Duke de Praslin, who passed them on to Madame de Pompadour. She resolved upon verifying them, and employed every effort to ascertain the truth; but neither the woman’s cunning, nor the caresses of the mistress, nor the stratagems of ministers, were able to wrench the secret from the King, and de Pompadour determined upon resorting to other measures. She had noticed that Louis XV. habitually carried about him the small golden key of an elegant piece of furniture, a sort of escritoire, in his private apartments. Never could the favourite succeed, even in moments of her greatest influence, in obtaining access to this piece of furniture. It was a kind of sanctuary, a holy ark, the refuge, as if a place of exile, of the sovereign’s wishes. Louis XV. no longer reigned except over this escritoire. He remained king of this article of furniture only; it was the sole portion of his states wherein he had not allowed the courtesan to trespass and defile; the only jewel of his crown he had not laid at her feet. “It contains State papers!” This was his reply to her frequent questions, his laconic and decisive refusal to all her solicitations. Now those were no other papers than the Count de Broglio’s and my own correspondence. The Marquise was mistrustful. Besides, it was enough that access to the escritoire should be forbidden to make her the more anxious to get at the inside of it. To her policy and hatred was united the feeling of curiosity; forbidden fruit has irresistible charms to a woman. This is a fact since the beginning of the world, and will be to the end.’[109] [Sidenote: THE MARQUISE’S CURIOSITY SATISFIED.] After relating de Pompadour’s act for satisfying her cupidity, the Chevalier continues:—