But Louise de Condé, who at first had given herself up entirely to the joy of meeting with a kindred soul, recoiled suddenly on finding that this friendship was on both sides fast approaching passionate love. At a period of history when princely personages rarely denied themselves anything that attracted their fancy, it is remarkable to find a Princess who held such a high moral standard, and this also at a time when Madame du Barry was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of France. The Princess went so far as to force herself to give up this friendship, because she became aware that her sentiments towards the poet were after all not wholly platonic, and that she, as a Princess of the Blood, could not marry him. It is characteristic of the customs of the period that Louis Joseph looked very indulgently upon his daughter's friendship, and even proposed to secure for the Marquis de Gervaisais means for leaving his regiment at Saumur in order to come to Paris and thus be able to meet the Princess more freely. It was the lady herself who could not be induced to do aught that might bring a stain upon her name; and she wrote a most touching letter of farewell to Gervaisais, imploring him not to answer it, nor to try to meet her again, requests which his unbounded love for her induced him to accede to. The festivities given in honour of the Russian Grand Duke were the last of the entertainments held at Chantilly; for, although the Princesse Louise in the absence of the Duchesse de Bourbon made a charming hostess, the separation of her brother from his wife, who had returned to her own family, cast an inevitable gloom over Chantilly. The young heir, the Duc d'Enghien, however, became warmly attached to his aunt, who acted as a mother to him. He was highly gifted and very proud of his famous ancestor, the Grand Condé. On taking his seat in the Parlement at the early age of sixteen he made a most able speech; whereupon the President remarked that never before had three members of the Condé family honoured the House of Peers at the same time. This, alas! was not for long; for we now approach that fateful year 1789, and the horrors of the French Revolution.