e
market, on the great principle of liberty and equality. This was as
became a republican reign.

Our prospects were varied daily. The dauphine, madame, and all the de
Rochefoucaulds, de la Tremouilles, de Grammonts, de Rohans, de
Crillons, &c. &c., were out of the question. The royal family were in
England, the Orleans branch excepted, and the high nobility were very
generally on their "high ropes," or, a bouder. As for the bankers,
their reign had not yet fairly commenced. Previously to July, 1830,
this estimable class of citizens had not dared to indulge their native
tastes for extravagance and parade, the grave dignity and high breeding
of a very ancient but impoverished nobility holding them in some
restraint; and, then, THEIR fortunes were still uncertain; the funds
were not firm, and even the honorable and worthy Jacques Lafitte, a man
to ennoble any calling, was shaking in credit. Had we been brought into
the market a twelvemonth later, there is no question that we should
have been caught up within a week, by the wife or daughter of some of
the operatives at the Bourse.

{de Rochefoucaulds, etc. = various French noble families; a bouder =
silent; Jacques Lafitte = French financier (1767-1844) who supported
the 1830 July Revolution; Bourse = stock exchange}

As it was, however, we enjoyed ample leisure for observation and
thought. Again and again were we shown to those who, it was thought,
could not fail to yield to our beauty, but no one would purchase. All
appeared to eschew aristocracy, even in their pocket-handkerchiefs. The
day the fleurs de lys were cut out of the medallions of the treasury,
and the king laid down his arms, I thought our mistress would have had
the hysterics on our account. Little did she understand human nature,
for the nouveaux riches, who are as certain to succeed an old and
displaced class of superiors, as hungry flies to follow flies with full
bellies, would have been much more apt to run into extravagance and
folly, than persons always accustomed to money, and who did not depend
on its exhibition for their importance. A day of deliverance,
notwithstanding, was at hand, which to me seemed like the bridal of a
girl dying to rush into the dissipations of society.

{fleurs de lys = symbol of the Bourbon monarchs}

CHAPTER V.

The holidays were over, without there being any material revival of
trade, when my deliverance unexpectedly occurred. It was in February,
and I do believ