"'I give a formal undertaking to that effect,' cried M. de Montbel, with deep emotion. I Madame, how great is the gratitude that we owe you and how happy I shall be, if I can have contributed a little towards a reconciliation for which I long with all my soul!' "I proposed to M. de Montbel himself to draw up, then and there, the rough draft of a letter to the Cardinal Vicar, which would then be copied out and signed by Madame and by Count Lucchesi. A few moments were enough to prepare this draft, which was approved of. "It was arranged that the letter should be written during the day, and Madame invited us to meet again there at noon the next day; she added that M. de Montbel could then, set out for Rome and that she herself would leave Florence two days later to go to Bologna, where M. de Montbel would join her again. "The next day, as arranged, we met, at the appointed time, at the Poggio Imperiale. Her Highness received us with an air of contentment which I, for my part, had not yet seen her display. "'I have,' she said, 'done all that you asked. I hope that they will be pleased at last.' "At the same time, she showed us her letter to the Cardinal Vicar; this letter agreed exactly with the copy as given by M. de Montbel. Madame's signature and Count Lucchesi's were at foot, and the signatures had been witnessed by the Grand-duke of Tuscany and his minister, Fossombroni[458]. M. de Montbel set out the same evening for Rome, and I left Florence two days later. "At a stage at Viterbo, I met M. de Montbel, who had already fulfilled his mission; he had stayed only half a day in Rome. He had seen no one but the Cardinal Vicar, who, after taking the Pope's instructions, had hastened not only to give him a declaration in writing of Madame la Duchesse de Berry's marriage to Count Lucchesi, but had shown him the deed itself, which was perfectly regular. M. de Montbel had decided to travel without stopping and was convinced of the definite success of his mission." APPENDIX II UNPUBLISHED FRAGMENTS OF THE _MÉMOIRES D'OUTRE-TOMBE_[459] MAINTENON, _September_ 1836. I resume my pen at the Château de Maintenon, through whose gardens I stroll by the autumnal light: _peregrinæ gentis amænum hospitium._