Parisians in the Country

for dinner. Mitouflet was an old soldier, guilelessly crafty, like the peasantry of the Loire; he never laughed at

" said Gaudissart, leaning against the door-po

mean?" ask

rough-shod on politic

tion," said the landlord innocently, expectorating

etic fellow na

uccession at his guest which we

. He knows too much for other folk

oroughly comprehends the abs

r, "and for my part, I a

! What do

flet. "But he is not dangerous; his wife takes care of him. Have you been

unny! Then your Monsieur Vern

send you

es

eur Vernier didn't take it into his head to

each other, my dear, good Monsieur

e two cask

ou buy

es

; he thinks he sells his

"then I'll go straight to Mon

the ex-dyer, whom he found in his salon, laughing with a c

under pain of being thought a turn-key,-a species of being far below a galley-slave,-you will give me satisfaction for the

epared as he went along, as a tragedian m

a set of fools who have neither house nor home, nor sous nor sense? Why should we put up with a rascal who comes here and wants us to feather his nest by subscribing to a newspaper which preaches a new religion whose first doctrine is, if you please, that we are not to inherit from our fathers and mother

say; but I have been insulted, Mo

ve you satisfaction, because there is neither rhyme nor reason nor satisfacti

stening crowd rushed between them, so that the illustrious traveller only contrived t

leil d'Or until to-morrow morning, and you will find me ready to sho

red the dyer; "and what is more, you sh

is life the prince of travellers did not dine jovially. The whole town of Vouvray was put in a ferment about the "affair" between Monsieur Ve

h Monsieur Vernier," said Gaudissart to his land

y," said

let aside. They told him it would be a painful and injurious thing to the whole canton if a violent death were the result of this affair; they

myself," said the

to the traveller's room ca

got there?" a

ur affairs; and perhaps you have letters to write,-we all have beings who are dear to us. Writing doe

, gl

urned with fo

et us see wha

as grenadier of the guard, made sixty-two passes at Gaudissart, pushe

strong," said Gaudis

nier is stron

it, I shall fig

t risk anything. They are SURE to fire wide of the mark, and both parties can retire from the field with honor

WIDE ENOUGH? I should be sorry to kil

" answered Mitou

t beside the bridge of La Cise. The brave Vernier came near

in the air!" cr

ds the enemi

h, but it was a good one for all that. I am sorry I apostr

ptions to the 'Children's Journal

t we all breakfast together? Men who fight are

on his return to the inn, "of course y

at

my good friend Margaritis to

ot got them,"

the payment of an indemnity. I won't have it said

ought thirty francs to the placable traveller, who thereupon considered himself quits with the happiest regi

d the coupe of a diligence, where he met a young man to whom, as they journeyed between Angoule

the young man exclaim

to duels every day. Why, it is not three months since I fought one just there," pointing

DE

s appear in other stori

t, A

Biro

or's Est

shed Provin

m a Courte

ernment

rt in

rm of

ssart

m a Courte

sin

Biro

no

ot, A

Biro

sin

in B

OF THE

ed by Ja

ICA

Comte Ferdina

f the chances of the

elli-should allow t

will still be but a tr

n-you, the Hozier, th

es of Life; you, to

, Blamont-Chauvrys,

, Valois-the hundred

"Human Comedy" owe th

arings. Indeed, "the

de Gramont, gentleman

n which nothing is fo

and I shall preserve

dictine patience. What

rit is to be seen

e sedens, melius a

leonis; in that of t

nce in the thousand

lways show how far acc

ich you, the poet

old f

BAL

the range that gives variety to the Nivernais. The Loire floods the flats at the foot of these slopes, leaving a yellow alluvium that is extremely fertile, excepting in those

oire. At the period when this story begins the suspension bridges at Cosne and at Saint-Thibault were already built. Travelers from Paris to Sancerre by the southern road were no longer ferried across the river from Cosne to Saint-Thibault; and this of itself

ts are more or less steep, and the town is surrounded by slopes known as the

nearly resembling the wines of Burgundy, that the vulgar palate is deceived. So Sancerre finds in the wineshops of Paris the quick market indispensable for liquor that will not keep for more

Some old houses are to be seen there. The citadel, a relic of military power and feudal times, stood one of the most te

even less glorious future, for the course of trade lies on the right bank of the Loire. The sketch here give

e historic town, whence the view on every side is perfectly enchanting, where the air is deliciously pure, the vegetation splendid, and the residents, in harmony with nature, are friendly souls, good fellows, and devoid of Puritanism, though two-thirds of the population are Calvinists. Under such conditi

f practically ruled by seven or eight large landowners, the wire-pullers of the elections, tried to shake off the electoral yoke of a creed which had reduced it to a rotten borough. This little conspiracy, plotted by a handful of men whose vanity was provoked, failed through the jealousy which the elevatio

1830 the nomination of parochial dignitaries has increased so greatl

x femina fasti, but with a view to personal interest. This idea was so widely rooted in this lady's past life, and so en

in Paris were attaining, each in his own line, to the highest degree of glory for one, and of fashion for the other. Etienne Lousteau, a writer in reviews, signed his name to contributions to a p

n charming. Still, Sandism has its good side, in that the woman attacked by it bases her assumption of superiority on feelings scorned; she is a blue-stocking of sentiment; and she is rather less of a bore, love to some extent neutralizing literature

ge, or, if you will, the suburb of Saint-Satur. The La Baudrayes of the present day have, as is frequently the case, thrust themselves in, a

ry must

ne of the strong-holds of Calvinism, the King gave said Milaud a good appointment in the "Waters and Forests," granted him arms and the title of Sire (or Lord) de la Baudraye, with the fief of the old and

s son a cornet's commission in the Musketeers. This officer perished at Fontenoy, leaving a child, to whom King Louis XVI. sub

as a hanger-on to the Duc de Nivernais, and fancied himself obliged to follow the nobility into exile; but he t

nity and imaginary pride, quite intelligible in a sheriff's grandson, though under the consulate his prospects were but slender

n marry at the first stage of premature old age, and thus bring degeneracy into the highest circles of society. During the years of the emigration Madame de la Baudraye, a girl of no fortune, chosen for her noble birth, had pat

cks bearing his coat-of-arms, a thousand louis-d'or-in 1802 a considerable sum of money-and certain receipts for claims on very dis

hich Fontenelle preached as the religion of the invalid; and, above all, to the air of Sancerre and the influenc

debts; but after Napoleon's death he tried to turn his father's collection of autographs into money, though not understanding the deep philosophy which had thus mixed up I O U's and copies of verses. But the winegrow

postponed the step; however, finding himself still above ground in 1823, at the age of forty-three, a length of years which no doctor, astrologer, or midwife would have dared to promise him, he hoped to earn the reward

ion-had set up as highly respectable cloth merchants. But in the reign of Louis XVI., Abraham Piedefer fell into difficulties, and at his death in 1786 left his two children in extreme poverty. One of them, Tobie Piedefer, went out to the Indies, leaving the pittance they had inherited to his elder brother. During the Revolution Moise Piedefer bought up the nationalized land, pulled down abbeys and churches with all the zeal of his ance

d by-and-by to play a greater part in the world than a mere plebeian, the daughter of a mother who was dependent on the settlement of Piedefer's estate. Dinah, having raised herself for the moment above her companions, now aimed at remaining on a level with them for the rest of her life.

who was reputed to be the cleverest of Mademoiselle Chamarolles' pupils and who, at the somewhat theatrical ceremonial of prize-giving, always took a leading part. A thousand crowns a year, which was as much as she could ho

rst chien coiffe, as they say in Le Berry. And if the Cardinal was delighted to receive Monsieur de la Baudraye, Monsieur de la Baudraye was even better pleased to receive a wife from the hands of the Cardinal. The little gentleman only demanded of His Eminence a formal promise to support his claims with the President of the

ed in the Sancerre district by the news of

torney-General's deputy at Nevers, say to Monsieur de Clagny as they were looking at the turrets of La Baudraye, 'That will be mine some day.'-'But,' sa

e cutlery trade that the present representative of that branch had been brought up

upied Monsieur de la Baudraye, by briefly relating the results of his negotiations in Paris. This will also throw light on certain mysterious phen

audraye determined on going to Paris at the time when the Cardin

principal debtor threatened by Monsieur

Ministry, who was an expert in "winding up" business. This elegant personage, who stepped out of an elegant cab, and was dressed in the most elegant style, was

laud de la Baudraye t

e man, draping himsel

lamented Madame de la Baudraye, the emissary considered the man, the dressing-gown, and the little stove on which the mi

, audaciously, "that you dine for forty

y, w

re. You know that you recover scarcely ten per cent on debts from these fine gentlemen. I would not give you five per ce

he bills?" said La Baudraye,

am Monsieur des Lupeaulx, Master of Appeals, Secretary-Genera

is t

, you know the posit

y deb

the face of a very strong force of the third estate. The King's idea-and France does him scant justice-is to create a peerage as a national institution analogous to the English peerage. To realize this grand idea we need years-and millions.-Noblesse oblige. The Duc de N

nsi

annot pay in money. Well, then; you, a clever man

my father put down o

al of the forces has a claim on it, but he has no chance of getting it; you have the chance-and no claim. You will get the place. You will hold it for three mon

he wine-grower, tempted by the mo

gratitude to His Excellency by restoring to Monseig

ed by Monsieur Gravier, regarded as one of the most agreeable financiers who had served

Honor. He sold the appointment as Referendary; and then the Baron de la Baudraye called on his last remaining debtors, and reappeared at Sancerre as Master of Appeals, with an appointment as Royal Commissioner to a commercial associat

he air as it came, to use his own expression, he was able to purchase the estate of Anzy on the banks of the Loire, about two leagues above Sancerre, and its magnificent castle built by Philibert de l'Orme, the admiration of every connoisseur, and for five centuries the property of the Uxelles family. At last he was one of the gre

rt of avarice displayed in the sight of the sun, which often leads to ruin by a want of balance between the interest on mortgages and the products of the soil. Those who, from 1802 till 1827, had merely laughed at the little man as they saw him trotting to Saint-Thibau

s mother-in-law, who had been content to accept an annuity of twelve hundred francs on the lands of La

garden, pulling down wine-stores, presses, and shabby outhouses. Behind the manor-house, which, though small, did not lack style with its turrets and gables, she laid out a second garden wit

to say nothing as to the recovery of debts in Paris. This dead secrecy as to his money matters gave a touch of mystery to

eputation for superiority, brought up, as she had been, in the capital of Le Berry. Every one was afraid lest in entertaining this phoenix of the Department, the conversation should not be clever enough; and, of course, everybody was constrained in the presence of Madame de la Baudraye, who produced a sort of terror among the woman-folk. As they admired a carpet of Indian shawl-pattern in the La Baudraye drawing-room, a Pompadour writing-table carved and gilt, brocade window curtains, and a Japanese bowl full of flowers on th

adies who visited at La Baudraye were perpetually piqued by Dinah's success in leading the

me de la Baudraye allowed no vacuous small talk in her presence, no old-fashioned compliments, no pointless remarks; she would never endure the yelping of tittle-tattle, the backstairs slander which forms the sta

ration. The sous-prefet, one Vicomte de Chargeboeuf, was delighted to find in Madame de la Baudraye's drawing-room a sort of oasis where there was a truce to provincial life. As to Monsieur de Clagny, the Public Prosecutor, his admiration for the fair Dinah kept him bound to Sancerre. The enthu

who, in consideration of the place he had lost, promised him the Receivership at Sancerre, and then allowed him to pay for the appointment. The frivolous spirit and light tone of the Empire had become ponderous in Monsieur Gravier; he did not, or would not, understand the wide difference between manners under the Restoration and under the Empire. Still, he conceiv

taste, and refinement, and pronounced her a woman of most superior mind. Then the

t everybody made insolent game of the great qualities of the woman who had thus roused the enmity of the ladies of Sancerre. And they ended by denying a superiority-after all, merely comparative!-which empha

long intervals, and for visits of a few minutes, Dinah as

oman to be liked by other

ned by the forlorn fair, only,

nd well educated, you know every book that comes out, you love poetry, you are

Monsieur de

n for a wife are very fortunate--"

r Woman for a wife, a

elf to say such things-"My daughter, who is a very Superior Woman,

Paris-know how true it is that

women-and that was a crime. Not a thing could she do, not her most trifling action, could escape criticism and misrepresentation. After making every sacrifice that a we

my bowl empty than

tticism, readers may be reminded of the Bailli de Ferrette-some, no doubt, having known him-of whom it was said that he was the bravest man in Europe for daring to walk on his legs, and who was accused of putting lead in his shoes to save himself from

he would thank any one who warned him of this little mishap. He wore knee-breeches, black silk stockings, and a white waistcoat till 1824. After his marriage he adopted blue trousers and boots with heels, which made Sancerre declare that he had added two inches to his stature that he might come up to his wife's chin. For ten years he was always seen in the same little bottle-green co

er from books or by assimilating the opinions of her companions, and thus became a sort of mechanical instrument, going off on a round of phrases as soon as some chance remark released the spring. To do her justice, Dinah was choke full of knowledge, and read everything, even medical books, statistics, science, and jurisprudence; for she did not know how to spend her days when she had reviewed her flower-beds and given her orders to the gardener. Gifted with an excellent memory, and the talent which some women have for hitt

e constant ignoring of warnings given by children, such a terror to their parents, or by husbands, so familiar as they are with the peacock airs of their wives? Monsieur de la Baudraye had the frankness of a man who opens an umbrella at the first drop of rain. When his wife was started on the subject of Negro emancipation or the improvement of convict prisons, he would take up his little blue cap and vanish w

as also interested in any treasures that dated from the Renaissance, and employed her allies as so many devoted commission agents. Soon after she was married, she had become possessed of the Rougets' furniture, sold at Issoudun early in 1824. She purchased some very good things at Nivernais and the Haute-Loire. At t

magination of the strangers introduced to her; they came expecting something unusual; and they found their expectations surpassed when, behind a bower of flowers, they saw these catacombs full of old things, piled up as Sommerard used to pile them-that "Old Mortality" of furniture. And then these finds served as so many springs which, turned on by a question, played off an essay on Jean Goujon, Michel Columb, Germain Pilon, Boulle, Van Huysum, and Boucher, the great native painter of Le Ber

