nst the new
regime}

By virtue of this power, I had not long been held in the soft hand of
Adrienne, or pressed against her beating heart, without becoming the
master of all her thoughts, as well as her various causes of hope and
fear. This knowledge did not burst upon me at once, it is true, as is
pretended to be the case with certain somnambules, for with me there is
no empiricism--every thing proceeds from cause to effect, and a little
time, with some progressive steps, was necessary to make me fully
acquainted with the whole. The simplest things became the first
apparent, and others followed by a species of magnetic induction, which
I cannot now stop to explain. When this tale is told, I propose to
lecture on the subject, to which all the editors in the country will
receive the usual free tickets, when the world cannot fail of knowing
quite as much, at least, as these meritorious public servants.

{somnambules = sleep walkers; editors = Cooper had very little respect
for the press}

The first fact that I learned, was the very important one that the
vicomtesse had lost all her usual means of support by the late
revolution, and the consequent exile of the dauphine. This blow, so
terrible to the grandmother and her dependent child, had occurred, too,
most inopportunely, as to time. A half year's pension was nearly due at
the moment the great change occurred, and the day of payment arrived
and passed, leaving these two females literally without twenty francs.
Had it not been for the remains of the trousseau, both must have
begged, or perished of want. The crisis called for decision, and
fortunately the old lady, who had already witnessed so many
vicissitudes, had still sufficient energy to direct their proceedings.
Paris was the best place in which to dispose of her effects, and
thither she and Adrienne came, without a moment's delay. The shops were
first tried, but the shops, in the autumn of 1830, offered indifferent
resources for the seller. Valuable effects were there daily sold for a
twentieth part of their original cost, and the vicomtesse saw her
little stores diminish daily; for the Mont de Piete was obliged to
regulate its own proceedings by the received current values of the day.
Old age, vexation, and this last most cruel blow, did not fail of
effecting that which might have been foreseen. The vicomtesse sunk
under this accumulation of misfortunes, and became bed-ridden,
helpless, and querulous. Every th