Without quitting Versailles, without sacrificing her easy chair, she fulfilled the duties of religion with punctuality, gave to the poor all she possessed, and strictly observed Lent and the fasts.

The table of Mesdames acquired a reputation for dishes of abstinence, spread abroad by the assiduous parasites at that of their maitre d'hotel.

Madame Victoire was not indifferent to good living, but she had the most religious scruples respecting dishes of which it was allowable to partake at penitential times.

I saw her one day exceedingly tormented by her doubts about a water-fowl, which was often served up to her during Lent.

The question to be determined was, whether it was 'maigre' or 'gras'.