‘In consequence of his Majesty’s commands signified to Monin, he has been doubly diligent in devising means for recovering the papers his Majesty desires to possess. The glimmers of hope he has sometimes entertained, warranted as they were by a certain air of confidence and openness of heart on the part of M. D’Eon, have vanished, and all those means to which the ambassador has had recourse have proved unavailing. Monin has restricted himself to seeking to discover where the papers are kept or concealed. M. D’Eon has admitted to having deposited them in different places without naming them, but of one fact Monin is certain, and it is this. Previous to M. de Guerchy’s departure for England, M. D’Eon lodged a box, containing papers, with M. Tercier, where he, Monin, saw it; and so soon as he had learnt of M. D’Eon’s recall, he deemed it his duty, as a faithful and zealous subject, to recommend to M. Tercier that he should obtain his Majesty’s instructions as to its contents. I have no doubt [_sic_] that M. Tercier, who considered the recommendation as expedient and important, has acted accordingly; this portion of his Majesty’s secrets should therefore be in his hands.’[151] We have been obliged to reproduce, almost at length, the communications received by the King from de Guerchy, because they show how successfully D’Eon was keeping at bay, or misleading all those, whose hands he considered were lifted against him. ‘I have at last received a letter from M. de Guerchy with Monin’s memorandum enclosed, which I send to you,’ wrote Louis XV. to Tercier; and then the King betrays his uneasiness and restless anxiety for the safety of his papers, and yet his objection to having them in his own possession or anywhere about him, fearing perhaps a repetition of the scene in the month of June. ‘Take care of the Sieur de la Rosière, or rather of his papers, for it is known that he is here, and if he were visited all might be discovered.’[152] De Guerchy’s next step was to submit to Lord Halifax, so far as the wording was concerned, and with the desire that it should be inserted in the official newspaper, a paragraph to the effect that the Chevalier was to be excluded, in the future, from the British Court.[153] His request was complied with, and an exact translation of the notice, under date of the ambassador’s letter, appeared in an early number of the _Gazette_:— ‘St. James’, December 6.