Order of Saint Louis

The constitutional guards, six thousand strong, disbanded but ready to fly to arms at the first call.

Seven or eight thousand knights of the Order of Saint Louis, whose red ribbon was the rallying token.

Three battalions of Switzers, sixteen hundred men, picked soldiers unshaken as the old Helvetic rocks.

Better than all, Lafayette had written, Persist, sire, fortified with the authority the National Assembly has delegated to you, you will find all good citizens on your side.

London in winter is coal smoke and river fog and the smell of roasting coffee.

The Treaty of Paris is signed in February seventeen sixty-three, and for her part in it, on the thirtieth of March, d'Eon receives the Cross of St. Louis.

From that day, she is a knight of France, a chevalier.

The cross is white enamel on a red ribbon.

Hair dressed high and powdered white.

Hands softened with cream.

On the 23rd of November 1777, after a toilette that takes most of the afternoon, Mademoiselle d'Eon is presented at the court of Versailles in a wide court gown and the Cross of St. Louis pinned over her heart.

The courtiers are not kind.