[Sidenote: CLAIMS UPON THE STATE.] It was not in D’Eon’s nature to receive this prevaricating statement with composure. He was not sufficiently cool-headed to make a perfectly good courtier. Smarting under insult and what he considered undeserved injury, he relieved his agitated mind in emphatic language such as this:— ‘London, September 25, 1763. ‘I received, the day before yesterday, the private letter you did me the honour to write to me on the 17th inst.; I can only look upon it as a Testament _ab irato_.[117] _The point whence I started_, when very young, was my native town, Tonnerre, where I have a small property and a house fully six times larger than that occupied in London by the Duke de Nivernois. _The point whence I started_, in 1756, was the Hôtel d’Ons-en-Bray, Rue de Bourbon, Faubourg St. Germain. I am the friend of the owner of that mansion, and I left him, against his will, to make three journeys to Russia and to other Courts in Europe, to join the army, to come to England, to bring four or five treaties to Versailles, not as a courier, but as a man who had contributed to the framing of them. I have frequently travelled although sick to death, and upon one occasion with a broken leg; nevertheless, I am prepared to return to _the point whence I started_, if such be my fate. I can only certify, as a geometrician, that all points proceed from and should meet in a common centre. _The points whence I started_ are those of being a gentleman, a soldier, and a secretary of embassy; all so many _points_ which naturally lead to becoming a minister at foreign courts. The first gives a claim, the second strengthens consciousness and endues with the necessary firmness for such a post, but the third is the school for it. I acquitted myself so creditably in the latter, according to your own judgment, Monsieur le Duc, as to merit reward.... But whatever may have been _the point whence I started_, the King, my master, having chosen me to represent him, I should have forgotten everything, and kept in sight only the _point_ I have reached. This is my rule of right, and you will remind me of it if I forget it.... I venture to assure you, that you were good enough to promise that you would again inquire into the matter of my first journey to Russia, and that you should do me justice.... At Vienna you told me that were you minister I should very soon be paid ... you repeated your promise the last time I had the honour of dining with you at Versailles ... the Duchess was present.... I reminded you that I had been paying interest for nearly nine[118] years on 10,000 livres borrowed for my first Muscovite journey. The Duchess’ heart was touched, and she said to you: “Really you should see that poor M. D’Eon, who has