Judge talked over the rules of the society with Madame de la Baudraye; he proposed to figure as one of the founders, and to let the house for fifteen years to the literary club. By the time it had existed a year the members were playing dominoes, billiards, and bouillotte, and drinking mull

, and a young Assistant Judge-all blind admirers of Dinah's-there were occasions when, weary of discussion, they allowed themselves an excursion into the domain of agreeable frivolity which constitutes the common basis of worldly conversation. Monsieur Gravier called this "from grave to gay." The Abbe

s dying for his gam

elf very readily to the l

r inspired hostess!" and so he would incite Dinah's

that Dinah never suspected her slaves of escaping to the prison yard, so to speak, o

he flattered himself he could snatch the blossom from the constituted authorities who guarded it, he was so unfortunate as to yawn in the middle of an explanation Dinah was favoring him with-for

ould give up her innocence as a wife till she should have lost all her illusions. In 1826, when she was surrounded by adorers, Dinah completed her twentieth year, and the Abbe Duret kept her in a sort of fervid Catholicism; so he

ust be left to ripen." This was the opin

which Dinah replied in soothing speech as she walked, l

aped the malignity of slander. It was so evident to all Sancerre that no two of these three men would ev

high banks of the vineyards on each side. By way of the Break-neck the distance from Sancerre to La Baudraye is much abridged. The ladies of the place, jealous of the Sappho of Saint-Satur, were wont to walk on the Mall, looking down this Longchamp of the bigwigs, whom they would stop and engage in conversation-sometimes the Sous-prefet and s

any disguise, obtaining a remission of taxes, and gaining two lawsuits. In every litigation he used the Public Prosecutor's name with such good eff

ong themselves of course. They all had suspicions of a mystery, a secret such as always interests women who have had some experience of life. And, in fact, at La Baudraye one of those slow and monotonous conjugal tragedies was being played out which would have remained for ever unknown if the merciless sc

brilliant career. Frail as Monsieur de la Baudraye might seem, he was really an unhoped-for good match for Mademoiselle Dinah Piedefer. But what was the hidden motive of t

n or eight thousand francs required by Dinah for improvements in the house, enabling her to buy the furniture at the Rougets' sale at Issoudun, and to redecorate her rooms in various styles-Mediaeval, Louis XIV.

she played the sweetest of the comedies of which Eve invented the secret; but the little man put it plainly to his wife that he gave her two hundred francs a month for her personal expenses,

ch in relation to the nature of our property. A winegrower is never sure of what his expenses may be-the making, the duty, the casks-while the returns depend on a scorching day or a sudden frost. Small owners, like us, whose income is far from being fixed, must base their estimates on their minimum, f

changeling by the scorn a courtesan sometimes shows to her "protector," and which acts on him with the certainty of the screw of a winepress, Monsieur de la Baudraye gazed at his wife with fixed eyes, like those of a cat which, in the midst of domestic broils, waits till a blow is threatened before stirring from its place. The strange, speechless uneasiness that was perceptible under his mut

o seeing Monsieur de la Baudraye's name drawn from the electoral urn; for she supposed him to be ambitious, after seeing him return thrice from Paris, each time a step higher on the social ladder. But when she struck on the man's heart, it was as though she had tapped on marble! The man who had been Receiver-General and Referendary, who was now Master of Appeals, Officer of the Legion of Honor, and Royal Commi

the estate of Anzy. Then the little old man showed an impulsion of pride and glee which for a few months changed the current of his wife's ideas;

shall be a c

edley is commoner than people think. Dinah, who was ridiculous from the perversity of her cleverness, had really great qualities of soul, but circumstances did not bring these rarer powers to light, while a provincial life debased the s

and the financier's wife, the ambassadress and the consul's wife, the wife of the minister who is a minister, and of him who is no longer a minister; then there is t

two broad zones-Paris, and the provinces. The provinces jealous of Paris; Paris never thinking of the provinces but to demand money. Of

all is over, it falls into decay. How should it be otherwise? From their earliest years girls bred in the country see none but provincials; they cannot imagine anything superior, their choice lies among mediocrities; provincial fathers marry their daughters to provincial sons; crossing the races is never thought of, and the brain inevitably degenerates, so that in many country towns intellect i

andy, a youth who wears gloves and is supposed to ride well; but she knows at the bottom of her soul that her fancy is in pursuit of the commonplace, more or less well dressed. Dinah was preserved from this danger by the idea impressed upon her of her own superiority. Even if she had not been as carefully guarded in her early married life as she was by her mother, whose presence never weighed upon her till the day when she wanted to be rid of it, her pride, and her high sense of her own destinies, would have protected her. Flattered as she was to find herself surrounded by admirers, she saw no lover among them. No man here realized the poetica

prefecture and left the district. To Monsieur de Clagny's great satisfaction, the new Sous-prefet was a married man whose wife made friends with Dinah. The lawyer had now no rival to fear but Monsieur Gravier. Now Monsieur Gravier was the typical man of forty of whom women make use while they laugh at him, whose hopes they intentionally and remorselessly e

me manly resolution; but she was kept in leading strings by the need for money. And so, slowly and in spite of the ambitious protests and grievous recriminations of her own mind, she underwent the provincial metamorphosis here described. Each day took with it a fragment of her spirited determination. She had laid down a rule for the care of her person, which she gradua

Parisian woman's hips are too narrow or too full, her inventive wit and the desire to please help to find some heroic remedy; if she has some defect, some ugly spot, or small disfigurement, she is capable of making it an adornment; this is often seen; but the provincial woman-never! If her waist is too short and her figure ill balanced, well, she makes up her mind to the worst, and her adorers-or they do not adore her-must take her as she is, while the Parisian always insists on being taken for what she is not. Hence the preposterous

ception is dulled. If, like Madame de la Baudraye, she loses her color, it is scarcely noticed; or, again, if she flushes a little, that is intelligible and interesting. A little neglect is thought charming, and her face is so carefu

gait, and movement; these soon lose the briskness which Paris constantly keeps alive. The provincial is used to walk and move in a world devoid of accident or change, there is nothing to be avoided; so in Paris she walks on as raw recruit

ce, the manner, the attitudes, the very countenance of others. In six years Dinah had sunk to the pitch of the society she lived in. As she acquired Monsieur de Clagny's ideas she assumed his tone of voice; she unconsciousl

en they may appear to advantage; while Madame de la Baudraye, accustomed to take the stage, acquired an indefinable theatrical and domin

magined them to be added graces, a moment of terrible awakening came upon her like the f

Sancerre with her school-friend. This meeting was strangely disastrous. Anna, who at school had been far less handsome than Dinah, now, as Baronne de Fontaine, was a thousand times handsomer than the Baronne de la Baudraye, in spite of her fatigue and her traveling dress. Anna stepped out of an elegant traveling chaise loaded with Paris milliners' boxes, and she

oiselle Chamarolles' school, showed her provincial friend such kindness, such attentions, while giving her certain explanations, as were

audraye, by this time two-and-twen

?" asked Monsieur de Clag

rned to live, while I have

ney matters and her successive transformations-a drama to which no one but Monsieur de Clagny and the Abbe Duret e

one of the two instances in these Studies of violation of the laws of narrative; for to give a just idea of the unconfessed struggle wh

comte de Chargeboeuf, Dinah took the worthy Abbe's advice to exhale her

s or elegies over those whom they have lost. Pain is

, was published in the Echo du Morvan, a review which for eighteen months maintained its existence in spite of provincial indifference. Some knowing persons at Nevers declared that Jan Diaz was making fun of th

egan with

knew the fr

e sky, of g

noons, its

s of the nor

heav'n, of

would pres

e there of

ho live in t

to music l

ids, from ev

ly on the m

hoes, on d

ld be the f

ancers' rom

oo hideous

r cheeks all c

e mud in hob

dismal f

girls, and in

; the murky

nce the slend

he storm

eous, noisy,

later, inspired so many imitations of Juvenal; a contrast drawn between the life of a manufacturing town and the careless life of Sp

d for Paquita's horror

ee, had been h

kies are blue an

en, the sovere

ers at

Toreadors ha

the prize

ose red lips of

for touch

quote here the hundred lines of description. To judge of the lengths to which audacity had carried Dinah, it will be enough to give the conclusion.

fire Every man would ha

e's feast, in h

but taken

her love and carried her away to his hearth and home. She did not weep for her Andalusia, the Soldier was her

aptain of Artillery, who, in the delirium of passion expressed with feeling worthy of Byron, exacted from Pa

is a woman, an

are false to

paign was over; she stood writhing at the window bars as she watched happy couples go by; she suppressed her pas

, but still her

ast her soldi

beauty ever f

ot loved

ssia, chilled to the very marrow, met his

n, which was worked out with such vigor and bo

means, as it would be difficult to find in Rouen men impassioned enough to place Paquita in a suitable setting of luxury and splendor. This horrible realism, emphasized by gloomy poetic feeling, had inspired some passages such as modern poetry is too f

is faded, sh

it was w

knew the fra

sky, of golde

larmed the woman who found herself admired by three departments, under the black cloak of the anonymous. While she fully enjoyed the intoxicating delights of success, Dinah dreaded the malignity of provincial society, wher

e Duret. "You will cease to b

To remove any evil impression, in case any unforeseen chance should betray her name

perish, and met in the forest of Faye. And then there stood between them, under an oak, a priest whose aspect in the morning sun was so commanding that the fo

perior to Paquita la Sevil

ack into her den of La Baudraye, her daily squabbles with her husband, and her little circle, where everybody's character, intentions, and remarks were too well known not to have become a bore. Though she found reli

omage to minor feminine talent. Thus there arose in France a vast number of tenth Muses, young girls or young wives tempted from a silent life by the bait of glory. Very strange doctrines were proclaimed as to the part women sho

e a little notice of the author, too early snatched from the world of letters, which was amusing to those who were in the secret, but which even then had

natives of the province, who, it is said, knew the dreamy, melancholy boy, and his precocious bent towards poetry. An elegy called Tristesse (Melancholy), written at school; the two poems Paquita la Sevillane and Le Chene de la Messe; three sonnets, a description of the Cathedral and the House of Jacques Coeur at Bourges, with a tale called Carola, publish

each department. This average of tender and poetic souls in three departments of France is enough to revive the ent

of the work. Twenty copies forwarded to the Paris papers were swamped in the editors' offices. Nathan was taken in as well as several of his fellow-countr

remember Jan Diaz, waited for information from Sancerre, a

rges a poem was praised which, at any other time, would certainly have been hooted. The provincial public-like every French public

disappointed ambitions. Poetry and dreams of celebrity, which had lulled her grief since her meeting with Anna Grossetete, no longer sufficed to exhaust the activity of her morbid heart. The Abbe Duret, who had talked of the world when the voice of religion was imp

at the man could hate; but women are not ready to believe in such force in weak natures, and hatred is too constan

He does not hate. Hatred is a vice of narrow souls; they feed it with all their meanness, and make it a pretext for sordid tyranny. So beware of offending Monsieur de la Baudraye; he would forgive an inf

audraye, and lauding her under the name of Jan Diaz, "little La Baudraye" felt her glory a mortal blow. He alone knew the se

had so long oppressed them; never had Dinah seeme

pposed, a mere domestic squabble; but when she forced an explanation with her "insect," as Monsieur Gravier called him, she found the cold, hard impassibility of steel. She flew into a passion; she reproached him for her life these eleven years past; she made-intentionally-what wom

desolation in

audraye compose any more ve

son, a youth of two-and-twenty, to pay his humble respects to La Baudraye, and flattered herself that she might see her Gatien in the good graces of this Superior Woman.-The words Superior Woman had superseded the ab

de Clagny, who hated her husband's supposed mistress, "she

d be cheaply purchased so weary was she of her dreary existence, one day Dinah fell into the pit she had sworn to avoid. Seeing Monsieur de Clagny always sacrificing himself, and at last

d in Sancerre to secure the return of Monsieur de Clagny at the next elections.

e orphan wearing the gown of the Keeper of the Seals-figured as an imposing minority of fifty votes. The jealousy of the President de Boirouge, and Monsieur Gravier's hatred, for h

