made by the gendarmes,
and her gondola was always pursued by a _cortege_ of other gondolas,
that crowded in her wake. When she departed, the city presented her with
a magnificent diamond and ruby diadem.

In March, 1835, the divorce which she had long been seeking was granted
by a French tribunal, and ten months later, at the expiration of the
limit fixed by French law, she married M. De Beriot, March 29, 1836,
thus legalizing the birth of their son, Wilfred de Beriot, who, with
one daughter, that did not live, had been the fruit of their passionate
attachment. On the day of her marriage she distributed a thousand francs
among the poor, and her friends showered costly gifts on her, among them
being an agraffe of pearls from the Queen of France.

During the season of 1835 Mme. Malibran appeared for Mr. Bunn at
Drury Lane and Covent Garden in twenty-six performances, for which she
received L3,463. Among other operas she appeared in Balfe's new work,
"The Maid of Artois," which, in spite of its beautiful melody, has never
kept its hold on the stage. Her _Leonora_ in Beethoven's "Fidelio"
was considered by many the peer of Mme. Schroder-Devrient's grand
performance. Her labors during this season were gigantic. She would rise
at 5 a.m., and practice for several hours, rehearsing before a mirror
and inventing attitudes. It was in this way that she conceived the
"stage-business" which produced such an electric impression in "Gli
Orazi," when the news of her lover's death is announced to the heroine.
"While the rehearsals of 'The Maid of Artois' were going on from day to
day--and Mme. Malibran's rehearsals were not so many hours of sauntering
indifference--she would, immediately after they were finished, dart
to one or two concerts, and perhaps conclude the day by singing at an
evening party. She pursued the same course during her performance of
that arduous character," thus wrote one of the critics of the time, for
the interest which Malibran excited was so great that the public loved
to hear of all the details of her remarkable career.

Shortly after her marriage in the spring of 1836, Mme. de Beriot was
thrown from her horse while attending a hunting-party in England,
and sustained serious internal injury, which she neglected to provide
against by medical treatment, concealing it even from her husband.
Indeed, she sang on the same evening, and her prodigious facility in
_tours de force_ was the subject of special comment,