emeral talk and pleasantry of
Parisian conversation. And yet it would have been difficult to find
among the young men of fashion in Paris a single one who was his
superior. Young men talk a great deal too much in these days of horses,
money, taxes, deputies; French _conversation_ is no longer what it was.
Brilliancy of mind needs leisure and certain social inequalities to
bring it out. There is, probably, more real conversation in Vienna or
St. Petersburg than in Paris. Equals do not need to employ delicacy or
shrewdness in speech; they blurt out things as they are. Consequently
the dandies of Paris did not discover the great seigneur in the rather
heedless young fellow who, in their talks, would flit from one subject
to another, all the more intent upon amusement because he had just
escaped from a great peril, and, finding himself in a city where his
family was unknown, felt at liberty to lead a loose life without the
risk of disgracing his name.

But one fine day in 1834 Adam suddenly bought a house in the rue de la
Pepiniere. Six months later his style of living was second to none in
Paris. About the time when he thus began to take himself seriously he
had seen Clementine du Rouvre at the Opera and had fallen in love with
her. A year later the marriage took place. The salon of Madame d'Espard
was the first to sound his praises. Mothers of daughters then learned
too late that as far back as the year 900 the family of the Laginski was
among the most illustrious of the North. By an act of prudence which was
very unPolish, the mother of the young count had mortgaged her entire
property on the breaking out of the insurrection for an immense sum
lent by two Jewish bankers in Paris. Comte Adam was now in possession of
eighty thousand francs a year. When this was discovered society ceased
to be surprised at the imprudence which had been laid to the charge
of Madame de Serizy, the Marquis de Ronquerolles, and the Chevalier du
Rouvre in yielding to the foolish passion of their niece. People jumped,
as usual, from one extreme of judgment to the other.

During the winter of 1836 Comte Adam was the fashion, and Clementine
Laginska one of the queens of Paris. Madame Laginska is now a member
of that charming circle of young women represented by Mesdames de
Lestorade, de Portenduere, Marie de Vandenesse, du Guenic, and de
Maufrigneuse, the flowers of our present Paris, who live at such
immeasurable distance from the parvenus, the v