e eminent services which he then performed.

Michu's son, of whom Laurence took care as though he were her own child,
was admitted to the bar in 1817. After practising two years he was
made assistant-judge at the court of Alencon, and from there he became
_procureur-du-roi_ at Arcis in 1827. Laurence, who had also taken
charge of Michu's property, made over to the young man on the day of his
majority an investment in the public Funds which yielded him an income
of twelve thousand francs a year. Later, she arranged a marriage for him
with Mademoiselle Girel, an heiress at Troyes.

The Marquis de Cinq-Cygne died in 1829, in the arms of his wife,
surrounded by his father and mother, and his children who adored him.
At the time of his death no one had ever fathomed the mystery of the
senator's abduction. Louis XVIII. did not neglect to repair, as far as
possible, the wrongs done by that affair; but he was silent as to the
causes of the disaster. From that time forth the Marquise de Cinq-Cygne
believed him to have been an accomplice in the catastrophe.

CHAPTER XX. THE MYSTERY SOLVED

The late Marquis de Cinq-Cygne had used his savings, as well as those
of his father and mother, in the purchase of a fine house in the rue
de Faubourg-du-Roule, entailing it on heirs male for the support of
the title. The sordid economy of the marquis and his parents, which had
often troubled Laurence, was then explained. After this purchase the
marquise, who lived at Cinq-Cygne and economized on her own account
for her children, spent her winters in Paris,--all the more willingly
because her daughter Berthe and her son Paul were now of an age when
their education required the resources of Paris.

Madame de Cinq-Cygne went but little into society. Her husband could not
be ignorant of the regrets which lay in her tender heart; but he showed
her always the most exquisite delicacy, and died having loved no other
woman. This noble soul, not fully understood for a period of time but
to which the generous daughter of the Cinq-Cygnes returned in his last
years as true a love as that he gave to her, was completely happy in
his married life. Laurence lived for the joys of home. No woman has ever
been more cherished by her friends or more respected. To be received in
her house is an honor. Gentle, indulgent, intellectual, above all things
simple and natural, she pleases choice souls and draws them to her in
spite of her saddened aspect; each lo