Beaumarchais, a man possessed of the grace of a prince and the generous
profusion of a highwayman. Caron de Beaumarchais attracted the fancy
of the fickle mademoiselle Mesnard, a mutual understanding was soon
established between them, and in a snug little cottage surrounded by
beautiful grounds in the environs of Pere la Chaise, the enamored lovers
frequently met to exchange their soft vows.

Happily the deity who presided over the honor of the duke was carefully
watching their proceedings. This guardian angel was no other than madame
Duverger, his former mistress, who, unable to bear the desertion of her
noble admirer, had vowed, in the first burst of rage and disappointment,
to have revenge sooner or later upon her triumphant rival. With this
view she spied out all the proceedings of mademoiselle Mesnard, whose
stolen interviews and infidelity she was not long in detecting; she even
contrived to win over a _femme de chambre_, by whose connivance she was
enabled to obtain possession of several letters containing irrefragable
proofs of guilt, and these she immediately forwarded to the duc de
Chaulnes.

This proud and haughty nobleman might have pardoned his mistress had she
quitted him for a peer of the realm and his equal, but to be supplanted
by a mere man of business, an author, too!--the disgrace was too
horrible for endurance. The enraged lover flew to Beaumarchais, and
reproached him bitterly with his treachery; the latter sought to deny
the charge, but the duke, losing all self-possession, threw the letters
in his face, calling him a base liar. At this insult, Beaumarchais,
who, whatever his enemies may say of him, was certainly not deficient
in courage, demanded instant satisfaction. The duke, by way of answer,
seized the man of letters by the collar, Beaumarchais called his
servants, who, in their turn, summoned the guard, which speedily arrived
accompanied by the commissary, and with much difficulty they succeeded
in removing M. de Chaulnes (who appeared to have entirely lost his
reason) from the room.

The conduct of the duke appeared to us completely out of place, and he
would certainly have answered for it within the walls of the Bastille,
had not his family made great intercession for him. On the other hand,
Beaumarchais, who eagerly availed himself of every opportunity of
writing memorials, composed one on the subject of his quarrel with M. de
Chaulnes, complaining that a great nobleman had dared to fo