"No, he is ill.I am very much afraid I shall lose him, and Ishould be uncommonly sorry.He is a very good hunter.Do you know how the Duchesse de Marigny is?""No.I did not go this morning.I was just going out to call when you came in to speak about Antoinette.But yesterday she was very ill indeed; they had given her up, she took the sacrament.""Her death will make a change in your cousin's position.""Not at all.She gave away her property in her lifetime, only keeping an annuity.She made over the Guebriant estate to her niece, Mme de Soulanges, subject to a yearly charge.""It will be a great loss for society.She was a kind woman.
Her family will miss her; her experience and advice carried weight.Her son Marigny is an amiable man; he has a sharp wit, he can talk.He is pleasant, very pleasant.Pleasant? oh, that no one can deny, but--ill regulated to the last degree.Well, and yet it is an extraordinary thing, he is very acute.He was dining at the club the other day with that moneyed Chaussee-d'Antin set.Your uncle (he always goes there for his game of cards) found him there to his astonishment, and asked if he was a member.`Yes,' said he, `I don't go into society now; Iam living among the bankers.'--You know why?" added the Marquis, with a meaning smile.
"No," said the Duke.
"He is smitten with that little Mme Keller, Gondreville's daughter; she is only lately married, and has a great vogue, they say, in that set.""Well, Antoinette does not find time heavy on her hands, it seems," remarked the Vidame.
"My affection for that little woman has driven me to find a singular pastime," replied the Princess, as she returned her snuff-box to her pocket.
"Dear aunt, I am extremely vexed," said the Duke, stopping short in his walk."Nobody but one of Buonaparte's men could ask such an indecorous thing of a woman of fashion.Between ourselves, Antoinette might have made a better choice.""The Montriveaus are a very old family and very well connected, my dear," replied the Princess; "they are related to all the noblest houses of Burgundy.If the Dulmen branch of the Arschoot Rivaudoults should come to an end in Galicia, the Montriveaus would succeed to the Arschoot title and estates.They inherit through their great-grandfather.
"Are you sure?"
"I know it better than this Montriveau's father did.I told him about it, I used to see a good deal of him; and, Chevalier of several orders though he was, he only laughed; he was an encyclopaedist.But his brother turned the relationship to good account during the emigration.I have heard it said that his northern kinsfolk were most kind in every way----""Yes, to be sure.The Comte de Montriveau died at St.
Petersburg," said the Vidame."I met him there.He was a big man with an incredible passion for oysters.""However many did he eat?" asked the Duc de Grandlieu.
"Ten dozen every day."
"And did they not disagree with him?"
"Not the least bit in the world."
"Why, that is extraordinary! Had he neither the stone nor gout, nor any other complaint, in consequence?""No; his health was perfectly good, and he died through an accident.""By accident! Nature prompted him to eat oysters, so probably he required them; for up to a certain point our predominant tastes are conditions of our existence.""I am of your opinion," said the Princess, with a smile.
"Madame, you always put a malicious construction on things,"returned the Marquis.
"I only want you to understand that these remarks might leave a wrong impression on a young woman's mind," said she, and interrupted herself to exclaim, "But this niece, this niece of mine!""Dear aunt, I still refuse to believe that she can have gone to M.de Montriveau," said the Duc de Navarreins.
"Bah!" returned the Princess.
"What do you think, Vidame?" asked the Marquis.
"If the Duchess were an artless ******ton, I should think that----""But when a woman is in love she becomes an artless ******ton,"retorted the Princess."Really, my poor Vidame, you must be getting older.""After all, what is to be done?" asked the Duke.
"If my dear niece is wise," said the Princess, "she will go to Court this evening--fortunately, today is Monday, and reception day--and you must see that we all rally round her and give the lie to this absurd rumour.There are hundreds of ways of explaining things; and if the Marquis de Montriveau is a gentleman, he will come to our assistance.We will bring these children to listen to reason----""But, dear aunt, it is not easy to tell M.de Montriveau the truth to his face.He is one of Buonaparte's pupils, and he has a position.Why, he is one of the great men of the day; he is high up in the Guards, and very useful there.He has not a spark of ambition.He is just the man to say, `Here is my commission, leave me in peace,' if the King should say a word that he did not like.""Then, pray, what are his opinions?"
"Very unsound."
"Really," sighed the Princess, "the King is, as he always has been, a Jacobin under the Lilies of France.""Oh! not quite so bad," said the Vidame.