“At last I have your answer, the one I have been waiting for impatiently to determine my movements; but I am none the wiser. All I can make out is that you do not want me to come for a few days. At any other time I should have been very angry, but now I am as indifferent as you. You seem to be very phlegmatic about all I do, and I assure you I am equally so as regards yourself. I am rather glad to be in this mood, for otherwise I should have been hurt about the _fête_ you gave last night to La Platen and other ladies. Stubenfol gave a full account of it at the dinner table. ‘Everybody was delighted. No party could have gone off better; everything showed forethought and gallantry.’ I am not surprised you surpassed yourself, the ladies were well worth the trouble, and when a host is inspired by such charming guests he must needs succeed to perfection. It is easy for me to follow your advice. I feel quite content to stay here as long as it pleases you. Many thanks for all the news you tell me. I am not jealous of La Platen because she has had a letter from the Prince. I am delighted to see so fine a union. I also send no end of good wishes for the continuation of your pleasures; I should be quite distressed to interrupt them by my presence. I don’t know how you expect me to reconcile the eagerness you pretend to show concerning my movements with the indifference you display by your conduct. If you had even a little consideration for me you would not behave as you do. Continual pleasure-parties take place. But I am wrong to complain or to find fault with _your_ behaviour; it is _my_ conduct, forsooth, that is open to criticism! I go, you say, every day to the comedy; the gallants whisper in my ear; they caress me in the box! Is it to fill up your paper that you tell such falsehoods? There is not a word of truth in them. Since I have been here they have played a comedy only twice, and each time I have been in my father’s box alone with him. I am always considering your wishes: I am ashamed of it, for I carry consideration much further than you deserve. But I have said enough on the subject; it is so unpleasant that I am very glad to end it.