-that of
the viscount in the service of Russia ever since 1789, who had returned
to France in 1815. The viscount, poor as a younger son, had married a
Princess Scherbellof, worth about a million, but the arrival of two
sons and three daughters kept him poor. His family, ancient and formerly
powerful, now consisted of the Marquis de Troisville, peer of France,
head of the house and scutcheon, and two deputies, with numerous
offspring, who were busy, for their part, with the budget and the
ministries and the court, like fishes round bits of bread. Therefore,
when Montcornet was presented by Madame de Carigliano,--the Napoleonic
duchess, who was now a most devoted adherent of the Bourbons, he was
favorably received. The general asked, in return for his fortune and
tender indulgence to his wife, to be appointed to the Royal Guard,
with the rank of marquis and peer of France; but the branches of the
Troisville family would do no more than promise him their support.

"You know what that means," said the duchess to her old friend, who
complained of the vagueness of the promise. "They cannot oblige the king
to do as they wish; they can only influence him."

Montcornet made Virginie de Troisville his heir in the marriage
settlements. Completely under the control of his wife, as Blondet's
letter has already shown, he was still without children, but Louis
XVIII. had received him, and given him the cordon of Saint-Louis,
allowing him to quarter his ridiculous arms with those of the
Troisvilles, and promising him the title of marquis as soon as he had
deserved the peerage by his services.

A few days after the audience at which this promise had been given, the
Duc de Barry was assassinated; the Marsan clique carried the day;
the Villele ministry came into power, and all the wires laid by the
Troisvilles were snapped; it became necessary to find new ways of
fastening them upon the ministry.

"We must bide our time," said the Troisvilles to Montcornet, who was
always overwhelmed with politeness in the faubourg Saint-Germain.

This will explain how it was that the general did not return to Les
Aigues until May, 1820.

The ineffable happiness of the son of a shop-keeper of the faubourg
Saint-Antoine in possessing a young, elegant, intelligent, and gentle
wife, a Troisville, who had given him an entrance into all the salons
of the faubourg Saint-Germain, and the delight of making her enjoy the
pleasures of Paris, had kept him from