assist him
to attain the consequence which he so much desired; and some offers were
made her by persons whose rank and fortune flattered his warmest hope.
But his sister, who was then addressed also by St. Aubert, perceived, or
thought she perceived, that happiness and splendour were not the same,
and she did not hesitate to forego the last for the attainment of the
former. Whether Monsieur Quesnel thought them the same, or not, he would
readily have sacrificed his sister's peace to the gratification of his
own ambition; and, on her marriage with St. Aubert, expressed in private
his contempt of her spiritless conduct, and of the connection which it
permitted. Madame St. Aubert, though she concealed this insult from her
husband, felt, perhaps, for the first time, resentment lighted in
her heart; and, though a regard for her own dignity, united with
considerations of prudence, restrained her expression of this
resentment, there was ever after a mild reserve in her manner towards M.
Quesnel, which he both understood and felt.

In his own marriage he did not follow his sister's example. His lady was
an Italian, and an heiress by birth; and, by nature and education, was a
vain and frivolous woman.

They now determined to pass the night with St. Aubert; and as the
chateau was not large enough to accommodate their servants, the latter
were dismissed to the neighbouring village. When the first compliments
were over, and the arrangements for the night made M. Quesnel began the
display of his intelligence and his connections; while St. Aubert, who
had been long enough in retirement to find these topics recommended by
their novelty, listened, with a degree of patience and attention,
which his guest mistook for the humility of wonder. The latter, indeed,
described the few festivities which the turbulence of that period
permitted to the court of Henry the Third, with a minuteness, that
somewhat recompensed for his ostentation; but, when he came to speak of
the character of the Duke de Joyeuse, of a secret treaty, which he knew
to be negotiating with the Porte, and of the light in which Henry of
Navarre was received, M. St. Aubert recollected enough of his former
experience to be assured, that his guest could be only of an inferior
class of politicians; and that, from the importance of the subjects
upon which he committed himself, he could not be of the rank to which he
pretended to belong. The opinions delivered by M. Quesnel, were