While traveling incognito through France using the pseudonym Count of the North, Grand Duke Paul, who later would become Tsar Paul I, was served at an inn by a young and intelligent young lady. The Grand Duke’s wife asked the girl: “What’s your name, my dear?”
“Madame, my name is Jeanne, but people call me Javotte (chatterbox) because they think I talk too much.
“Ah! So you like to talk! Don’t you want to talk with us a little?”
“I’m delighted to, if it pleases you.”
“Don’t you feel shy?”—asked the Grand Duke.
“Not at all; I know you’re a great prince, as rich as any king, but your features are filled with goodness, and I would have no more fear of you than I have of the lieutenants of the Royal-Lorraine.”
“Very well, Javotte! Since you have a good impression of me, let me ask: Is there is anything I can do for you?”
“Oh, Sir…I don’t know…
“Think of something.”
Then, smiling in a most charming way, the young lady said:
“Oh yes, I do, but…”
“Can I help you with it?”
“If it pleases you…yes, it is exactly that.”
“I think I’m understanding, so please answer me in all frankness: You are engaged and wish to marry, right?”
“Yes, Sir. That is the truth.”
“What is your fiancé called?”
“Bastien Raulé. At your service, Sir.”
The Ale-House Door by Henry Singleton
“What is his trade?”
“He’s a stone cutter, Sir. It’s a good job, but very tiring and it leaves him covered with dust.”
“And why don’t the two of you marry?”
“That’s the great difficulty, Sir. We don’t have enough money. He’s not rich and my wages are only ten scuti a year.”
“So that’s the only reason why you don’t marry?”
“That’s all, Sir. He wants very much to marry, and so do I.”
“And is he handsome?”
“Ah, I can assure you he is. When he is washed and well dressed, he’s more handsome than any official in Royal-Lorraine.”
“And how much are you lacking to be able to marry?”
“Oh, a lot of money, Sir. More than you can help with right now.”
“And how much would that be?”
“We still need…one hundred scuti, Sir.”
Wanting to give his spouse the pleasure of generosity, the Grand Duke made a discreet signal. The Grand Duchess said: “Come here, Javotte. Hold out your apron, nicely stretched.”
The girl having obeyed, the princess opened her purse and placed one hundred gold scuti in the apron. The young lady’s joy and astonishment were so great, she exclaimed: “My God! Is this all a dream?”
Without bothering with the coins, which fell to the floor, she knelt down and with tears in her eyes kissed the hem of the Grand Duchess’ dress. The next day, with her fiancé wearing his finest, she presented him to the royal couple, expressing her most sincere and moving gratitude.
detail from a painting by Quentin Massys
Edmond Guérard, Dictionnaire encyclopédique d’anecdotes (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1872), Vol. I, p. 148. (Nobility.org translation.)
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 77