Sancerre, "that I did not succeed in pleasing Madame d

d the indescribable propriety, the lie that society insists on, and which to Dinah was an unendurable yoke. Why did she long to thr

Between those miserable disputes over household matters and the melancholy conviction as to her fate, quite a long time had elapsed. Then, when she had looked for consolation, the consoler, Monsieur de Chargeboeuf had left her. Thus, the overwhelming temptat

il in her duty, that she did not care enough fo

ing which Philibert de Lorme seemed to have planned on purpose for this museum, occupied her for several months, giving her leisure to meditate one

for his talents than for his successes with women; and to attract him to the country, she started the notion that it was obligatory on Sancerre to return one of its great men at the elections. She made Gatien Boirouge write to the great physician Bianchon, whom he claim

Baudraye would thus at last meet really illustrio

ill the holidays. Bianchon, who had won his professor's chair the

ce, and found it absorbed in the unremitting toil of the wine-crop of 1836; there could therefore be no public

and the lines furrowed in his face by over-indulgence in champagne. He ascribed these signs-manual of dissipation to the severities of a literary life, declaring that the Press was murderous; and he gave it to be understood that it consumed superior talents, so as to lend a grace to his exhaustion

an, with a patriarchal air, his hair thick and long, a prominent brow, the frame of a hard worker, and the calm

espair at this, despatched Gatien Boirouge, who had no vineyards, to beg the two gentlemen to spend a few days at the Chateau d'Anzy. For the last year Dinah had played the chatelaine, and spent the

who would produce a great sensation in Paris. Hence the extreme though suppressed astonishment of Doctor Bianchon and the waggish journalist when they beheld, on the garden steps of Anzy, a lady dressed in thin black cashmere with a deep tucker, in effect like a riding-habit cut short, for they quite understood the pretentiousness of such extreme simplicity. Dinah

d put on a deeply serious expression to listen to Madame de la Baudraye, who made them a set speech of thanks for coming to cheer the monotony

me a woman as you, and apparently so superior, should have remai

takes up the pursuit which, according to her character, seems to promise some amusement. Some rush into jam-making and washing, household management, the rural joys of the vintage or the harvest, bottling fruit, embroidering handkerchiefs, the cares of motherhood, the intrigues of a country town. Others torment a much-enduring piano, which, at the end of seven years, sounds like an old kettle, and ends its asthmatic

idden under the stagnant water of provincial life, on the north by propos

we have seen some turn green. When we have reached that point, we try to justify our normal condition; then we turn and rend the terrible passion of Paris with teeth as sharp as rat's teeth. We have Puritan women here, sour enough to tear the laces of Parisian

When we have to endure such misfortunes, it is we

at the mercy of her guests, in anticipation of their sarcasms, Gatien

d I say t

e still in Paris. I shall steal this gem of description;

retorted, "never tru

not?" sai

Parisians, one of whom she would choose to be her conquerer, the snare into which he would fal

are!" cried Dinah, with a coquettish gesture, raising herself above provincial absurdities and Lousteau's irony by her own sarcastic speech. "When a poor little country-bred woman has an eccentric passion for some superior man, some Parisian who has wandered into the provinces, it is to her something mor

gland. In the country, a life under minute observation as keen as an Indian's compels a woman either to keep on the rails or to start aside like a stea

is in a country-bred woman's heart a

you prefer it, all is done! This conduct, which seems odd to unobserving persons, is really very natural. A poet, such as you are, or a philosopher, an observer, like Doctor Bianchon, instead of vilifying the provincial woman an

n Paris," said Lousteau, "were, in

said the lady, giving a signi

e second performance, feeling sure that the

use of all these wo

en a nation is divided into fifty minor states that each can have a physiognomy of its own, and then a woman reflects the glory of the sphere where she reigns. This social phenomenon, I am

ndividuality and native distinction by the formation of a f

r France would have to conquer t

as that by which Paris oppresses France-for which, indeed, French ingenuity will at last find

the advantage over ours of assimilating every form of superiority; it lives in the midst of magnificent parks;

or sixty days only; it gives and takes the passwords of the day, looks in on the legislative cookery, reviews the girls to marry, the carriages to be

pigram, "in Perfidious Albion, as the Constitutionnel has it, you

aye with a smile. "Here is my mother, I will introduce y

e name of Madame Piedefer-a tall, lean personage, with a red face, teeth that were doubtfully gen

to Lousteau, "what d

Sancerre is simply the greatest ch

see you deputy!" cri

an old scamp.-Ask Bianchon; I have no illusions left. I see things as they are. The woma

which was copious, not to say splendid, and the lady took care not to talk too much while it was proceeding. This lack of conv

o would not sacrifice herself for a fool, who in the depths of the country led such a wretched life of struggles, of suppressed rebellion, of unuttered poetry, who to get away from Louste

alypso ne pouvait se consoler du depart d'Ulysse (the first words of Telemaque) written by George Sand, Scribe's famous lines on the Umbrella, a sentence from Charles Nodier, an outline of distance by Jules Dupre, the signature of David d'Angers, and three notes written by Hector Berlioz. Monsieur de Clagny, during a visit to Paris, added a song by Lacenaire-a much coveted autograph, two lines from Fieschi, and an extremely short note

acquired such books, in which they made their friends and acquaintances write more or less absurd quotations or sentiments. You who spend your lives in collecting autographs, simple and happy souls, li

mile by showing him this s

ce dangerous is that i

n for eve

DE CL

lead in favor of the Monarchy," Desplein's great

een Napoleon and a wa

re takes no account o

uality, constantly

BIAN

poor men bring out a farthing.... I do not know," she went on, turning to Louste

to identify than that of the Public Prosecutor whose axiom, written in your album, will designate him as an obscurer Montesquieu. A

e la Baudraye graciously, as she handed him th

than to gratify his own conceit. He was delighted to make them walk over the twelve hundred acres of waste land that he was intending to reclaim, an undertaking

or has not come out with us?" asked

to sit to-day; the minor cases are b

id to me, 'Monsieur Lebas will not join you early, for Mons

countenance. "And Monsieur de l

e in such matters?" s

gine why you trouble your heads so much about e

as to say that newspaper epigrams and the satire of

o great men and Gatien, under the guidance of a k

ur Gravier," said Bianchon, wh

for Monsieur Gravier?-By this time he is running like a hare, in spite of his little round stomach; he

he

asy if Madame de la Baudraye were alone with Monsieur de Clagny? There are two

Baudraye has not yet made u

Seals, he may have hidden his moleskin complexion, his terrible eyes, his touzled mane, his voice like a hoarse crier's, his bony figure, like that of a starveling poet, and have assumed all the charms of Adonis. If Dinah sees

f she is in love with the Public Prosecutor!-Ah! you think

of those six, five set up for the most extravagant virtue, when the handsomest of them all keeps you at an infinite distance by looks as scornful as though she w

you call it in these parts?" s

o have too much good taste to trouble her

let us lay a trap for the Public Prosecutor; we shall be doing our friend Ga

on of destiny," said Hor

by their husbands, killed, murdered under the most terrible circumstances.-Th

; "one or the other must s

overs burned, hewn, pounded, or cut to pieces; of wives boiled, fried, or baked; he takes them to his wife to read, hoping that sheer fear will keep her faithfu

o me far too pious to invite her daughter's lover to the Chateau d'Anzy. Madame de la Baudraye would have t

r husband never 'quits her,' said

stern demeanor; be thorough diplomatists, an easy manner without exaggeration, and watch the faces of the two criminals, you know, without seeming to

Lousteau, who returned the album to t

LE

rse from me, t

eeking world,

to whom

y, purblind, h

what is good

earthly

e pastime of

ect the shad

ings have

dies bright, t

s, and dress, an

of God a

tter jest to

n with life,

a scene

t in sight to

f a mother'

less orp

r has gripped a

o young heart t

ve, the fut

one to weep w

woe, a man wer

I soon

pity! often

me of God. Do

as born

ess him? Or why

ade me handsome

poor an

NE LO

1836, Chat

erses since yesterday?" cried

me; it is only too evident! I would glad

te!" cried Dinah, casti

a too genuine feeling," replied Lou

pity as the woes of genius inspire; and Monsieur de Clagny, who caught her expression, turned in hatred against this sham Jeune Malade (the name of an Elegy written by Millevoye). He sat down to backgammon with the cure of Sancerre. The Presiding Judge's son w

etty basket, madame?" said Lousteau.

is too much display in charity

discreet," said

eau, "in inquiring who the happy mortal may

the case," said Dinah; "it is

de la Baudraye and her work, as if he had s

paper-baskets so charmingly? The colors are red and black, like Robin Goodfellow. If ever I

aid the lady, fixing her fine gray eyes

ove all things with terrible insolence. Yes, for some time past the books you have written,

u condemn them, you must condemn Homer, whose Iliad turns on Helen of Troy; you must condemn Milton's Paradise Lost. Eve and her serpent seem to me a pretty little case of symbolical adultery; you must suppress the Psalms of David, inspired by the highly adulterous love affairs of that Louis XIV. of Judah; you must make a bonfire of Mithridate, le Tartuffe, l'Ecole des Femmes, Phedre,

ould be!" said Mo

e of those cold-drawn jests which consist in defending an opinion in which we have no belief, sim

llegal union. In the opinion of King Herod, and of Pilate as representing the Roman Empire, Joseph's wife figured as an adulteress, since, by her avowal, Joseph was not the father of Jesus. The heathen judge could no more recognize the Immaculate Conception than you yourself would admit the possibility of such a mir

blasphemy," said M

rs, and obliged to defend themselves. Pilate and Anytus in their time were not less logical than the public prosecutors who demanded the heads of the sergeants of La Rochelle; who, at this day, are guillotining the republicans who take up arms against the throne as established by the revolution of July, and the innovators who aim at upsetting society for their o

to come to, monsieu

on is founded in adultery; as we believe that Mahomet is an impostor; that his Koran is an epitome of the Old Tes

e-and there are more than enough, unfortu

id Madame Piedefer, who had been making str

ousteau in an undertone. "Do not talk of religion; y

n many things, and strange things too, know that among the ranks of deceived husbands there are some whose attitude is not d

Lousteau. "I never thought that deceived husbands wer

not suspect her, he trusts her implicitly. But if he is so weak as to trust her, you make game of him; if

oval of the immorality of stories in which the matrimonial compact

e with a convulsive jerk, and da

de la Baudraye. "I should hardly h

tragedy. It was told me-and how delightfully!-by one of our greates

never met Monsieur Nodier, so

, opened negotiations with the rebel chiefs, and took energetic military measures; but, while combining his plans of campaign with the insinuating charm of Italian diplomacy, he als

ns and the leaders of the Royalist party. The envoy was, in fact, arrested on the very day he landed-for he traveled by boat, disguised as a master mariner. However, as a man of

their instructions, which were unfortunately only too minute. In this dilemma the authorities were more ready to risk an arbitrary act than to let a man escape to whose capture the Minister attached great importance. In those days of liberty the agents of the powers in authority care

s reached on all sides by steep and dangerous paths; and, like every ancient castle, its principal gate has a drawbridge over a wide moat. The commandant of this prison, delighted to have charge of a man of family whose manners were most ag

rt. The commandant gave his prisoner the most comfortable room, entertained him at his table, and at first had nothing but praise for the Vendean. This officer was a Corsican and married; his wife was pretty and charming, and he thought her, perhaps, not to be trusted-at any rate, he was as jealous as a Corsican and a r

with excessive severity. Beauvoir was placed in the dungeon, fed on black bread and cold water, and fettered in accordance with the time-honored traditions of the tre

studied the melancholy trade of being prisoner; he became absorbed in himself, and learned the value of air and sunshine; then, at the end of a fortnight, he was attacked by that terrible malady, that fever for liberty, which drives prisoners to those heroic efforts of which the prodigi

ok his head

er began it. The Chevalier was therefore greatly surprised when the man said to him: 'Of course, monsieur, you know your own business when you insist on being always called Monsieur Lebrun, or citizen Lebrun. It is no concern of mine; ascertaining your name is no part of my duty. It is all the same to me whether you call y

and key, did not imagine that his position cou

e Chevalier de Beauvoir, what s

ee, I should be shot out of hand. So I have said that I will do no more in the matter than will just earn the money.-Look here,' said he, taking a small file out of his pocket, 'this is

nice that ran round the top of the tower, betw

take care to saw through the iron l

ugh, never fear,'

a stanchion to fasten a c

s the cord?'

