the earliest days of his marriage
his wife so fascinated him? Why did he suffer without resistance? How
was it that he dared not resist? Why did he let the years go by and
still hope on? By what means did this young and pretty and clever woman
hold him in bondage?

The answer to all these questions would require a long history, which
would injure our present tale. Let us only remark here that the constant
toil and grief of the count had unfortunately contributed not a little
to deprive him of personal advantages very necessary to a man who
attempts to struggle against dangerous comparisons. In fact, the most
cruel of the count's secret sorrows was that of causing repugnance to
his wife by a malady of the skin resulting solely from excessive labor.
Kind, and always considerate of the countess, he allowed her to be
mistress of herself and her home. She received all Paris; she went into
the country; she returned from it precisely as though she were still a
widow. He took care of her fortune and supplied her luxury as a steward
might have done. The countess had the utmost respect for her husband.
She even admired his turn of mind; she knew how to make him happy by
approbation; she could do what she pleased with him by simply going to
his study and talking for an hour with him. Like the great seigneurs of
the olden time, the count protected his wife so loyally that a single
word of disrespect said of her would have been to him an unpardonable
injury. The world admired him for this; and Madame de Serizy owed
much to it. Any other woman, even though she came of a family as
distinguished as the Ronquerolles, might have found herself degraded
in public opinion. The countess was ungrateful, but she mingled a charm
with her ingratitude. From time to time she shed a balm upon the wounds
of her husband's heart.

Let us now explain the meaning of this sudden journey, and the incognito
maintained by a minister of State.

A rich farmer of Beaumont-sur-Oise, named Leger, leased and cultivated
a farm, the fields of which projected into and greatly injured the
magnificent estate of the Comte de Serizy, called Presles. This farm
belonged to a burgher of Beaumont-sur-Oise, named Margueron. The lease
made to Leger in 1799, at a time when the great advance of agriculture
was not foreseen, was about to expire, and the owner of the farm refused
all offers from Leger to renew the lease. For some time past, Monsieur
de Serizy, wishing to rid h