He therefore sent, on May 13, 1774, a memorandum to Louis XVI., in which he informed him of the various negotiations of the secret correspondence, and also of the places where the late King might have concealed his papers and letters, but which showed above all his anxiety to clear himself and to explain the part he had played personally. A fortnight later he wrote again to the King; but this time it was chiefly d’Eon’s conduct which he strove to explain and justify. In defending d’Eon, the Comte de Broglie was serving his own ends, and the very terms of his letter prove that he was aware of that fatal joint responsibility. “I conceive it to be possible,” he wrote, “that your Majesty has heard him unfavourably spoken of, and that you will therefore be astonished to find him included among the number of those persons honoured with the confidence of the late King.” He admitted that d’Eon’s excessive hastiness had given rise to “unseemly incidents,” but did not conceal the fact that the Chevalier was first provoked by the Comte de Guerchy’s want of tact. He concluded: “This curious person (since the Sieur d’Eon is a woman) is, even more than most others, a mixture of good and bad qualities, and he carries both to extremes.” The Comte de Broglie therefore urged upon the King that it would be wise to continue to pay to Mademoiselle d’Eon the pension conferred upon the Chevalier by Louis XV. For himself he asked more, and intimated that he would not deliver the secret papers until he should have been able to justify himself completely before a special commission. Louis XVI., who had bethought himself for a moment of continuing the secret policy of his predecessor, soon abandoned this project under the influence of Marie Antoinette herself, urged by her mother. His immediate care then was to pay off the staff of the secret service. In order to put an end to the Comte de Broglie’s claims, he gave him an opportunity of justifying his conduct before three commissioners—De Muy, Vergennes and Sartine—who did justice unreservedly to the discretion, penetration and ability which Louis XV.’s secret minister had shown during the course of extremely delicate negotiations. Such striking testimony might satisfy the count’s conscience, but it did not restore him to royal favour. Louis XVI. obstinately refused to confer a peerage, or even the least reward, upon his grandfather’s faithful and unfortunate servant. He confined himself to settling the pensions of the subordinate agents, henceforward deprived of all employment by the abolition of the secret service. [Illustration: THE CHEVALIER D’EON _From an Engraving published in 1810_]