This want of honor in the Chevalier, whose security left with the Lord Ferrers had been proved of comparatively little value, dispensed Beaumarchais, so he considered, from the necessity of acquitting the full debt contracted by d’Eon. This was afterwards most bitterly reproached to him by the Chevalier. In a letter to Lord Ferrers, Beaumarchais wrote: “I have lived too long and know mankind too well to count upon the gratitude of anyone, or to feel the least annoyance when I see those fail whom I have the most obliged.” (From a letter dated Jan. 8, 1776, to Lord Ferrers,—Gaillardet.) The note of 13,933 pounds sterling first addressed to M. de Vergennes had since been increased by 8,223 pounds sterling, of which d’Eon demanded the payment. Beaumarchais, however, true to the interest of the King and his minister, to their great satisfaction, terminated the transaction for a little less than 5,000 pounds sterling. From the determined refusal of Beaumarchais to increase the sum arose the wild fury of d’Eon, who saw his last hope escape him. His invectives against Beaumarchais, his abuse, all had their origin here. “I assured this demoiselle,” wrote Beaumarchais to Vergennes, “that if she was prudent, modest and silent, and if she conducted herself well, I would render so good an account of her to the minister of the King, and even to His Majesty, that I hoped to obtain for her new advantages. I did this the more willingly because I had still in my possession nearly 41,000 francs, from which I expected to recompense every act of submission and of sobriety on her part, by acts of generosity approved successively by the King and by you, Monsieur le Comte, but only as favors, and not as acquittals. It was in this way that I hoped still to dominate and bring into subjection this fiery and deceitful creature.” Early in December, Beaumarchais appeared in Versailles with his famous chest, containing at last the entire mass of papers, the negotiation of which had occupied the minister of Louis XVI since the time of the latter’s accession to the throne. Overjoyed at the successful termination of the affair, the King and his minister testified their satisfaction with warmth. [Illustration: CHARLES DE BEAUMONT dit Mademoiselle le Chevalier D’Eon 1728-1810] A very honorable discharge was given their agent with a certificate which terminated thus: “I declare that the King has been very well satisfied with the zeal which he has shown on this occasion, as well as with the intelligence and dexterity with which he has acquitted himself of the commission which his Majesty has confided to him. The King has therefore ordered me to deliver the present attestation to serve him at all times and in all places where it may be necessary. “Made at Versailles, the 18th of December, 1775. “Signed: Gravier de Vergennes.”