The Fortunate Mistress (Parts 1 and 2)

by Daniel Defoe

chargeable with, namely, I craved nothing ofhim, I never asked him for anything in my life, nor suffered myself tobe made use of, as is too much the custom of mistresses, to ask favoursfor others. His bounty always prevented me in the first, and my strictconcealing myself in the last, which was no less to my convenience thanhis.

  The only favour I ever asked of him was for his gentleman, who he hadall along entrusted with the secret of our affair, and who had once somuch offended him by some omissions in his duty that he found it veryhard to make his peace. He came and laid his case before my woman Amy,and begged her to speak to me to intercede for him, which I did, and onmy account he was received again and pardoned, for which the gratefuldog requited me by getting to bed to his benefactress, Amy, at which Iwas very angry. But Amy generously acknowledged that it was her fault asmuch as his; that she loved the fellow so much that she believed if hehad not asked her she should have asked him. I say, this pacified me,and I only obtained of her that she should not let him know that I knewit.

  I might have interspersed this part of my story with a great manypleasant parts and discourses which happened between my maid Amy and I,but I omit them on account of my own story, which has been soextraordinary. However, I must mention something as to Amy and hergentleman.

  I inquired of Amy upon what terms they came to be so intimate, but Amyseemed backward to explain herself. I did not care to press her upon aquestion of that nature, knowing that she might have answered myquestion with a question, and have said, "Why, how did I and the princecome to be so intimate?" So I left off farther inquiring into it, till,after some time, she told it me all freely of her own accord, which, tocut it short, amounted to no more than this, that, like mistress likemaid, as they had many leisure hours together below, while they waitedrespectively when his lord and I were together above; I say, they couldhardly avoid the usual question one to another, namely, why might notthey do the same thing below that we did above?

  On that account, indeed, as I said above, I could not find in my heartto be angry with Amy. I was, indeed, afraid the girl would have beenwith child too, but that did not happen, and so there was no hurt done;for Amy had been hanselled before, as well as her mistress, and by thesame party too, as you have heard.

  After I was up again, and my child provided with a good nurse, and,withal, winter coming on, it was proper to think of coming to Parisagain, which I did; but as I had now a coach and horses, and someservants to attend me, by my lord's allowance, I took the liberty tohave them come to Paris sometimes, and so to take a tour into the gardenof the Tuileries and the other pleasant places of the city. It happenedone day that my prince (if I may call him so) had a mind to give me somediversion, and to take the air with me; but, that he might do it and notbe publicly known, he comes to me in a coach of the Count de ----, agreat officer of the court, attended by his liveries also; so that, in aword, it was impossible to guess by the equipage who I was or who Ibelonged to; also, that I might be the more effectually concealed, heordered me to be taken up at a mantua-maker's house, where he sometimescame, whether upon other amours or not was no business of mine toinquire. I knew nothing whither he intended to carry me; but when he wasin the coach with me, he told me he had ordered his servants to go tocourt with me, and he would show me some of the _beau monde_. I told himI cared not where I went while I had the honour to have him with me. Sohe carried me to the fine palace of Meudon, where the Dauphin then was,and where he had some particular intimacy with one of the Dauphin'sdomestics, who procured a retreat for me in his lodgings while westayed there, which was three or four days.

  While I was there the king happened to come thither from Versailles, andmaking but a short stay, visited Madame the Dauphiness, who was thenliving. The prince was here incognito, only because of his being withme, and therefore, when he heard that the king was in the gardens, hekept close within the lodgings; but the gentleman in whose lodgings wewere, with his lady and several others, went out to see the king, and Ihad the honour to be asked to go with them.

  After we had seen the king, who did not stay long in the gardens, wewalked up the broad terrace, and crossing the hall towards the greatstaircase, I had a sight which confounded me at once, as I doubt not itwould have done to any woman in the world. The horse guards, or whatthey call there the _gens d'armes_, had, upon some occasion, been eitherupon duty or been reviewed, or something (I did not understand thatpart) was the matter that occasioned their being there, I know not what;but, walking in the guard-chamber, and with his jack-boots on, and thewhole habit of the troop, as it is worn when our horse guards are uponduty, as they call it, at St. James's Park; I say, there, to myinexpressible confusion, I saw Mr. ----, my first husband, the brewer.

