‘Nobody has ever dared to speak to me in such terms. I hope it will be the last time, unless you are inclined to fight me before young de Guerchy makes his appearance....’ Then warming up amorously—‘it would be a fearful blow to my feelings to have to fight the one I love best, to confront him who calls himself my deliverer, and this deliverer would never think of fighting his little _dragonne_, however redoubtable she may be in her uniform.... I repeat to you what Rosina is made to say in your “Barber of Seville”—“You are made to be loved....” Such contrasts in an irritable disposition, which, in spite of me, exists in me and is precisely that of my mother and sister, will no doubt provide material to such a philosopher as yourself, for a thousand reflections on the unintelligible character of women. Attribute everything to our hysterics and weaknesses. _Quid levius fumo? Flamen. Quid flamine? Ventus. Quid vento? Mulier. Quid muliere? Nihil...._’ Beaumarchais reminded Mademoiselle D’Eon, in his reply to this interminable composition so full of recriminations, of his ceaseless efforts in her behalf to obtain advantageous concessions from the King—he called her to a sense of her duty, and allowed her eight days to express her regret at what she had written. He bitterly reproached her for allowing that she had not given up the whole of the King’s papers, since she had signed a declaration to that effect. Confiding in her good faith, which, however, had proved bad, he had given the deed for a life-annuity of 12,000 livres, paid 128,000 livres in liquidation of her debts, and supplied her with the safe-conduct.... ‘Far from placing to the King’s account the 120,000 livres I have so foolishly handed over, I must acknowledge my culpable excess of confidence, and as a matter of course reimburse his Majesty, unless I avail myself of your situation. This I shall be able to do by means of the very service I have rendered to you, in causing a precarious pension to be converted into a bond that is now absolutely your private property. This beneficial change having freed you from dependence on ministers, places you, as are all investors in this kingdom, in dependence on the law and its tribunals. I shall forbid the payment of dividends, and with your notes and Lord Ferrers’ receipt in hand, shall enter an action against you and claim the repayment of 120,000 livres disbursed on your account—this, or the entire observance of the terms of our Covenant. You will thus learn, to your cost, whether my acts are of weight in France....’ Again a few passages from D’Eon’s lengthy rejoinders, also dated at Staunton Harold, and we close, for a time at least, the ill-humoured correspondence of two royal secret agents, who were simply practising towards each other _ruse contre ruse_.