XIV. drawing-room, decorated in the time of the grand
monarque on the pattern of those at Versailles, where that choicest
circle met, that cream of Paris society, called then le petit chateau.

The noble Portuguese lady, one of those who never care to go out of
their own home, was usually the centre of her neighbors' attentions--the
Chaulieus, the Navarreins, the Lenoncourts. The pretty Baronne de
Macumer--nee de Chaulieu--the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, Madame d'Espard,
Madame de Camps, and Mademoiselle des Touches--a connection of the
Grandlieus, who are a Breton family--were frequent visitors on their way
to a ball or on their return from the opera. The Vicomte de Grandlieu,
the Duc de Rhetore, the Marquis de Chaulieu--afterwards Duc de
Lenoncourt-Chaulieu--his wife, Madeleine de Mortsauf, the Duc de
Lenoncourt's grand-daughter, the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto, the Prince de
Blamont-Chauvry, the Marquis de Beauseant, the Vidame de Pamiers,
the Vandenesses, the old Prince de Cadignan, and his son the Duc de
Maufrigneuse, were constantly to be seen in this stately drawing-room,
where they breathed the atmosphere of a Court, where manners, tone, and
wit were in harmony with the dignity of the Master and Mistress whose
aristocratic mien and magnificence had obliterated the memory of their
servility to Napoleon.

The old Duchesse d'Uxelles, mother of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, was
the oracle of this circle, to which Madame de Serizy had never gained
admittance, though nee de Ronquerolles.

Lucien was brought thither by Madame de Maufrigneuse, who had won over
her mother to speak in his favor, for she had doted on him for two
years; and the engaging young poet had kept his footing there, thanks
to the influence of the high Almoner of France, and the support of
the Archbishop of Paris. Still, he had not been admitted till he had
obtained the patent restoring to him the name and arms of the Rubempre
family. The Duc de Rhetore, the Chevalier d'Espard, and some others,
jealous of Lucien, periodically stirred up the Duc de Grandlieu's
prejudices against him by retailing anecdotes of the young man's
previous career; but the Duchess, a devout Catholic surrounded by the
great prelates of the Church, and her daughter Clotilde would not give
him up.

Lucien accounted for these hostilities by his connection with Madame de
Bargeton, Madame d'Espard's cousin, and now Comtesse du Chatelet. Then,
feeling the importance of allying himself