dy
described; the laces and trinkets were, undoubtedly, not purchased with
her own money. It is said that her brother Raphael was a spendthrift. He
may have been, but he did not spend his celebrated sister's money; of
that I feel certain. Then what became of it? I am inclined to think that
Mdlle. Rachel dabbled considerably in stocks, and that, notwithstanding
her shrewdness and sources of information, she was the victim of people
cleverer than she was. At any rate, one thing is certain--she was nearly
always hard up; and, after having exhausted the good will of all her
male acquaintances and friends, compelled to appeal to her mother, who
had made a considerable hoard for her other four sisters, and perhaps
also for her scapegrace son; for, curiously enough, with Mama Felix
every one of her children was a goddess or god, except _the goddess_.
This want of appreciation on the mother's part reminds me of a story
told to me by Meissonier. His granddaughter, on her fifteenth or
sixteenth birthday, had a very nice fan given to her. The sticks were
exquisitely carved in ivory, and must have cost a pretty tidy sum, but
the fan itself, of black gauze, was absolutely plain. The donor probably
intended the grandfather's art to enhance the value of the present, and
the latter was about to do so, when the young lady stopped him with the
cry, "Voila qu'il va me gater mon eventail avec ses mannequins!" The
irony of non-appreciation by one's nearest and dearest could no further
go.

Mama Felix, then, was very close-fisted, and would never lend her
daughter any money, except on very good security, namely, on her jewels.
In addition to this, she made her sign an undertaking that if not
redeemed at a certain date they would be forfeited; and forfeited they
were, if the loan and interest were not forthcoming at the stipulated
time, notwithstanding the ravings of Rachel. This would probably account
for the comparatively small quantity of valuable jewelery found after
her death.

Some of the ornaments I have seen her wear had an artistic value utterly
apart from their cost, others were so commonplace and such evident
imitations as to have been declined by the merest grisette. One day I
noticed round her wrist a peculiar bracelet. It was composed of a great
number of rings, some almost priceless, others less valuable but still
very artistic, others again possessing no value whatsoever, either
artistically or otherwise. I asked her to take