yourself drop gently, and the rest you must manage for yourself. You will probably find a carriage somewhere in the neighborhood, and friends looking out for you. But I know nothing about that.-I need not

t least I shall not rot h

rtheless,' replied the jaile

o was no more than a better sort of peasant. He set to work at once, and had filed the bars through in the course of the day. Fearing a visit from the Governor, he stopped up the breaches with brea

risoners, almost involuntarily, become familiar. He waited till the moment when one of the men-at-arms had spent two-thirds of his watch and gone into his box for shelter from the fog. Then, feeling sure that the chances were at the best for his escape, he let himself down knot by knot, hanging between earth and sky, and clinging to his rope with the strength of a giant. All was well. At the last knot but one, just as he was a

ate, he would wait for the first gleam of day, when it would still not be impossible to escape. His great strength enabled him to climb up again to his window; still, he was almost exhausted by the time he gained the sill, where he crouched

ristic coolness. Then, after a brief meditation on this skilf

us turnkey, arming himself with one of the iron bars he had filed out. The jailer, who returned rather earlier than usual to secure the dead man's leavings, opened the door, whistl

ked his walk, and, thanks to the early hour and the undoubting co

narrative the least allusion that should apply to them. Those in the little plot looked inqu

a better story than

sign from Lousteau, conveying that Bian

o it is not necessary to repeat it here, though it was then new to the inhabitants of the Chateau d'Anzy. And it was told with the same finish of gesture and tone which had won such praise for Bianchon when at Mademoiselle des Touches' supper-party he had told it for the first time. The final picture of the Spanish

raye, "love must be a mighty thing that it can t

n the course of my life," said Gravier, "was cogn

dame de la Baudraye, with coquettish flattery, as she

splendor of the affair, the Spaniards were not very cheerful; their ladies hardly danced at all, and most of the company sat down to cards. The gardens of the Duke's palace were so brilliantly illuminated, that the ladies cou

ench officers were discussing the chances of war, and the not too hopeful outl

Peninsula, I would rather dress the wounds made by our worthy neighbors the Germans. Their weapons do not run quite so deep into the body as these Castilian daggers. Besides, a certain dread of Spain is, with me

trigue, as dark and mysterious as any romance by Lady (Mrs.) Radcliffe. I am apt to attend to my presentiments, and I a

up,' said an old Republican colonel, who cared no

if to make sure who were his audience, and being sa

the Quartermaster-General's, where we had played rather high at bouillotte. Suddenly, at the corner of a narrow high-street, two strangers, or rather, two demons, rushed upon me and flung a large cloak round my head and arms. I yelled out, as yo

nt a messenger for them to your rooms, in your name. You will need them. We are taking you to a house that you may save the honor of a lady who is about to give birth to a child that she wishes to place in this gentleman's keeping without her husband's knowledge. Though monsieur rarely leaves his wife, with whom he is still passionately in love, watching over her with all the

or the speaker's hand, for her arm was

ready to reward you with my own person if you sho

that I was inevitably start

nd from the first to accept all the chances of this strange act of kidnapping, for she kept silence very obligingly, and the coach had not been more than ten minutes on the way when she accepted an

reply to the nonsense I poured into her ear, carried away by the fe

what

e servant I am. If I am to go to you, it must b

good,"

is, when the carriage dre

r eyes," said the maid. "You can le

es the swing which women contrive to give a certain part of their dress that shall be nameless.-'The waiting-woman'-it is the surgeon-major who is speaking," the narrator went on-"'led me along the gravel walks of a large garden, till at a certain spot she stopped. From the louder sound of our footsteps, I concluded that we were close to the house. "Now silence!" said she in a whisper, "and mind what you are about. Do n

impatient growl, as a man

y the girl's light hand removed the bandage. I found myself in a lofty and spacious room, badly lighted by a smoky lamp

n like a harp-string thrown on the fire. The poor creature had made a sort of struts of her legs by setting her feet against a chest of drawers, and with both hands she held on to the bar of a chair, her arms outstretched, with every vein painfully swelled. She might have been a criminal undergoing torture. But she did not

a very sad occasion in my life, that the infant was dead. I turned to the maid in order to tell her this. Instantly the suspicious stranger drew his dagger; but I had time to explain the matter to the woman, who ex

ses of lemonade standing on a table, at the same time shaking her head negatively. I understood that I was not to drink anything in spite of t

hour had succeeded in delivering her of the child, cutting it up to extract it. The Spaniard no longer thought of poisoning me, understanding that I

alone had heard the rustle of the sheets, the creaking of the bed or of the curtain. We all paused, and the lover and th

ng forward like a cat, and laid his long dagger over the two poisoned goblets, leaving me his own, and signing to me to drink what was left. So much was conveye

eans in case of having to fly, a packet of diamonds stuck to paper; these he put into my pocket without my knowing it; and I may add parenthetic

made a bundle of the dead infant and the blood-stained clothes, tying it up tightly, and hiding it under his cloak; he passed his hand over my eyes as if to bid me to see nothing, and signed to me to take hold of t

ention. Having reached the little door, he took my hand and pressed a seal to my lips, set in a ring which I had seen him wearing on a finger of his left hand, and I gave him to understand that this significant sign wo

the road we came by. At dawn I found myself close by my

to suspect who the woman was whom you had a

brown hairs.'-At this instant the rash speaker turned pale. All our eyes, that had been fixed on his, followed his glance, and we saw a Spaniard, whose glittering eyes

chilled me through, my friends. I can hear bells ringing i

. 'Falcon is on the track of the Spaniard who w

ther, seeing the captain r

lieve! As I do not suppose that he is a wizard, I fancy he must belon

said the surgeon,

e was Bega), 'we will sit on watch with you til

en losing at play went home with the surgeon to hi

th a party of friends, when his servant came to say that a young lady wished to speak to him. The surgeon and the three officers went down suspecting mischief. The stranger

hat I call love! No woman on earth but a Spaniard

hat haunted him, he sat down to table again, and with his companion

g the rods. He sat up in bed, in the mechanical trepidation which we all feel on waking with such a start. He saw stand

ds!' But the Spaniard answered his cry of distress

arm of a woman, freshly amputated, and held it out to Bega, pointing to a mole like that he had so rashly described. 'Is it the same?'

information, the lady's husba

t needs their robust faith to swallow it! Can you tell

I nursed poor Bega, who died five days afte

do in exile, who had been about a fortnight in Touraine. He had arrived very late at this ball-his first appearance in society-accompanied by his wife, whose right arm was perfectly motionless. Everybody made way in silence for this couple, whom we all watched with some excitement. Imagine a picture by Murillo come to life. Under black and hollow brows the man's eyes were like a fixed blaze; his fa

the end of the evening, 'what occu

e war of independ

id Madame de la Baudraye. "It st

one there. It turns up every now and then like some of our newspaper hoaxes, fo

ng such a story?" said Monsieur Gravier,

a thing," said the jour

and pieces into real life, as the events of real life are made use of on the stage or adapted to a tale. I have se

e by Benjamin Constant is const

ye, "that such adventures as Monsieur Gravier h

them in romantic details. Indeed, is not this proved by the reports in the Gazette des Tribunaux-the Police news-in my opinion, one of the worst abuses of the Press? This newspaper, which was started o

devotion. When the mission priests went through all the provinces to restore the crosses that had been destroyed and to efface the traces of revolutionary impiety, this widow was one of their most zealous pros

a piece every morning and thrown it into the Loire. Her confessor consulted his superiors, and told her that it would be his duty to inform the public prosecutor. The woman awaited the action of the Law. The public prosecutor and the examining judge, on examining the

sieur,' said she, 'b

me of the woman?" as

d the lawyer; "but her repentance and piety had a

life that the public never lifts?-It seems to me that human justice is ill adapted to judge of crimes as between husb

said Madame de la Baudraye guilelessly, "that the crime would

tory which Clagny had told, left the two Paris

take place in the passages of old country-houses where the b

view during this entertaining evening which had b

vity instead of the most child-like innocence. The Public Prosecutor looks to m

w; who knows what may happen in th

!" cried Mons

of Madame de la Baudraye and of the Public Prosecutor. The ducks that denounced the poet Ibycus are as nothing in comparison with the single hair that these country spies fasten across the opening of a door

ened up the two doors, agreeing to come again at five in the morning to examine the state of the fastenings. Imagine their astonishment and Gatien's d

wax?" asked Mo

same hairs?" a

replied

ied Lousteau. "You have been beati

which were meant to convey, "Is there not something offens

a whisper to Bianchon, "she is worth an effort

hat had for nine years stood out against t

to meet his hostess. And this chance fell out all the more easily because Madame de la

ement; unless you would like to come to La Baudraye, where you may study more of our provincial life than you can see here, for you have made

y and throughout the evening, was enough to betray one of those indiscretions which we never commit in Paris.-What can I say? I do not flatter myself that you will understand me. In fact, I l

stimable magistrate, you would have lost a

wal. Oh, I have fully recognized Monsieur de la Baudraye's similarity to a Parisian bill-discounter; their nature is identical.-At eight-and-twenty, handsome, well cond

them by young men, for I am old before my time. I have no illu

aight to the point and placed himself in a position to force the offer of what women often make a man pray for, for years; witness the hapless Pub

uperior Woman, tried to console the Manfred of the Press by pr

mes late in life. Remember Monsieur de Gentz, who fell in love in his old age with Fanny Ellsle

n. There are in me, I suppose, certain defects which hinder me from being loved, for I have often been thrown o

perior, acted superiority extremely well. Etienne, performing before Dinah, had all the success of a first night. Paquita of Sancerre scented the storms, the atmosphere of Paris. She spent one of the most delightful days of her l

is praise intoxicated Madame de la Baudraye; and Monsieur de Clagny, Monsieur Gravier, and Gatien, all thought her warmer in her manner to Etienne than she had been on the previous day. Dinah's three attaches greatly regretted having all go

al company had made a more or less graceful entry into the huge Anzy drawing-room, which Dinah, warned of the invasion, had lighted up, giving it all the lustre it was capable of by taking the holland covers off the handsome f

rennial caps! The Presidente Boirouge, Bianchon's cousin, exchanged a few words with the doctor, from whom she extracted some "advice

s the English do, and you will get over it, for what you suf

idente, coming back to Madame de Clagny, Madame Po

"that Dinah sent for him, not so much with a view to

le candidate at the ensuing elections. But Bianchon, to the great satisfaction of the new Sous-p

n, thinkers, men whose knowledge is universal, and who are capable of placing themselves on the high leve

younger men, and the elder women stared

kes twenty thousand francs a year by his writings," observed

Public Prosecutor gets

r, "get Monsieur Lousteau to talk a li

aid Mademoiselle Chandier to he

tent le

n't you t

, and saw in the manners of the good townsfolk indi

an I play the

rs, and among them a packet of proof, which the journalist left for Bianchon; for Madame de la Baudr

erature pursue

the stage of 'To be concluded in our next,' so I was obliged to give my address to the printer. Oh, we eat very hard-earn

ame de Clagny asked of Dinah, as one mi

ng stories," said Madame Popinot to

o murmur like an impatient pit, Lousteau observed that Bianchon

it?" aske

sible on some spoiled proof used to wrap yours

g the sheet the doctor held out to

OL

aldo, indig

cowardice,

ut in the op

enture into

m with

alone?" s

eflect, and

e poor wret

one, and h

myself.-Y

ewe

n," said L

be captur

succe

cts me!" s

ng to

e words h

way he met

," said Lousteau, to whom ev

o us," said Gatien to Mad

this inaccuracy, Rinaldo strikes me as a man of spirit, and his appeal to God is quite Italian. There must have been a touch of local color in this romance. Why, what with brigands, and a cavern, and one Lamberti who could foresee future possibilities-there is a whole melodrama in that page. Add to these elements a little intrigue, a peasant maiden with her hair dressed high, short skirts, and a hundred or so of bad coup

proc

AN REV

s of Bracc

Adolphe, wh

the orange

ave suppose

rpose in he

t this mome

d. The soun

audible in

t show th

ad attract

he ballroom

oked more

eyes met h

glow, and

other. Ther

ence, delic

impossible

own on the

had sat in

aliere Pal

arted by this page would make rapid progress in the comprehension of the plot. The Duc

an office, the two creatures nearest to marble in the zoological

a Baudraye hastily interposed, f

doctor went on, "for an Italian woman at th

this Cavaliere Paluzzi-what a man!-The style is weak in these two passages; the aut

show as much indulgence to a man who underwent the ordeal by

east?" asked Madame Gorju t

ck to flight in 1814, straightened herself in her chair like a horseman in his stirrups, and mad

oress to Gatien. "Pray g

d contrived to keep his countenance. He thought it des

AN REV

ed in the s

inal Borbo

the D

was gloomy

th clouds,

ked in hi

aid he, "yo

f you are gu

t, still f

minal or in

easier to d

a dis

our Eminen

" said she.

ill reappea

o prove that

nificent creation in the very name, if at those words dress rustled in the silence you do not feel all the poetr

ressing. I know it all. I am in Rome; I can see the body of a murdered husband whose wife, as bold as she is wicked, h

e young man, but not clever-the sort of man an Italian woman likes. Rinaldo hovers behind the scenes of a plot we do not know, but which must be as full

husband," exclaimed M

g of it all?" Madame Piede

ming!" said Dina

cerre sat with eyes as la

eg," said t

au wen

OL

r ke

you lo

in the

us ha

rdinal have

here

er we have

oked at th

recognized i

o had chan

triumphed;

