears the
mottoes which mother and daughter had together carved
upon the trees. As for one blessed tree, which once
had saved Madame de Grignan's life, she was tempted
to build a chapel over it : everything brought incense
to the shrine. Her devotion to her daughter was her
one and only passion. Well might she cry, ' ces
meres ' ; but there were few like her.
It would have grieved her if she could have known that posterity would find her son far more attractive than her daughter. He had his mother's sunny nature, her charming playfulness, her unselfishness, an unselfishness which is the complete unconsciousness of self. M. de Sevigne was not only tres-joli-gargon, but most tender in his attentions to his mother ; a most affectionate son while he was with her. ' The best company in the world,' Madame de Sevigne would say, ' et ses lettres sont d'une maniere que si on les trouve jamais dans ma cassette, on croira qu'elles sont du plus honnete homme de mon temps.' This is just what we say now. He was the most gallant gentleman of his time — for this is the seven- teenth centuiy mean- ing of the term : in his youth too fashionable in his vices, but respect- able after marriage, and in the end rf«'o/. Mother and son were in perfect sympathy. The good Princess wondered that there was no touch of the maternal in their
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intercourse. At one time Madame de Sevigne was expecting a visit from her son, but for three weeks she had heard nothing of him, and was growing anxious, when one day, as she was wandering as usual in the Park, at the end of the Mail she saw le Fraler (which was one of her names for him). He threw himself on both knees as soon as he saw her, "^se sentant si coupable d'avoir ete trois semaines nuns tcrrc u chanter matins ' (this is not a very exact description of his occupation) ; he thought he could address her in no other way. ' I had determined,' his mother adds, ' to scold him, but I did not know where to find my anger, I was so glad to see him. You know how amusing he is. He kissed me a thousand times. He made the worst excuses in the world, which I took for good ones, and now we chat together, we read together, we walk together.' And when, after thirty years of splendid health, the mother had to pay the price of her indiscretions, of her faith in the Jolie cldmere that she was immortal, when she was seized with an acute attack of rheumatism — her first attempt at illness, so she says, but a masterpiece — her son waited on her, pitied her, amused her, wrote her letters to Madame de Grignan at her dictation, so long as the poor swollen hand refused its office, and never left her till she was well enough to be carried in a chair through the Park. After that, no more wanderings by moon- light for poor Madame de Sevigne. She felt herself a