Secret means were found for letting Marie Louise know why her countrywoman did not respond to the invitation; but a few days afterwards Mme. Villars went to the Retiro, doubtless by appointment, to pay her respects to the Queen-Mother Mariana. She found her everything that was kind and amiable. ‘Have you seen my daughter-in-law yet?’ the Queen-Mother asked. ‘She is so anxious to see you, and will receive you when you like: to-morrow if you wish.’ This was a great victory over the Duchess of Terranova, for Marie Louise had seen not a soul but the inhabitants of the Retiro since she entered it. Only two days before the Marchioness of Balbeses, the late ambassadress in France, who, though an Italian, was married to a Spanish grandee, had gone to the apartment of the Mistress of the Robes to beg an audience of the Queen. The latter, hearing her friend’s voice, had run into the room from her own adjoining chamber; but the moment the scandalised Duchess of Terranova caught sight of her she seized her roughly by the arm and pushed her into her own apartment again. ‘These manners,’ says Mme. Villars in recounting the incident, ‘are not so extraordinary here as they would be anywhere else.’[299] The French ambassadress lost no time in availing herself of the Queen-Mother’s hint; and on the following day went to the Retiro. The account of her visit to the Queen may best be told in her own racy words: ‘I entered by the apartment of the Mistress of the Robes, who received me with all sorts of civility. She took me through some little passages to a gallery, where I expected to see only the Queen, but, to my great surprise, I found myself before the whole royal family. The King was seated in a great arm-chair, and the two Queens on cushions. The Mistress of the Robes kept hold of my hand, telling me as we advanced how many courtesies I had to make, and that I must begin with the King. She brought me up so close to his Majesty’s chair that I did not know what she wished me to do. For my part, I thought nothing more was required of me than a low courtesy; and, without vanity, I may remark that he did not return it, though he seemed not sorry to see me. When I told M. de Villars about it afterwards, he said no doubt the Mistress of the Robes expected me to kiss the King’s hand. I thought so myself, but I felt no inclination to do so.... There I was then, in the midst of these three Majesties. The Queen-Mother, as on the previous day, said many agreeable things, and the young Queen seemed very much pleased to see me, though I did my best that she should show it in a discreet way. The King has a little Flemish dwarf who understands and speaks French very well, and he helped the conversation considerably. They brought one of the young ladies in a farthingale, that I might examine the machine.[300] The King had me asked what I thought of it, and I replied, through the dwarf, that I did not believe it was ever invented for a human form.