Like a mode

ess skilful

ing that no

e could requ

constantly

onding page is not here. We must look

OL

ey had be

now be a

t ought y

ast request

his libert

ion

not kn

ut

I took y

t for my

e was

a tail-piece drawn by Normand, and cut by D

aid such of the aud

authorship. To have his book got up, under the Empire, with vignettes engraved on wood, the writer must

cried Bianchon, "the Duchess

nvent a conclusion," sa

d all over with pages printed one above another, all experiments in making up. It would take too long to explain to you all the complications of a making-up sheet; but you may understand that it will sh

onsieur Gravier. "I am vainly trying to connect the Counci

d Monsieur Gravier. "Well! no more have

d Bianchon, hunting on the table

th volume. The letter J, the tenth letter of the alphabet, shows that this is the tenth sheet. And it is perfectly clear to me, that in spite of any publish

AN REV

ut finding

the Duche

get a

me important events have taken place b

es the waste sheet in which the Duchess forgets her gloves in the

no safer r

ith for the

es of the B

t lay hid.

illa sung b

w to the ent

spasian. Th

ckered on t

ith the re

im by natur

oncealed i

suddenly v

ought then

ain like lig

d: He was

wall with

re by exchanging it for another very much like it, is now-on the made-up sheet-in the palace of the Dukes of Bracciano, the story seems to me to be advancing to a conclusion of some kind. I hope it i

dent Boirouge, who was consid

"Rinaldo, who saw no better refu

teau, "for they employed correctors who revised the proofs, a luxury in which our publishers might very well

sked of her neighbor.

said Madame

s not by a council

adame Hadot," r

Charite to do with it?" the

e hostess answered, "was an authoress,

the Emperor's time?" ask

Stael?" cried the Public Prosecutor, p

be s

" said Madame de la

nt on sayin

OL

shriek of d

ly sought a

ng. It was

orrible trut

nstructed t

rposes of t

be opened

d his cheek

rious spot

el the warm

ge. He ha

a crack tha

here was an

ut nothing,

d to be of

rb

ve a hollo

f a hy

d Lousteau, "and here it was already known to the literature of the Empire. It is ev

ts, monsieur," said

erest, the romantic demon, has you by

ed de Clagny,

esiding Judge in a whisper to

me de la Baudraye," repl

ead straight on," sa

istened in

AN REV

an answere

his alarm he

o weak and

It could

y human

ia!" said

from this s

it again,"

n he had r

ce of mind.

discovere

d

re?" asked

ried the b

ds here

Duke of

may be, if

of the Duch

the saints,

e

OL

have to kn

nsieur le Du

the insole

imself to b

you, my fri

ustomed to t

lk straigh

turn to th

y. There,

ch ot

tting out

on, touche

a

g deceived

nd

re touchin

AN REV

a broken s

hat is

he Duke of

e?" asked t

, I have b

hs, standin

wn--But y

o

do, prince

chief of fo

whom the l

ts, whom al

d whom jud

to an ol

raised! I

man woul

reas I am s

rstanding

Duke. "Oh,

OL

you must be

et

simo" (m

happen t

es, pince

me to borro

e Braccian

an

earn a han

y legitimat

nd we may

ting to

ise me, Ec

me, Rinal

g of the c

hat gnaws a

here for t

e Italian-y

AN REV

e! Alas, m

my horribl

othing in

ge that dev

of Braccia

most beauti

ved her we

ealo

her hu

as wrong,

the correct

said

sy was rou

onduct," t

ent proved

hman fell i

d she loved

eir reciproc

from expressing them, it was so scornful! It was observant, but would not communicate its observations to any one, it was so miserly! Nobody but Fouche ever mentioned what he had observed. 'At that time,' to quote the words of one of the most imbecile critics in the Revue des Deux Mondes, 'literature was content with a clear sketch and the simple outline of all antique statues. It did not dance over i

a frost," said M

irs you affect?"[*]

n above is only intend

e; it has no resemblan

"Font chatoy

es morts," dit Mo

s vous donnez de c

imes the dead."-"Ah,

n the insertion of

no meaning

ed Madame de Clagny, pu

ng in the dark," re

ost in an explanatio

and instead of a 'simple outline,' he unveils the human hear

local color-non est. By degrees the reader has demanded style, interest, pathos, and complete information; he insists on the five literary senses-Invention, Style, Thought, Learning, and Feeling. Then some criticism commenting on everything. The critic, incapable of inventing anything but calumny, pronounces every work that proceeds from a not perfect brain to be deformed. Some magicians,

last literary quarr

k to the Duke of Bracciano

company, Lousteau went o

OL

hed to mak

that I migh

rotection o

w. The Duc

ons. We we

s before we

our hands.

other to su

not feel, I

otion, she t

. She was

day; for w

than we men

appy; but

iron cage.

ellowed wit

AN REV

this cella

ess' bedroo

s counterpo

ed me throu

e Duchess in

threw me

y daily

e I lived

om this ma

n reach no

for me. I

d, the Duch

hest end of

am carrie

ar my voice

ife she sh

OL

d prepared

crave it fo

t let me di

d, and

e well to e

reckoned o

lenza, when

men are asl

awa

o, all I po

e will shar

ers; I wou

-even to m

za, procu

olution in

ld be of mo

walk o

AN REV

u will.

e bars of

ur dagger.

quick, quic

but files!-

hrough t

a," said R

filed throu

are a

was at th

cess Villav

e her littl

nk with lo

y of

you

es

OL

ger?" sai

to the

e it

ear the cl

ri

orget me!

o knew wha

a

han my fat

Du

" said Rin

s up!" he a

Duke disap

his father

ns to do f

AN REV

vow never

ma

leave the r

his medita

e Duke, to

pa

list. "Then there are two more blank pages before we come to the word it is suc

CLU

the Duches

e came fro

a goddess,

OL

uptuously r

of cus

eautiful,"

are you,

still l

d more,"

e but a

to love!

o you love

gh

es

n co

n impulse

r it was th

o had remi

, or that s

sion to di

springs and

r

orn off the rest in wrapping up my proofs. But it is

Gatien Boirouge, who was the first to bre

plied Monsi

l of the time of the

eur Gravier, "it is evident that the author knew nothing of It

aughter Mademoiselle Euphemie Gorju, the owner of a fairly good fortune-"What a rhodo

ked up this speech, which, in he

a thousand," said Bianchon, looking at Mademoiselle Gorju, whose fi

alking yesterday of the forms of revenge invented by

ravagant inventions the imagination of women far outdoes that of men; witness Frankenstein by Mrs. Shelley, Leone

ession that gave him a chill, that in spite of the illustrious examples

age, and to whom she shows herself every night in the arms of her lover, will kil

is talking!" said Monsi

ack on her, she has no more finery, and no respect paid her-the two things

!" said Madame de la B

ouse, lighting his candle to g

but his vine-stocks and poles,

ave something!"

o knowingly, and at the same time so bitterly, that the physician could guess the

audraye had detected in Dinah's eyes, when she glanced at the journalist returning the ball of his jests, that swift and luminous flash of tenderness which gilds the gleam of a woman's eye when prudence is cas

verything was against the physician-his frankness, his simplicity, and his profession. And this is why: Women who want to love-and Dinah wanted to love as much as to be loved-have an instinctive aversion for men who are devoted to an absorbing occupation; in spite of superiority, they are all women in the matter of encroachment. Lousteau, a poet and journ

day's work. The first sentence of the aphorism written by Bianchon in her album was a medical observation striking so directly at woman, that Dinah could not fail to be hit by it

n a mass by Bianchon, he pronounced the verdict he had come to as to Madame d

he Public Prosecutor, the Sous-prefet, the Presiding Judge, and his deputy, Lebas, had discovered there-to say nothing of Monsieur de la Baudraye and Dinah-the ladies now gathered round the tea-table, took the matter as a practical joke, and accused the M

er daughter, "Do go and talk to the ladies

accepting the provincial surroundings; and while he had too much imagination to remain unimpressed by the royal splendor of this chateau, the beautiful carvings, and the antique beauty of the rooms, he had also too much experience to overlook the value of the personality which completed this gem of the Renaissance. So by the time the visitors from Sancerre had taken their l

of the house, as she returned to the drawing-room after seeing the President an

ne brought to the conversation his contribution of epigrams on the figure the visitors

o bed-they had an enormous room with two beds in it-"you w

u thin

an whom other women favor-something attractive and fascinating; is it that she prides herself on being longer remembered than all the rest? that

me truth in all those hypotheses. However, if I remain, it will be in consequence of the certif

she will be a rich widow some day or other! And a child would se

id Lousteau, rolling himself up in the bed-clothes, "and to

took her mother and Lousteau, but she intended to drop her mother at La Baudraye, to go on to Cosne with the two Parisians, and return alone with Etienne. She was elegantly dressed, as the journalist at once perceived-bronze kid boots, gray silk stockings, a muslin dress, a green silk scarf with shaded fringe at the ends, and a

hile they, like two simpletons, were left standing at the foot of the steps. Monsieur de la Baudraye, who stood at the top waving his

e escorted them

raye's quiet little mare, came out of the side road

eceiver-General, "the

thirteen years-for I have been married nearly th

He was setting out for the Holy Land, and his friends were remonstrating with him, urging his age, and the p

me Piedefer could n

nsieur de Clagny mounted on my pony

at Sancerre. Bianchon must, of course, have left something behind on his table-the notes f

discussed in theory, a subject allowing lovers in petto to take the measure, as it were, of each other's heart. The journalist took a tone of refined corruption to prove that love obeys no law, that the character of the lovers gives infinite variety to its incidents, that the circumstances of social life add to the m

ey to all the adventures we have t

isians had affected the woman as the most mischievous reading might have done. Lousteau watched the effects of this clever manoeuvre, to s

; and Dinah went on to Cosne alone with the two friends. Lousteau took his seat by the lady, Bianchon riding backwards. The two friends talked affectionately and with deep compassion for the fate of this choice nature so ill understood and in the midst of

pting to that brain-love which often leads to heart-love; and not one of those men, it is very certain, is capable of disguising

ng curiously at the doctor. "Do you

in three years you will be hideous," r

dame de la Baudraye

and to him love is merely a question of hygiene. But he is quite disinterested-it i

ules, a pair of scales or; on a chief azure (color on color) three cross-crosslets argent. For supporters two greyhounds argent, collared az

nd find us," said the Baroness, d

e at so rapid a pace that the journalist had to linger behind. The physici

while everything condemns you to live at Sancerre.-Take a lofty view of life. Make Lousteau your friend; do not ask too much of him; he will come three times a year to spend a few days with you, and you will owe to him your beauty, happiness, and

ed attack, and in the presence of a man who spoke at o

to compete with a journalist's mistresses?-Monsieur Lousteau st

by which she tried to disguise her intentions; for Etienne, who

o be truly loved; and if he alters his course of

at the diligence had come in, and they walked on q

ianchon, before they got into t

, as he pressed it to his heart. What a difference to Dinah! Etienne's arm thrilled her deeply. Bianchon's had not

which shows every crease. This woman, who has chosen me for her lover, will make a fuss over her frock

by an insuperable obstacle, Bianchon, with the help of the coachman, was seeing his luggage pile

en will be coming," he added in an undertone. "

cried Lousteau, shakin

chaise, had recrossed the Loire, they both were unready to speak. In these circ

I love you?" said the

ence was the secret of his audacity. He took Madame de la Baudraye's hand as he sp

a woman who, in spite of her absurdities, has some intelligence, will have reserved the best treasures of her heart for a man who will

hman tur

Monsieur Gat

e, for I have never felt for any woman the pas

ll, perhaps?" said

my honor," said the Parisian, to whom the fatal immac

s journalist had crumpled up Madame de la Baudraye's muslin dr

he exclaimed in d

me," said

Madame de la Baudraye's esteem, Lousteau did his best to hide the tumbled dress

t for half an hour. The papers are on the table of the room Bianchon was in; he

with an imperious glance. And the boy thus comman

man. "Madame is not well-Your mother only will know the

Madame de la Baudraye, swallowing down a few tea

rather than at Lousteau. The journalist put on his most ingratiating tone, and talked till they reached La Baudraye, wher

n or scorn, I will go," said Lousteau, who had

t Madame Piedefer came in

matter? What

at once," said the audacious Par

orse, Madame de la Baudraye fled to

inn," said Gatien to Loustea

the Chateau d'Anzy ei

fool of me," said Gati

rting her. Dinah has played you a trick, and you have given her a laugh; it is more than any of you has done in these thirteen years past. You owe that success to Bianchon, f

se!" sai

ngry flashes at Lousteau. It would have been too rash for Dinah to seem cold or severe to Lousteau in Gatien's pr

ive for you?" said he, walking close beside her.

