Note 299 — BOOK V I MARIE LOUISE OF ORLEANS

Writing of this period, Mme. D’Aulnoy, who professes to have been in Madrid at the time, says that the Marchioness de la Fuente told her that: ‘the Queen had been much upset at the roughness of the Mistress of the Robes, who, seeing that her Majesty’s hair did not lie flat on the forehead, spat into her hand and approached for the purpose of sticking the straying lock down with saliva. The Queen resented this warmly, and rubbed hard with her pocket handkerchief upon the spot where this old woman had so dirtily wetted her forehead.... It is really quite pitiable the way this old Mistress of the Robes treats the Queen. I know for a fact that she will not allow her to have a single hair curled, and forbids her to go near a window or speak to a soul.’—‘Voyage d’Espagne.’