The week has been so busy, so full of events, that I hardly have had the will to write of it. Maman and Mattieu are with me now, having just arrived. It has been a pleasant reunion thus far, in part because she has not yet seen the amount I have lost at cards of late. Several days ago I won quite a lot, but then lost most of it, and only two nights ago I lost again, which means I have now lost more than I gained originally. It is a treacherous past time.
I have been to the opera, and found it as delightful as I remembered, though a great deal more German seems to be performed, and no one doubts but that it is the Queen's influence. I have visited Versailles informally, but have yet to make a more formal appearance.
I have been obliged to hold a lever every morning, and do not expect that to cease, as I have been overwhelmed by the number and types of people who attend each day, and I doubt I truly even know half of them. I sent out for a new chocolate service, as one young gallante disrupted it yesterday morning and broke a cup. It was somewhat older in any case, and I have requested an oriental pattern for the new set as they are very much in vogue. I have also acquired a new fan which is painted on ivory, to replace the one that broke in Auvergne.
T- writes that he is desolate without me and may visit in two or three weeks. I hope that he will come with good news about his commission, but so far nothing has been heard. He calculates that we have spent 200 days apart, and barely 6 days together all summer. I wonder if that can be entirely true, as it seems to me we had a whole week prior to my departure. Still, I am relieved that he misses me, and I must confess to thinking on him often.
The other day I invited several people to dine with me in the afternoon, afterwhich we played a game in the gardens. One of the gentlemen, G, suggested a game called "Garters", in which the ladies each removed one garter (while the gentlemen retired behind some shrubbery for modesty's sake) and they guessed who it belonged to. I thought it was perhaps a little risque, but did not want to appear prudish. Mine was fourth guessed, but Msr. G guessed Mme. S right away, and she appeared very annoyed. Later I chanced to overhear them in a heated discussion, and saw him return a garter to her. We had received our garters back after the game, so I wondered if it was not the sister to the one from the game, and how he came by it.
I dine with the Comtesse de Boufflers tonight, who keeps a most interesting list of visitors and is very admired in paris. The Prince de Conti was her lover, but since his death she comes to Paris but rarely.
Must go, Paris has been exciting and pleasurable thus far, may it also be helpful to our cause.
Olympe, Comtesse
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