I have sent you the general details, very likely not all true, but that he has run off is most certain. To me, he has married her, or means to do so; the very height and front of his offending hath this extent, no more. To this information Mrs Stanhope added:-- What a scandal! In addition to what Anne has said, I must add what we have heard since. Before Mlle. D'Avaray went away, she went into Mile, de Contibonne's room, from which she made her way down the back stairs. They wondered she did not return, and when they looked for her, the bird was flown. I believe he was in the street waiting for her. It was certainly a bold step for a French girl, as the eloping, or as they call it being _enlevée_, is considered as everything that is shocking! I say you will give him away when they are married in England. VERSAILLES, _March 3rd, 1819._ Shakerley returned Thursday, was married at the Ambassador's Friday. The Duke of Gloucester [16] gave the Lady away & has taken Shakerley with him to England, & she is gone to her friends, as she cannot be married by the rights of the Church till the dispensation arrives, which it cannot do for 21 days. Therefore he is lost and she is not-- what would you say to that? Report says her friends had fixed on another person whose name I forget, and that the Hotel was ready. You will probably see him and hear the truth. Two days before the date of this letter, John Stanhope had encountered the delinquent in London. On March 1st, 1819, his diary records:-- It rained very hard. Met Shakerley in Bond Street. He had just arrived from Paris. After having in vain attempted to get the Duc D'Avaray's consent to marrying his granddaughter, he eloped with her. He had previously got a passport under Lord B.'s name and sent his carriage off on the road to Brussels. He got another under his own name, and on the road to Calais he took up Mlle. D'Avaray. His cabriolet drove most furiously to the place where Lord B's carriage and four horses were waiting, thence going off at full speed. The whole of Paris went after them, but by taking the only road where there was no telegraph, they completely outwitted the police. At last one of his pursuers found him on the other side of the frontiers and conveyed to them the intelligence that the Due would forgive them and consent to their marriage at the Ambassador's chapel. Immediately after, Shakerley started for England in order to procure his father's consent, as that was necessary for their marriage according to the rites of the Catholic Church. On March 30th, 1819, Mrs Stanhope adds the final word with regard to this episode:--