Madame Piedefer, thus avoiding a reply to the direct ch

de la Baudraye by gently taking her arm, and he and Gatien

gown," said Gatien, b

air off the river," replied Lousteau. "Bi

oppy, and Madame Piedefer

the road to Paris. A no

Baudraye, "he is high-minded

me and how clever you are? For my part, I say boldly, before Gatien, I give up Paris; I mean to stay at Sancerre and swell the number of your cavalieri serventi. I feel s

hrases and ideas of which the meaning, though hidden from Gatien, found a loud response in Dinah's heart, that she raised her eyes to his. This look seemed to crown Lousteau's joy; his wit fl

awn in the middle, and the large vases filled with flowers whic

forgive anything-not even our virtues.-Do you forgive me," he added in Madame de la Baudraye'

spirits, inexhaustibly cheerful; but while thus giving vent to his intoxication, he no

d her mother left the men to wander about the gardens.

a Baudraye, after going out in a

muslin dress caught on a brass nail and wa

ken to the heart by hearing t

Baudraye. Then Gatien was cross-questioned as to the events of the day. Monsieur Gravier and Monsieur de Clagny were dismayed to hear that on the return from Cosne Lousteau had been alone w

surrender of the Muse of Le Berry, of the Nivernais, and of Morvan was the cause of a perfect hue and cry of slander, evil report, and various guesses in which the story of the muslin gown held a prominent place. No

praise she had lavished on the poem of Paquita, and fulminated terrif

he writes about," said she. "Perhaps she

s minister he lost the battle of Toulouse; whenever he is out of the Government he won it! While she was virtuous, Dinah wa

ht to contradict the rumors current as to the woman he still faithfully adored, even in her fall; and he ma

In one month she was an altered woman. She was surprised to find in herself so many inert and dormant qualities, hitherto in abeyance. To her Lousteau seemed an angel; for heart-love, the crowning need of a great nature, had made a new w

nexpected and winning in her than in a girl. Lousteau was quite alive to a form of flattery which in most women is assumed, but which in Dinah was genuin

ute the "movements" of this repertoire through the whole opera of a passion. Lousteau, regarding this adventure with Dinah as a mere temporary connection, was eager to stamp himself on her memory in indelible lines; and during that beautiful October he

self as they returned together from a long walk in the woods,

ts of that enchanting score, and still love ea

is paper required his presence in Paris. Before breakfast, on the day before he was to leave, the journalist

" asked Lousteau. "What is

he little man, leading Lousteau, the lo

ries to the courtyard of the old Louvre, and over which the words may still be seen, "Bibliotheque du Cabinet du Roi." This shield bore the arms of the noble House of Uxelles, namely, Or and gules party pe

f the Uxelles; and as they are repeated six times on the

w, and since 1830

t created

t if you had children

ame de la Baudraye is still

smile; he did not understa

he in Dinah's ear, "wh

theatres, which give ten last performances of a piece that is paying. And how many promises t

osne, with her mother and little La Baudraye. When, ten days later, Madame de la Baudraye saw in her drawing-r

that I discovered that I had

s three worshipers, Monsieur de Clagny only said to her: "I love you, come what may"-and Dinah accepted him as her confidant, lavish

the impression of the happy time he had spent at the

create; and the imitation costs as dear as the reality. So, besides his daily contribution to a newspaper, which was like the stone of Sisyphus, and which came every Monday, crashing down on to the feather of his pen, Etienne worked for three or four literary magazines. Still, do not be alarmed; he put no artistic conscientiousness into his work. Th

boxes at all the theatres; the sale of the books he reviewed or left unreviewed paid for his gloves; and he would say to those authors who published at their own expense, "I have your book always in my hands!" He took toll from vanity in the form of drawings or pictures. Every day had its engagements to di

rs, he had friendships-or rather, habits of fifteen years' standing, and men with whom he supped, and dined, and indulged his wit. He earned from seven to eight hundred francs a month, a sum which he found quite insufficien

undred francs. The months of January, April, July, and October were, as he phrased it, his indigent months. The rent and the porter's account cleaned him out. Lousteau took no fewer hackney cabs, spend a hundred francs in breakfasts all the same, smoked thirty francs' worth of cigars, and could never refuse the

Lousteau would get out of the tideway and sit on the bank, and say to one and another of his intimate allies-Nath

us? White hairs are giv

give as much thought to the matter as we

ne?" retor

ienne, flinging away the end of his

of her heart. Like all those women who get the name in Paris of Lorettes, from the Church of Notre Dame de Lorette, round about which they dwell, she live

luence on Dinah's life. Those to whom the bohemia of Paris is familiar will now understand how it was that, by the end of a fortnight, the journalist, up to his ears in the literary environment,

rre?" asked Bixiou the fi

o for ten years had been dancing round and round one of the hundred 'Tenth Muses' who adorn the Departments," said he. "But they

aid you had gone to Sancerre

e is handsome," retorted Lousteau

A homoeopathic cur

u received a letter with

good!" sai

f it! all at one sitting, and dated midnight! She writes when

ery week, to relieve my mind.'-What a pity to burn it all! it is really well written," said Lousteau to himself,

he heart of a Marquise. This Marquise, a lady nowise coy, sometimes dropped in unexpectedly at his rooms in the eveni

e-eight leaves, sixteen pages! He heard a woman's step; he thought it announced a search from th

dame Schontz, as she came in. "T

h office, setting down two huge hampers in the a

adame Schontz. "It must

me," said

housekeeping, and who can make game pies as well as blots. And, oh! what beautiful flowers!" she went on, opening the second hamper. "Why, you could get none finer in

hich allows the bottom of the heart to be seen between two banks, bright with the trifles of existence, and covered with the flowers of the soul that blossom afresh every day, full of intoxicating beauty-but only for two beings. As

s letters; they lay in a heap in a drawer of his chest th

tch by every hair. In the middle of December, Madame Schontz, who took a rea

you have a chan

ery often, hap

n honest notary, a man of honor; he has been wise enough to keep it dark. He wants to get his daughter married within a fortnight, and he will give her a fortune of a hundred and fifty thousand francs-for he

y does not the

ea

are nowhere to be heard of

he most commonplace way of a pleurisy caught as he came out of the theatre. A head-clerk and penniless,

you hear

the notary i

t little old man in hair-powd

on-in-law. So just feel yourself all over.-You will pay your debts, you will have twelve thousand francs a year, and be a father without any trouble on your part; what do you say to that to the good? And, after all, you only marry a very consolable widow. There is an income of fifty thousand francs in t

ried little Daddy Cardot's eldest daug

stocracy of these days! Potash, I tell you! Still, this is the unpleasant side of the matter. You will have a terrible mother-in-law,

ll be mayor of his district, and perhaps be elected deputy. He is prepared to give in lieu of the hundred thousand francs a nice little house in the Rue Saint-Lazare, with a forecourt and a garden, which cost him no more than sixty thousand at the time of the July overthrow; he would sell, and that would be an opportunity for you to go and come at the house, to see the daughter, and be civil to the mother.-And it would give

a light woman by the end of two years. What is the da

ather-in-law; he will know the secret has been let out-by Malaga, with whom he cannot be angry-and then

is as blunt as

o you stand there like a wax image of Abd-el-Kader? There is nothing to

y reply to-morrow

t at once; Malaga will

then,

the torpor of his imagination, his white hairs, his moral and physical exhaustion-in short, four pages of arguments.-"As to Dinah, I will send h

by next day had come to the point of dreading lest the marria

m so. At that time, Florine, Florentine, Tullia, Coralie, and Mariette were the five fingers of your hand, so to speak-it is fifteen years ago. My follies, as you may suppose, are a thing of the past.-In those days it was pleasur

t his ease, as may be easily imagined, with a man who had known his father's secrets than he would have been with another. On the following

ers. Though it was impossible to feel a shade of uneasiness as to the wealth of the inhabitants, at the end of half an hour no one could suppress a yawn. Boredom perched in every nook;

office, but strongly attracted by the snares of literary fame, though destined to succeed his father. The younger sister was twelve years old. Loustea

who had been watching Lousteau out of the corner of her eye, carried him a cup of coff

sieur, to thanking you for your s

her look, her accent, her attitude. "She would make a

he ascribed to him, she was most delighted by his high tone of morals. Etienne, prompted by the wily notary, ha

. This is the only point on which we differ.-Though with a man like you, monsieur, a literary man whose youth has been preserved by hard work from the moral shipwreck now so prevalent, we may feel quite safe; still, you would be the first to laugh at me if I looked for a husband for my daughter with my eyes shut. I know yo

his tongue as he recollected how rash it was

than give her to a man who had such a connection with a married woman. A grisette, an actress, you take her and leave her.-There is no danger, in my opinion, from women of that stamp; love is their trade, they care for no one, one down and another

a jest of them at Malaga's, whither he went with his father-in-la

of a delightful little house in the Rue Saint-Lazare; he was going to be married to a charming woman, he would have about twenty thousand francs a year, and could give

y to return it; she wanted an excuse for walking in on her future son-in-law quite unexpectedly. The sight of those bachelor rooms, which her husband had described as charming, would tell her more, she thought, as to Lousteau's habits of life than any information she could pick up. Her sister-in-law

osting fifteen francs before deciding on the purchase. Your clever man never condescends to study the middle-class, w

ought of seeing Lousteau's rooms. These domiciliary visitations are not unusual in the old citizen class. The porter at the front gate was not in; but his daughter, on being informed by the worthy l

he Church of Notre-Dame de Lorette and the Rue des Martyrs, Lousteau happened to look at a hired coach that was toiling up the Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre,

pted the familiar tu. The formality of vous was

ed she, "have you n

I have," sa

l, t

l, t

er," replied th

of such an exclamation. "Well," thought he t

the man with the chaise full of trunks, vowing that he would send away illico, as

ieur," called o

that three women must not be allo

id Lousteau, dra

e lady must be some rela

door; your mother

of words, Etienne understood the child to say, "Mother is there," th

time in the bed-room, crept into a corn

the outside of the door. "Life is a perpetual anguish to me in that house at Anzy. I could bear it no longer; and when the time came for me to proclaim m

lace me in the gre

ou lo

not have been wiser to remain at Sancerre?-I am in th

ise to me. I only ask to l

but-" Dinah sat down and melted into tear

distress. He clasped the Baro

of Madame Cardot, looking at him from the further end of the rooms. "Come, Didine, go with

r, and then came back

e of the man who was to have been my son-in-law. If my daughter were to die of it, she should never

Madame Cardot got into her hackney-coach again, staring insolently at the hapless Dinah, in whose heart the sting still rankled of

f decision which grows out of the vicissitu

self for my future prospects, and I know how I can manage to let her know." Delighted at ha

and a novelette: I have seduced her Felicie at Saint-Eustache-Felicie, guilty through passion, bears in her bosom the pl

Dinah discovered Etienne pe

ave turned my head with joy," sai

imed the poor woman, dropping the handbag she was ca

eve; "I must write two lines to excuse myself from a bachelor party, f

wrote to

ness has dropped into

unless we perform one

sand and one comedies

like one of Moliere's

s folly, while the Te

ork on her feelings; s

rstand, shall express

af, so that you may

u can, at se

ou

LOUS

Sancerre in his apartment. He busied himself in arranging the luggage she had brought, and informed her as to the persons and ways of the house with such perfect good faith, and a glee which overflo

by going off to order dinner from a restaurant on the boulevard. Dinah was able to judge of the extreme poverty that lay hidden under the purely superficial elegance of this bachelor home when she found none of the n

Pamela, whose wits were as sharp as those of a lorette, went straight to Madame Schontz to beg the loan of some plate, telling her what had happened to Lousteau. After ma

the provinces. The dinner was the occasion of the delightful child's-play of lovers set at liberty, and happy to be free. When

sieur Bixiou

I will soon get rid of him. He is one of my most intimate fri

am off.-Ah! that is what comes of marrying-one must go through some p

marrying?" s

oing to be married,

N

ercy of Heaven, have come across twenty thousand francs a year, and a house, and a wife connected w

iou, enough; it is

es, and I shall take every advantag

and we are going to live together happily to the end of our days.-Yo

e from. Did any provincial woman ever yet find her sea-legs in Paris? She will wound all your vanities. Have you forgotten what a provincial is? Sh

s.-Well, then consider your position. For fifteen years you have been tossing in the literary world; you are no longer young, you have padded the hoof till your soles are worn through!-Yes, my

to Cardinal Dubois, 'That is kickin

n the front rank, and you have not a thousand francs of your own. That is the sum-total of the situation. Can you, in the decline of your powers, support a family by your pen, when your wife, if she is an honest woman

e on the same pattern as all the men of your company-then you may indulge in the loftiest pretensions, rise to the Ministry!-and you have the best chances possible, since you are no Montmorency. You were preparing to fulfil all the conditions insisted on for turning out a political personage, you are capable of every mean trick that is necessary in office, even of pretending to be commonplace-you would have acte

is what you may call a cabinet matter. But to live with another man's wife? It is a draf

to every fortune, to every position the world can offer.-I may have been carried aw

timate children. What is a brat that does not bear your name? The last chapter of the romance.-

u when you and she are used to each other;-I see you dejected, hang-dog, bereft of position and fortune, and fig

more,

recognized way of certifying heredity, as it affords a good-looking young man, though penniless, the opportunity of making his fortune in two months, it survives in spite of

d Lousteau, in a voice of exasp

and so is she," he added in a lower voice, but loud enough to be hea

, I intend to com

overboard!"

