Joseph II. and His Court Part 115

The queen bit her rosy lips. "Well, then, madame," said she, "I will receive Bertin in my own cabinet. I presume there can be no objections to that; and, if there were, I should certainly not heed them."

"The duty of my office, nevertheless, obliges me to remark to your--"

"There is no office at this court which justifies any one in a direct disobedience of the queen's orders. Go, then, madame, and order that Bertin be sent to me in an hour."

"Oh!" murmured Marie Antoinette, as the mistress of ceremonies slowly retreated, "that woman's sole delight in life is to irritate and annoy me!"

An hour later, Mademoiselle Bertin made her appearance before the queen.

Four royal lackeys followed her, laden with band-boxes.

"Mademoiselle," said the queen, "have you brought me the latest fas.h.i.+ons?"

"No, your majesty," replied Bertin, reverentially, "I bring the materials wherewith to fill your majesty's orders."

"Were you not told to bring your samples of fas.h.i.+ons?" asked Marie Antoinette, with surprise.

"Your majesty, there are no new fas.h.i.+ons," said Bertin. "Your majesty's word is necessary to create them. A queen does not follow the fas.h.i.+on, it follows her."

"Ah! you intend that I shall invent now fas.h.i.+ons?"

"Yes, your majesty. The Queen of France cannot stoop to wear that which has already been worn by others."

"You are right," said the queen, pleased by the flattery of the shrewd modiste." Make haste, and show me your goods, that I may begin at once to set the fas.h.i.+ons to the court. It will be quite an amus.e.m.e.nt to invent new modes of dress."

Mademoiselle Bertin smiled, and, opening her boxes, exhibited her goods.

There were the beautiful silken fabrics of Lyons; the s.h.i.+mmering white satin, besprinkled with bouquets that rivalled nature; there were heavy, s.h.i.+ning velvets, heightened by embroidery of gold and silver; laces, from Alencon and Valenciennes, whose web was as delicate as though elfin fingers, had spun the threads; muslins, from India, so fine that they could only he woven in water; c.r.a.pes, from China, with the softness of satin and the sheen of velvet; there were graceful ostrich-plumes from Africa, and flowers from Paris, so wondrous in their beauty that nothing was wanting to their perfection save perfume.

Marie Antoinette flitted from one treasure to another; her white hands at one moment deriving new beauty from the dark velvets upon which they rested; at another, looking lovelier than ever, as they toyed with the transparent laces. There was nothing queenly about her now. She was merely a charming woman, anxious to outs.h.i.+ne all other women in the eyes of one man.

When Mademoiselle Berlin took her leave, the queen gave her orders to return to the palace daily. "One thing I shall exact of you, mademoiselle, you shall disclose the secret of my toilet for the day to n.o.body; and the fas.h.i.+ons shall be made public at the end of one week."

Mademoiselle Bertin, with a solemnity befitting the importance of her office, swore that henceforth the hands which had been honored by carrying out the ideas of a queen, should never work for lesser mortals; that her dresses should be made with closed doors, and that she would rather be led to execution than betray to a living soul the mysteries of her royal patroness's toilet. [Footnote: Mademoiselle Bertin, from that day, became an important personage, and received many a rich present from n.o.ble ladies anxious to imitate the queen in dress.]

CHAPTER XCIX

THE TEMPLE OF ETIQUETTE.

The hour for the queen's toilet was one of ravishment to Madame de Noailles; for it was a daily glorification of that etiquette which she wors.h.i.+pped, and which Marie Antoinette abhorred. In that hour, its chains were on her hands and feet. She could neither breathe, speak, nor move, but within the narrow limits of its weary exactions.

The queen's toilet, then, was Madame de Noailles' triumph; and she always made her appearance in the dressing-room with an air of supreme satisfaction.

The first lady of honor poured the water into the golden basin, and Marie Antoinette, who at least had the privilege of was.h.i.+ng her own hands, stood patiently waiting until the towel had been pa.s.sed by a lady of the bedchamber to the same lady of honor who had poured out the water. The latter, on one knee, gave the towel, and the queen wiped her hands.

The second act of the royal toilet began at the solemn moment when the queen changed her richly-embroidered night-chemise for the simpler one she wore during the day. This changing of garments was a sublime ceremonial, not only in the queen's dressing-room, but also in that of the king. At the king's great levee, none but a prince of the blood had the right to reach him his s.h.i.+rt. At the lesser levee, the n.o.bleman whom the king wished to honor, was called upon to fill this high office; and the enviable mortal, thus honored, remained near the king's person for the whole day; was ent.i.tled to dine at the royal table, and had a seat in the king's hunting-wagon.

Now, at the toilet of the queen, the ceremonial was different; and, as in all such matters, more onerous for the woman than for the man. The honor of presenting the chemise, devolved upon the lady present whose rank was the highest.

