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I never came so near loving Miss Burney as when one day, in walking with Her Majesty's little dogs, Badine and Phillis, in the Park, she broke out into feelings warmly expressed of her sense of what the Queen's conduct had been during the scenes of agony we had witnessed. For once she forgot herself nobly, and I shall never forget her countenance as she paused and said:
I wanted to play Camille in On ne badine pas avec l'amour: the role was given to Croizette. I wanted to play Celimene: that role was Croizette's. Perrin was very partial to Croizette. He admired her, and as she was very ambitious, she was most thoughtful and docile, which charmed the authoritative old man.
" Et quel dessin, monsieur? 'Beetles and frogs, in green. 'Escargots! grenouilles! he cries, with a shriek; 'Et pour Monsieur Selwyn! Monsieur Fox badine! It came yesterday, by Crawford, and I sent it to Chesterfield Street in time for George to wear to the Duchess's. He has been twice to Piccadilly after me, and twice here, and swears he will have my heart.
Her malicious cousin, Bussy-Rabutin, who was piqued by her indifference, and basely wished to avenge himself, said that her "warmth was in her intellect;" that for a woman of quality she was too badine, too economical, too keenly alive to her own interests; that she made too much account of a few trifling words from the queen, and was too evidently flattered when the king danced with her.
The damsel replied by a pretty grimace. "Marguerite!" said Mme. de Maufant, with a little frown, "on ne badine pas avec l'amour. Or do you love another perhaps? Ah! malheureuse; art thou still thinking of ce beau guilliard, how did they call him? M. Elliot, I think, the King's page? I hear that he is returned with the King; and oh, Marguerite! "I swear to you Rose, I know nothing of M. Elliot "
" Et quel dessin, monsieur? 'Beetles and frogs, in green. 'Escargots! grenouilles! he cries, with a shriek; 'Et pour Monsieur Selwyn! Monsieur Fox badine! It came yesterday, by Crawford, and I sent it to Chesterfield Street in time for George to wear to the Duchess's. He has been twice to Piccadilly after me, and twice here, and swears he will have my heart.
Not yet; the Glass-coachman still waits. Alas! and the false Chambermaid has warned Gouvion that she thinks the Royal Family will fly this very night; and Gouvion, distrusting his own glazed eyes, has sent express for Lafayette; and Lafayette's Carriage, flaring with lights, rolls this moment through the inner arch of the Carrousel, where a Lady shaded in broad gypsy-hat, and leaning on the arm of a servant, also of the Runner or Courier sort, stands aside to let it pass, and has even the whim to touch a spoke of it with her badine, light little magic rod which she calls badine, such as the Beautiful then wore.
All these "fors" and "againsts" had kindled the curiosity of the public, and the general sympathy was strongly in favour of the unconscious cause of the great modern mystery. The notice, announcing the first appearance of Esperance Darbois in On ne badine pas avec l'amour drew an enormous crowd. The house was entirely sold out several days in advance.
"Leur badinage," says Montesquieu, "naturellement fait pour las toilettes, semble etre provenu a former le caractere general de la nation. On badine au conseil, on badine a la tête d'une armee, on badine avec un ambassadeur."
She worked hard on Musset's On ne badine pas avec l'amour; then busied herself with preparations for her friend's marriage. She did not know that the Duke was to be a witness. "But," she would often object, "you must have two witnesses, and you have only one." "I have two," said Genevieve, "but you must guess the name of the second."
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