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man and woman of fashion, and set down as

a perfect imbécile: you would judge differently, as does your friend,

NOTTINGHAM.

FROM LA MARQUISE DE VILLEROI TO
MISS MONTRESSOR.

You ask me for news, chère Caroline, but you forget that news, like money, is not always forthcoming when demanded. Have you never observed how blank people look when either is required of them? Such is now my case, as yonder mirror, on which my eyes have just glanced, par hasard, assured me. Voyons! what shall I tell you? Conspiracies are so common, that they cease to interest any but the plotters, the plotted against, and the police; changes of ministry few care about, except les agents de change; et quant aux modes, Herbault tells

me, they arrive in London three days after they see the light here.

En vérité, I know nothing worthy of repetition, unless it be an occurrence which has recently excited the attention of all the salons in Paris. People talk of nothing else, and half-a-dozen versions, at least, are given of it. It is rather a long affair; but, as it has its points of interest, I think I will undertake its narration, and endeavour to serve it up to you in the regular "Contes Moraux" style.

You did not, I believe, know Monsieur and Madame de St. Armand. Yet you must have seen them, too, as they visited at some of the houses of our acquaintance, and the heroine of the histoire was too handsome not to be remarked. But, to my story. Once upon a time, then, the said Monsieur et Madame de St. Armand were considered a juvenile Baucis and Philemon, and were cited by all who

knew them as one of the happiest couples in Paris. Their affection, and the good understanding subsisting between them, were invariably quoted as examples in every ménage; (what a pity, par parenthèse, it is, that people are more prone to quote good examples, than to follow them! n'est-ce pas ?)! and though Jules de St. Armand's uxoriousness, and deference to his wife's opinions, were sometimes ridiculed by the Benedicts of his circle, or the garçons who boasted their freedom from female influence, still it seemed generally allowed that he was as happy as even the most attached of his friends could desire him to be.

Jules and Alicia de St. Armand had been

married two years at the period to which I am now referring. Their union had arisen solely in affection, and the time which had elapsed since its occurrence had only served to increase their mutual attachment. To great

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personal beauty, both joined considerable talents; consequently, they were eminently calculated to shine in the réunions of the circle to which they belonged; but they found themselves so happy in the home which their love embellished, that they scarcely ever voluntarily entered into society.

Every husband who thought his wife too fond of balls and soirées, dwelt, with warm commendations, upon the domestic taste and habits of Madame de St. Armand; and every wife who felt dissatisfied with the dissipation of her caro sposo, quoted M. de St. Armand as a model for husbands. The natural consequences ensued. The wives with propensities to gaiety began to look with aversion on Alicia; and those husbands who liked all other places better than home quickly conceived an unfriendly sentiment towards Jules. This antipathy, however, might have been as

transitory as it was sudden, had it not been increased and established by the imprudent and enthusiastic praises of the friends and relatives of the exemplary couple.

And now, more than one married belle, who was to be seen continually at all public places, and rarely chez elle, was heard to observe, that it was quite ridiculous in Madame de St. Armand to set herself up to be wiser and happier than her neighbours; and that such an attempt could only be made in the peevish vanity of seeking to oppose and displease all her friends and acquaintance. Several of the men, too, who found more attractions in other women than in their own wives, spoke with affected contempt of St. Armand's hypocritical assumption of the rôle of a pattern husband, and of his ostentatious abandonment of society to act le bon mari at home. To pretend to be better than one's

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