On the particular day to which we allude, it was the privilege of Madame de Noailles. Marie Antoinette had allowed her night-dress to slip from her shoulders, and stood, bare to the waist, awaiting the pleasure of her mistress of ceremonies. She crossed her beautiful arms, and bent her head in readiness to receive the chemise, which the lady of the bedchamber was in the act of pa.s.sing to Madame de Noailles.

At this moment there was a knock at the door, and the d.u.c.h.ess of Orleans entered the room. A triumphant smile lit up the face of Madame Etiquette, for now the ceremony would be prolonged. It was no longer her duty, it was that of the d.u.c.h.ess, to wait upon the queen. But the proud Countess de Noailles could not condescend to pa.s.s the garment to the d.u.c.h.ess. That was the duty of the aforesaid lady of the bedchamber. The mistress of ceremonies motioned her to approach, and the d.u.c.h.ess began to draw off her gloves.

Meanwhile, Marie Antoinette, with folded arms, stood beautiful as one of Dian's nymphs, but very uncomfortable in her beauty; for she was beginning to grow chilly, and her teeth chattered. At last the preparations were made, and the d.u.c.h.ess advanced with the coveted garment.

Suddenly she stopped, and stood perfectly still. She had heard the voice of "Madame," the Countess of Provence; and it would have been an unpardonable sin for the d.u.c.h.ess of Orleans to deprive a princess of the blood, of handing the chemise to the queen.

The door opened, and the sister-in-law of Marie Antoinette came in. The d.u.c.h.ess retreated--Madame de Noailles approached slowly and relieved her of the chemise, and with unflinching deliberation, again gave it into the hands of the lady of the bedchamber.

And there stood the queen, s.h.i.+vering and waiting. Scarlet with shame and anger, though trembling from head to foot, she murmured resentful words against her tormentors. The princess saw it all, and hastened to her relief. Without stopping to remove her gloves, she took the chemise, and advancing, in great haste, to throw it over the queen's head, she struck against her high toupet and disarranged the headdress.

"Oh, my dear sister," said the queen, laughing, "my hair will have to be dressed anew."

Madame de Noailles drew down her eyebrows, as she was accustomed to do when irritated by indecorum, and motioned to the second lady of the bedchamber to put on the queen's shoes, The royal toilet now went on more smoothly, and was completed according to form. This done, it became the duty of the victim to pa.s.s into her reception-room, attended by her ladies. Madame de Noailles had opened the door and stood before it like a she-cerberus waiting for her prey to pa.s.s within, when the queen, still laughing at her disordered coiffure, threw herself into a chair before cheval-gla.s.s, and said:

"I hope, madame, that etiquette does not require of the Queen of France to appear before her court with dishevelled hair. If I may be permitted to express a preference in the matter, I would like to have my hair in order."

Madame de Noailles closed the door, and turned stiffly to the first lady of the bedchamber.

"Oh, no," said Marie Antoinette, "I will not trouble my good Madame de Campan today. Did my secretary fetch the hair-dresser from Paris?"

"Yes, your majesty," said a lady in waiting, "the hair-dresser is in the outer room."

"Go and call him, De Campan. And now, ladies," said Marie Antionette to the princesses, "you shall see one of the demi-G.o.ds. Leonard is called in the world of fas.h.i.+on 'le dieu des coiffures.'"

"Leonard!" exclaimed Madame de Noailles. "And has your majesty then forgotten that the queen is not permitted to be waited upon by any but womanly hands?"

"The queen not permitted!" echoed Marie Antoinette, proudly. "We shall see whether the Queen of France asks permission of her subjects to employ a male or female hair dresser!"

The door opened, and the discussion was stopped by the entrance of Madame de Campan with Leonard.

"Now, ladies," continued the queen, "be so good as to await me in the reception-room." As she saw that the prim lips of De Noailles were about to be opened, she added: "The mistress of ceremonies and the ladies of the bedchamber will remain."

Leonard's skilful hands were soon at work, loosening the queen's hair; and it glistened, as it fell, like glimmering gold. He surveyed it with such looks of enthusiasm as a statuary might bestow upon the spotless block of marble, whence he will fas.h.i.+on, ere long, the statue of a G.o.ddess.

Marie Antoinette, from the mirror, saw his complacent face, and smiled.

"What style do you intend to adopt for me?" asked she.

"The coiffure a la Marie Antoinette," said Leonard.

"I have never seen it."

Here Leonard sank the subject, and became the artiste. His head went proudly back with a look of conscious power.

"Your majesty must not think me so barren of invention that I should deck the head of my queen with a coiffure that has been seen before by mortal eyes."

"Then you are about to invent a coiffure?"