th de Reviere to Nantes,
thence to Nazarre, where I stayed two days with de Review's sister."
At this time the lady described her possessions as follows: "I had two
hundred thousand francs worth of furniture, fifty thousand francs of
_objects de vertu_, nine horses, five carriages, a hundred thousand
francs worth of jewelry, many India shawls, twenty thousand francs worth
of furs of every kind and description known in the world, any quantity
of laces, twelve velvet dresses of different shades, and a toilet-set
worth eighty-thousand francs, besides an income derived from my family
in America of sixty thousand dollars," received regularly through the
hands of her banker Mr. John Monroe of 5 Rue de la Paix.
Helene Stille then disposed of her _maison_ and started with the Baron
de Reviere on a trip to South America. A full account of that trip would
read like a supplement to the Arabian Nights. For the purposes of this
tour the lady became the Baroness de Reviere, and the pair traveled
through the land of Cortez and Pizarro like some fabled Eastern
conquerors. A courier rode ahead, and engaged nearly the entire
apartments of every hotel at which they condescended to stop. Postilions
and outriders accompanied their entrance. In the hotels the Baron and
"Baroness" had their magnificent court dresses unpacked to impress and
bewilder and confound the guests, while the gaping domestics would
spread the news abroad until the entire population of the town would be
assembled open-mouthed in front of the Baron's hotel, watching his
movements and admiring in no stinted terms the statuesque beauty of the
"Baroness." This extensive triumphal procession cost a lot of money,
every cent of which is said to have been paid by the infatuated woman.
It was during their progress through Peru that she seems to have first
made the discovery that the Baron already possessed one legal wife. From
that hour, it is related to her credit, she stopped all marital
relations. She parted from her companion then and there, and returned to
Paris. She had two children by the Baron, as she testified in the legal
proceedings brought by her. The eldest, a boy, was named "Monsieur le
Comte Edmond Viel d'Espenilles; the girl, Santa Maria Rosa de
Lenia--names given them by the Baron; for," added the lady, "he is fond
of long and sonorous names."
After the separation the Baron and Helene Stille were at daggers drawn.
They had some virulent litigation in Pari
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