Lousteau, opening the door of the bedroom, where he found Madame de la Baudr

vens, why indeed?-Etienne, I am not so provincia

dead into the drawing-room, "we have both pledged our future, it is sacrifice for sacrifice. While I was lovi

starting wildly to her fe

? Must I not marry a gawky, tow-haired creature, with a red nose, the daughter of a notary, and s

and whispered in

me Sc

ving Dinah on the

sake of a son-in-law. The lady made a scene-something like a scene, I can tell you! So, to conclude, the

ousteau. "What! in two hou

dot. The notary relies on your honor and good feeling, for the affair is settled. The clerk, whose conduct has been admirable, went so far as to attend mass! A finished hypocrite, I say-j

a fortune,

ou will be always wanting to get home, there will be nothing loose about you, neither your clothes nor your h

e no finer bird than that to be found in the desert?" she exclaimed. "You are c

draye, who had heard the rustle of a sil

nited.-I have just had an answer to the letter you

he party which

es

" said the poor deluded creature. "I did not believe I could love you m

tiful, my gen

she, "that only de

and that of the drawing-room, where the Muse was reclining, bewildered by such a succession of shocks, Lousteau had remembered little De la Baudraye's precarious health, his fine

hen she set out from Sancerre for Paris, had intended to live in rooms of her own quite near to Lousteau; but the proofs of devotion her lover had given her by giving up such brilliant prospects, and yet more the perfect happine

cessant amusement. These circumstances hindered two persons so clever as these were from avoiding the slough into which they f

so satirically described by Lousteau to Madame de la Baudraye-a fac

fe" into Paris life, varied this honeymoon by evenings at the play, where Dinah would only go to the stage box. At first Madame de

er may have followed me to Paris." Sh

most fashionable women, advising her to take them as models for imitation. And Madame de la Baudraye's provinci

eled in the music at the Italian opera; she knew the pieces "on" at all theatres, and the actors and jests of the day; she had become inured to this life of perpetual excitement, this rapid torrent in which everything is forgotten. She no longer craned her neck or stood wit

hem all, two lines carried her back to Sancerre and the

he Criminal Court at Sancerre, has been appointed De

awyer loves you!" said

"What did I tell you

ve not been a second time to the same secret haunts of the soul; they have not studied each other till they know, as they must later, the very thought, word, and gesture that responds to every event, the greatest and the smallest. Enchantment reigns; ther

you should cease to love me, I believe I

aggeration, Lous

ou as constant as I shall be.

e is su

d find there one of my former mistresses, and she makes fun of me; I, out of vanity, beha

; and if you came back to me, if-Oh! you make me understan

oved for the first time i

understand th

mpel them to end by suicide. Once in possession of such a document, each might kill the other w

should be tired of her, and would sacrifice everything to the requirements of that deceptio

ine rectitude, and the strength peculiar to ambitious souls, which formed the basis of her character. Lousteau involuntarily held her in high esteem. As a Parisian, Dinah was superior to the most fascinating courtesan; she c

ne to Bixiou, "the stuff to mak

aedia and a seraglio is very dang

by Nathan. This literary solemnity occupied the minds of the two thousand persons who regard themselves as constituting "all Paris." Dinah, who had never been at a first night's performance, was very full of natural curiosity. She

ver, set in dark rings. But a terribly distressing incident awaited her. By a very simple chance, the box given to the journalist, on the first tier, was next to that which Anna Grossetete had taken. The two intimate friends did not even bow; neither chose to acknowledge

houghtful attitude, and fix her eyes on vacancy; she was overpoweringly conscious of being the object of general attention; she could not disguise her discomfort, and lapsed a little into provincialism, displ

ll you how much I am pleased

whom should I c

ve I anything to do w

ou left Sancerre, it had become

make much of my true friends; I now know their value.-I feared I must have lost your esteem, but

onsieur Etienne Lousteau's mistress, that you live together as man and wife!-You have broken for ever with society; even if you should some day marry your lover, the time will come when you will feel t

ties. My abnegation is so complete that I only wish I could clear a vast space about me to make a desert of my love, full of God, of him, and of myself.-We have made too many sacrifices on bot

. To this declaration, in which Dinah's soul

easy and no longer alarmed as to your future.-But will your lover appreciat

e des Martyrs a

the literary world. There are glorious exceptions, no doubt; but these men of letters drag terrible evils in their tra

cutor?" the Baronne

an ace of committing the utmost folly for a more celebrated man than Lousteau-for Nathan-and now they do not even recognize each other. After going to the very edge of the precipice, the Countess was saved, no one knows how; she neither left her husband nor her house; but as a famous man was scorned, she was

came away?" asked Madame de la

ris, and that he had insisted on your going to be attended by the first physicians," replied Monsieur de Clagny, guessing what it was t

"can Monsieur de la

id what he always does-m

when the journalist retu

it than the piece,"

an than she had ever known in the whole of her provincial ex

, my Didine?"

a woman succeeds in

Madame de Stael, the other is by havi

s by appealing to our vanity, our love of a

a cloud on Lousteau's brow as he walked round the little garden-plot smoking a cigar. This woman, who had acquired from her husband the habit and the ple

pleasure to work, that happiness has wrecked more poems than sorrows ever helped to flow in sparkling jets. Dinah, happy in seeing Etienne taking his ease, smoking

ing to talk the slang of the town, advanced her nine hundred francs. She kept three hundred for her baby-clothes and the expenses of her illness, a

e to necessity; polish the style, work up the subject.-I have played the

ine every day, a corner being always kept for them. The countrywoman was in d

Normande costs five francs!-and twenty centimes for a roll?" sh

e to us whether we are robbed at a re

t of your dinner, you sh

s to her mother, begging her to send her some linen and a loan of a thousand francs. She received two trunks full of

this proud and ambitious woman, whose mind was so accomplished, and who had queened it so well at the Chateau d'Anzy, now condescending to household cares and sewing for the coming infant, moved the po

love-in one so genuine, and in the other so well feigned-more than one confidence had been exchanged in the course of four months. Notwithstanding the care with which Etienne wrapped up his true self, a word now and then had not failed to enlighten Dinah as to the previous life of a man whose talents were so hampered by poverty, so perverted by bad examples, so thwarte

ss will be m

ce, had very plainly shown the lawyer what Lousteau's purpose was. To Etienne, Madame de la Baudraye was, to use his own phrase, "a fine feather in his cap." Far from preferring the joys of a shy and mys

the ingratiating ways characteristic of men whose manners are naturally attractive. There are, in fact, men who have something of the monkey in them by nature, and to whom the assumptio

or to pay a discreditable debt, or to bring up a family; at the same time, there is no great talent without a strong will. These twin forces are requisite for the erection of the vast edifice of personal glory. A distinguished genius keeps his brain in a productive condition, just as the knights of old kept their weapons always ready for battle. They conq

means the incessant conquest of his instincts, of proclivities subdued and mortified, and difficulties of every kind heroicall

of most contemporary leader-writers, is the expression of judgments formed at random in a more or less witty way, just as an advocate pleads in court on the most contradictory briefs. The newspaper critic always finds a subject to work up in the book he is discussing. Done after this fashion, the business is well adapted to indolent brains, to men devoid of the sublime faculty of imagination, or, possessed of it indeed, but lacking courage to cultivate it. Every play, every bo

s of the new sheet must be diametrically antagonistic to those of the old. Madame de la Baudraye could smile to see Lousteau with one

ttorneys of p

principles-that is to say, a scheme of jurisprudence, a summing-up, and a verdict. The critic is then a magistrate of ideas, the censor of his time; he fulfils a sacred function; while in th

der the most discreditable compulsion, and scamping his work, as painters say of a picture from which sound technique is absent; but she would excuse him by saying, "He is a poet!" so an

usband for an allowance, but without Etienne's knowledge; for, as she thought, it would be an offence to his delicate feelings, which must be cons

nce in Paris when she can live in perfect lu

d up this lett

in the ominous tone that delights a wo

of his joy and importance over the advent of the infant. Monsieur de Clagny and Madame Piedefer-sent for in all haste were to be the godparents, for the cautious magistrate fea

s office as the son of Monsieur and Madame de la Baudraye, unknown to Etienn

la Baudraye is happi

steau has the pleasur

fa

and child ar

is amazing notice, written below the names of the persons in Paris to whom it was already gone. The lawyer confiscated the list and the remainder of the circulars, showed them to Madame Piedefer, b

la Baudraye is happi

la Baudraye has the

he f

child are

eur de Clagny set to work to intercept those that had been sent; in many cases he changed them at the porter's lodge, he got back thir

lumnies, a sort of stab to which every reputation, even the most ephemeral, is exposed; others said they had read the paper and returned it to some friend of the La Baudraye family; a great many declaimed against the immorality of journalists; in short

thing of the world nor of public morality; that he insults himself when he can find no one else to insult.-None but the son of a provincial citizen imported from Sancerre to become a poet, but who is only the bravo of some contemptible magazi

ation; but I would have died rather than utter her name. A few months of her airs and graces cost me a hundred thousand francs and my prospects for life; but I do not th

ve up that paper fo

is not for Etienne Lousteau that I plead, but for a woman and child, both equally ignorant of the damage done to their fortune, their prospects, and their honor.-Who knows, monsieur, whether you might not some day be compelled to p

ce," replied Nathan, giving up the letter, as he reflected

ieur de Clagny went to give him a rating in the presence of M

e la Baudraye has sixty thousand francs a year and refuses to make his wi

's godfather, and he is registered as the son of the Baron and Baronne de la Baudraye; if you have the feelings of

is the mother to

steau the expression of feeling he had so long been expecting. "I

eft the house with a

her money. Would she not, when

hom should justice be done unless to a Judge?-he loved Dinah too sincerely to regard her d

irst performances without Dinah, and living apart from her, found an indescribable charm in the use of his liberty. More than once he submitted to be taken by the arm and dragged off to some jollification; more than once he found himself at the house of a friend's mistress in the heart of bohemia. He again saw

earance. The journalist found his breakfast and his dinner served with a sort of luxury. Dinah, handsome and nicely dressed, was careful to anticipate her dear Etienne's wishes, and he felt himself the king o

an is loving and clever. One of the most striking circumstances in Benjamin Constant's novel, one of the explanations of Ellenore's desertion, is the want of daily-or, if you will, of nightly-intercourse between her and Adolphe. Each of the lovers has a separate home; they have both submitted to the world and saved appearances. Elle

the treatment, and at a pinch, would write whole chapters. She revived the vitality of this dying talent by transfusing fresh blood into his veins; she supplied him with ideas and opinions. In short, she produced two books which were a succes

e paid her-as the French people say in their vigorous lingo-in "monkey money," nothing for her pains. This expenditure in self-sacrifice becomes a treasure which g

id up; and, knowing him as she did, she thought him heroic. But after this effort, appalled at having two women, two children, and two maids on his hands, he was incapable of the struggle to maintain a fa

. At the risk of her beauty and health, Didine was to Lousteau what Mademoiselle Delachaux was to Gardane in Diderot's noble and true tale. But while sacrificing herself, she co

dame de la Baudraye went through fearful tortures of jealousy. She wanted to live two lives-the life of the world and the life of a literary woman; she accompanied Lousteau to every first-night performance, and could detect in him many impulses of wounded vanity, for her black attire rubbed off, as it were, on him, clouding his brow, and sometimes leading him to

an into quarrels which lead to disrespect, because she herself comes down from the high level on which she had at first placed herself. Next she made some concession; Lousteau was allowed to entertain several of his friends-Nathan, Bixiou, Bl

of 1840, she disguised herself to go to the balls at the Opera-house, and to supp

to bed. She had gone to spy on Lousteau, who, believing her to be ill, had engaged himself for that evening to Fanny

la Baudraye, to whom the porter pointed her out. The litt

is you,

debardeur. To escape Etienne's eye the more effectually, she had chosen a dress he was not likely to detect her in. She took advantage of the mask she still had on to escape withou

onsieur?" she asked. "Are

d Monsieur de la Bau

ignals to her daughter, which Dina

ou here but your own interest

after having made and lost several fortunes in various parts of the world, he has finally left some seven or eight hundred th

, I trust no one but Monsieur de Clagny. He knows the law,

Clagny," answered Monsieur de la Bau

sent a sou! Your children!" She burst into a loud shout of laughter; bu

g boys. I do not intend to part from them. I shall take them to our house at

raye imperatively. "What do you w

y to receive our Un

Monsieur de Clagny, and desired her h

rice alone. Monsieur de la Baudraye, to whom his wife's power of attorney was indispensable to enable him to deal with the business as he wished, purchased it by certain concessions. In the first place, he undertook to allow her ten thousand francs a year

e of 1836, that Dinah despaired of ever burying the dreadful little dwarf. From the garden, where he was smoking a cigar, the journalist could watch Monsieur de la Baudraye for so long as it took

the writer's secret scheming. As he smoked a se

how hardly he earned it, Lousteau regarded himself, morally speaking, as the creditor. It was, no doubt, a favorable moment for throwing the woman over. Tired at the end of three years of playing a comedy which never can become a habit, he was per

ut when he saw Monsieur de la Baudraye embark for the United States, as briskly as

pretty drawing-room, where Dinah h

e event of my wishing to return to live at Anzy during his absence, he has left his orders, and he ho

y, knowing the passionate disclaimer that Dinah

ve, that two large tears trickled slowly down her cheeks, while she did not speak a word, and L

ked, touched to the heart b

what is most precious to a mother's heart-selling my children!-for he is to have them from the age of six

kissed her hands with a lavish

gure at the bottom of the newspaper, the editors will let me lie, like an old shoe flung into the rubbish heap. Remember, we tight-rope dancers have no retiring pension! The State would have too many

votion to me you wear nothing but black, and that does me no credit."-Dinah gave one of those magnanimous shrugs which are worth all the words ever spoken.-"Yes," Etienne went on, "I know you sacrifice everything to my whims, even your beauty. And I, with a heart

uly, that this prudence, worthy of de Cla

one!" thought she, looking

lysis can discern, and which modern society has created; one of the most remarkable men of our age, whose dea

ssed her. When she walked, taking his arm and keeping step with him in the street or on the boulevard, she was so entirely absorbed in him that she lost all sense of herself. Fascinated by this fellow's wit, magnetized by his airs, his vices were but trivial defects in her eyes. She loved the puffs of cigar smoke that the wind brought into her room from the garden; she

eyle's definitions. Didine loved him so wholly, that in certain moments when her critical judgment, just by nature, and constantly exercised s