  I could not be deceived; I passed so near him that I almost brushed himwith my clothes, and looked him full in the face, but having my fanbefore my face, so that he could not know me. However, I knew himperfectly well, and I heard him speak, which was a second way of knowinghim. Besides being, you may be sure, astonished and surprised at such asight, I turned about after I had passed him some steps, and pretendingto ask the lady that was with me some questions, I stood as if I hadviewed the great hall, the outer guard-chamber, and some things; but Idid it to take a full view of his dress, that I might farther informmyself.

  While I stood thus amusing the lady that was with me with questions, hewalked, talking with another man of the same cloth, back again, just byme; and to my particular satisfaction, or dissatisfaction--take it whichway you will--I heard him speak English, the other being, it seems, anEnglishman.

  I then asked the lady some other questions. "Pray, madam," says I, "whatare these troopers here? Are they the king's guards?" "No," says she;"they are the _gens d'armes_; a small detachment of them, I suppose,attended the king to-day, but they are not his Majesty's ordinaryguard." Another lady that was with her said, "No, madam, it seems thatis not the case, for I heard them saying the _gens d'armes_ were hereto-day by special order, some of them being to march towards the Rhine,and these attend for orders; but they go back to-morrow to Orleans,where they are expected."

  This satisfied me in part, but I found means after this to inquire whoseparticular troop it was that the gentlemen that were here belonged to;and with that I heard they would all be at Paris the week after.

  Two days after this we returned for Paris, when I took occasion to speakto my lord, that I heard the _gens d'armes_ were to be in the city thenext week, and that I should be charmed with seeing them march if theycame in a body. He was so obliging in such things that I need but justname a thing of that kind and it was done; so he ordered his gentleman(I should now call him Amy's gentleman) to get me a place in a certainhouse, where I might see them march.

  As he did not appear with me on this occasion, so I had the liberty oftaking my woman Amy with me, and stood where we were very wellaccommodated for the observation which I was to make. I told Amy what Ihad seen, and she was as forward to make the discovery as I was to haveher, and almost as much surprised at the thing itself. In a word, the_gens d'armes_ entered the city, as was expected, and made a mostglorious show indeed, being new clothed and armed, and being to havetheir standards blessed by the Archbishop of Paris. On this occasionthey indeed looked very gay; and as they marched very leisurely, I hadtime to take as critical a view and make as nice a search among them asI pleased. Here, in a particular rank, eminent for one monstrous-sizedman on the right; here, I say, I saw my gentleman again, and a veryhandsome, jolly fellow he was, as any in the troop, though not somonstrous large as that great one I speak of, who, it seems, was,however, a gentleman of a good family in Gascony, and was called thegiant of Gascony.

  It was a kind of a good fortune to us, among the other circumstances ofit, that something caused the troops to halt in their march a littlebefore that particular rank came right against that window which I stoodin, so that then we had occasion to take our full view of him at a smalldistance, and so as not to doubt of his being the same person.

  Amy,
who thought she might, on many accounts, venture with more safetyto be particular than I could, asked her gentleman how a particular man,who she saw there among the _gens d'armes_, might be inquired after andfound out; she having seen an Englishman riding there which was supposedto be dead in England for several years before she came out of Londonand that his wife had married again. It was a question the gentlemandid not well understand how to answer; but another person that stood bytold her, if she would tell him the gentleman's name, he would endeavourto find him out for her, and asked jestingly if he was her lover. Amyput that off with a laugh, but still continued her inquiry, and in sucha manner as the gentleman easily perceived she was in earnest; so heleft bantering, and asked her in what part of the troop he rode. Shefoolishly told him his name, which she should not have done; andpointing to the cornet that troop carried, which was not