Do we not live outside the limits of social conventionality? Why not accept from me what Nathan can accept from Florine? We will square accounts when we part, and only death can

ar-I will write theatrical articles.-With fifteen hundred francs a month we shall be as rich as Rothschild.-Be quite eas

every day, and wants to bring a priest to th

But she takes great care of the children, she takes them out, she is a

l be thou

Etienne and making him sit by her. "Besides, we shall b

y; and he added to himself, "Time enough to pa

with the best dressed women in Paris. Lousteau was so fatuous as to affect, among his frie

me from Dinah! But no one ever can!" said he. "She loves

l. Monsieur de Clagny, really in despair at seeing Dinah in such disgraceful circumstances when she might have been so rich, and in so wretched a positi

d; still he found his

terrupted him when he ha

ll love me?

for you!" he exclaimed

t was rigid, his hair thrilled to the roots; he believed he was so blessed as t

id she, making him sit down a

em. And there were tears in the eyes of the

sand thrown against the panes of the little magical hut where those who love dwell and dream. These grains of sand, which grow to be pebbles,

heart, and rather too prone to pleasure; in short, a great cat, whom it is impossible to hate. What would be

, "what a hell you live in! What is the feeli

ther to him!" s

ends discern our dishonor. We accept compromises with ourself so long as we escape a censor who co

she to herself when Monsieur de Clagny had left her. And this phrase sufficiently proves that

nner he would perform the tenderest little farces of affection, and address Dinah in words full of devotion; he would take he

a revival of his love. The mother, alas, gave way to the mistress with shameful readiness.

plaything!" finding joy in

acy to the absence of the joys, which were all the more exquisite because they arose from the midst of remorse, of terrible struggles with herself, of a No persuaded to be Yes. At ever

dered to herse

live again till she heard the familiar sound of Lo

hat agitated heart. How many times a day would she rehearse the tragedy of Le Dernier Jour d'un condamne, saying to herself, "To-mor

e town garden where a few pale flowers bloomed. In fact, she had not yet exhaust

verly described by the critic to whom we owe an analysis of this striking work; whose comments indeed seemed to Dinah almost superior to the book. And she read again

h a prying eye'; if he plays truant, he shall not on his return 'see a scornful lip, whose kiss is an unanswerable command.' No, 'my silence shall not be a reproach nor my first word a quarrel.'-I will not be like every other woman!" she went on, laying on her table the little yellow

nce 1836, living like a mouse. He manipulated the property left by Monsieur Silas Piedefer so ingeniously, that he contrived to reduce the proved value to eight hundred thousand francs, while pocketing twelve hundred thousand. He di

stry of the First of March, as it was called. By thus securing to his wife an income of forty-eight thousand francs he considered himself no longer in her debt. Could he not restore the odd twelve hundred thousand as soon as the four and a half per cents had risen above a hundred? He was now the greatest man in Sancerre, with the exception of one-the richest proprietor in France-whose rival he co

my two children! I daresay it is not a pleasing fact to the Milauds of Nevers, but the second house of La Baudraye may yet have as noble a center as the first.-I shall

o one would have dared to laugh at the little man. O

uld not be happy unle

o Paris before long

secure his comfort; she had resumed her black raiment, but now it was in sign of mourning, for her pleasure was turning to remorse. She was too often put to shame no

ighting of every flower of the soul, in the commonplace of habit, and very often too in another passion, which robs a wife of the interest which is traditionally ascribed to women. So, when common sense, the law of social proprieties, family interest-all the mixed elements which, since the Restoration, have been dignified by the name of Public Morals, out of sheer aversion to the name of the Catholic religion-where this is seconded by a sense of insults a little too offensive; wh

draye that if she would give up Etienne, her husband would allow her to keep the chi

ment, and the support of some pious and charitable persons, you

e Clagny to negotiate a rec

d francs in the purchase of a delightful residence in the Rue de l'Arcade, that was being sold in liquidation of an aristocratic House that was in difficulties. He had been a me

on of Honor. In the matter of the elections, the dynastic nominations; now, in the event of Monsieur de la Baudraye being won over to the Government, Sancerre would be more than ever a rotten borough of royalism. Monsieur de Clagny, whose talents an

of the Legion of Honor, was vain enough to wish to cut a figure with a

y. The newly made Count pointed out to his wife that while the interests of their property forbade his leaving Sancerre, the education of their boys required her presence in Paris. The accommodating husband desired Monsieur de Clagn

thousand francs he had brought from New York, and allowed her that income for her expenses, including the education of the children. As he would be compelled to st

leman!-a magnifico!-What will he become next? It

wishes at the age of tw

urable to Dinah. Only the day before, Anna de Fontaine had turned her head

ers of the literary world in my drawing-room-and I will look at her!"-And it was this little triumph that told wi

top of the packet of receipted bills. After sending her mother and the children away to the Hotel de la Baudraye, s

de la Baudraye requests the pleasure of

rs assumed by the woman who till that morning has been the slave of hi

or a first night," said he-une premiere, the

e la Baudraye," said Dinah gravely. "I do not

aid he, putting his

dear," she replied, releasing herself. "I am taking you to

that our insect i

ing's Moniteur, as I am told by Monsieur de Cl

rnalist. "The entomology of society oug

. "I have dismissed the two servants. When you go in, you will find the house in order, and no debts. I shall

find with my conduct du

's book very diligently; you have even studied the last critique on it; but you have read with a woman's eyes. Though you hav

ced his future for a woman; that he never can be what he might have been-an ambassador, a minister, a chamberlain, a poet-and rich. He gives up six years of his energy at that stage of his life when a man is ready to submit to the hardships of any apprenticeship-to a petticoat, which he outstrips in the career of ingratitude, for the woman who has thrown over her first lover is certain sooner or later to desert the second. Adolphe

this moment, are playing both parts. You are suffering from the pangs of having lost your position, and think yourself justified in throwing over a hapless lover whose

said Madame de la Baudraye, astounded by this attack. "Your Ellenore is not dying; and if God gives her life, if y

, he aimed at appearing hard and cold; while Dinah, rea

d as we ought to have begun-hide our love f

y reason of our anticipation of heaven, but here on earth they are limited by the strength of our physical being. There are some feeble, mean natures whi

ertation is unnecessary, since you can justify y

bewilderment. "Is it I

ave you more trouble, more vexation than

cried she, cla

yourself just

! Never," she re

usteau's influence, was interpreted by him as the death-warrant of

ah the gentlest La Valliere, the most delightful Pompadour that any egoist short of a king could hope for; and

hey had been dining, paid the bill, and fled home to the Rue

tamorphosed herself. This double metamorphosis cost thir

hat year, little La Baudraye came to present his titles to the Upper House sooner than he had expected, and then saw what his wife had done. He was

the old Duc de Chaulieu, a former creditor, walking along, umbrella in hand, while he himself sat perched in a low chaise on which his coat-of-arms was resplendent, with t

r triumphed in the life which had so long been denied him; in the family, which his handsome cousin Milaud of Nevers had declared he would never have; and in his wife-who

ay on the table me

owing Monsieur de Nucingen the dish-covers surmounted b

determination of a really superior woman, Dinah was charmi

ieur de Nucingen with a wave of his hand to hi

baron, who was prone to time-honored remarks, wh

e Countess. "I am, in fact, five-and-thir

ins me in curiositie

n early age," said the Marqu

had known at Bourges, "you know that in '25, '26, and '27, she pick

lagny, as he saw this little country mise

avings of all kin

ed the Chambers, the little Count went back to Sa

en of mark, receiving none but those of serious purpose and ripe years. She tried to amuse herself by going to the Opera, French and Italian. Twice a week she appeared there with her mother and Madame de Clagny, who was m

ountess' circle, and he succeeded; but he was more success

expedient. Every Wednesday he introduced some celebrity from Germany, England, Italy, or Prussia to his dear Countess; he spoke of her as a quite exceptional woman to people to whom she hardly addressed two words; but she listened to them with such deep attention that they went away fully convinced o

to befriend Dinah without doing her an injury, and kept himself at a distance as though he were young, handsome, and compromising, like a man who has happiness to conceal. He tr

hing. She made fun of Monsieur de Clagny to hi

she to her mother, laughing, "that if I

he theatre, and she was deeply pensive. They had been to the first performance of Leo

t?" asked the lawyer, alarm

ated. True love takes its expression from the character. Now, this good man loved after the fashion of Alceste, when Madame de la Baudraye wanted to be loved after the manner of Philinte. The meaner side

iumphs. Sometimes the memory of her wretchedness came to her, mingled with memories of consuming joys. She would ha

ted the question, taking the Countess' hand and

ight hand or the lef

"for I suppose you me

yer's ear. "And as I saw him looking so sad, so out of h

husband with Fanny Beaupre. You have forced me to tell you this secret; I should n

Baudraye gras

her chaperon, "is one of t

not finish her sentence, of which the lawyer could guess the end: "

lf into the whirl of fashion. She wished for success, and she achieved it; still,

the great charitable work founded by Madame de Carcado. Then she was commissioned to collect from the Royal Family their donations for the benefit of the sufferers from the ear

emember nothing finer than the manoeuvres undertake

and envy familiar to those who are born and bred provincials, when he beheld his former mistress comfortably ensconced in a handsome carriage, well dressed, with dreamy eyes, and his two little boys, one at each window. He accused himself with all the more virulence because he was waging war with the sharpest poverty of all-poverty unconfess

ved the last sacrament. Fanny Beaupre had nothing left to pawn, and her salary was pledged to pay her debts. After exhausting every possible advance of pay from newspapers, magazines, and publishers, Etienne knew not of what ink he could churn gold. Gambling-houses, so ruthlessly suppressed, could no longer, as of old, cash I O U's drawn over the green table by beggary in despair. In short,

eau was taking a walk, smoking cigars, and seeking ideas-for, in Paris, ideas are in the air, they smile on you from a street corner, they splash up with a spurt of mud from under the wheels of a cab! Thus loafing, he had bee

moment give a comrade a hundred francs and stab him to the heart with a sa

although he was accustomed to poverty, felt like

ture is very old

ed by piracy, paid badly; the newspapers made close bargains with hard

s, every feature of his face twitching, and an affected smile on his lips. Then he saw Madame de la Baudraye

said he to himself, and he w

Madame de la Baudraye's door, and begged the porter to

ieur Lousteau the favor of receiv

audraye had had the word Parce que engraved on a genuine Oriental carnelian-a poten

the Opera; Friday was her night in turn for her

said, tucking the n

. She was going to a ball after the Opera, and was wearing a beautiful dress of brocade in stripes alternately plain and flowered with pale blue. Her gloves, trimmed with tassels, showed off her beautiful w

ng out her foot from below her skirt to rest it on a vel

u, who remained standing, or walked about the room, chewing the flowers

raye, studying Lousteau, saw that he was dresse

ve already swallowed more than one mouthful--" said he, standing still in front of Dinah, and seeming to y

h," said she;

ousteau turned away, took out his handk

n motherly tones. "We are at this moment old c

ion mart, eighteen hundred francs! To repay my friends, as much again! Three qua

u!-to l

have my

with a subtle smile.-"I have not such a sum as you need, but come to-morrow at eight

ed to be unable to look at her; she herself felt

d to Lousteau. "Your confidence has done me good! I

nd and pressed it te

d sent by the hand of an angel! G

was played throughout with touches of this kind. Dinah felt his heart beating through his coat; it was throbbing with satisfaction, for the journali

bbing heart; she tried to look once into the eyes of the man she had loved so well, but the seething blood rushed through her veins and mounted to her brain. Their eyes met with the sa

Dinah in alarm. And she hurried fo

"will you do me a great favor? Take the carriage and go yourself to my banker, Monsieur Mongenod, with a not

very anxious to see who it was that her da

e cure of the parish. After listening to the lamentations of t

sand.-The many means of grace enjoined by the Catholic religion, small as they are, and not understood, are so many dams necessary

and her mother, in short, the whole household, including a tutor, had gone away to Sancerre, whe

certain evil tongues declared that she had been compelled to come back, for tha

a Baudraye's long absence had been to Paris to learn the art of lionnerie or dandyism, was supposed to have a good chance of find

alk on the Mall at Sancerre with the two fine little boys, he met Monsieur Mi

my childr

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